Day 2 - 12 April 2018 Kyoto: Toji Shrine

Pablo Desserts at Gion Corner 

We went to Isetan at Kyoto Station to look for dinner. I managed to try the Pickled Mackerel Pressed sushi for 130 Yen which was quite ok.

Since we didn't get to eat Kyoto soba with mackerel at Matsuba Hannen, Gion, when we reached Kyoto Station, I stumbled upon the sign showing Kyoto Ramen Koji (Ramen Street) at the 10th Floor of Kyoto Station. There were so many restaurants selling ramen and most of them have a line of stools outside for customers to sit on and queue. Every restaurant sells ramen from 9 different regions in Japan like :
No. 1 - Sapporo Shirakaba Sansou
No. 2 - Niigata Touyoko
No. 3 - Kitakata Bannai Shokudo
No. 4 - Toyama Black Men-ya Iroha
No. 5 - Tokyo - Higashi Ikebukuro, Tokyo Taishoken
No. 6- Kyoto Masutani
No. 7-Osaka Araumado
No. 8-Tokushima Ramen Todai
No. 9-Hakata Ikkousha

I went to No. 4 Toyama Black Men-ya Iroha and sampled the Black Iroha and also Tantan (peanut and spicy) version. First, we had to pay at the vending machine then queued up for almost 20 mins. This is one of the busiest restaurants here.

Black Iroha with Char Siu 

Tan Tan (My favourite ramen so far as it was spicy enough and had a lot of flavours infused inside. 

View from the top of Kyoto Station

After dinner, I was still thinking of the Sakura Night Illuminations at Toji Shrine. Since this shrine is nearby our house, we decided to go there by walk. When we walked, discovered it was not that near as the 15 mins walk turned into 25 mins! The entrance fee was 500 Yen so I actually asked the person at the counter whether there is sakura, and he said "Ok lah."

Somehow this photo makes our entire long tiring walk worthwhile

Can't get enough of Sakura.

Caught this Sakura tree outside the washroom

The night illuminations in Toji Shrine during spring is really worth visiting, thank god we saw the poster advertising this in Gion!