tofu kaiseki

That was the entrance to our lunch spot after a stroll around Tenryuuji's garden. We arrived not knowing whether if it's open, or even not knowing if this is the place we were looking for. I learned earlier from a friend about a must-go tofu place in Arashiyama without knowing the name, and I recalled a short chat with an ojisan who sold me my disposable camera right in front of Yasaka-jinja about a famous restaurant which I googled up to be Shoraian. It wasn't too far from where we were so I decided to pay it a visit. 

Shoraian is super cool, not only its location stood out but also the tofu set do not disappoint. I was a little skeptical about having an all-tofu meal as it was one of the foods I would skip over, but I couldn't pass it on as Kyoto is famous for its tofu. It took us a little hike to arrive at Shoraian's doorstep, and I was relieved to hear people talking on the phone (at least someone was in). We didn't make any reservation for this last minute idea (please do if you plan to visit) but fortunately we got in again! 

After being seated by the obaasan, we were presented menu which only consisted of 3 sets to choose from: Shofu, Shoyo, Shorai, where in all cases the latter is the subset of the first -just perfect for the three of us!

Having experience from our first day, we knew the sets are going to be big so we took our time and enjoyed the food slowly. Shofu definitely was the best as it offers the most types of dishes, which includes a mini plate of wagyuu steak and a special tofu gratin. I was very intrigued by the Japanese's ability of fine-tuning the details, up to the extent where different kinds of salt were used in different dishes. Even on our first day, we get to choose to season our Kobe beef with sea salt or rock salt (which I really can't tell the difference) and for this meal I learned about more salt variations such as matcha salt and yukishio (snow salt) to go with tempura and yuudofu (soup tofu) respectively. How fancy they are! 

The meal ended well with brown-sugar-drizzled tofu ice-cream and hojicha (which we shamelessly refilled several times cos it was so good). We felt so thankful for our pampered tummies during our stay in Japan, and there really is no worry about weight from all the travelling. 

Surely consider visiting Shoraian if you come to Arashiyama. I wouldn't think that it costed a bomb for the quality of space and food you're getting, and this experience really made our trip extra special and memorable. I wouldn't mind to come again in another season, but I heard this place is always fully booked during the peak seasons and requires a two-month earlier reservation to get a seat.