After a little yoga morning workout we headed over by bus to Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion. This is a place I absolutely hope all you will visit at some point. It is serene. Walking through the garden and traditional landscape and taking pictures just didn't make sense, so turned our cameras off for a bit to just enjoy the scenery as it was. After going in, we stopped for a snack at one of the stalls outside the pavilion: a miniature okonomikaki (japanese pancake with vegetables) with a perfectly fried egg in the middle and bought a rice cracker with dried shiso leaves. Yum.
Then we headed over to a path called Testugaku no michi (Philosophers Walk) which runs down about three kilometers or so from Kinkaku-ji. It is a quiet walk along a little stream with shops and tea houses all along the way. We stopped at one of the tea houses and had macha and an omochi daifuku (rice cake with red bean paste and chestnut) Of course it was great. We walked all the way down the path and back for a nice long and slow stroll.
From there we headed back to our ryokan to get ready for dinner. The day before, we had seen a yaki tori restaurant that looked great, but it was full. The waitress was kind enough to reserve a seat for us that night. It was actually a "kushi yaki" place (grilled foods) similar to the robotayaki place in the east village. They specialize in all things grilled. But not just grilled… We started off with crunchy lotus chips and "buri" sashimi (yellowtail) The buri was so fresh it just melted when you tasted it. Sooooo good. We wanted more but that was the last of it! Then we ordered some yakitori (grilled chicken) and a few different grilled vegetables. Standouts were the eggplant and the the lotus with uni sauce!! Incredible. Then we tried a recommendation from the chef: a mixed salad with an ume (plum) vinaigrette. Definitely one of the highlights there. It had mixed greens of lettuces and mizuna (personal have) and a sticky japanese yam that blended perfectly with the delicious ume dressing. After that we tried the pumpkin tempura which was so lightly fried, it didn't taste fried. Then we tried the tsukune which was just awesome. I told the chef how much I liked the sauce to he gave me an extra bowl. We finished with sesame ice-cream with yuzu marmalade on top. Yesterdays meal was exquisite, but this was one was just immediately gratifying and hit the spot. We are doing this one again, if we can get in…
After that we jumped back into the hidden ally and headed for a little sake bar we found. There was only one other couple at the end of a minimalist long wooden table with very low light. The server was dressed in a kimono and served us some incredible sake. We chatted for a quite while and I can actually say that my Japanese was improving. Such a nice hostess, she told us about her life in Kyoto and her aspirations to be an elementary school teacher. After two hours or so, we were ready to go and she walked us all the way up the stairs and out the door for an Iowa goodbye.
Ginkaku-ji
Tetsugaku no michi (Philosophers Walk)
Kushi Yaki
Sake Bar
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