The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto

*pic taken from The Ritz-Carlton website*

the exclusive 4 floors Ritz-Carlton hotel, situated just by the famous Kamo River. This river is one of the most visited spot for tourists and locals alike. The Ritz Carlton just opened in 2014 and both Monkey & JS decided we must check into it just to....hmmm check it out? :)))

the architect design depicts the edo period of Japan with the iconic roof. Each room has a huge window to overlook the mountains and river.

Zen water and stone features greeted us upon arrival.

We must say this is one of the top-notch service we have received by far during the last trip to Japan in February....the moment our taxi's doors were opened, the beautiful lady in elegant kimono greeted us with an even more beautiful smile.

She requested for our last name, and ushered us towards the corridor with cascading water feature. The sound was so soothing and inviting. Lady in Kimono then proce Lady in Kimono  eded with some introduction of the property to us.

*Pic taken from The Ritz-Carlton website*

She brought us into the hall with creme colored chairs. The interior design here just reminded me of Armani Casa. Especially with the material used on the chairs and vertical wooden panels.

*pic taken from The Ritz-Carlton website*

the site that Ritz-Carlton was built is a long strip of land facing the Higashiyama mountain and river. Hence the architect creatively worked with that he had to incorporate all the elements of water, earth and zen-ness...plus the usage of materials that represent the Edo period of Japan.

From the taxi straight to our room by Lady in Kimono. oh wow what a smooth check-in...I remembered as she walked past the concierge another tall good looking staff handed her a small folder. So those were our documents....then I noticed she has got a transparent earpiece attached to her.

sou des neh...so when she asked for our reservation name, she was also announcing it to her team members.

We were then seated on this area over looking the Kamo River...Can u see the Higashiyama mountains??? The skyline is the typical Kyoto buildings. There aren't that many tall buildings here. I can't remember how many times we've been to Kyoto but each visits never fail to mesmerise us.

As at 2015, most of the attractions are under massive restoration works. I guess they are preparing for the big O....Olympic that is in 2020. Oh well, we've been to all the major UNESCO sites, so I guess it's OK since we are here for some gastronomy adventure hehehehe

The 600 sq ft room is divided into 2 from the entrance. The long corridor with all the minibar amenities you needed. The other side is the shower, lavatory and walk in closet.

Monkey was bz snooping around the room already....
Wahhh this is very nice!!!! I like!!!

I was so impressed with the cypress wood used on the floorboard of the shower. The tiles on the walls were 3D shapes of sakura flowers. Down lights cast shadows and they looked like butterflies to me :))) I lurve butterflies~~~

The lacquered box with enamel mother of pearl on the amenities box inside the bathroom. When I opened it, all the toiletries were inside. :)))

The lil cupboard that stores all our snacks, coffee pods and various tea bags.

they thought of everything don't they?

early morning lifesaver - Nespresso machine

All japanese hotels be it resorts or business hotels have got one in their rooms. That includes Ryokan. I guess Nespresso is everywhere now compared to 5 years ago :)))

While Monkey was so bz snooping around, Lady in Kimono proceeded with a simple tea ceremony. Then she proceeded with the check-in process. Inside the small folder she took from her colleague earlier, there was a mini scanner the size of a 15cm ruler which scanned our passports.

ohhhh that's very Double O Seven.
Just one signature and we were done with our check-ins....inside our room :))))

She then left us to enjoy our tea and the stunning view.....there's even a mini bonsai in our room!!!

We've got 2 huge beds to ourselves!!! woohoooo. and it's so soft and comfy. A long day lounge sofa was rather inviting too...for an afternoon nap....but JS the hyperman who couldn't sit still, wanted to venture outta the hotel already.

please....i wanna nap nap for a while~~~
JS -_-

Before the whining can stop, our bags have been delivered into our walk-in closet. and really there's isn't much time to nap and Monkey got pulled from her lazy chair to venturing in the beautiful city of Kyoto. He wanted to snap some beautiful pics of the Golden Pavilion.

