[Japan-Kyoto] Exploring Kyoto in Autumn - Spring Valley Brewery Kyoto (SVB) | Sotetsu-Fresa Inn Kyoto Shijo Karasuma

After enjoying Nagoya (and Takayama), I arrived in Kyoto on a weekend. If you ever intended to visit Nishiki Market on a weekend, hmmm, please think twice unless you don't mind jostling with other tourists. It was so packed that I turned back after looking in from the outside of the market entrance! Hahaa, no worries as I had a few days in Kyoto, hence decided to visit Nishiki on a weekday instead.

Booked a couple of nights stay at Sotetsu Fresa Inn Kyoto Shijo Karasuma and it was about 12 minutes walk to Nishiki Market.

Famished and was looking for a place to have late lunch. Walked around the area and stumbled upon a place that looked like a machiya and it sign says, "Spring Valley Brewery".

facade and entrance

The place looked super duper cool, and after a quick browse of the menu, decided to lunch at SVB. The service staff was welcoming despite I was a solo diner.

weekend lunch set menu

Was surprised by how reasonably priced its Weekend Lunch Set was. One could have a meal there for about ¥1500 to ¥1800 and it comes with a small glass of craft beer! Wow!

beer list

Guess what I had chosen for lunch. It was the roast beef bowl!

interior

looking out from the inside

The place was pretty relaxed on a Sunday, but that's maybe because it was way past lunch hour when I was there. The other table had two young adults that probably had completed their meal and looked like they were learning about beer brewing from the staff at the bar.

The roast beef don was to be paired with "Afterdark" but they can change it to something else based on your preference. I was hot from all the walking and wanted something more refreshing. The staff was able to converse in English, so ordering was not an issue. Moreover, the menu had English text on it as well.

I went for "Copeland" beer and it tasted hoppy, mild sweetness and not too bitter. Cold beer on a hot day. So good.

Copeland 5.5% ABV

Then, the salad was served. Ooh, this was a pleasant surprise as I thought there'd only be beef bowl and then the small glass of beer. Oh wow, the salad came loaded with flavours. Loved the mild dressing (tasted of olive oil and balsamic), the walnuts, croutons and cheese toppings. Enjoyed the salad and while I was halfway through, the roast beef bowl was served.

salad (part of the set)

Roast Beef Bowl Set

Such a pretty looking bowl with a wobbly yolk sitting ontop, just waiting for the moment to burst out of its membrane.

golden moments

Beneath the slices of pink roast beef, was a mound of rice drizzled with shoyu and wasabi. Mix it well with the golden yolk for a glorious mouthfeel. Tasty too. Kudos to SVB for being so generous with its customers. There were enough slices of roast beef to cover the ratio of rice.

like a roast beef sushi

After I was done with my meal, the staff came over and asked if I'd like coffee. I'd say yes to that!

after meal coffee

For just ¥1500 (less than SGD20), there was the main dish of roast beef bowl, a side of salad, a small glass of beer and a coffee. Definitely value for money! Highly satisfied and would recommend for a visit when you're in the vicinity.

The Sotetsu-Fresa Inn Shijo Karasuma hotel had one of the nicest facade/walkway that I've ever come across in 3 to 3.5-star hotel thus far. Classy. Like any other Sotetsu-Fresa Inn hotel, the hotel lobby had other complimentary amenities such as ladies/gents pack that guests could help themselves to if required.

entrance to Sotetsu-Fresa Inn Shijo Karasuma

nice walkway, like walking into an onsen or high class restaurant

home sweet home

hotel breakfast

loved the eggs and the cold somen

I tried the hotel breakfast and there weren't many varieties. However, they do serve some special item such as croquette and cold somen. The dashi for the noodles was quite good. I'm good as long as they have scrambled eggs or omelette.

Spring Valley Brewery Kyoto

Location: 587–2 Takamiyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8056, Japan
Website: https://www.springvalleybrewery.jp/pub/kyoto/
Contact: +81 75-231-4960
Business Hours:
Mon-Sat: 11am to 11pm
Sun: 11am to 10pm

Sotetsu-Fresa Inn Kyoto Shijo Karasuma

Location: 60番地 Dojishacho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8421, Japan
Website: https://fresa-inn.jp/en/karasuma/
Contact: +81 75-284-2031

[Closed] Dim Sum Lunch @ Prima Tower Revolving Restaurant

This establishment has been around for the longest time. Been there a couple of times but this was my first in trying their dim sum menu. Located in the middle of nowhere, at 201 Keppel Road, and nearest MRT would be Harbourfront.

