we haven’t had lunch when we reached Kyoto. Naomi once telling me on the email that we should try a soba place called Owari-ya once we get to Kyoto. it turned out to be pretty easy to find.
Owari-ya is an over 500 year old soba place. supposedly, back then, they were one of the places patronized by the Imperial Palace. wow… we’re going to eat the same food as the Japan Emperor… how cool is that?
ari ordered their Nishin Soba, the one with boiled herring on it. and, boy, it was excellent! the soup was tasty and quite salty, while the boiled herring was on the sweet side. there were sprinkle of scallion on top. ari was delighted.
ari’s Nishin Soba.
i, of course, had to try their specialty: the Hourai Soba. quoting from their menu:
Hora Soba: Original recipe of 8 toppings-mushroom, sliced egg, sesame horse-radish, seaweed,leek, deep-fried shrimps, grated white radish and grated red pepper.
Hora Soba.
yumm! the tray came with so many things on it.: the plate full of the condiments, five tray of soba and an English instruction on how to eat the soba. it also came with an empty cup with a cherry-blossom covered with salt and a pot of hot water. supposedly, after you finish the soba, you pour the hot water into the cup, resulting in a cherry-blossom tea… it supposed to have an effect of lowering your colesterol… ha!
the condiments tray.
the sakura tea.
i’m enjoying the last tray of my soba.
well, it was wonderful. ari and i agreed that it may be the best soba we’ve ever tried. we’re definitely going back next time we visit Kyoto again.
after the fulfilling lunch, we walked to the southern edge of the Imperial Palace. it was quite near from the soba restaurant. but the Palace itself was huge and after all that walking in Nanzen-ji temple, we didn’t really feel like walking around the palace. so we just took a stroll along the southern part of the palace, walking towards the nearest bus stop. along the way, we met many fat cats sitting on the bench along the small pond.
we took our afternoon nap in the ryokan, but as usual, we ended up waking up late. it was 10PM already when we woke up. so we just had our dinner at a Kare place across from the ryokan. we spent the rest of the night packing, since tomorrow, we’re heading to Osaka.
photo album: Japan Trip: Day 4 (27 December 2005).
6 comments
Owariya its my favorite place to eat..
When i saw those pictures, make me wanna go back there, too bad in NYC there is no good place to eat such as in Kyoto, only at Honmura An..or sobaya, but the taste is still better at Owariya..
wow, the combination of your story and the food pictures just makes me drool… gile! a steaming bowl of soba right now would be perfect in tonight’s cold weather 🙂
pas pertama ngeliat porsi “hora soba” nya kirain nggak gitu banyak. tapi setelah ngeliat “hora soba” nya dihadapan kamu, hueheheheheh sptnya porsinya banyak banget yaa?
duh kapan gue bisa sampai jepang ya?
oh i remember Honmura An, which was pretty good… and swanky. But i’ve never tried Sobaya… but Owari-ya is definitely our current favorite! thanks sooo much for letting us know about the place, Naomi 😀
aw, thanks! ari’s was a hot soba, which you probably like. mine was a cold soba, but the hot tea afterwards totally warmed me up 🙂
iya, porsinya juga bikin gue kaget. gue sempet mikir, wah gimana nih caranya ngabisin 5 piring soba… tapi ternyata ludes tuh… ampe piring condimentsnya aja kosong… haha.