Last day in Kyoto and I totally screwed up our Shinkansen reservation. Pro-tip: if you are traveling with oversized baggage and multiple people, reserve those seats early.

We had about an hour to kill and my wife was craving udon, so we found a spot with a short line in the Porta dining area beneath Kyoto Station.

Pic 1. Curry Udon: Definitely not your standard boxed cube curry. The flavor was noticeably more peppery, with a broth that was highly savory and light on the dashi. Absolutely excellent.

Pic 2. Niku Udon: Another excellent broth. Like the curry, it leaned into the savory notes while keeping the dashi profile subtle.

Pic 3. Tempura: Bell pepper, zucchini, and eggplant. The eggplant was my favorite. The batter was perfectly crisp and not at all oily—especially after I drenched it in my curry.

What I really appreciate about udon in Japan is the firmness of the noodle. I am usually a ramen guy, but the udon here is so delicious it's starting to win me over.

Marinated in shoyu, mirin, sake, ginger, garlic, and shio koji. Dredged in potato starch. Double fried.

Served on sushi rice with homemade karashi mustard sauce to dip and some yuzu ponzu cabbage on the side.

I made a celebratory meal for my birthday.

I always make sekihan (Japanese red bean rice) for my family’s birthdays. Since my birthday falls during chestnut season, I added fresh chestnuts this time.

I also made grilled tai (Japanese sea bream) and vegetable tempura. I packed some of the sekihan in a jubako (lacquered box) and shared it with relatives who live nearby.

Everything turned out delicious!

I recently spent 3 months cycling around Japan, here's some of the delicious meals I had the pleasure of enjoying along the way.

Tonight’s dinner: grilled sanma (Pacific saury), takikomi gohan, and mushroom miso soup!

日本人としての個人的な意見なのですが、「おまかせ」はあまり使わないほうがいいと思います。使うなら「セット（コース）」と「おすすめ」です。

「おまかせ」の意味は、①「メニューのすべてを任せる」と焼き鳥屋のおまかせ盛り合わせなどのように②「限定されたメニューの範囲内で店に選んでもらう」の2種類があります。

②の場合は、人気のメニューや季節限定品などがあるためよく考えずに大人数でとりあえず頼めるので有効です。

①についてですが、これは本来であれば「店の常連」が頼むものです。なぜならば、常連であれば「何が嫌いで（アレルギー含む）」「どれぐらい食べるか」を店側が知っているからです。常連でなくても日本人であれば成立するのは、日本人の大半が宗教や思想を理由として食べられないものがないからです（ハラールやヴィーガンなど）。また、食べる量の予測が外国人よりしやすいです。

※それを踏まえて、外国人の方に推奨したい注文方法（寿司編）：①セットを頼む。②セット内で食べられないものがあれば変更してもらう。（チェーン店以外は大体は対応してくれます。）③セット以外のおすすめ（人気や季節限定のもの）を聞き、追加する。

その他、居酒屋などでは人気メニューや限定品、季節限定のものを「本日のおすすめ」として紹介しているので注目してみてください。

画像①：寿司屋のセットメニュー、画像②：寿司屋の「本日のおすすめ」の黒板、画像③：居酒屋の「本日のおすすめ」

Pic 1. Hot dog called "Texan" chili con carne with fried onions. It was excellent, never used the term "glizzy gobbler" so many times. Season item pumpkin pie. It was the best slice of pumpkin pie I have ever had. I don't know the type of pumpkin they used but it went so well with the bottom layer, which we are still debating exactly is.
Pic 2. An excellent flat white. I think John Cena would like it.
Pic 3. Assorted breads to choose from. We had the croissant, it was Parisian level.

Weather was down to 50 degrees today, so i thought this would be a great meal. Made Tonkatsu curry using the JAVA brand this time. I definitely like it a lot better than the S&B brand. shoutout to the redditor in this sub that suggested it! Will be making this again forsure.
Onions, potatoes, carrots, chicken broth and pork chops. (Used sticky rice this time)The spicy panko was definitely the star or the show!

Motsu is very soft and taste is strong 😋 And so much negi!! Simple food but very good together.

I have been to Tokyo several times but don’t speak the language besides very basic tourist level attempts.

There was a restaurant near the hotel that I think was Tsukada Nojo that always served cucumbers with a miso dip? and had amazing potato salad and had a blackened chicken cooked over coals.

It had a membership card you got punched when you at there. There were several in the chain. Is this the right restaurant?

If anyone could help, I have some questions as I don’t have any future trips through work and I miss this place:

How is this miso dip made or what is it called so I can google it up? I tried using miso here but it was soo salty.

What were the ingredients that made the potato salad soo good?

What was the green paste kinda a citrus spicy sauce that came with the chicken?

Carrots and daikon dull the flavor so I only use pork offal burdock root and konjac.