There's valet parking if you are driving there.

entrance to the building

Head right in and take the lift to Level 9. Depending on which lift, there's one that requires some more climbing of stairs. After which, there's an escalator that will bring you to the restaurant. The restrooms are at the start of those flight of stairs.

interior

view

view changes

If you are dining on a weekend, do note that last order is 2pm and the restaurant closes at 230pm. We were there at 1 pm and the feeling was a tad rushed. Would recommend to allocate at least 2 hours to enjoy the experience.

boiled peanuts and pickles

chinese tea

There are set menus with reasonable pricing of about $288++ (for 10 pax) and one gets their popular Peking Duck, shredded scallops in egg white,  fish maw soup, noodles, a fish and a meat dish, vegetable dish and dessert. But we were there for dim sum, so ala-carte it would be.

Our modus operandi would be somewhat simple, like "give me one of each". Haha!

tableful of delicious dim sum

My de-facto order would be the char siew bao and siew mai as these are basic items of any dim sum meal. They served it steaming hot, and that's good because we'd be taking photos first. Oh, but poor har gao, they should be eaten quickly!

soft, fluffy 叉烧包

look at these beautiful fillings

The siew mai at Prima was dense and with a very visible prawn. But I'd prefer if the prawn had its tail peeled. I know it's visually appealing but still...

prawn siew mai

har gao 

Was rather hungry, so those har gao or siew mais were devoured fairly quickly. And then, there were some rather interesting stuffs too. Like steamed rice rolls with century egg and mango. Say whuutt?!

steamed rice roll with century egg, pickled ginger and mango

no kidding!

I sincerely thought that dish would taste weird. Pungent century egg, with pickled ginger, mango and wrapped in soft rice roll? Hmmm. I don't know because it sounded a tad scary.

Surprisingly, it works. It was just a pity that the century egg yolk was not those soft lava kind that you find in Hong Kong, but the combination of QQ'ness from century egg skin and the rice roll, that ultra sweetness from the mango and pickled ginger was refreshing.

Finally tried the 炸兩 (zha leong), of fried dough fritters and wrapped in steamed rice rolls. The one we ordered had squid paste stuffed into the fritters. Nice texture and while I couldn't taste the squid, it was nice to chew on and I do like savoury chee cheong fun.

fried dough fritters stuffed with squid paste wrapped in rice rolls

savoury rice rolls

Other staples dim sum included the chicken feet, pork ribs, and fried carrot cake. The classics, if you may.

steamed pork ribs

steamed chicken feet

pan fried carrot cake (and that's my camera reflected o the spoon, =x)

There's stewed beef tripe too and by now, was feeling rather full.

stewed beef tripe

But we are not leaving until we tried their house specialty too. Yes, the Beijing Duck and the Shredded Scallops with Egg White. One could opt for the service staff to portion out the dish, or DIY. For the Shredded Scallops with Egg White (赛螃蟹), one could opt to add the black vinegar in. I preferred it with vinegar, actually.

Shredded Scallops with Egg White 赛螃蟹

vinegar, if you wish

look at this luscious bowl

For Peking Duck, they'd show you the whole uncut duck first. After which, the skin is removed from the duck and served with egg crepe, cut cucumbers, sliced chives and sauce for DIY wraps.

Peking Duck wrap starter kit

glorious skin

artistic plate from Hence

It was pretty fun to wrap up the skin and eat it. Some of us may wrap it beautifully, while others may wrap it functionally. In the end, we still enjoyed the food!

yummy package

The second serving of the duck, we chose it to be simply stir-fried with onions. Meaty and flavourful. It was of a nostalgic taste like home-cooking.

duck, second serving

The food was delicious, the view was great and the service was efficient. Best thing was the companionship that like-minded people brings. Thank you to fellow foodies; Ivan, Hence, Tracy, Kris, Tiara and Rachelle for spending Saturday lunch together. Cheers!

