Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 8: strolling in Kyoto

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I'm starting my first full day in Kyoto properly, by having breakfast in my hotel room with a couple of things I picked up last night from 7-11. I'm on a quest to see which major convenience chain store has the best egg sandwich (たまごサンド), and this would be my second of the trio. The chunks of egg whites here are smaller compared with the one from Family Mart, and they mixed in all the yolk with mayo, making the filling more creamy. It also seemed a little sweeter. Very nice.

7-11 is currently doing a "curry festival (カレーフェス)" where they are selling curry items created by various restaurants in Japan. I decided to pick up this pork and curry sauce onigiri (スパイスカレーの魯肉飯おむすび) by Roka (魯珈).

We've got little chunks of pork, what looked like pickled mustard greens (酸菜), and rice soaked in a reasonably spicy curry sauce. This was OK.

We spent a little time strolling around Karasuma (烏丸) for a light shopping session, and ended up taking in a casual lunch at Yayoi (やよい軒), a chain of casual eateries.

Demi-glace hamburger steak teishoku (デミハンバーグ定食) - I love Japanese hamburger steaks, so it was a pretty easy decision. The added benefit was that the set came with a small salad, so I got to take in some fiber and roughage.

Curiously, the hamburger steak kinda separated and created a hole in the middle. But the taste was completely fine, especially that demi-glace on top.

We were also able to meet up with the Hungry Hungarian for a quick coffee before he left the country. This would be the second time we've seen each other this year, and on each occasion the only time he has for me is coffee before his flight... So we grabbed a quick drink at Ogawa Coffee (小川珈琲) near Kyoto Station.

My friend had already hit the Noma Kyoto pop-up since he's a super fan boy, and he very kindly offered me his thoughts on the experience. This came in very handy, because that's exactly where I'm headed tonight.

We went back to the hotel to refreshen up, then headed to the Ace Hotel Kyoto for our dinner. The full account of the Noma Kyoto dinner is here.

Not surprisingly, the Dining Austrian wanted more alcohol than what we got at dinner. So a few of us headed to Cigar Bar SUI (シガーバー SUI) for a nightcap.

2012 Bruno Paillard Assemblage, dégorgée en novembre 2020 - reasonably well-balanced, good acidity and also nice on the palate, with some marmalade on the nose.

I also took the chance to order up a fruit cocktail, which is something that many Japanese bars excel at. This was made with strawberries, although I wasn't told about the alcohol base nor which kind of strawberries were used.

2004 Inifinite Eight, dégorgement 2016 - not very impressed as this wasn't very memorable.

A few of us also took the chance to smoke a cigar. It's been years since my last cigar, and I kinda miss it.

Hanamikoji (花見小路) was completely deserted by the time we called it a night, and what a night it had been!