November 23-26, 2025 Miyashima Island to Hiroshima to Okayama. Lunch on train - Wagyu Roast Beef, rice and pickles. Dinner - Teppan ku-ya
Not much of interest in the food over the last two days. On November 23 we left the hotel in Kyoto on the fast rain to Hiroshima and then on a slow local coastal train to the ferry that took us to island of Miyashima where I collapsed with an attack of my condition that sent me to bed for 1 1/2 days. As I lay flat on my back Suzette brought me oyster dishes from several small take out restaurants, including fried sweet rice balls topped with an oyster and several fried and one grilled oyster.
I could barely eat, so a bowl of udon lasted for two meals. The take out food was good. We did not and I could not go out to eat. Thank goodness our lodging was large and across the street from the ferry dock. I improved steadily.
Finally on the morning of Tuesday, November 25, Suzette arranged a rickshaw tour of Miyashima that was wonderful. The driver was a youth man who spoke decent English who drove us for a 1 1/2 hour tour along the coast to the famous floating Tori gate near the red shrine and then past the pagoda to the Buddhist temple and back to the ferry port.
We then took the 45 minute fast ferry non-stop to the World Peace Park in downtown Hiroshima. It was a little scary going under the bridge where two roads met that was ground zero where Enola Gay dropped the bomb.
When we disembarked we taxied to our hotel, shared a bad pizza for lunch and I fell into bed again in Hiroshima
Later, Suzette went to a Family Mart convenience store where she bought miso soup, yogurt, egg drop soup, and two sandwiches (ham and. Cheese and egg salad and cheese). We ate dinner quietly in the room and I drank Coke and a cup of Earl Grey tea.
Finally, this morning, Wednesday, November 26, I was ready to start eating hard food. We were staying at the Royal Park Hotel in Hiroshima that serves a breakfast. I ate daintily but began to eat a few bites of solid food like a buttery Croissant spread with butter and lemon marmalade and yogurt with fresh pineapple.
We then taxied to the train station to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) for the 45 minute ride to Okayama. At the waiting room in Hiroshima was a Wagyu beef restaurant where I bought a take out container with seven thin slices of Wagyu roast beef on a bed of rice and two wonderful sweet pickles including the first delicious sweet umaboshi pickle of the trip. I ate my second solid food of the day on the train.
When we arrived in Okayama we taxied to our hotel and again I collapsed into bed and rested until dinner. We decided that I was strong enough to go out to dinner if we did not need to walk far. Suzette discussed the issue with the desk clerks and they suggested two restaurants, one next door that does grilled meets on skewers and a Teppan grill restaurant 1 1/2 blocks away named Teppan Ku-ya that served prime local Wagyu beef and had a 4.6 rating. I needed beef to build energy, so we made a 7:00 reservation at Teppan Ku-ya.
At 6:45 we walked the 1 1/2 blocks and were shown to a corner table.
We ordered the six course daily menu, that included grilled Wagyu beef steak
for 6,000 yen and a bottle of the local prize winning red blend of three grapes for 7,000 yen for a total cost of $126.00.
The wine was locally produced and a gold medal winner named Tridentate that we think referred to Tridentate Ligands that are inorganic complexes joining three atoms together. Wikipedia: A tridentate ligand (or terdentate ligand) is a ligand that has three atoms that can function as donor atoms in a coordination complex.[1]
This wine was a blend of three grapes; merlot and two local grapes, so a good wine for beef, but with a surprisingly bright almost spritzy flavor.
It was a superior dinner, worthy of its 4.6 rating and perhaps the best meal of the trip so far.
It started with the usual appetizer plate of small bites of quiche, sweet potato salad, two slices of cold steamed octopus with a fresh Italian basil leaf, tuna salad on a slice of baguette, and a slice of Wagyu beef.
Sweet potato salad
The second course was an amazingly fresh salad of three kinds of lettuce daikon, passion fruit, yellow bell pepper, and fresh kumquat slices with a Japanese style dressing of soy sauce and mirin.
We ate most of it except a few tough ends of lettuce.
Third course - grilled scallop and prawn. We could not recognize the slice of white grilled seafood as scallop. It was probably some sea snail. We each took one bite of it and left the rest. But the giant grilled prawn wrapped in a slice of ham was amazingly delicious. We removed the head and sucked the buttery stuff in the head out and then ate the de shelled body wrapped with a thin slice of ham down to the tail that we used as a handle. It was wonderful.
Fourth Course - The Beef. I have not eaten much Wagyu beef but this was better than any beef we ate in Argentina in April and superior to heavy aged beef we produce in Albuquerque because it was fresh and light and juicy all at once, instead of dense and aged tasting and each steak grilled perfectly to Suzette’s request for rare and my request for medium rare. We loved it. It was served with a medley of lightly grilled vegetables: a slice of carrot, eggplant, ear of corn, zucchini, and shiitake mushroom plus two sauces (ponzu and soy) and a tray with wasabi, yuzu chili powder, and a strong citrus salt for dipping. The waitress suggested dipping in wasabi and soy or ponzu sauce and yuzu chili. I found that I preferred the straight meat with it natural flavor and texture the best. I ate five of the eight cubes in the grilled 100 gram portion and Suzette gladly ate my remaining three.
Being raised in Cowtown, I have eaten beef all my life but I have rarely eaten any as naturally tender and flavorful as the local Wagyu beef I ate tonight. This set a new standard. I hope to find another Teppan grill in Tokyo and try it again when I feel better.
Fifth course - Two types of octopus dumplings. This was a new category for us. These were like soft croquettes a creamy filling of vegetables, bechamel, and octopus coated with something like rice flour and fried. Two were served plain with a lovely cup of beef broth with chervil leaves and a decorated fish cake floating in it. The other two were much more elaborate, laid on a drizzle of sweet mayonnaise sauce and a Demi-glacé and garnished with bonito flakes that undulated as they reacted to the heat radiating from the hot octopus balls. It had the appearance that the ball was still alive and breathing as the flakes fluttered. Incredibly creative, visually and definitely a new dining experience.
Suzette dipped pieces of one of the plain balls in the broth and I was able to dip one piece and we were done. The waitress graciously wrapped and put the uneaten octopus dumplings in a plastic to go box as well as our slices of tiramisu for dessert and we took pictures of the young highly talented chefs and waitresses and walked back the 1 1/2 blocks to our hotel and fell asleep instantly, happy that we had finally made it to a truly great restaurant in Japan.
And that I lived and recovered enough to enjoy it. It was Thanksgiving Eve, so we decided this was our Thanksgiving meal for this year.
Bon Appetit