We spent about $43 per pax for the meal. It was super duper filling.

[Tasting] The Gong by Drinks & Co. @ Duo Galleria

Within a few minutes walk from Downtown MRT Station, The Gong by Drinks & Co. is one destination where you could get good food (and drinks) at reasonable price. The menu has a range that spans from charchuterie, salads, bar bites to mains from the grill, Western styled and right up to Asian favourites. Was invited for a tasting and let's see how's the experience, shall we?

welcome to The Gong

menu

I arrived right in time for starters. For drinks, I had their housepour red of Cabernet Sauvignon. Cocktails, beer and non-alcoholic beverages are available too.

Gong Salt and Pepper Squid @$17

Florets of Cauliflower @$14

Crispy Chicken Karaage @$18

From the photos, you'd probably realised that I was late to the party! Hahaha, true to that. Nevertheless, I particularly enjoyed the cauliflower which had burnt cauliflowers florets tossed in pesto sauce and garnished with radish, grapes and mint leaves. Tasty!

Now, let me have a sip of the wine.

cheers for surviving through the week

Was I hungry? Yes! So let's bring on the mains. For the meatatarian, there's the Mixed Meat Platter. It's one of The Gong's Signature Board, and there's satay (chicken, beef), New Zealand lamb rack (grab this!), grilled Australian beef and two types of pork sausages. These were served with a side of mesclun, olives, a dollop of grain mustard and a small bowl of mint yoghurt sauce.

Mixed Meat Platter @$56

Australian Beef

lovely lamb rack

The lamb rack was tender, evenly cooked and pink. Non-gamey and so good to eat. Sauce was not necessary.

Then, out came the pizza. We tried the local-inspired Zul's Satay Pizza and the western-styled Assorted Mushroom Pizza. I liked both, actually. The satay flavours were on point when eaten together with the cucumber cubes and raw onions. The Assorted Mushroom Pizza were earthy, aromatic and had a certain finesse to it.

Zul's Satay Pizza @$24

Assorted Mushroom Pizza @$26

If pizzas still had yet to satisfy your hunger, then there's fried rice and hokkien mee. Ooh, I was so eager to try The Gong's version of hokkien mee. The verdict? Pretty good for both but I do like the Hokkien Mee more. The fried rice was really generous with the crab meat, and the tobiko not only added colour to the dish, the tiny crunchy roe made the texture more interesting.

A mouthful of the noodles that had been simmered in flavourful stock was simply comforting. The pork slices, julienned chives, fried eggs in the mix plus a dab of the sambal completes the picture. The spice was not overpowering so it supported the overall flavours of the hokkien mee. Then, finish off with a sip of smooth red.

Crab Claw Meat Fried Rice with Tobiko @$14

Hokkien Mee @$14

Have I told you that The Gong does a pretty neat job for its duck and pork too? Oh, I didn't? That won't do. Let's have a look at the Barbeque Smoked Duck Breast and Iberico Pork. The duck breast looked amazingly pink, with tender meat and balanced taste. The baby corns were good too.

Barbeque Smoked Duck Breast @$24

Iberico Pork @$24

For the Iberico Pork, pile those eggplant puree onto a slice of pork and top it with a pickled onion. Pop this into the mouth and be amazed with the flavours. Like how they'd say it, fireworks. Sharp, tangy, sweet, smokey and savoury.

And of course, we rounded up our meal with dessert; chocolate lava cake and tiramisu. Both classics.

Chocolate Lava Cake @$13

Tiramisu @$14

The Gong is a lovely place for a meal and after work drinks. Spacious, and unpretentious. Hearty food and ample selection of drinks. Pretty accessible as it is just minutes away from Downtown MRT Station.

interior

bar

Happy Hour

Thank you Kris for the invite and Amanda for introducing us to the delicious food of The Gong by Drinks & Co. Thank you Jason and the service crew for taking care of our table and Head Chef Wan for the good meal.

The Gong by Drinks & Co

Address: 7 Fraser St, #01-59/60 Duo Galleria, Singapore 189356
Website: http://thegong.com.sg/
Contact: 9619 4568
Business Hours:
Daily 11am to 12am