I just went to Kyoto yesterday and after another hot day, I thought I’d buy this cheap chocolate ice cream from a vending machine just to cool off. Much to my surprise, the ice cream was quite good. They were in the shape of 6 chocolate bon-bons and the brand was “Lady Borden”. The strange thing is that I can’t seem to find the brand anywhere else (ie. Combini). This is really strange because I’m pretty sure that just like any other ice cream in Japan, it’s made by Lotte and that brand can be found easily in any combini.

Earlier that day, I had a brunch inside Osaka station since I had missed breakfast. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get lunch once I arrived in Kyoto since I’ll be too busy walking from one temple to another. I can’t remember the name of the place but it’s a typical vending machine place. I ordered some kind of Chicken Katsu. Much to my surprise, it came not only with Rice and Miso Soup (which are typical of a set menu in Japan) but also with some pickles and soft tofu. It was tasty albeit a bit too much portion-wise.

I didn’t feel like eating another carbs-filled menu for dinner so I ended up just buying 5 pieces of Oden from the local Combini (convenient shop). Again, due to the cheap price (60 Yen per piece), I thought the taste would be crappy but it’s actually pretty good. I really like that you can actually self-serve yourself and choose what kind of Oden you want in your takeaway bowl. I think my favorite Oden would have to be this piece of fish cake. The fried tofu was pretty good as well.

Matsuya

Today, I decided to buy a dango for breakfast. Well, it wasn’t my kind of food. It’s actually salty and there I thought it would be sweet. I don’t regret that I tried it though and I did like the chewy texture. For lunch, I stopped at Matsuya and no, I’m not referring to the department store. This Matsuya is just a chain of eatery that is frequently visited by salarymen and students. You order using a vending machine and the foods are the Japanese/Korean variety. I ordered the Gyuudon and it came with this raw egg – which I didn’t eat.