Monkey was still buying time....
"Hey look JS, there's a cute gadget next to your bed....let's play with it."
JS -_-" NO!!! we are goin out now!!!!

So as we arrived at the lobby, Lady in Kimono was surprised and enquired where would we want to go...
JS: "Kinkakuji, the golden Pavilion."
Lady in Kimono: "Oh that's very beautiful and I am sure you will have beautiful pictures." *pointing to JS's massive equipments.

JS was beaming with smiles...coz that's exactly what he's gonna do in a short while.
Lady in Kimono: "Would you like a taxi? It looks like it will rain and how many umbrellas would you need?"

JS is an iron man...he doesn't need any umbrellas, only Monkey the soft toufu *according to him* needs one. >.< Lady in Kimono was walking with us towards the entrance and chatting amicably with us.

Once we arrived...a taxi was already waiting with its door opened. Another tall and good looking doorman was standing with an umbrella.

WAHHHH speaking of efficiency. So I guess as Lady in Kimono was talking to us, all the informations were relayed to her team. Gosh JS I felt my privacy has been infringed!!!! hahaha just kidding. Every guests would want such special and efficient treatment.

*The above pics were all taken from The Ritz-Carlton website*

To further enhance our experience here, there's even a full fledge Pierre Herme boutique downstairs!!! GAHHH I cannot believe it we will be served pastries the next morning from Pierre Herme!!! this is too much!!!

after  all the hardwork or carrying JS's equipments around for him to snap some nice pics. We came back in time to get ready for our kaiseki dinner at a 400 years old restaurant. Will blog about it soon.

It's so soothing to come home to the hotel with the sound of water cascading...Now I want this at home :))))

The next morning, hobbits were all admiring the beautiful Higashiyama mountains from the room. We are really spoilt for this luxury stay. :))))) JS himself declared nothing less than the Ritz-Carlton now unless some Relais & Chateau ryokan...

-_-" think he's more spoilt than me.

For more information:
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Kyoto/Default.htm

Home cooked Uni Pasta by JS

Sea Urchin pasta with crispy japanese seaweed.

I know I'm alwiz a eppy gal when fed with food :))))) hehehehe
not just any other food, but good food. Good home cooked food by Mr. JS.
The above was his first attempt at sea urchin pasta and it was delish!!!! yummmzzzz.

A certain day where me and my team had to work at nite/morning. So naturally everyone will head out for dinner together before event starts at 10pm.

Boss Ken: "Pls join us for dinner before the event."
Monkey: "Nope, I am goin home for dinner."
Boss Ken ????? Home???? for dinner??? who's cooking????
his eyes almost popped outta the sockets.
Monkey heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :D:D:D 

sorry guys, Mr. JS can't do mass feeding to accommodate all of u. Maybe next time hahahaha. and this Friday I m goin home to have my "cooked-with-love" dinner before attending another event hehehehe. Yes I am indeed a very lucky gal but no complaints :)))

Say your grace and receive with thanks.
Life is good. :)))

BIG Breakfast @ Beniya Mukayu Ryokan

Early morning rise and shine~~~~

Such a beautiful stunning tree outside the terrace. But it was too cold to go outside to admire this pine tree, so we just did it inside the comfort of the dining hall. I couldn't remember what was the temperature but enuff for ice to form. And if it rains, there will be snow~~~ brrrrrrRRRRrrrrr

we don't call it BIG breakfast for nothing...definitely bigger than the usual BIG BREAKFAST @ McDonald's. Anyway I'm not a fan of McD. The only consumptions were mostly done at international airports or if there's some special burger like the one I had in Switzerland *click here to read about it*

The staffs here actually took the trouble to draw this with explanation. Hahahahah. Japanese breakfast definitely beats any other big breakfast in the world that we had :))))

We were offered fresh juice for breakfast, and it's cold pressed. It has become a craze these days to only consume cold pressed juices for this process retains the vitamins instead of killing them with heat. We selected 2 shots each, of Oba Leaf with green apple, and grape fruits with oranges. Refreshing way to start the day especially we were so hungry after jumping into the hot onsen early in the morning.

