Kyoto in Full Glory

Our Room at the Ritz Kyoto 

Yasakanoto Pogoda

Bamboo Charcoal Covered Lotus Root

Cone of Rice with Salmon Eggs

Lobster with Black Fig

Barracuda Fish and Eggplant

Wooden Breadbox with Hot Stone

Fish Carpaccio with Shaved Vegetable Ice

Spaghetti with Sweetfish

Tortellini with Quail, Porcini and Chestnuts

Grilled Pork

Two Different types of Wagyu Beef

Citrus with Ice

Coconut Flan

Tori Gates to Yasaka-Jinja Shinto Shrine

We left Hoshinoya for the 40-minute taxi ride to the Ritz-Carlton, our Kyoto home for the next few days. We arrived about noon, but our room wouldn’t be ready till 3pm. It didn’t take long to figure out the most productive use of our time would be to go shopping. Leaving our luggage behind at the hotel, we taxied to Takashimaya. Another of Japan’s fabulous department stores. Yes, it has a Jurgen Lehl store. The food court is enormous and we found a  product we had been looking for since we arrived in Japan. It is a package of ingredients added to rice when it is cooking to for flavor. We purchased several.

We returned to the hotel, and eventually checked into our room. I then had a fabulous massage, so good in-fact, that I booked the same woman for Cathy tomorrow. I took a short walk around the neighborhood. The area The Ritz is situated in is made for walking, lots of cute stores to check out.

After cleaning up for dinner we had cocktails at the hotel bar and grabbed a taxi to take us to Il Ghiottone. Last time we were in Kyoto we wanted to eat at this restaurant but it was closed. We told Tom and Scott about it and they got in! They loved it and couldn’t stop talking about it. This time it was our time to go. 

We had an only in Kyoto magical experience with taxi drivers that night. We had the hotel prepare a map in Japanese, to direct him to the restaurant. He kept looking at the map as he drove us - clearly, he was confused. He eventually pulled the taxi over to the side and parked. He pointed in a direction up a side street and spoke to us in Japanese. He quickly understood we didn’t follow what he was saying. He turned off the engine, locked the car and escorted us down the small dark street. We turned the corner and there was the breathtaking illuminated huge Pagoda Yasakanoto. He continued to walk, escorting us to our restaurant destination. The magic of Kyoto.

No description could do the restaurant justice. Kyoto is a most renown restaurant city in Japan. They specialize in very ritualized multi-course Kaseki dinners. The chefs modify the dinner to seasonal foods, colors and tastes. At Il Ghiottone, all of that is accomplished but with an Italian slant. It is amazing, and filling, and wonderful. I decided to show a picture of every course rather than try to describe them. We had perfect wine pairings and a fabulous waiter – Kentaro. 

He called a taxi for us. In another only in Kyoto experience - the the Kentaro, instructed the driver to take us to the nearby large Yasaka-Jinja Shinto Shrine, and wait while we explored it. It is very large with many buildings in the complex. When we were finished we returned to car for our drive back to the Ritz. It was a wonderful first day in Kyoto!