Get In My Belly {Travel Tuesday: Food}

Happy Happy Tuesday! 

It's time for another Travel Tuesday, and this week there was a prompt given by the lovely Tina over at Girl Meets Globe. 

The prompt for today is food. This is actually perfect because I really wanted to share some of the food from our trip to Japan. (Surprise- Surprise- I'm still talking about Japan.) 

While on our three day trip to Japan, Matt and I tried some really great food. When we got into Osaka, Matt and I immediately went to Zauo- which is a restaurant that you catch your own fish and then pick how you want it prepared. We had heard awesome reviews and we really wanted to try it. We tried calling for reservations before we left Korea, but we could never get an answer, so we decided to just show up. Unfortunately, they were all booked for the night and for the rest of the weekend. {That just means we have to come back to try it!} 

Honestly, I was really disappointed because I wanted Matt to try this place, and we didn't have a back up plan. We were thinking about going to our hotel, but then I turned and saw this giant crab and knew where we were. Luckily, I had read Mallory's post on food in Osaka and I knew she tried a okonomiyaki place nearby. We were saved! 

We went to Chibo to try okonomiyaki which is like a pancake made of flour, eggs, cabbage, meat and seafood. It's all blended in a bowl, and then cooked on a grill. Luckily, we were able to sit right in front of the grill so we could see everything. We got the Hiroshima Style okonomiyaki set and it came with the Okonomiyaki Dotonbort, Chibo's Salad, Hiroshimayaki Mix (a noodle mix thing), and an omelet wrapped around pork. It was all so delicious. For our first meal in Japan, it set the bar pretty high! For all this food and two cokes we spent about $40. 

The weirdest thing Matt ate on the trip was Takoyaki (octopus balls) and an quail egg. *Notice- I said Matt because I was NOT eating that stuff. No thanks. 

Right before going to Yasaka Shrine- we stopped at a small noodle house. I wasn't the huge fan, but Matt loved it. It was a pretty small place and it was just one man cooking for us, and we were the only ones in the place. I really liked that aspect of the meal. Above you can see the quail egg. Matt just sucked it out.

Takoyaki Stand- I really thought they were just potato balls until I poked around and saw a little tentacle, at which point I handed them over to Matt. He loved them. 

We also ate at a restaurant called Kyosikian along Ponto-cho dori Street which is along the 'river' in Kyoto. There are tons of restaurants along this street. Kyosikian is in the basement of one of the buildings, so you can't see the river that well- but the food is worth not having the view. We got sashimi , grilled fish, and soy beans for about $35. The food was excellent and again we had the place to ourselves. I would highly recommend this place. 

The last place we had dinner at was Oynai, and it was delicious as well. We had sashimi again, gyoza, steak tips, an omelet, and two desserts for $40. So good! 

Overall- our food experience in Kyoto and Osaka was amazing. I'm glad I branched out tried new things, except the octopus. Matt and I usually had a small breakfast, snacked during the day and then had a larger dinner and I really thing that's the way to go. 

Another yummy thing we tried were the Japanese rice based sweets. After our tea ceremony we picked up a pack for about $10 and they were so delicious. We enjoyed snacking on them for the remainder of the trip. 

So what's the weirdest food you've tried? And what's the best? 

{Linking up for Travel Tuesday}