When we booked our trip to Japan, I knew our Japanese food journey would be slightly less adventurous than if we were travelling without the kids, but the necessity of grabbing the occasional bite to eat in McDonalds didn’t put us off (fed is better than hangry, every time).

Our first few days in Tokyo were challenging food wise: the first night we weren’t really sure what we were eating (there was definitely an egg involved); the second night we walked too far looking for a restaurant, and began to get a little frayed around the edges. Accusations ensued and we ended up at KFC (another egg was involved, but fed is better than hangry, right?); the third night was a public holiday and all the restaurants I’d earmarked as likely candidates on google maps were closed, but eventually we stumbled across a lovely Japanese-Italian restaurant and enjoyed some pizza, followed by tiny cups of complimentary Japanese tea, oishi–delizioso.

By the time we got to Kyoto we settled into our groove and discovered our now favourite chain of Japanese curry houses: Coco Ichibanya.  This was the kind of place business people went at lunchtime to eat quickly at bar stools and leave, and we loved it!  It was tasty, cheap and best of all it had a challenge for the kids:  the curries had spice levels ranging from 1 to 20.  Like any sensible family, we started off at 1.  Like any sane person, I stayed there. My daughter, son and husband, however, were full of boasts of how they’d make it to 5 by the end of the trip. You couldn’t progress to spice level 6 unless you’d eaten a full portion of 5, you couldn’t progress to 11 unless you’d eaten a 10 and so on. Quite how the restaurant staff knew you’d done this I never figured out: perhaps you’re issued with a spice level passport at the time of completion? Perhaps they keep a database? Or more likely, Japanese people probably aren’t daft enough to order a 6 before they’ve built up a tolerance.  The family made it to level 3 (much milk involved).  I dipped a bit of chicken into the level 3 sauce (that counts, right?)

We ate in a few traditional Japanese restaurants, my favourite being another Japanese-Italian near the Yasaka Shrine called The Sodoh.  This was the poshest restaurant we visited on our travels (so posh I needed to sit the family down before we went and pre-warn them: we’re going to a nice place for dinner tonight / suck it up for me as I suck up McDonalds for you / yes we can get you a CoCo Ichibanya afterwards if you’re still hungry (they were).  This place was beautiful inside and out, set inside a walled Japanese garden, serving small but delicious a la carte and tasting menus.  It reminded me of the places the hubby and I would go in a previous life, and I found re-discovering this life with my now-old-enough-to-sit-still kids very enjoyable.  I drank a couple of glasses of the most delicious organic sake wine, ate some very tasty fish and sank into a food coma of contentment. 

Then there were the food markets: another world of sights, sounds and smells. Octopus on a stick anyone? Fruit in a sandwich?  Our favourite was Nishi market in Kyoto.  We saw something new every time we passed through.   I also loved their policy of staying still to eat.  It is not the done thing to eat on the move in Japan.  Each food stall in Nishi market has a small place where you can stop and eat, and a bin to dispose of the stick/cardboard tray your food was served in.    There are hardly any public bins anywhere in Tokyo or Kyoto (just bottle banks next to the vending machines) and the streets stay so clean.  If people aren’t eating when they’re on the move, then I suppose there doesn’t need to be many bins, and it also discourages people from eating on the move and inadvertently littering.

The best new food I tried in Tokyo was served by a friendly Japanese man who had a stall right next to our hotel selling crème taiyaki, a custard filled waffle fish, only 300 yen (about £1.54).  So good.  The food in Japan was incredibly cheap. There were plenty of pricey restaurants if you wanted to enjoy them, but there were also plenty of cheap and functional places to grab a bite, and this suited us perfectly with teenagers in tow.

One of my favourite things about Japanese restaurants was the disparity between the niche places and the ones that served totally random combinations; there were restaurants that served only tonkatsu, (deep fried pork in panko breadcrumbs); those that did only gyukatsu (deep fried beef in panko breadcrumbs); then there were chains of coffee houses that sold coffee, cakes, and the most delicious pasta dishes!  We didn’t get round to trying any of the meal-dispensing vending machines.  Maybe next time.

That’s it for the food edition.  I’ll catch you next time, when I’ll share a bit about all the wonderful sights we took in on our travels in Tokyo and Kyoto.