ULTIMATE A5 Wagyu Beef VOLCANO SEAFOOD BOWL & MOST BEAUTIFUL Japanese Curry in Kyoto Japan

Hey guys, in this video I am in Kyoto, Japan trying out one of the most unique Japanese curries that you can only find in this Asian city. Then trying out another local favorite, the A5 Wagyu Volcano. Also stopping by for some local Kyoto sushi, and then a freshly prepared Kaiseki meal that tastes even better than it looks. Love being back in Kyoto. They actually renovated a lot of these, some of these older houses. First meal of the day, curry for breakfast. So this curry shop is very, very popular here in Kyoto. I'm surprised there's not a line at the door like there usually is. And the way they serve curry is very different than any that I've seen before. They serve it in these giant wooden rice bowls. This is the most beautiful curry I've seen in Japan. So a bridge of rice in between two different types of curry, and they told me the curry is made with 20 different types of spices and 5 different types of pickles, and it's a spicy curry that they usually sell with tempura. So I got a somen of tempura, which includes shrimp and vegetables, and there's just some matcha salt that you add onto the tempura. And they also give you a little pot of what they call Kyoto soup to go with the curry. So one side, I noticed some soy beans, some kidney beans, a very dark curry. The other side, I don't know what this is yet. Let's try it. Okay, this curry is incredible. It's not like any other Japanese curry I've ever had ever in Japan. This probably has the most complex flavor profile. It's spicy, it's smoky. Flavors are incredibly deep and complex. The beans, both the soy beans and kidney beans are not very soft. Just a really nice texture. Let's try this yellow curry. Mmm, oh the pickles are so good too. The other side, the curry is much thicker, there's more starch. I think this is chickpeas in here. That side, to me, tastes way more familiar. There's way more flavor, way more heat, it's thicker, a little richer, and the texture of the curry is so interesting because every bite, you mix in some of the pickles, there's pickled vegetables, so there's pickled greens, there's radish. The rice is really interesting because there's a mix of nuts in here, so you get a nice nutty flavor in every single bite. This is the most interesting curry I've had in Japan by far. Texture-wise, flavor-wise, it's fragrant, it's incredibly complex, both texture and flavor. This is an absolute must try here in Japan. The tempura is really good too, and the tempura goes really, really well with the curry. All the vegetable scrumptious. Oh my gosh, the little shiso leaf. Wow, that's so good too. I think the soup, very light amounts of dashi, maybe a little kombu, very light umami flavors in the broth. This is perfect after a very rich curry meal. This place is just phenomenal, it's so cute. All the dishes, like the tea is served in these little glasses, it's bouncing on a round bottom. Food looks beautiful, it's delicious. Yeah, this is highly, highly recommended. Also what you can do at the end, take the tempura, dunk it into the curry. The two different types of curry makes the taste even better. With all the different pickles in there, this is actually exceptional. I'll be thinking about this one for a while. The next place I'm going to, right here. This is gonna be pretty interesting. I've had a ton of wagyu before, but never a wagyu volcano. This is it, this is the wagyu volcano. What they do here is pretty cool. Slices of wagyu are used to cover the rice and it drapes down like a volcano. And inside, you can choose a variety of toppings. You can do steak, you can do seafood. So I got seafood. So I got some uni, some eggs and crab, scallops. It is A5 wagyu tour, so I'm smelling all that nice smoky sear from the wagyu right now. And there's also a little volcano on the bottom of wasabi. There's different condiments, like Japanese peppercorns, scallions, seaweed. And they have instructions. So first, simply savor the wagyu with the yolk, okay? Pour rice and wagyu into the spare bowl and pour special broth to savor the meal in a rice soup style. Or you can enjoy it with the peppercorn with a special soy sauce. Let's eat this on its own first. Itadakimasu. Pop the egg. Every time I pop one of these super golden egg yolks in Japan, it's like a painting. So the egg is flowing over the yakura, scallops, the uni. And you dig deep, so you get some rice, some yakura, some wagyu. Put some uni on there. Wow. I think it tastes better than it looks. I mean, how could it not be good, right? Every single ingredient here is some knock-your-socks-off kind of ingredients. The uni is incredibly soft and creamy and rich. Light bit of sweetness and a tiny bit of ocean umami. Got the popping yakura, which is pretty rich already. And then that richness is enhanced by that golden egg yolk. And then the wagyu. Look at this. So just take a little bit of that wagyu skirt. I'm gonna try to just take a little piece. I want to savor this as long as possible. Take a little slice of wagyu. You can see all the marbling. Put it into my volcano. I use that to