Enjoy Japanese Traditional Fast Food Udon in Kyoto as A Healthy Dinner Omen

Udon is a white thick noodle made with wheat, and usually served as a noodle soup style in Japan.

In the film “Blade Runner”, you will find Harrison Ford is eating two cups of udon at a stall of udon noodle in the opening scene. But it is not difficult to eat this fast food in Japan, for example, you can often find udon stand by platform of the railroad as a fast food.
Cheap and quick fast food the udon is, but it is loved by many Japanese people.

Taste of udon noodle is however, quite different from region to region, and I wanted to introduce you Kyoto original style udon noodle.
However, Kyoto was a capital city of Japan for long years and Kyoto cook with proud basically paid no attention to fast food cooking, I could not find any Kyoto specific udon taste as far as I searched.

So here I will introduce you “Omen” as a very good udon restaurant in Kyoto, but the taste and eating style was arranged from that of Gunma prefecture, at the north side of Tokyo.
But I strongly recommend “Omen” as a best shop for your fine udon noodle experience not only in Kyoto but also in Japan. It is really sophisticated and healthy udon eating style.


Near Ginkakuji temple, just beside the road of philosophy, there is a restaurant for cooking udon and seasonal organic foods, “Omen.” In Japanese, men means noodle, and if you put o- or go- at the top of the name of any stuff, it means you call it politely.

This restaurant udon eating style is that of Isezaki city of Gunma prefecture and is different from that of Kansai region including Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe.
You will eat udon as a tsukemen style, dressing udon the hot soy sauce broth with many seasoning or boiled seasonal vegetables. The name of “Omen” derived from the name “Gomen” that was originally used in Isezaki city.
The color of this udon noodle broth is dark, because in Kanto region, including Tokyo, usually use koikuchi soy sauce, black and salty.
On the other hand, Kansai people, especially in Kyoto, like to use usukuchi soy sauce with light color and lower salt concentration.
So it was quite strange eating style for Kyoto people at first, however, I think the combination of tsukemen style and a lot of boiled vegetables as a seasoning made Kyoto people to accept to use koikuchi soy sauce in udon broth, I think.

Yes, having almost the same amount of boiled vegetables seasoning with udon noodle in this restaurant, I thought I was just eating a kind of salad with noodle.
Vegetables included Hakusai, carrot, egg plants, Gobou, bamboo roots, lotus root, etc, and every vegetables were boiled and decollated on the flat dish in Japanese cook style.

Dark brown broth made with Konbu & Katsuo dashi and koikuchi soy sauce was salty.
You should better to think about whether you will put every noodle and vegetables into broth, or just putting noodle only and eat vegetables with those noodles free from soy sauce.

Udon noodle itself is was elastic and delicious, so the salty broth is very good combination with this type of noodle as you know, but I recommend you to choice the latter style, if you have to be careful about your blood pressure ;-).
In lunch time it is so crowded with sight-seeing people, so I recommend you to visit the restaurant at late afternoon from 15:30 to 17:30.
Not only udon, but also some seasonal food dishes I recommend you to try with a combination of Atsukan, hot sake in Tokkuri bottle.
You will also enjoy watching folkcrafts collected by owner. I do not know whether he can speak English or not, but if you have a Japanese guide or friend with you, and the restaurant is not so crowded, you can ask the owner to meanings of those folkcrafts or words on them.
He will be glad to explain it.
You will also find a few other branch shop in Kyoto, Omen-Shijo or Omen-NIPPON.


Kyototravel


“Omen Ginkakuji-Honten”
Jodoji-Ishibashicho 74, Sakyoku, Kyoto
open：11:00～22:00
holiday：Thursday（If it is a national holiday, Wednesday will be a holiday of this shop ）
Phone: 075-771-8994

Reasonable restaurant where you can enjoy Hanamachi Ochaya style in pontocyo area Kyoto “Shiki-Yoshina”

It is narrow, long and having many sideway, it is always crowded with many customers and tourist, Pontocho street is the representative of Kyoto downtown for night enjoyment. This bar restaurant “Shiki-Yoshina” is at the center area of Pontocho street and face to Kamogawa river, this is one of the best restaurant you can enjoy Kyoto traditional style bar restaurant in reasonable price.

Previously, Pontocho was famous as a street with many Ochaya, a place where you can drink, eat, and have a fun talk, listen to songs or watch dance of Geisha girls. Nowadays only Hanamachi street in Gion or Nanahomnmatsu have those Ochaya in Kyoto.

This bar restaurant Shiki-Yoshina uses an Ochaya house in Pontocho keeping traditional ochaya style interiors, so you can watch and enjoy traditional ochaya style house and furnitures here. That is one of the reason why I recommend you this restaurant.

After walking through narrow front garden and when you walk into the entrance, you will find "Chouba", traditional Japanese counter you often but usually only watch in Japanese TV program Jidaigeki, like Akira Kurosawa's film or so.

It is also interesting that you can see "Tansukaidan" you scarecely watch the real one in use. This old-fashoned chest of drawers under stairs is also a rare item most of the recent Japanese people have never seen, because it was typical furniture in Ochaya in Kyoto, but more than 99% of Japanese people have never walk into Ochaya, Geisha house in their lives.

These house style and furniture make this restaurant Yoshina very attractive for foreigners.

The dish of this restaurant is a creation Kaiseki dinner dish designed based on the Kyoto style cooks.
Any dish are made with full of originality and everything is attractive piece for me. I always wonder which dish to eat or which dish to give up to order.

Tonight, I ordered following dishes.

Kyoto-Mizuna, Maitake and Ikura Ohitashi, it means soaking of Kyoto-mizuna greens and hen of the woods, garneshed with soy-sauce flavored salmon eggs.

