For Wednesday's night dinner, we were treated to dinner. You see my brother's girlfriend is originally from the Kyoto area, and her mother arranged for us to have a dinner at Ganko along the Kamagawa (river). We arrived a few minutes early, changed our shoes, and we were led to our table by a traditionally dressed girl (who let us take her photo, and then took a photo for us).
We sat down, and were treated to an appetizer course that had many, many different types of food (it was a little bit intimidating, but I was/am trying to be brave with trying new
food, experiences, etc.). We tried nearly everything, but a very large wasp moved in on our table and after few minutes of trying to avoid it we had to have the staff help us out. One of the girls in the kimono tried to shoo it away and it nearly flew up her kimono. Another guy came over and tried to trap it in a bowl with a wet tow
el, but it managed to escape and flew
off into the evening sky.
After that, we ordered some sake (the meal was all you can drink as well, which we took advantage of) and another beer. Unfortunately they took a the appetizer course away at that point, but we had tried everything by then and I wasn't too disappointed.
The next course was composed of pike, shrimp, trout, and yuba (which I don't like much). The pike is a regional fish of Kyoto, and while my brother didn't enjoy it, I found it to be very tasty. The shrimp and trout were good as well, but as I mentioned the yuba (tofu skin) is not my favorite. Ok, it reminds me of old people skin, which is not an appetizing thought at all.
At this point, it's difficult to remember what we had next. Again, it was all you can drink.
However, we believe that it was more pike, but this time with plum sauce. I enjoyed it, and actually then ate some of my brother's serving.
By now, it was time for a whole fish with the skin still attached. My brother and I were wondering if this was dessert, and he didn't eat it but I found it to be really tasty.
It wasn't dessert, following the whole fish we had a traditional Japanese dessert with tofu, fruit, and some sugary syrup, which we both enjoyed. After many servings of sake and beer, we headed out and grabbed a taxi back to Kyoto station to meet up with a Japanese friend of my brother's who he met in Boston. He's a pediatrician now in Kyoto, and he was obviously super-smart and super-friendly.
We headed out from the station to meet up with my brother's girlfriend and her friend at Slowly (which was very close to Kyoto station), a bar full of international beers. Given that it was the summer, I enjoyed a Red Stripe. After that, I called it a night for me and just hung out until we left the place and headed back to our hotel room.
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