grab a nice chopstick full of yakura, uni, egg yolk. And this time, add some scallops with it. Oh, that might be one of the greatest surf-and-turf combos you can find anywhere on this planet. And pretty much the best meats you can find on land. And the wagyu makes such a difference when it's torched. It's got just this incredible smoky flavor that goes with all that rich marble fat. And the savoriness of the wagyu is complemented by the sweetness of the uni and the ultra sweetness and tenderness of the scallops. And then besides the fatty natural umami coming from the beef, you're getting pops of pure umami, pure flavor essence from the yakura. That's so incredible. When things get a little too rich, add a little wasabi. Dig deep. And then I think this bite, I'm just gonna try different things. Sprinkle a little Japanese pepper on. Oh, nice. That adds a little bit of numbness. Man, I want to try the stock. So take some of the rice, add some Japanese stock, just like at the curry place. Go ahead, add some seaweed in here, just to make it official. This is actually so nice. Oh, that soup is delicious. That's a very light broth with a ton of umami flavor. That's actually so good. With a little bit of rice. Wow, that's phenomenal. That stock is absolutely phenomenal. I mean, I've tried wagyu a lot of different ways, but to have it with a bunch of exquisite seafood and all the ingredients they use here is top-notch. The scallop is tender, it's soft, it's sweet. Incredibly succulent and delicious. The yakura is good. The uni is delicious and creamy. The dish came out absolutely beautiful. This is a fun, delicious way to eat wagyu. Not bad. Oh, and by the way, right now in Kyoto, it's like 95 degrees. This is way hotter than Tokyo. And I'm here at my next restaurant. This is gonna be really interesting. Had to get some sushi here in Kyoto. This is just beautiful. It's like a work of art here. The serving tray they use, it's this little wooden bamboo box. You drop back the bamboo curtain and there it is. One, two, three, four, five, about 23 pieces of these intricately made little sushi. And all with different fish and vegetables. So there's squid, tuna, salmon, scallops, edamame, duck. So it's like a tray of surf and turf sushi focused on the surf. This is really pretty. Start with this. I love Japanese chopsticks. They're so different than Chinese chopsticks. These are just made for grabbing really intricate food items. Yakura. Not only does it look good, that's freaking delicious. I love that poppy umami filled little bubbles. Perfect amount of rice. Chase it with a little pickle. That pickle is good. Oh, this is so cool. Which way should I have started? This way? Doesn't matter? Okay. Nice, but I thought I made a great mistake there. Let's save the duck for last. Sea bream. Sea bream is very delicate and tender. It has a subtle sweet flavor with an intricate note of the ocean. And it's really just a perfect little bite of sea bream and sushi rice. And check this out. This is uh, looks like little mustard seeds on top of some squid. Okay, that was actually sesame. A lot of nice sesame flavors in that bite. The squid is nice and snappy. I couldn't point exactly what it is. But that was definitely a nice mild piece. This is really cute. Look at this. This is a little dashi soup with some mochi and eggplant inside. Very, very light. Very light. Very mild flavors. Definitely goes well with the sushi. Next piece, another sea bream with I think some cheese and sesame on top. Tastes like cream cheese with sesame on top of the sea bream sushi. That's a fantastic bite. This place is definitely very innovative when it comes to their sushi. I love coming to places. I mean, I love traditional sushi as well. Omakase is wonderful. I love it. But I also love places that push the boundaries and try out new ingredients with the different types of fish. That piece I just had was very well executed. This next piece, this is a yellowtail with a piece of eggplant on top. The yellowtail is extremely buttery and delicate. The sauce is a little sweet. It's definitely a piece with very delicate flavors. This is another piece of squid with okra on top. Love the nice crunch from the topiko. Squid is very tender. The texture of that piece is very different than the ones I've had before. Let's keep going. This stuff is really fun. It's just beautiful. It's delicious. You just keep popping it in your mouth. Each piece is half a regular sushi. Next is scallops and a sesame rice roll on the bottom. That was the softest piece. That scallop is melt-in-your-mouth tender. Beautifully naturally sweet. Very nice when it mixes. Zesty flavor of the tomatoes. The sesame brings a beautiful fragrance. Kyoto food uses a lot of sesame, which I love. Quality of the sesame here, I don't know. It's just the flavor that you miss once you start chewing it. It's so intense yet comforting. It just adds so much depth to basically anything you put it on. Now this is tuna with I don't know what's on top of this. A little piece of veg on top. It's very crunchy. It does have a little citrusy flavor. Beautiful. Beautifully tender. Incredibly soft. And