Tempura at Yoshikawa Inn, Kyoto

A small zen garden by the restaurant. Did you notice how all the fern leaves plant were placed at the right spot??? So much of thoughts and efforts put into a lil zen garden that looked so effortless.

In fact Yoshikawa is a Ryokan typed inn located right smack in the middle of beautiful Kyoto. I must say Kyoto is one of my favourite city in Japan. There's so much of culture to be felt and experienced here. Oh well, after all Kyoto was Japan's ancient capital city.

Yoshikawa Inn has got 9 rooms so to book an accommodation here was never a walk in the park. I guess it also depends on the seasons and a lil bit of luck :)

Chef's lil corner. Yoshikawa offers counter seating for 11-12 guests only. Because it's alwiz fully booked every nite, we took the first seating.



I really like this copper wok. All filled to the brim with oil. Ready for action :)))

a simple preview on the ingredients basket prepared us for dinner. Ohhhhh I saw some japanese chilli peppers. Lurve it.

Fresh fish of the day

Such a beautiful bowl for our appetizer. It looked like chrysanthemum.

Simple and clean presentation for Autumn :)

Next we have sashimi.

Sea Salt meant to be eaten with white fish...instead of the soyu.

Finally the moment we have been waiting for!!!! as Chef was bz whisking the batter for the tempura.

I noticed that he used ice cold water.

They called it the oil test.

Next we were presented with the dipping sauce for the tempura. First is a ball of finely grated daikon, next is some sea salt, and lasty a light dipping sauce with lemon.

WOW, judging by the crispy legs of sweet prawns, u know it ain't easy to fry them this way. It almost looked cockroach-ie to me HAHAHAHAHAH. Everything were meant to be eaten, nothing left on the plate including its head and tail.

Next is the sweet chestnut and Ginkgo nuts.
Ohhh how I lurve their chestnuts...so sweet and nutty while the ginkgo is really sweet. It doesn't have that tannin at all. Not forgetting it's so juicy and fat!!!

Once I was done with the pics, before I could pop anything into my mouth, a generous slice of aubergine landed on the platter. This is good!!! Japanese aubergines.....all the ingredients were sourced from the very best producer/farmer.

Next we have shishamo fish. Again u eat everything including its head.

Long beans!!! it's so crunchy on the inside and I'm amazed at its dark green hue. Chef has got really good skills in ensuring every bite of the vegetables is perfect.

Shiitake mushrooms has got this deep earthy notes. Chef warned us that this is hot, becareful. The english spoken here is really minimum with no english menu.

Pausing in between, we were served this homemade toufu with a dollop of sea urchin, some freshly grated wasabi on top, topped with seaweed sauce. It's comfort food~~~~~ gimme more!!!

Anago or sea eel. Noticed that the flesh is white? :)))) Once u have tasted Anago, u can forget about unagi.

Chef sprinkled some spices or togarashi on top which gave it a very umami palate to this sea eel. Sea eels are generally fattier and juicier.

ohhh yumms Japanese Lotus Roots!!!

Baby Corns!!!!!

Asparagus!!! ohhhh now I really lurve tempura bcoz it's so light and crunchy. The focus here are the ingredients.

I didn't get the name of this delicate fish. But it has got quite some bones innit.

After each fry, Chef will remove residue from his wok. He proceeded with cleaning his work space. That's a bit too much of work, wiping around after each fry coz there's bound to have oil residue after frying EACH piece of food. So our menu consisted about 10 pieces of tempura each person...so do the maths.

Next Chef was preparing some red miso broth right below our nose :))) As u see, his work counter is really small, he just need to turn his body around to prepare food for his diners.

Pickled daikon and crispy anchovies. When this is served, u know the meal is moving towards the end.

ohhh yumms...so hearty and full of flavour :)))

Next Chef is meticulously preparing our next tempura dish.

Tempura of vegetables and shrimps on top of a bed of rice.

To eat it, drop some wasabi in.

And the Bonito broth is poured into this. Really good and high quality tempura. Not to mention this is the best place in the whole of Kyoto for tempura :)))

Next we were brought over to the next room for our dessert and tea. In the middle there's a fire place called Irori in Japanese. A huge brass pot of water was boiling over there. I just needed to warm my tiny hands :)))

Right next to the irori is a beautiful seat with an even more beautiful screen painted with different design of japanese fans.

Soon a couple was brought in for tea ceremony. We thought this was part of our MEAL. BAHAHAHAHAHA. Then we realised this is the real-deal. It's really a wedding!!!

Sorry sista!!! can I just have a picca? :P and they happily obliged.


The family members were all around serving/receiving tea from the bride and groom.

All while JS and Monkey were enjoying their platter of desserts and TEA. Yea we were so excited over ppl's wedding we forgotten to snap pic of our yummy desserts!!! Bahahahaha

If you would like to dine at this limited tempura restaurant, please book in advance.
Yoshikawa Inn,
135 Matsushitacho,
Nakagyo-Ku,
Kyoto,  Japan.
Tel: +81 75-221-5544
http://www.kyoto-yoshikawa.co.jp/