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Shiraume Kaiseki Dinner, Kyoto, Japan

Shiraume is actually a ryokan (traditional Japanese bed and breakfast). They have a stand-alone restaurant but it is a much better experience (and deal) to get the kaiseki dinner while you're staying at this ryokan to get the full experience, where they serve the entire 2-hour dinner in your room.

They also serve traditional Japanese breakfast the next morning. Get both. They are both amazing and not to be missed.

Check out my photos for their breakfast here:

Shiraume Traditional Japanese Breakfast Photos

The food was fresh and delicious. The hostess speaks fluent English and explained to us what every course was and how to enjoy them.

At peak touris season, such as cherry blossom in the spring and the maple season in the fall, Shiraume gets booked up some 4-6 months before the season starts. Book as early as you can to get a room in this ryokan.

You can see their TripAdvisor reviews from all over the world here:

TripAdvisor: Shiraume, Kyoto, Japan

and their own website is here:

Shiraume official website

The only draw back of booking here is that everything is communicated via email. No online booking or calendar to see what dates are available. However, I promise you, it is worth every effort that you put in to book a room at this top rated ryokan in Kyoto.

[mustlovetruffle]

Mugaritz, Gipuzkoa, Spain (Part 1 of 4)

Mugaritz currently ranks #4 restaurant in the world. Of all the restaurants that I visited in Spain, this is the one that I had the highest expectation of. When I went to Italy last year and visited Osteria Francescana, which ranks #3 in the world, I had an amazing experience. This time in Spain, what is it going to be like to dine in Mugaritz?

I was accompanied by my foodie friend, Yenyi, to Mugaritz for lunch. The restaurant is about 15-minute taxi ride from San Sebastian.

We were promptly seated upon arrival. Each dining table had a broken plate on it as an abstract art center piece.

No menu was presented to us and each course quickly arrived after we were seated. It was actually a bit overwhelming. One of my friends, Peggy, who dined here told me that they were presented with two menu options, just like what Anthony Bourdain got when he visited Mugaritz in his show. We weren't given these choices. I wonder if that was only for dinner. It was a bit disappointing that we didn't get that.

Of the starter courses, I particularly liked the white asparagus dish. It was crisp and sweet. They cut the asparagus half way up along the stem and created some kind of a "brush". This gave it a really interesting texture when I bit into the asparagus. They later told us that this was the last day of the season for white asparagus and it won't be on the menu tomorrow. Lucky us! It was delicious.

<Continue to Part 2>

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Mugaritz, Gipuzkoa, Spain (Part 4 of 4)

<Continue from Part 3>

Dessert

There were quite a few dessert courses and I enjoyed them a lot. Of all the restaurants that I went to in Spain, this was probably the restaurant that served the most dessert courses. 

When we first arrived at the restaurant, there were a few white rocks placed on our table. At the final dessert course, it was revealed to us that these rocks were actually crystalized sugar! We were given a stainless pestle-like item that can be used to grind down the sugar over the dessert course. Again, a really playful and fun way to end our meal.

The highlight, however, was the "Seven Sins" sweets at the end. 7 shallow wooden bowls stacked on top of each other. Each bowl had some sweets in it representing each of the 7 sins: Pride, Envy, Gluttony (damn...), Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth. Yenyi and I had fun guessing which was which.

Conclusion

While the meal was playful and beautifully presented, and the service was excellent, I was somewhat disappointed with the food. Maybe I had too high of an expectation for Mugaritz after hearing my friends raving about it. Of all the meals that I had in Spain, Mugaritz experience wasn't in the top five. I would recommend Mugaritz only if you have visited some other restaurants higher on my list first. Perhaps I will return for their dinner some time in the future and see if it makes any differences.

[mustlovetruffle]

Arzak, San Sebastián, Spain (Part 2 of 2)

<Continued from part 1>

While the food was tasty and the service was warm and friendly, I did find them pushing a little too far on some of the dishes. It almost felt a bit desperate. For example, one of my dishes was lobster. The food was delicious, but it was presented on a piece of glass on top of a tablet that has video of ocean waves playing. I understand why they did it but it was just too much of a distraction. I might be old school when it comes to this, but to me, a great dish is something that allows the ingredients to shine. Food needs to be right there at the center and whatever that is done to it should have only one purpose: make the food taste better. I didn't find the repeated ocean waves video, semi-blocked by the food on top of the glass, adding anything to my experience eating the lobster. I appreciate the fun factor that they were playing with this dish, but it was just too distracting.

To sum it up, for the most part, I was happy with the meal at Arzak. The service was nice and warm. However, where we were seating in the upstairs dining area, it was too crowded and the air was stuffy. For the price that we paid and the reputation it enjoys in the fine dining scene, I would have really appreciated a more pleasant and spacious space for our dinner. It you decide to come here, ask to be seated downstairs. The tables were placed farther away from other tables in the downstairs dining space and the air was much cooler and enjoyable there.

While it was a nice dinner, I would visit other restaurants higher up on my list first before coming back to Arzak again.