that piece of veg just adds a nice contrasting crunch. And this next piece, you can tell this is a fatty piece of salmon with a little slice of yuzu on top. Wow. That might be my favorite piece so far. I love a really nice fatty piece of salmon. I love tasting that fat just rendering on my palate. And the yuzu, of course, just provides a burst, a blast of citrusy flavor. There's a bit of bitterness too. And that goes really, really well with that salmon. And chasing a little soup. A little pickled eggplant. Pickles. That was a nice piece. This piece of eel with some pickles and eggs on top. I'm gonna taste that smoke right away. That's a very smoky eel. Very soft too. Well flavored. This is interesting. Never had this before. This is edamame sushi. That's definitely got a burst of edamame flavor. A little starchy but the edamame flavor is very strong on that piece. This eggplant with little fish on top. Really like that one. The eggplant is good. There's a lot of nice umami flavor that comes from this little fish. That was a very unique, innovative piece of sushi. Finally, check this out. Smoked duck. Very soft. A little sweet. The toppings. Very good ratio. The rice is fragrant. It goes down very easily. That duck. Barely need to chew that. Wow. This thing is already done. Look at that. Put down very easily. It's also incredibly light. Whenever food disappears extremely quickly and almost without you realizing it. That's always a good meal. Finally, fake jello. It's delicious. Not too sweet. Man, they didn't really much add much sugar to this at all. Really just the natural sweetness of the fake. I love trying new food items here in Japan. This is definitely something I've never seen before. Really innovative little sushi bites. I feel like a lot of foods in Kyoto get so beautiful to look at. I think this definitely fits the bill. It's gorgeous. It tastes good. It's fun to eat. Restaurant also has a lovely atmosphere. Finally, some hot tea to wash everything down. Delicious. Beautiful. That's a fun meal. Dinner today is at Arashiyama. And this is one of my favorite parts of Kyoto. This is where the legendary bamboo forest is. It's right by the water. And tonight's dinner. Oh kakigori. Oh my gosh. Ramune in a bag. Anyway, dinner is going to be pretty and delicious. The restaurants in this area is usually in these very traditional houses. There's a lot of very traditional Kyoto food items. And here is where I'm going. So this restaurant I am at is called Harunohi Gozen. It looks out over a bridge and a river. This is absolutely stunning. And the water in Kyoto is so amazingly clear. So tonight, I'm going to eat some delicious food. And I think it's definitely going to taste better with this right in front of me. Another reason why this restaurant is so cool is I love restaurants that just focus on a few items. This restaurant, this is all you get. This is the menu. There's one page. Basically a kaiseki platter. This is all seasonal ingredients locally sourced here in Kyoto. There's going to be grilled alfonsino and yuzu soy sauce. And you pour broth over it to make it into an ochazuke. Which is pretty much what I've been eating all day. There's also seasoned seafood churashi bowl. And you can either eat it as is or they give you seaweed to make it into a hand roll. There's also shrimp and autumn vegetable tempura. That again, you can eat it as is or make that into an ochazuke. Finally, this is really cool. So grilled wagyu shoulder. They give you a hot grill and you can sear your wagyu along with their seasonal vegetables. This is the perfect meal to enjoy while looking at this. So this is the kaiseki tray and it is absolutely gorgeous. So you got the tempura, wagyu with the local mushrooms and sweet potatoes, carrots and shishito pepper. The surf bowl, salmon, tuna, ikura, prawn. There's a rice bowl with alfonsino inside. And an egg bowl. And a grill for the vegetables and the beef. And you open this little jar up. Inside is pork belly and rice. That was not on the menu. I mean everything is vibrant, it's colorful, it's fresh. There's vegetables, there's seafood, there's meat. First thing she said to cook is the wagyu and the vegetables. There's a little tray of butter here. So I'm gonna try the wagyu with my egg bowl so I can dunk the meat into that rich yolk. Just a little bit of salt and pepper in that. That's all you need. That thing is rich, it's marbled, it's a loin. So it's very lean and it's got such a nice beefy flavor. And especially once you dip it a little bit into the egg yolk. Make that wagyu even richer. The egg over rice is phenomenal too. A little creamy, a little sweet. Eggs are so fluffy in this bowl. I think it tastes great with the wagyu. Just drop it in there. That goes really well together. And the wagyu cooks very quickly. The mushrooms, it's really snappy and fresh. Shishito pepper, I like to kind of just burn it a little more. This place also has unlimited iced tea. Which is a major plus. So the next thing I'm gonna try the grilled apansino. And this is marinated in yuzu soy sauce. And it's served with dashi chazuke. Let's take the yuzu out of this one. I'm