Sashimi of Kuromutsu (Gnomefish, Scombrops gilberti), fished in Kushimoto, Wakayama.

Lack deep-frying of pearl oyster pillar and Kujou spring onion.

Kyou-Namafu no Dengaku, Baked bean curd daubed with miso of capital wheat gluten. After all, it is a wheat gluten you must eat whenever you coming to Kyoto.

Tataki, Surface roasting of combination duck sirloin.

The menu of dessert are original, unique and attractive, so you have to keep your stomach room for them J.

This is "Japanese style ice crape tailoring of soybean flour and black honey. "

Surprisingly, I found the wheat gluten encompassed in the crape. It was my first experience to eat the wheat gluten with crape and ice cream. Here is "Tart style balsamico source of a fresh fig tree and the custard. " of recommended desert.

All dishes of the Yoshina are being made from the orthodox technique of professional cooks.

Because it is called as a creation tea lunch dish style, the cooking method and the seasoning are twisted , however, you can understand it is made by traditional capital dish taste when you taste it.

I always mind about visiting Yoshina, when I visit Kyoto. One of my favorite restaurant in Kyoto and, in honestly, I hesitated to write about this restaurant here.

The terrace in open air is built in the banks of a river of Kamogawa at the summer season. Then, you can eat the dish while seeing the town in Kyoto of the evening. It is called “Kawayuka” and held from May to September, so you can ask customers, “ Do you open Kawayuka this evening? .“

I recommend you to try any season of Yoshina taste.

「Shiki　Yoshina」Pontocho tori Sanjo kudaru Higashigawa

open：17:00-23:00

Phone: 075-213-4471

Admission Fee Free Traditional Japanese Garden in Kyoto "Ganko Takasegawa Nijo-en"

A Traditional Japanese Garden in Kyoto with No Admission Fee.

This is an introduction of a very wonderful Japanese traditional garden called "TAKASEGAWA-GENRYU-TEIEN; Takasegawa river source garden" set aside Japanese food restaurant "Ganko Takasegawa Nijo-en."

You can stroll in this beautiful garden whether you are a customer of the restaurant or not. Everybody is welcome when he will ask the restaurant employees to visit the garden for walking. Of course, admission fees etc. are not charged at all.



PictureClick and watch a picture of the garden in summer.





There was a small standing signboard written in Japanese "Welcome anybody strolling in the garden without eating or shopping in restaurant, ask employees to walk in."
At first, I didn't think it is valuable to walk into the garden because it is tatally free, but it was surprisingly beautiful garden comparable to a few of well known traditional garden of the shrine or temples in Kyoto.

As is the case with traditional temples garden, you can enjoy the four seasons flowers and plants, and artificial brook and ponds decorated by stones.
Some of the staffs sometimes will talk to you (in Japanese) to explain the meanings of those stuffs in the traditional garden, and mount view you can watch from the garden.

Plum and cherry blossoms will sprout in spring. Firefly flies over the brook in summer.
Many trees colored red or yellow in autumn. By chance you can watch white snowed garden from warm restaurant seat in winter.
…Last case you need to be a customer in the restaurant ;-).

I recommend you to look around the garden to find the meanings of garden stones set along the walking road or brook.
It is intriguing to watch the shape and trace the old Japanese peoples' imagination.

"Tora-ishi", it means tiger stone, having a tiger like stripes are sculptured on its surface by river water found in Setagawa river in Shiga prefecture.
"Tagasode-no-Tsukubai" means the hand washing place stone set in front of the tea ceremony room, "Tsukibai," in this case it looks like a sleeve of woman's Kimono.
"Sazare-ishi" means small stones, it is a stone spontaneously made by small stone flakes connected by calcification, and it is loved by old Japanese Kizoku people because it will make a lovely sound when you set in artificial brook.
"Fuku-kaeru no ishi" (Fortune frog stone) naming derived from the Chinese legend of frog which will bring you fortune if that frog lives in your home garden.

Isn't it interesting? Japanese people loved to find a world and four seasons in their home garden to watch everything anytime if you want.
You can also find "Bakedourou," monster stone lantern made by naturally shaped stones, "Azumaya-dourou", the biggest stone lantern in Japan, a very old plum tree aged more than 150 years etc.
Personally, I love to watch the big carps in the pond as if they are suffering from metabolic syndrome ;).

Ganko Takasegawa-Nijoen Takasegawa Genryu Teien;This garden was made by Kadokura Ryoui, the wealthy merchant at Keicho 16 (), and sold to Yamagata Aritomo, who was a prime minister of Japan in 19th century, called "Daini-Murin-An", and bought by Kawata Koichiro, who was a president of Nippon Ginkou, and then bought by prime minister Abe Nobuyuki, and then now, Mr. Ooiwa is a owner of this traditional garden and house, who are using them for his restaurant now calling it "The Residence Ooiwa".

You need to ask restaurant employee to let you walk in the garden.
"Oniwa misete kudasai."It means "Let us stroll in your garden, please.
" Or if you speak slowly, they will understand English.
"May I walk in your Japanese garden?" is O.K. :.And you must get off your shoes at first and you can only use Japanese sandals prepared by the restaurant to stroll in the garden.
The largest sandals size is 9.5 or 10 at US size, so that please be patient to strolling in the garden for a half hour or so.
Anyway it's completely free and sometimes employee will give you a souvenir like Sushi shaped candy or a tiny amusement stuff free. It's great!
Most of the Japanese sight-seeing people do not know this information ;).


“Ganko Takasegawa-Nijoen Takasegawa Genryu Teien”
Kyotoshi Nakagyoku Kiyamachitori Nijo-kudaru Higashiikesuchou 484-6
Phone:075-223-3456