“Quintessential Kyoto”: A Story I Wrote on Kyoto’s Michelin-starred Restaurants and the Like for Destinasian Magazine
I was very happy with this one which appears in the current (October/November) print issue, as I took all the photos (bar the Kyoto graphic) as well as doing the text.
Click here to see the full story in PDF format: Kyoto (1) including pics.
The story introduces celebrity chefs Kunio Tokuoka of Kitcho and Yoshihiro Murata of Kikunoi and I also recommend some favourite restaurants chosen by the ‘restaurant reviewer of the Louis Vuitton Kyoto Nara City Guide’. That’s me, btw. If you can’t be bothered with all those troublesome photos (my art!) here is a link to the Destinasian web version. Hope you like it.
渋い、そしてスティーブあんちゃん On Shibui, Steve, and Such Things.
Years ago it was that my dear brother Steve attempted to explain to me, a Japan neophyte, the concept of ‘shibui’. Imagine, he said, reaching for his antiquated dictionary of such Japanese things, ‘the just-so curve of a pagoda’. I said I thought I could imagine that. We both nodded sagely. But secretly I think neither of us were convinced. I suspect ‘shibui’ is something you can only understand with time. I was in Kurodani Temple today, photographing Buddhas. You can’t move for them there. It is near my house, but, by chance, I drove up in my car. And so, finally, I came to understand ‘shibui’. In just-so curves, a bit of chance, and a surfeit of Buddhas.
Honenin (after Hockney)
Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery and all that. Hockney was a Bradford lad too, don’t you know. This was intended as part of a series of temple images where I play with perspective in an attempt to get that Zazen meditation feel. The series currently stands at… two.
11th Hour Entry to Tour de France to Offend Purists, Thrill Fans?
The following is the roster for the late entry wildcard team:
Legumes d’Or – STD
241 KRUGER, Jorg-Herbert
242 HOFFENHÅFFEN, Gregor
243 PRYK, Zygmund
244 BELLENDO, Danilo
245 VERUKKA, Ignasti
246 ANDES LLAMADORES, Ruben
247 FÜGELSCHAFFT, Jakob
248 BALLEPOINT, Christian
249 GOONE, Danny
The late wildcard entry for the Schleswig-Holstein based Legumes d’Or-STD team has raised eyebrows at this year’s Tour de France, but the last-minute arrivals are hoping to garner a few stage victories, and perhaps even get their team leader, veteran pro Jorg-Herbert Kruger onto the podium in Paris on July 24th. The team mixes experience and new talent. Super-domestique Zygmund Pryk will provide support for Kruger when the going gets tough, whilst Italian sprinter Danilo Bellendo and the Danish one-day specialist Gregor Hoffenhaffen will both hope for stage wins. Expect the Basque Ignasti Verukka to try to impress when the race hits his native Pyrenees in the second week of July. Finally, keep an eye out for the young Australian sprinting sensation from New South Wales, Danny Goone.
Legumes d’Or-STD is led by former Czech national road-race champion Pavel Njiipel. The always controversial directeur sportif, when asked to assess his team’s chances, said “We are a fantastic mixture of the old and the new. We are like a cordial of drugs. Wham! Bam! Anything can happen in this race. Today we are Gina Lollobrigida, tomorrow we are Osama Bin Laden. That is the Tour de France”. (Agence de Presse-FOL, Paris, June 26th2011. Relisez avec grande prudence, svp).
Post author: ‘Sniffin’ Saddles’.
Tour de France: Bonjour, ‘allo et Eyup Mes Amis de Vélo (very provisional starter list)
It is that time of year encore un fois, when I butcher the French language and bring you my Tour de France Sweepstakes and personalised commentary on the World’s Greatest Mobile Drugfest Cycle Race. Le Grand Boucle boucles off on July 2nd, this Saturday. As usual the TdF organising committee is too busy gargling pastis and smoking Gauloises to bother announcing the start list. Here, below, is what we know so far. Notice the new super-sexee Leopard Trek Team, with the Schlecks, Spartacus and Jens set to kick ass, er, Luxembourger-style.
Some nice new faces and names in the list too, as well as perennial favourites such as the holy rollers’ pin-up boy Christian Knees (now teamed with Wiggo at Sky) and Vladimir (‘Dyson’ to his mates) Karpets. Welcome Tony ‘the Trotter’ Gallopin; Izagirri ‘Or do you prefer it plain?’ Insausti, and the already-knackered by the sounds of it, Benat Intxausti, pictured here getting tired on behalf of Fuji-Servetto.