actually gonna leave the yuzu in here. There's some onions on the side. Bite the fish with the rice on its own. The fish is smoky, very savory. It's got a nice chewy texture. I think this is gonna be much better in a broth. Take your dashi broth into the rice bowl with the fish. Keep that yuzu in there for some extra flavor. I've been having this all day. I still love it. Every place I went to, the dashi broth tastes a little different. This place has a nice light umami flavor. At the same time, a little tiny hint of citrus. But that nice savory flavor of the fish. And as you chew, it blends with the wonderful umami of the dashi. The rice is phenomenal. The vegetables are a great touch. I really enjoy this with some of the grilled vegetables, which are awesome, by the way. Kyoto is really known for their local produce. That's why the city has tons of vegetable buffets. So nice. Sweet potatoes are good. The carrots are good. Mushrooms, everything. A little bit of salt. All you really need. And all those taste so good with those chazuke. They have a bowl of assorted tempura as well. Mochi tempura with really crispy rice puffs on top. Wow. That's another thing Kyoto is known for. Of course, you got shishito pepper, prawn, eggplant. Every single piece of tempura. It's so light. Fantastic crunch on the outside. Especially this eggplant is so juicy inside. It's an absolute picture perfect tempura. It's seasoned very well too. Goes really well with this rice. Also, this is really cool. So it's a little seafood plate with the sashimi, the ikura, little seaweed wrappers. Oh, that's awesome. It's a perfect surf and turf. Eat some wagyu, some local vegetables. Then just dig into that fresh buttery seafood. That salmon is so nice and fatty. And any leftover rice. Highly recommend. Just add some broth in. Make it into ochazuke. Oh, so good. Still have the pork belly and the prawn. Let's try this pork belly. This is so crazy good. That is some melty, melty pork. Oh, that thing just melts in your mouth completely. And this rice is really unique too. It's sweet potato rice. So you get a little starchy flavor from the sweet potatoes. And this thing is just infused in pork fat. Wow, this is so good. Chase it with some of the prawn. This is really nice and sweet. Wash all that down with some more dashi soup. I'm gonna keep the prawn head in there for some extra flavor. Oh, that's nice. This is an absolutely knocked it out of park grand slam. Beautiful meal. I feel like eating in the city, you gotta have some very traditional meals. And kaiseki meals, about as traditional as you can get. And especially in this area of Kyoto, Ayashiyama, everything is so beautiful. To be able to eat such a beautiful, delicious meal, staring out into the water, historical houses. It's a one-of-a-kind experience. So if you are ever here, of course, go to the bamboo forest and everything. But definitely go to one of these very traditional restaurants. And just slowly eat, soak in the sights. I think you're gonna love it. This is a beautiful little pudding shop. And they sell raspberry ramune. Wow, that's refreshing. It's like really, really refreshing. There's so many cool looking soft serve too. This one is muscat and jasmine tea. Look at this drink. Blueberry earl grey soda. One last dinner before heading back to Osaka. Chow Chow Gyoza. This place does look a little touristy. But it has dozens of different types of gyoza. So worth a try. So I got some cold cucumbers. I got two types of dumplings. First, mala. This tastes like the kind of sauce they would put in mapo tofu. A lot of ginger in these dumplings. Overall, not too bad. Skin is very thin and light. I can't really taste too much of the pork. I definitely taste a lot of cabbage in here. A lot of cabbage and a lot of ginger. A little sweet. Definitely spicy. Definitely numbing. Wish I can taste more of the pork though. Not bad. That's a lot better. Much bigger porky flavor. It's juicy. The same really thin nice wrapper. I like the mala sauce. But I like the pork dumpling much better. So I got the special. It also comes with an order of their chow chow dumpling. Filling is very small too. It's not bad. It's like a little juicy fried dumpling with a super thin crispy wrapper. Not a huge porky flavor. You're really eating this with a whole package. Like the wrapper is super thin and crispy. The filling is okay. But I feel like the wrapper plays a huge part in this being a tasty dumpling. Overall, not a bad dumpling. I wouldn't say this is a particularly amazing dumpling either. That's okay. Wow, look at the line for Ichiran ramen. Don't blame them. That's a good ramen. Wow, this is a really popular sushi place. Prices are actually not bad at all. Back in Osaka. I've got to get one more thing. You got to end the day with a kakigori. That was an incredible food day in Kyoto. I think the only thing that would have made it better if it wasn't so hot. I mean, again, I've never been to Japan in the summer. But all in all, another awesome food day. And as always, I'll place that Wintu list down below for you guys. Thank you all so much for watching. Until we eat again, see you later.