Do not underestimate this tiny platter of vegetables. It was powerpacked with flavours, from the super sweet tomatoes to the delicious radish and OMG the carrots....I've never tasted carrots like this, except in Japan. The sweetness and flavours intensity were so amazing it left u wondering how? why?

and u don't eat ur vegetables without dressing....here we have the ponzu, miso and vinaigrette dressing for us to choose. All were homemade, and Beniya Mukayu only uses local ingredients, sourced from their trusted organic suppliers, and finally cooked with love of course. 

Here we have homemade pickles, served on such a beautiful plate that resembles a traditional musical instrument.

mushrooms and other roots vegetables that were so umami and delicious...just makes u wanna have a big bowl of rice with it.

Chirimen Sansho
These tiny white baits with the greenish peppercorn was JS's favourite. He lurve it so much that he got crazy and bought quite a bit back when he first saw it in Kyoto. The white baits were cooked with japanese rice wine and some soy sauce with this special green peppercorn. The end results were delicate yummy tiny fish with the strong peppercorn that leave a good length in ur mouth.

Next, a beautiful ceramic box was presented and unveiled....to a beautiful kaleidoscope colors of local vegetables!!!!Here we have locally grown broccoli, sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, leeks, pumpkins, carrots and radish. 

All were steamed accordingly and my oh my the sweetness and flavours were so different from what was expected. No sauce were needed to consume these, u just want to taste the original beautiful flavours. If only we get produce this good, I don't mind eating my vege everyday for 5 meals!!!! oh yes I do eat 5 meals a day :D:D:D 

Beautiful and yummy local koshi hikari. I like it that they boiled their rice this way, with a claypot. Somehow the rice has got a delicate sweetness to it. Now I understand how Japanese could consume rice plain on its own, bcoz it's so tasty!!!!

A wooden box with beautiful nori on top, it's heated at the bottom...so that ur nori seaweed would be crispy and warm. If u like it, u can wrap the rice with these. Anyway we have no idea and etiquettes of japanese breakfast dining....we just ate and nom nom nom as we wished :)))

Grilled fish!!!

I lurve this size...coz we can't possibly finish everything but at the same time we lurve varieties >.< Really greedy buggers. So when everything was presented in small portion, it just make it less guilty hahahahaha...especially for not finishing our food.

perfectly made japanese egg omelette and freshly grated daikon. The eggs!!! omg why are eggs here so yummy???

a piece of cured cod roe - mentaiko. Fukuoka/Hakata is famous for mentaiko and a year ago when we were there, we could almost find it everywhere.

a hearty bowl of miso soup with fresh seaweed and aromatic japanese herbs.

after Monkey has gone go-go-ga-ga over the breakfast and the not-so-brief explanation by our room attendant, JS threw me this look....LOL

like how are we gonna finish our big breakfast??? Come on, u are a man!!! This should not be a problem for you.

Monkey gave the "instructional" look....NOW EAT~~~~
and finish every piece of vegetables there!!!

but seriously it wasn't a problem bcoz at the end we mopped everything clean off all the tiny plates. Plus JS had to add more rice bcoz it was really really seriously extremely delicious. Wahhhh looks like we can skip our lunch when we headed to Kyoto *not!!!* after this.

Mr. Nakamichi the owner of the property, eppy JS, Monkey and Mrs. Nakamichi

So nice of them to send us off. Seriously Japanese take hospitality really really very seriously. As in serious SERIOUS. but it's such a novelty to us. :))))

Good bye for now Mr and Mrs Nakamichi. We will definitely return and thank you so much for everything!!! We had an amazing time at Beniya Mukayu :)))

and Happy Monday to my dear readers :)))