Izuju (Kyoto style sushi), a Sumie exhibition and Gion stroll...

Recently I had the pleasure of sampling some of the wonderful Kyoto style sushi at the famous Izuju in Gion. This find was yet another excellent recommendation by my friend Michael (aka Kyoto Foodie). 

After a meeting with Kikunoi's Murata san recently we dropped in for a quick sushi feast.  The restaurant was dark and soaked in charming old school ambiance. 

The restaurant is particularly well regarded for its sabazushi (lightly vinegared mackeral sushi wrapped in konbu, for flavour, which is removed before eating - see top LHS at the back of the plate below) and inari zushi (sushi rice in sweetened fried tofu pockets - see the brown wrinkled triangles on the RHS )- so we tried a mixed plate including both of them plus sushi of gujou (Kyoto ben or dialect for Amadai/tile fish),  Kyoto's favourite fish apparently, topped with finely shaved kombu resembling pale green fairyfloss ( front and centre), a makizushi of fried nama fu (fresh wheatgluten - RHS above the inari triangles),  and little packets of rice tied in bamboo leaves containing sea bream and kinome (aromatic leaf of the sansho plant- far LHS). 

Both the rustic appearance and hearty portion size of the sushi struck me as a little unusal, this being elegant Kyoto, but when it came to flavour, texture and mouthfeel it was nothing but refined. The sushi at Izuju is so perfectly seasoned it does not require the usual soy or wasabi.

The Inari zushi was excellent - containing a lot less vinegar and sugar than most versions available.  I loved the chew of the deep fried fu. The sabazushi had none of that fishy hint that can sometimes creep in from incorrect preparation - it was simply delish. 

After lunch I strolled over to a gallery in Gion where the lovely Kathy Ike was holding an exhibition of her own Sumie paintings and some of her stunning ceramic work. Forgive me the photos don't do the work justice but here's a little taste.  ( Kathy will have a webpage up and running soon and I will post a link).

I was in the mood to wander, as I often am inspired to do in Gion - or anywhere in Kyoto for that matter.... so I did. Here's some visual notes of my journey. 

Not bad for a Friday afternoon's meanderings. 

Ippodo - Kyoto いっぽど

Recently I met with friend Kyoto Foodie at Ippodo - a famous Kyoto tea shop on Teramachi dori north of Nijo dori and South of Marutamachi dori. He introduced me to Koicha - a very thick tea made from a larger than usual quantity of matcha (maccha) or high quality, powdered green tea.  Michael tells me it has about 5 times the amount of tea powder normally used and therefore packs quite a punch of caffeine - however the buzz is not that of coffee (due to a component in tea that brings on a certain calm and relaxation) -so one is awake but not climbing up the walls. 

Although the mixture has the appearance and viscosity of green wall paint its flavour is smooth, savoury and deep - meaty if you like.... I love Matcha but this is not a version I would opt for every day... a special occasion Matcha perhaps. It is certainly a must to try once. 

As always with Matcha/Maccha a traditional sweet (Wagashi) is served alongside it. As it is the beginning of summer the colour of the top sweet reflects cool and calm. At formal tea ceremony you are usually invited to eat the sweet first before drinking the tea but its fine to be more casual at Ippodo - sipping and nibbling as the urge takes you.

Once you have finished the majority of the Koicha the waitress will remove your cup and whisk hot water into it so that you can enjoy the rest of the tea as the standard thinner matcha. A two for one deal - what's not to like. 

I won't give too much detail about the tea itself or Ippodo - instead I will link you to Kyoto Foodie's post from 2007 plus a link to the shop itself. If you have never experienced a traditional Japanese tea ceremony but want to taste some professionally made matcha then make sure you check out Ippodo - its only a short walk north on Teramachi from the city shopping district.  You can pick up a variety of tea to take home too!

While we are on the subject of sweets - ok so not quite on but lurking around it, any excuse and all that - check out these beautiful summer offerings. They both turn up in shops around May/June for the rainy season and early summer.   The first, made from beans, with a jelly like top set with Kanten and green maple leaf promotes the "feeling" of cool. 

The second is a speciality made from a seasonal fruit - Natsu mikan or summer mandarin/tangerine. The slightly bitter juice is sweetened and made into a jelly before being set in the hollowed out fruit skin. It is chilled and sliced into wedges for serving -  and eaten with a small spoon. So refreshing on a hot day. 

Murata san of Kyoto's famous Kikunoi Restaurant- A man on a mission!

Recently my friend Michael Baxter - the Kyoto Foodie arranged an interview for me with Murata san  - the proprietor/chef of the the Kikunoi Restaurant's in Kyoto. Murata san is a highly respected and extremely busy chef so I thought we'd be lucky if we scored 15 minutes with him but when we arrived, welcomed by a delivery of freshly whisked matcha with warabi mochi (traditional sweets),  he advised, with a smile,  that he was available for 2 hours.... We were rather taken aback by his generosity but soon relaxed into proceedings and, what I'd anticipated being a rather stilted and formal interview, transpired into one of the most inspiring conversations about Japanese food culture I could have wished for in Japan.  

With Michael's help translating I was able to glean some wonderful insight into the foundations of Japanese cuisine and food culture from one of its masters! A third generation Kyoto chef. What an absolute honour. 

Murata san is so proud of his country's cuisine and eager to share with foreigners in hope that a spiked interest elsewhere will bounce back to Japan. Murata san feels that Japanese youth are sadly no longer interested in their own unique and ancient traditions - preferring to immerse themselves as much as possible in popular culture from other countries. According to Murata san - it seems that if a Japanese product becomes popular outside of Japan it suddenly has a spotlight shone on it within Japan.  

The chef was open and a little cheeky, sharp as a tack and allowed glimpses of his strong sense of humour to slip through his well poised presentation of self - all of which certainly helped brush aside the intimidation factor... leaving only respect for a man who, apart from running some of Japan's most successful Ryotei (high end restaurants serving Kaiseki cuisine) is also the founder of the Kyoto based Japanese Culinary Academy from which he maintains a platform for Japanese chefs to share information with each other, international chefs and food media. 

In addition, and this was something that really grabbed at my heartstrings, is his dedication to educating school children about the roots of their own cuisine and healthy eating - going so far as to invite one mother, from each school they visit, to be trained by the Japanese Culinary Academy on traditional dishes,  eating habits and nutrition in order to help spread the information to parents and students at other schools ( as the foundation are only able to get to one school per month). What a fantastic and essential initiative.  My research over the last few years concurs  that since the 70's (when foreign foods stated entering Japan at a great pace) many Japanese, under the age of 40, rarely cook at home and when they do - its often something very convenient or sadly not Japanese and the children are losing their connection to their astounding cuisine culture. His aim is to re-educate wherever possible. 

I hope to learn much more from Murata san and his team in coming months and am honoured to be joining him again tomorrow afternoon for the next instalment...   I promise to share soon. 

Heavenly Hayashi はやし

You can read this post HERE!