[Kyoto, Japan] Menami 御料理 めなみ- an obenzai restaurant with a Kyoto twist.

[sck]

After a lunch at at Taisho Hanana in Arashiyama and dessert at Seien, its time to grab dinner. Kyoto isn’t all temples and shrines, of course. Menami is an 80 year old restaurant that is tucked into a quiet newish building next to the busy Sanjo-dori and the Takase River, a bustling and modern area.

The original Menami was started in 1939 by the grandmother of the current owner, and they served yakitori and side dishes at the time. Now they focus on local ingredients, with a love for Kyoto pottery coming through their tableware. The owner’s mom opened a pottery place but it closed in 2019.

I was given a menu for the gaijins, which looked to be a watered-down version of their menu. So I promptly asked for the menu for the Japanese.

Sure enough, it had a lot of items not on the English menu. Google translate somewhat helped with the handwritten menu.

Its got counter seats on the ground floor as well as a few tables in the back, and they have a second floor as well.

So we ordered a large variety of dishes. I was thinking about the obenzai appetizer, which was seasonal Kyoto home cooking that utilized ingredients largely from the Kyoto area that makes heavy use of vegetables and seafood. I was also drawn to their many dishes on the menu, which I ended up ordering instead.

Boiled octopus with a light sauce. This was a decent start.

Yuba/ tofu skin:

Edamame for the kids:

Steamed duck- this was great. Our older one asked for a second order.

Rice set- rice, pickles, miso soup, for the kids.

Thick chilled soup with summer vegetables- particularly refreshing given the hot weather.

Eggplant with sliced radish and soy sauce- it was quite good to this writer who normally didn’t eat eggplant. But it turned out I liked all the eggplant renditions that I had in Japan.

Yakitori- a little saucier than I thought.

Conger eel and pepper tempura. Conger eel was in season in the summer. Its plump and delicious.

Greens and fried tofu.

Marinated tofu, shitake, okra and yam.

I know this was rice, but don’t remember which dish it came from.

As expected in Kyoto, more yuba, fried this time. Yum.

Ramen for the kids. Its a rice substitute, and not meant to be fancy.

Overall, a solid meal in Sanjo. Ingredients were carefully and prepared with a light touch. I resisted ordering the in-season ayu sweetfish, because we are going to Gifu in a couple of days where we’ll do an ayu themed set meal.

They handle the in-season aspect well, with the dishes all suitable to be eaten in the hot summer.

Menami 御料理 めなみ

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中京区木屋町通三条上ル中島町96, 京都市, JP

Why do Japanese cities like to have covered sidewalk?

[Saregama]

Food looks lovely, and so varied!

@sck

Kyoto isn’t all temples and shrines, of course.

I chuckled because my nephew describing his Kyoto visit to me earlier this year said “I could have done with fewer temples” (Wait till you start touring India was my response )

@sck

Google translate somewhat helped with the handwritten menu

That’s pretty impressive with letters that aren’t printed / standard.

@sck

Why do Japanese cities like to have covered sidewalk?

I wish Bombay did! We had a downpour just before lunch today and were discussing how an awning over the sidewalk would have been nice. Also when it’s HOT, like it was in HK!

[TokushimaCook]

@sck

Why do Japanese cities like to have covered sidewalk?

A covered sidewalk is almost always an indication of a shopping street/shopping arcade (商店街). You will sometimes see streets where all or nearly all of those awnings have been removed because the shops in the arcade have closed and been turned into some type of residence.

And like @Saregama alluded to, the awnings help keep people protected from the elements. This is especially important in Kyoto where summers (as you know) and winters are truly brutal. Sadly, as large chains, malls and even worse, big box stores encroach into Japanese retail, the shopping arcades have gone away. Younger generations of people who grew up in families that ran stores in shopping arcades realized there’s very little profit in running such stores today and they have decided they didn’t want to take the stores over from their families when their parents retired.

The absence of liquor stores, fish mongers, green grocers and especially what I refer to as “penny candy” stores (駄菓子屋…”dagashiya”) is truly noticeable. Interestingly, you’ll find thriving shopping arcades in the big cities, especially Osaka and the older, more traditional parts of Tokyo. The longest shopping arcade in Japan is the Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Arcade which is 1.6 mi/2.6 km long. It’s quite bustling and interesting to walk through!

[Google_Gourmet]

@sck

on ayu sweetfish, because we are going to Gifu in a couple of days where we’ll do an ayu themed set meal.

How was the ayu meal? Would love to read your impressions and see pics if available.

Da wife loves ayu, but won’t order in a restaurant. She likes to take her time and nibble and glean every morsel from the fish. Can’t really do that delicately in public.

We almost always carry back a hundred or so ayu when we fly back from Taiwan. These are Taiwanese bred ayu so likely not as superb as wild caught fish from a pristine Japanese mountain stream.

She carefully rations her haul and eats a couple per night. She’s a happy girl for a few weeks. (Happier than usual)

[Saregama]

@Google_Gourmet

We almost always carry back a hundred or so ayu when we fly back from Taiwan

To where?