Saxo Bank – Sungard
1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto
2 NOVAL, Benjamin Gonzalez
3 VANDBORG, Brian
4 HERNÁNDEZ BLAZQUEZ, Jesús
5 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel
6 PORTE, Richie
7 SORENSEN, Chris Anker
8 SÖRENSEN, Nicki
9 TOSATTO, Matteo
Leopard Trek
11 SCHLECK, Andy
12 SCHLECK, Frank
13 CANCELLARA, Fabian
14 POSTHUMA, Joost
15 GERDEMANN, Linus
16 MONFORT, Maxime
17 FUGLSANG, Jakob
18 VOIGT, Jens
19 FEILLU, Brice
Euskaltel – Euskadi
21 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel
22 IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka
23 MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN, Egoi
24 PEREZ, Alan Lezaun
25 PEREZ MORENO, Ruben
26 TXURRUKA, Amets
27 URTASUN PEREZ, Pablo
28 VELASCO MURILLO, Ivan
29 VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Gorka
Omega Pharma-Lotto
31 BROECK, Jurgen Van Den
32 GILBERT, Philippe
33 GREIPEL, Andre
34 LANG, Sebastian
35 ROELANDTS, Jurgen
36 SIEBERG, Marcel
37 VANENDERT, Jelle
38 WALLE, Jurgen Van De
39 ,
Rabobank ProTeam
41 GESINK, Robert
42 BARREDO LLAMAZALES, Carlos
43 BOOM, Lars
44 DAM, Laurens Ten
45 GARATE, Juan Manuel
46 MOLLEMA, Bauke
47 NIERMANN, Grischa
48 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon
49 TJALLINGII, Maarten
Team Garmin – Cervélo
51 DANIELSON, Thomas
52 HESJEDAL, Ryder
53 MARTIN, Daniel
54 HUSHOVD, Thor
55 FARRAR, Tyler
56 VANSUMMEREN, Johan
57 VANDE VELDE, Christian
58 ,
59 ,
Radio Shack
61 HORNER, Chris
62 BRAJKOVIC, Janez
63 IRIZAR ARANBURU, Markel
64 KLÖDEN, Andréas
65 LEIPHEIMER, Levi
66 MURAVYEV, Dmitriy
67 PAULINHO, Sergio Miguel Moreira
68 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav
69 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar
Ag2R – La Mondiale
71 ROCHE, Nicolas
72 GADRET, John
73 KADRI, Blel
74 PERAUD, Jean-christophe
75 RIBLON, Christophe
76 DUPONT, Hubert
77 ,
78 ,
79 ,
Team Astana
81 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre
82 IGLINSKIY, Maxim
83 , (plus seven Kazakhs who haven’t been discovered doping. If they can find that many).
84 ,
85 ,
86 ,
87 ,
88 ,
89 ,
Quickstep Cycling Team
91 WEERT, Kevin De
92 BOONEN, Tom
93 CHAVANEL, Sylvain
94 CIOLEK, Gerald
95 DEVENYNS, Dries
96 ENGELS, Addy
97 PINEAU, Jérome
98 STEEGMANS, Gert
99 TERPSTRA, Niki
Team Sky
101 WIGGINS, Bradley
102 HAGEN, Edvald Boasson
103 FLECHA, Juan Antonio
104 HENDERSON, Gregory
105 KNEES, Christian
106 GERRANS, Simon
107 URAN, Rigoberto
108 THOMAS, Geraint
109 ,
Française des Jeux
111 CASAR, Sandy
112 FEDRIGO, Pierrick
113 HUTAROVICH, Yauheni
114 PAURIOL, Rémi
115 ROUX, Anthony
116 ROY, Jérémy
117 ,
118 ,
119 ,
BMC Racing Team
121 EVANS, Cadel
122 BOOKWALTER, Brent
123 BURGHARDT, Marcus
124 HINCAPIE, George
125 MOINARD, Amaël
126 MORABITO, Steve
127 QUINZIATO, Manuel
128 SANTAROMITA, Ivan
129 SCHAR, Michael
Cofidis
131 FARES, Julien El
132 DUMOULIN, Samuel
133 DUQUE, Leonardo Fabio
134 GALLOPIN, Tony
135 MONCOUTIÉ, David
136 TAARAMÄE, Rein
137 VALENTIN, Tristan
138 ,
139 ,
Lampre – ISD
141 CUNEGO, Damiano
142 BOLE, Grega
143 BONO, Matteo
144 HONDO, Danilo
145 MALORI, Adriano
146 PETACCHI, Alessandro
147 ,
148 ,
149 ,
Liquigas – Cannondale
151 BASSO, Ivan
152 BODNAR, Maciej
153 BORGHINI, Paolo Longho
154 KOREN, Kristjan
155 OSS, Daniel
156 PATERSKI, Maciej
157 SABATINI, Fabio
158 SZMYD, Sylvester
159 VANOTTI, Alessandro
Europcar
161 VOECKLER, Thomas
162 CHARTEAU, Anthony
163 GAUTIER, Cyril
164 KERN, Christophe
165 ROLLAND, Pierre
166 ,
167 ,
168 ,
169 ,
Team Movistar
171 ROJAS GIL, Jose Joaquin
172 KIRYIENKA, Vasil
173 INTXAUSTI, Benat
174 GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, José Ivan
175 ARROYO DURAN, David
