Japan Food Travel Recap
+ March's Caring Kitchens donation
March was a quiet month for Crafty Cookbook, because my husband and I enjoyed two weeks of travel through Japan! This was our second trip to Japan, and we visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Okinawa (a Hawaii-esque island south of mainland Japan).
Our meals for the trip were heavily researched and planned (are you surprised? 😅), and we enjoyed some other awesome food experiences as well! I’ll break down the highlights below, but if you want to see pretty much everything we ate, head over to the story archives on my Instagram page. You can also check out my Instagram reels for some videos detailing all of the kitchenware shopping I did in Japan!
Note, nothing linked below is sponsored in any way <3
Our Favorite Meals
#1 - MAEN Sake Pairing Restaurant (Tokyo)
This was our favorite meal of the trip, and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Tokyo, whether or not you are a sake lover. 8 incredibly thoughtful small plate courses, each with surprising combinations (like venison over strawberry cream cheese, it sounds weird but wow, it was amazing). The chef clearly pours his passion into every dish, and since this restaurant is very tiny (only enough seating for ~6 guests) around the open kitchen, you get to watch the magic happen. Make a reservation early! Prices currently run $100 pp with the sake pairing or $66 without it. I think this is the best value meal I’ve had in my whole life.
#2 - Yoyogi-Uehara Yu (Tokyo)
This was another kaiseki-style meal, which is Japan’s classic fine dining format. This meal was truer to the traditional kaiseki style than MAEN, and is a great cultural experience if you’ve never had kaiseki before! 10 courses that again were so thoughtful and delicious! This one was also priced at $66 before drinks, and we added on the sake pairing which was another incredible experience. Many kaiseiki restaurants will run ~$300 a person, so I was delighted to find this more affordable option that wasn’t missing a thing. This is another small space (seating for ~10 guests) so reserve early.
Yoyogi-Uehara Yu - Google Maps
#3 - Hikiniku to Come (Kyoto)
I was worried this place would be all hype (as I have seen it all over Instagram) but WOW, that hype is well deserved. One of the best things about Japanese food is how simple dishes made with quality ingredients can become something incredible. This restaurant only serves one thing - hamburg steak (basically a big meatball) over rice. They prepare each hamburg steak on a grill in the center of the restaurant and serve them fresh as you go (a set meal includes 3 pieces and unlimited rice). There is a medley of sauces and seasonings to try as you go, and we sampled all the combinations. Make a reservation in advance if you want to enjoy this meal!
Hikiniku to Come - Google Maps
Fun Food Experiences
Soy Sauce Pressing in Asuka
Did you know less than 1% of soy sauce is still prepared using the traditional method of aging in large wooden barrels? This practice is slowly going extinct, and I really hope the trend reverses before the art is lost. Barrel-aged soy sauce has incredible flavor, and you should give some a try if you have the opportunity. We trekked off the beaten path over to the historic town of Asuka (south of Nara, east of Osaka) to see these barrels up close and do a final pressing of some soy sauce. The experience was so fun and educational, it was one of our favorite experiences from the whole trip!
Soy Sauce Experience Booking Link
Cooking Class in Okinawa
Okinawa is known for being a “blue zone” (where people tend to live a very long time), and much of that is attributed to their unique diet. Okinawan cooking deviates from mainland Japan and has cultural influences from Japan, Taiwan, China, and the US. It also features some unique veggies including goya (green bitter melon) and beni imo (Okinawa’s purple sweet potato). We took a private Okinawa cooking class to get the full experience of the culture/cuisine, and it was a blast!
Sake Tour in Fushimi, Kyoto
My husband and I (who are big wine people) have been getting more into sake lately. Sake is rice wine, not a distilled spirit as some people believe. Sake breweries tend to cluster around high-quality water sources because unlike wine, water must be added during the brewing process. The Fushimi area south of Kyoto has one of the largest clusters of sake breweries in Japan because of the abundance of high-quality spring water. We did a tour of the area led by sake sommeliers which was an incredible experience and we learned SO much from them.
We had a wonderful time exploring new places on the trip and revisiting old favorites. It’s really a food-lover’s paradise in Japan, with so many incredible restaurants that are so affordable. The small owner-operated businesses really bring out the best there is to offer, and I wish the US would return to this format more. You can see how much passion these small business owners pour into their craft, and the pride they have serving it to happy customers.
This month’s Caring Kitchens donation is staying close to home, supporting the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
Through Caring Kitchens, some of the money generated by ads on our recipe pages is donated to fight hunger and food insecurity, so just by scrolling, you’re supporting these impactful organizations. If you want to read more about the Caring Kitchens program, or nominate a charity for next month’s donation, head over to the Caring Kitchens page on the site!