Traumatic 2 Michelin star dining experience @ Nakahigashi... So bad we spit it out

A few weeks ago I went to Kyoto again, this time with my family, and we tried a few fine dining restaurants. I went to Soujiki Nakahigashi which is rated as no.7 kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto and top 50 in Japan. In addition to that, it has 2 Michelin stars. So my expectation for it was pretty high.

Unfortunately, we did not have a good meal there. All the pictures of the food look good but man, the taste doesn't suit our tastebuds. Even worse, some of the food were spitted out. Not by me, as I respect the restaurant, but I guess spitting the food out will let the restaurant know that their food is not up to standard.

I forgot to say that I don't eat meat so they serve me wild boar meat for the hassun. Everything was edible except for that white thing in the middle. Its like mochi and had kind of a strong bitter and wasabi kind of taste. Really weird. I wanted to spit it out but just downed it with ocha as I didn't want to be impolite. 

Don't judge a book by its cover as its pretty but foulthy?!

By this time I was already disappointed so I didn't take note of the names of all these dishes. 

This second dish is another vegetable with strong wasabi taste. Inedible.

 White miso soup with some kind of mochi. Normal.

 The best course of tonight's meal. Fish meat, bones, head. Everything is edible. But it will taste better perhaps with teriyaki sauce? Unfortunately the restaurant didn't have it. (I actually asked LOL)

 Snapper sashimi with LOTS of vegetables. Not that I hate vegetables but this is way too much. And the sashimi tasted normal. Veggies were inedible.

 Second fish dish which is quite good. I must say only edible dishes are the fish dishes.

 Fermented saba. Wow, I thought, finally saba, my favourite fish. But with one bite, I wanted to spit it out. As its fermented, it had a really strong... foulthy taste?! What the he** I can't even explain it. OK this is disgusting.

 Soup.

 Normal bamboo soup.

 My family's main was deer meat. Although I didn't have it they said it was not nice... Tastes like bad innards of animals... OK so it is inedible.

 My simple main. Too many small bones that I almost choked :/

 Another vegetable?! Crazy.

 Last but not least the rice.

 .....

 Dessert was simple strawberries with amazake (sweet sake without alcohol). This is not special at all as amazake 甘酒 is a 200yen drink which can be bought during new year or at special places like Asakusa... So... I'm paying so much just for this kind of dessert? Unbelievable.

And I swear the 350 yen a pack strawberries are sweeter than their strawberries...

Coffee and cheese and some kind of sweet balls in the end. Edible. But kinda weird to be serving this at a traditional Japanese restaurant.

This fine dining experience had left me feeling traumatic to eat Japanese fine dining again, at least for several months :/ And it had such good reviews too...

3 Michelin Star; Osaka; Taian

Been away from Tokyo for almost 2 weeks, so I didn't blog. Kept on travelling these times :P

Anyway I went to Taian, one of the four 3 Michelin star restaurants in Osaka, and it certainly lived up to my expectations :)

 Hassun. Loved everything there except for the shirako :/

 Tai

 Maguro

 Sashimi. Dip in soy sauce or pepper

 Forgot what fish this is, maybe cod in black miso.

 My favourite! Uni spring roll with ginger.

 So yummy.

 Normally kaiseki restaurants serve white rice at the end but not them.

 Last but not least, persimmon and grape jelly as dessert. It's really beautiful.

 It's a pretty nice restaurant that is not too showy :)

18 Courses at Oryori Hayashi 御料理はやし, Kyoto

Instead of going to Michelin restaurants this time, I used a Japanese rating to find the top restaurants in Japan. Would like to know which rating is better, French or Japanese. Of course, you know who will win... as I am in Japan...!

This restaurant that I went to is called Oryori Hayashi 御料理はやし, which is rated as top 20 in Kyoto and top 100 in Japan. 

As I have mentioned on the title, they served us 18 courses. Judging from the number alone, there's no way a Michelin star restaurant will make such an effort to serve so many courses.

 Daikon with miso. I love daikon so this dish is perfect as the first course!

 Hassun

 Hamaguri clam with sakura petals. It's the season for sakura!

 Fish roe からすみ

 This uni is hands down the best uni I have had in my whole life. Fresh and sweet.

 Hirame. I really like how they slice it into such thin pieces and this fish is kind of chewy.

 Sashimi including koshibi and sayori. (seasonal fish)

 Lilybulb manjyuu with minced duck meat inside.
ユリ根饅頭

 Anago! It's eel which lives in salt water.

 Amadai

 白魚 Ice fish tempura

 Shirako tofu coated with uni. Usually I hate shirako but I couldn't taste the shirako at all for this dish so I love it! Tastes like tofu/fish cake but very soft with crunchy layer. Yum

 This soup has 日本酒, sake, and it was not weak!!

 Porridge at the end.

 Kinkan 金柑 and yuzu sherbet! I love it.

 Tea ceremony

 Sweet potato japanese snack 和菓子.

So, this restaurant really makes an effort to serve its customers with 18 small but unique dishes. Simple and traditional yet pleasing. Different experience as compared to a Michelin restaurant was I was glad I went there instead of the latter.