Japan - Osaka, Nara and Kobe

Takama, known for it's unique and fantastic soba (buckwheat) noodles, is the first Michelin star awarded restaurant that Andrew and I had been to. When we got there, we weren't sure it was actually the right place until we saw that people were starting to queue (we were pretty much the first ones there at 11:25am).



Lunch was simple and delicious. We ordered two miso-flavoured entrees to share including some tofu aged in miso which tasted like cheddar cheese, and a sort of buckwheat and cabbage fritter served on a wooden spoon. Both sides were around 500 yen and were really interesting. I couldn't finish mine because, believe it or not, I thought it was a bit too salty! Andrew finished his, but he had a beer to balance the saltiness.





Andrew and I got the same dish but with a different style of noodle. I got the inaka (whole buckwheat grain) noodles, while Andrew got the mori noodle (a more delicate and light coloured noodle), both dishes served cold with a dark dipping sauce made of at least soy and mirin. These were both 980 yen and absolutely delicious. I can't believe we can't get soba noodles like this in Perth!





Next we made our way to Nara to see some shrines, the great Buddha, but mostly (lets be honest) lots of deer in Nara park. There were so many deers! We bought some deer biscuits from a vendor on the side of the road (for 150 yen) and got mobbed (one even ate my map, what is it with deers and eating our maps?). At least the deer bowed to you before asking for food, so polite!











The great Buddha was gigantic and very impressive. The 5 tiered pagoda was lovely (Andrew had me convinced for far too long that it was Japan's first TV antenna), and the gardens were absolutely beautiful and very tranquil.













For dinner we had Kobe beef in Kobe at Steak Land. It was my second experience with teppanyaki and marbled steak, and my god it spectacular. We again got two different grades and shared them, and both were really nice. The more expensive one seemed a little more tough but more flavoursome, but I still maintain that both tasted like you were sucking butter out of them (in the best possible way).





Steak Land was less fancy than Heki but the food was just as delicious, but I think I'll always remember my first experience with wagyu at Heki as the best mostly because I had no idea what to expect and kind of thought that it was going to be Andrew's thing and I'd mostly enjoy the vegetables. I don't think I'll eat anything close to this anytime soon!