176 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto
177 SAMOILAU, Branislau
178 ERVITI OLLO, Imanol
179 VENTOSO ALBERDI, Francisco José
Katusha
181 KOLOBNEV, Alexandr
182 KARPETS, Vladimir
183 GALIMZYANOV, Denis
184 IVANOV, Serguei
185 TROFIMOV, Yuri
186 GUSEV, Vladimir
187 IGNATYEV, Mikhail
188 ,
189 ,
HTC – High Road
191 MARTIN, Tony
192 CAVENDISH, Mark
193 RENSHAW, Mark
194 ALBASINI, Michael
195 GARDEREN, Tejay Van
196 VELITS, Peter
197 GRABSCH, Bert
198 GOSS, Matthew
199 ,
Saur – Sojasun
201 COPPEL, Jérome
202 COYOT, Arnaud
203 ENGOULVENT, Jimmy
204 HIVERT, Jonathan
205 JEANDESBOZ, Fabrice
206 MANGEL, Laurent
207 TALABARDON, Yannick
208 ,
209 ,
Vacansoleil – DCM
211 POELS, Wout
212 BOZIC, Borut
213 FEILLU, Romain
214 HOOGERLAND, Johnny
215 MARCATO, Marco
216 WESTRA, Lieuwe
217 LEUKEMANS, Bjorn
218 GENDT, Thomas De
219 LAGUTIN, Sergey
Sasha Takes the Jaguar XJS For A Test Drive (plus 1 pic)
Above, in the Takaragaike Tunnel, clearly auditioning for the next David Lynch movie.
Below, back at JH motors. Looks like she was born in this vehicle…
2011 or 1975?
The Great Glico One Piece Crunch Bar Swindle
Package length (flattened): 204mm
Ice Cream length: 91mm
Life sucks when your lolly is less than half the size of its wrapper…
Home Sweet Home
Found this when going through some old photos. Some of my friends will like this, I know. It is near Stonehenge, btw.
大正時代のむらさき切子皿？Anybody know what this is?
I just bought this glass plate this weekend. I am guessing it is kiriko cut glass, from the Taisho Period (1912-1926), but if anyone knows better/more, I’d love to hear from you. サイズ：φ24.5cm/4.5cm/45mm 素材：ガラス There was something similar on sale here, but I prefer this design. It’s got a kinda masonic-bird-Art Deco thing going on. I also like that the round parts aren’t perfectly round, and the glass has bubbles in it, and the dark brownish-purple colour is shibui (sorry, my photos don’t really do it justice). Anybody know where it might be from? I know there is a difference between Edo, Otaru and Satsuma kiriko, other than the obvious geographical one (I once learned, but have forgotten). Thanks!
The Travelling Gourmet: Story on Kyoto’s Foodie Hotspots
Recognise this fellow? I had to smile at the ‘talent’ reference, given the Japanese image of a ‘tarento’: young, shallow, fame-seeking, disposable, often (but not exclusively) female media fodder. A Yorkshire version sounds particularly scary. Hopefully I don’t fit those categories. I certainly don’t fit the first one.
This is my profile in the current issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller. You can find my article on page 190 of the print magazine, should you care for a read or, if you prefer, you can check it out on the Web here. Sasha gets in on the act too, as the editors chose her pic, wolfing down Kyohei Ramen, to accompany the Web version. You can see that at her Foodelica blogsite here. The other photos there, from the magazine version, are also by me, FYI.
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The Doomed Rooster Diaries: PKNK2
This was my presentation for the Pecha Kucha Night Kyoto Vol 2, held at Urban Guild here in Kyoto on the evening of January 16th, 2011. It was pretty well received I think. The PKN format is to speak about 20 images for 20 seconds each. Here are the 20 ‘slides’ of my Power Point presentation. Sans my pithy commentary (fortunately?). Please feel free to comment. Please note there is a Pecha Kucha Night INSPIRE JAPAN benefit for the Earthquake and Tsunami victims, in Kyoto, Saturday April 16th, details are here, and elsewhere globally, details here
What Annoys You Most About Khaosan Road?
