Japanese Food Again for Dinner on Day 2
A Thoroughly Satisfying Meal at Koryori Nara
For dinner, I headed to Koryori Nara, less than a 10-minute walk from the hotel.
It stood quietly in a residential neighborhood, with an atmospheric exterior. I stepped inside feeling a little nervous.
They only serve an omakase course. Dishes lined up at the counter were warmed or finished one by one and brought out in steady succession.
The first dish was shira-ae. I had it with sake, and it was a perfect match.
They had a wide selection of local Nara sake. I started with Mimuro Sugi.
Next came a thick rolled omelet with mentaiko tucked inside. It was delicious, of course, and the tableware was lovely too. The contrast of blue and yellow was beautiful…
Then came shigi-yaki eggplant, a preparation in which eggplant is grilled and finished with a generous coating of miso. It was grilled to a nice golden finish, and there was no way it wouldn’t go well with sake.
Next was fried monkfish. I happily took a big bite.
Then there was a salad dressed with pumpkin and beef. The sweetness of the pumpkin paired beautifully with the just-right richness of the beef.
And it still wasn’t over. Next came sea bream kabura-mushi. Its gentle flavor felt like a brief pause… or so it seemed.
Then came shirako wrapped in beef! The beef was cooked just enough and wrapped around a generous amount of shirako. Around this point, the "Gisuke Tokubetsu Junmai Nama Genshu" I drank was the MVP of the day.
Then tarako made another appearance: tarako wrapped in kombu. Since it came with plenty of vegetables, I felt zero guilt about eating tarako. Delicious.
Still not done. Next was shrimp taro tempura. Crisp on the outside, fluffy and meltingly soft inside. So good!
From here, it was the final stretch: steamed meatballs wrapped in glutinous rice. The savoriness of the meat…!
Around this point I was getting tipsy, so my memory—and my notes—got a little fuzzy… This one was eggplant. The sansho really did its job.
And last was pressed grilled mackerel sushi, a style of pressed sushi made by shaping the rice and fish together into a firm block before cutting it into pieces. I love that. Was it cured in vinegar too?? I honestly don’t remember. Judging from the photo, it looks like grilled mackerel…?
That’s how I ended up enjoying a huge amount of delicious food along with plenty of drinks to match, so by the end I was feeling pretty light and floaty… (lol)
I was very glad it was within walking distance of the hotel. Thank you for the meal—it was a deeply satisfying dinner.
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