[Google_Gourmet]

@Saregama

To where?

SFO.

1st couple of times, a little worried. Done it a half dozen time already NOW, no worries.

Fishmonger vac pack and freezes each fish individually. Delivers to our hotel the night before our flight, we arrange to store in hotel walk/in or freezer.

The morning of our flight, we pack into heavy duty cardboard carton for the 12hr flight to SFO.

[Saregama]

Very interesting - this is allowed through customs, or undeclared?

Does it stay frozen?

(I’m very wary of transporting anything raw, but my flight is usually 15h.)

(Btw I carry the insulated bags with me both ways so any frozen stuff goes into them.)

[Google_Gourmet]

@Saregama

Very interesting - this is allowed through customs, or undeclared?

Does it stay frozen?

We always declare and never attempt any contraband. Always check the are you bringing in any food, etc box.

Customs scanned our boxes thru xray the 1st time or two. They just wave us on through now, probably profiled.

Regarding fish, the outer layer or two will be semi thawed at unpacking. The bulk of the cargo stays firmly frozen and acts as chilling agent.

Been % safe so far.

[sck]

Learned something new here. I have always brought dried seafood. Never thought about bringing frozen fresh seafood. Maybe I should consider freezing a coral trout or two next time I go.

I found that what’s the most useful with customs agent when entering the country is an exhaustive list of every food item I am bringing into the country. When I do that, the agent has a higher confidence I know what I am doing, and when they see dried seafood on the list for example, they know I know what exactly is allowed.

[sck]

@Google_Gourmet

How was the ayu meal? Would love to read your impressions and see pics if available.

Its coming!

[damiano]

My parents have been bringing frozen fresh fish from their travels back to Europe for a long time, usually from Thailand. They like for example wolf fish, which is hard to get here. Usually they will get a hotel room with a fridge with freezer so they can do their own shopping and freezing, and prepare for the flight back, with everything nicely frozen and packed.

This year I convinced them to stay with me at a 5 star hotel in Bangkok, but then they were worried how they would be bringing back their fish as the rooms didn’t have any freezers!

First they made friends with the general manager over breakfast, and then a day or so later they asked him whether they could freeze their fish until their check out… So, my parents’ 6 euro whole fish - bought at some local wet market - was sitting in this 5 star Japanese hotel’s industrial freezer, probably next to some prime grade Japanese fish for the hotel’s one Michelin star restaurant!!

[Saregama]

This whole discussion about freezing and traveling with raw fish is fascinating. I need to read the customs rules now!

[Google_Gourmet]

@damiano

at a 5 star hotel in Bangkok, but then they were worried how they would be bringing back their fish

Your parents have their priorities inline!!

Explains where you got your food love! Bravo!

[GretchenS]

@damiano

my parents’ 6 euro whole fish - bought at some local wet market - was sitting in this 5 star Japanese hotel’s industrial freezer

I love this more than I can possibly say!!

[Google_Gourmet]

@damiano

bought at some local wet market - was sitting in this 5 star Japanese hotel’s industrial freezer

My wife was traveling with a 8lb frozen Albacore from SFO to Little Rock, for her brother.

Her connecting flight got canceled so she had to layover night in Denver.

At the hotel, she made arrangements to store her fish in the hotel freezer. She was getting some concerned looks in the elevator as she was cradling this baby sized package gingerly in her arms.

I wish I was there.

[Google_Gourmet]

@sck

ordering the in-season ayu sweetfish, because we are going to Gifu in a couple of days where we’ll do an ayu themed set meal.

We may have to hit Gifu some time, wife loves ayu. An Ayu themed set meal would make for a very happy wife.

She had this in Taipei last year. An appetizer for the 100 pcs she carried home.

[Google_Gourmet]

@Saregama

Very interesting - this is allowed through customs, or undeclared?

Does it stay frozen?

(I’m very wary of transporting anything raw, but my flight is usually 15h.)

@sck

Some pics from our last Ayu import from 4-26-24. Flight TPE —> SFO ~ 12 hours.

1 hour to CKS, check in 3 hrs prior boarding, 2 hour customs/luggage pickup/Uber home. Total ex-freezer time = 18 hours

USD $3~4/pcs, vac packed, frozen and delivered to our hotel. Wife custom makes the boxes and handles. Works quite well.

[naf]

That’s a lot of fish!! You said some fish were semi thawed, actually is it possible to use cooler gel so they arrive in prime state?

Can you travel with frozen meat as well?

[sck]

Nicely done. They were all so well packed. How did you cook them?

@naf we can’t bring meat into the US.

[Google_Gourmet]

@naf

some fish were semi thawed, actually is it possible to use cooler gel so they arrive in prime state?

The fish all arrive in prime state. The outer layer may have just a little give, but still very well chilled. The solid mass of frozen fish works as well as cooler gel, I think. Some Dry Ice would keep the fish frozen solid through the trip, but you would then have to file for HazMat certificate. Not worth the hassle.

@sck

We just salt and roast the fish on a rack, in the round. Fins, guts and all. Every fish are guaranteed to be full of roe, and they most definitely are.