Barbara and Greg's Adventures: Japanese Food and Restaurants

We were not great fans of Japanese food before this trip, but we had some fabulous meals. We thought the meals on the Road Scholar portion might be just average, but many of them were incredible banquets - and some even included unlimited drinks! That way we were able to sample the beers (excellent), wines (not so great) and sake (we never did develop much of a taste for it).

Presentation of our hot pot ingredients at a restaurant in Tokyo

Bento box lunch at our Kabuki Theater performance

Outer Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo

We saw these pale pink strawberries several places in Japan but never actually tried them to see if they tasted the same as the red ones we are used to.

Our favorite restaurant in Kyoto. We went there with the Road Scholar group and liked it so much we made another reservation to go back when we were on our own. We had been served several multi course meals during the trip, but this is the first time I remembered to take my camera. The food was not only beautifully presented but also very delicious!

Sakura (cherry blossom) pot de creme and matcha gelato and cake.

We had made a reservation at this restaurant in Kyoto and couldn't find it. We didn't know that we should look for the unicorn since that was the name in Japanese!

It specialized in okanomiyaki which is served on a grill built into the middle of the table.

Another multi course meal in Kyoto - with a small garden in the rear

For our last dinner on the Road Scholar tour, we went to a restaurant with many private rooms, surrounded by gardens that were beautifully lit in the evening. After dinner, we were able to walk through the garden.

Looking back into our banquet room.

Our second visit to Tsukihi.

Check out the tiny shrimp. It's about as big as your fingernail.

A Spanish restaurant near our hotel was highly recommended. Our waiter was really fun - he was from Barcelona and spoke English, Catalan and Japanese. We had wagyu beef and seafood paella.

For our last dinner in Japan, we went to a very lovely place recommended by our tour guide. She lived in Kyoto and this was one of her favorites. It overlooked the river and we even had a full moon that night.

Last, but not least, we visited the Food Hall in the Daimaru Department Store. We had heard about these food halls, but you can't imagine the selection of fresh and prepared foods. Some were reasonably priced and some prices were stratospheric.