I was sitting in May Kaidee’s restaurant, waiting for my Spicy Banana
Flower Salad, and an uncharitable thought sprang to mind.
What annoys me most about Khaosan Road?
I started compiling a mental list of grievances. As it took a while for the food to arrive, I managed to
come up with quite a list.
All the old stalwarts were there: Israelis haggling with street-vendors over the price of pinneaple chunks on a stick; Farang women with arses that it would take several days to sail
a barge around getting their hair braided; an assortment of tattooed
Slav, Brit and North European men with shaved heads who study Muy Thai
by day and drink Chang beer from the bottle on the street by night,
accompanied by their stupefyingly bored miniature Thai girlfriends;
the old Thai bloke who has been trying to sell me the same hammock
since 1986;
Full Moon Partygoers of any ilk; Italian tour groups
featuring women in high heels and men in sunglasses (at night and by
day); Italian Full Moon Partygoers; anyone eating in the Khaosan Rd
branch of McDonalds; Aussie backpackers who think they are the next Dr
Livingston/Sir Edmund Hilary/Scott of the Antarctic/Carlos Casteneda
because they once smoked a load of ganja and floated down a river in
Laos in a tractor inner tube; women in tribal costume flogging pointy multi-coloured tribal hats, and tribal dresses, and tribal artefacts, even though they were born and raised less than a few kms away across the river in Thonburi;
Restaurants with signs only in Hebrew; my compatriots who sunbathe and
drink beer until their faces begin to resemble that big red spot on
Jupiter and then buy, and don, the aforementioned pointy, multi-colored tribal hats sold by
the aforementioned ladies. Chain-smoking French hippies with unruly children, Birkenstock replicas, and Beatles T-shirts with cut-off sleeves; Thai dudes with dreadlocks, bad personal hygiene, and prison tattoos strumming ‘No Woman No Cry’ on out-of-tune guitars to an audience of enraptured foreign women; anyone in a ‘Sex Instructor: Students Wanted’ T-shirt; middle-aged white men with Taoist tattoos, beads, and roll-your-own cigarettes denouncing and lavishing praise upon an assortment of ashrams; the ‘Where you go? Tuk-tuk! Boom Boom! Body masaaaaaa..!’ guy who stands in the same place every night, and offers the same greeting, every night…
My list went on. Perhaps you too have your own KSR-related peeves?
Please send them along and I shall compile a definitive list. Don’t be too nasty. Just a bit.
And, here for your reading pleasure, is the grand winner in my own personal ‘What Annoys You Most About Khaosarn Road?’ contest…
Vegans with laptops.
Bangkok 5: Fish Ball Noodles
I didn’t know fish had…
I dropped in here for 35 baht ‘thin’ noodles. Good broth.
It’s a popular spot down near the Robinson department store on what used to be called New Road. By no stretch of the imagination could you call it sophisticated cuisine, but it hits the spot after a long day walking in a hot and dusty Bangkok.
Almost next door this lady was selling something that smelled fantastic in a Soi-side streetstall. I couldn’t read the Chinese characters completely, though I think ‘egg’ was in there.
Bangkok 6: Roast Duck@Prachak
Very popular spot also down near the Robinson Department store, featured in the Fodor guide to the city, thus frequented by well-heeled Farang tourists and locals.
The duck wasn’t bad, but I know what the Japanese evaluation would be: ‘Kusuri no Aji‘, ‘It tastes like medicine’. There is something in there – one person suggested it is turmeric – that is found in Japanese kampoyaku medicine, for sure.
Bangkok 4: The Thai Seasoning Arsenal and Tuna Graprow
From left to right: Siu Kao Soy sauce, Prik Nam Pla Thai Chili in Fish Sauce, Prik Nam Som Thai Vinegar with Chili, and Prik Pon Thai dried ground chili.
Bangkok 3: At the Praya Palazzo
I had lunch at the lovely Praya Palazzo, a former 17th-century Italo-Thai palace right on the Chao Phraya river.
I say ‘lunch’, but it was more a mini-banquet, under the kind tutelage of Poonpat Vadhanasindhu, aka Don.
Bangkok 2: Streetfood around Khaosan Road
The ubiquitous Pad Thai, not at all bad this. At the place frequented by lots of Japanese backpackers on the Soi that runs East-West and parallel with Khaosan (the street with the Viengtai Hotel on it). Look for the sign that advertises food in Japanese and publicizes the waiter’s magic tricks.
Cooking my dinner. Everything flambéed here!
Cauliflower and Shrimp stir-fry, next-door to the Japanese-favoured place, alas as not as good as it looked. Way too much garlic.
These stir-fried vegetables at the same place were, however, great. Note the ubiquitous Tuk-Tuk, which in Thai means ‘Cheap-Cheap’. They aren’t.
Sawadee Kap. On the Road. Bangkok 1: May Kaidee’s
Writing this in Chennai, India, having spent the last week in Bangkok working on a magazine story.
I have been a regular visitor to May Kaydee’s vegetarian restaurant whenever in the Khaosan Road area of BKK for some years now. My first Thai food this trip was their ‘Thai-style Veggie Spring Rolls’, seen here.
They come ‘with optional dipping sauce’ except I didn’t somehow get an option. It was a chili amayonaise dip. Nice n herby spring rolls with mint and coriander in there.
Here’s my fave cook at May Kaidee’s. Always teasing me for taking photographs of my food instead of just eating it.
My favourite is Yum Hou Plee, the Banana Flower Salad . She looked me straight in the eye, and said “I will make it hot for you”. A bit scary, that.
It was on the upper limits of my chili tolerance levels, but still damn tasty.
By the way, there are a couple of May Kaidee’s, one just down the street from where I go, and where you will indeed find the eponymous lady sometimes. But I prefer the smaller ‘original’ place. It looks like this:
And this (below). It is inexpensive, and thus popular with the backpacker fraternity. Earwigging on the next table’s (oft loopy) conversations is all part of the fun. this trip that included a spotty British youth trying to chat up a girl from Winnipeg with tall tales of Prince Harry’s friends lavish druggy lifestyle, and three earnest but slightly confused Germans wondering about the use of swastikas in Thai temple architecture.
To get there head to the east end of Khaosan Road (not the Police Station end), and look across the street and you’ll see the Air Asia office. Both MK’s are in the alleyway that runs North-South behind the airline office. The one I like is opposite the ‘At Home’ Guest House. Easy to find.
The Finest Tofu いいお豆腐、さすが京都
松籟庵の外観 Shoraian is a beautiful old tofu restaurant set in woodland in Arashiyama, Kyoto, overlooking the Oigawa River.
There’s tofu, then there’s tofu. Once you’ve sampled the good stuff, all else pales. Kyoto is bean curd central. In particular Sagano-Arashiyama in the West of the city, and the Nanzenji temple district in the East are famed. I live a short walk from Nanzenji, but the tofu here I sampled at Shoraian, one of my favourite Kyoto restaurants.
揚げ出し豆腐＠松籟庵、嵐山
あわび豆腐＠松籟庵 This is tofu with abalone or awabidofu. Of late abalone is becoming one of my preferred tastes. Not sure why. Perhaps it is thanks to this dish, which was superb.
Pickles and Shellfish in Kyoto’s Nishiki Market 錦市場の漬け物、貝類
秋なす Eggplants aka Nasu were probably the first blue-purple things I ever ate. They are best in the autumn in Japan. A famed Japanese adage says you should never give the best ones to your wife in case she becomes too accustomed to the finer things in life. Personally I would be more than happy to give Sasha the best eggplants.
帆立 Scallops or Hotategai, a favourite of mine. Ate them once up in Aomori Prefecture in a very rough and rustic bowl of Ramen. Looked ropey, tasted fantastic. The place was called Shirakaba Ramen, the Silver Birch noodle shop, if you ever find yourself hungry on the windswept Western coast of the Shimokita Hanto peninsula.
黄瓜のつけもの Pickled cucumbers. With a little togarashi pepper to add some bite to the crunch.
カキ Oysters, first eaten in Japan aboard boats on the river that runs through Hiroshima, so they say. Hiroshima is still famed for them, as is Kumihama in Northern Kyoto prefecture. Best in winter. An old friend of mine, Yoshito, runs a Sake brewery in Kumihama, and I remember a great outdoor party he threw many years ago when he ordered a huge consignment of fresh oysters from his fisherman friend, which he steamed in sake sakamushi-style in a giant cauldron.
たくあんずけ Pickled daikon radish, or Takuanzuke. This is home-pickled, and that colour is natural. Not many japanese people know it, but Takuan isnamed after a monk of the same name who lived in the Takagamine district of North-west Kyoto.
Sasha and I at Dell Orso This Afternoon
Nice day today. We wrote a letter to our sponsor child, Laxmi, in Kathmandu.
