(light music)
- So we've been living in Japan for almost four years now
but most of our videos are around the Tokyo area
and we don't really get to explore Kyoto enough.
- So when we got an email from The Mimaru Hotel being like,
"Do you guys wanna come out to Kyoto and stay in our hotel
"and explore our neighborhood?" we were like
(funky violin music)
- Of course! - Heck yes!
- So today we're gonna show you a little video
about what we like to do in 48 hours in Kyoto.
(jazzy bass music)
- So we're at Takagi Coffee and this isn't one of those
places that we normally recommend, where we're like,
it's modern, it's new, it's got this, it's got that.
No, it just feels like a kind of local, comfortable, diner.
The kind of place that I go to on like Saturdays and
Sundays with my best friend Jackie.
And it was like a little greasy spoon where they would make
just like eggs and things that you could make at home.
- This isn't a modern cafe, I think the aesthetic stopped
at like 1978.
- They opened in 1976, so--
- Really, that's it, they kept the same vibe
It has an awesome vibe.
- Lovely.
- There's a lot of smoking in here
a lot of salary men here also but it's got a good
kind of home diner feel to it.
- And I also love the fact that it feels extremely polite.
When you go to visit diners in North America
there's almost like a joke feeling of people being like,
"What do you want," and there's like cigarettes falling
into your food and you're like "It's gonna taste great."
Here's the opposite, everyone's polite and lovely
and wearing really beautiful uniforms and bow ties.
It's just like going back to a polite time period.
- Nobody's been rude to me yet, like where's the sass?
Where's the attitude?
I ordered, you're not allowed to have any of this.
- Okay.
- I ordered the hot dog set because I know when you see it
you're gonna be like damn I wanna try some.
- I ordered omurice and a comforting omurice.
This sounds like it's gonna be amazing.
- This place seems like the perfect place to get an omurice.
- Yeah, I know.
(sensual music)
- Martina got the omurice set, I thought I'd be adventurous
and try the hot dog set.
- Yes, what did you get?
- I mean, I got a hot dog bun with four different wieners
in here and some gravy put on it and some iceberg lettuce
and a fork.
How do I eat a hot dog with a fork?
Mmmmm.
- Is it a sausage, is it a hot dog?
The world needs to know Simon.
- It's not bad.
(laughing)
I'm actually disappointed that it's not bad,
I was expecting this to be a lot worse.
- And you're European so you're quite picky.
- [Simon] So one of the reasons we're recommending
this place is because we found a lot of coffee shops
don't really open that early.
A lot of them open around 10 a.m.,
and if you're coming here and your jet lagged and your awake
at seven, come here, get some decent coffee.
It's got toast and it's got sausage. (laughing)
- Everything you want from a diner in Japan.
- It is pretty smokey here.
- All right tally-ho snuffmuffler, we're leaving.
- Stop trying to make snuffmuffler happen,
it's not going to happen
- Could be snuffmuffler.
(enchanted music)
Now this is gonna be, you know, high level of hipster
Martina coming out here, but one of the things that we
really love to do in Kyoto is to just get lost in very
noisy intersections because that's real life and for real.
You just wander around and it's very different than being in
Tokyo because the buildings don't go extremely high
which means you can't see past all the streets.
So you'll be walking
and then you just turn a corner and you go,
"Oh my god, there's like a little temple here."
And it's like this little tiny bit of ancient Japan nestled
in between an apartment building lump a modern motorcycle.
So I really have to say just get lost in Kyoto between
destinations when you're walking.
If it's raining, if it's snowy,
you're gonna find something amazing.
(lofi music)
Well this place was extremely difficult to find.
- [Simon] It's not on the main street, it's hidden behind a
parking lot.
But this place right here, Weekenders,
is a gem of a coffee shop.
- Also, I'd like you to notice Exhibit A,
Dan if you could just pan around here to, yup
- When we recommend places for you,
these aren't easy to find, these are hidden special gems.
And this coffee here is really damn good.
- [Martina] I know it's great.
- [Simon] I'm really enjoying this latte.
- [Martina] The espresso is beautiful.
- It's built out of this old looking house and they have
really modern style espresso drinks.
You know, with like the clean glass looks and...
- I know what you're trying to say.
- Well what's that aesthetic called, is there a name for it?
(upbeat music)
- We went for one coffee shop which was like old-school
diner feel and now we're going to a place that is updated
and modern, doing hand drip coffee.
I'm sure you're looking a sexy food porn shots of this
as we speak.
(lofi music)
(bubbly music)
Tanuki.
I think I like swings so much because I don't feel my body
on a swing.
Tanukis.
(light music)
- I'm very excited for this place here, this is
Gontaro Okazaki.
My friend who's a super otaku for udon,
he loves udon more than anything else, said that we have to
eat at this place here in Kyoto because
not all udon is the same.
Tokyo udon and Kyoto udon
have very different tastes. - Different beasts.
- I think one of the things about Japan that's no neat
is that you feel like you might know one area really well.
Perhaps you've been here a couple times and you're like,
"Oh I know Japan I don't need to have udon again."
But you do because every region just has something so
lightly different.
- Kind of like how Texas mexican food and L.A. mexican
food is very different Mexican food.
The udon here is gonna taste much different than what we're
used to, gonna call it you-don.
- You might've called it you-don
- The you-don, here comes our beer.
- Cold beer.
(speaking in foreign language)
- Hai.
- Isn't this lovely?
- They just got such a nice outfit on.
- Yeah.
- Simon's like I didn't notice because I'm a boy.
- No, I noticed!
- Did you see her shoes?
- That I didn't notice, I have never noticed a woman's
shoes, that's not just because I'm a man, it's because I'm
so tall that from the distance you can't see peoples feet.
- From a distance, you guys can't see this but we keep
distracting and looking over because the sun is setting.
And it's cutting through these clouds behind us
and we just had a sun shower where we heard the rain
glittering down upon the trees beside us,
I'm like this is nonsense. - Right above us.
We got the mosquitoes nibbling our ankles below us.
- Nibbling gently at our ankles
- We got this beautiful house here.
- What a nice balmy, 33 degree, October 1st.
Kampai!
(funky music)
Itadakimasu - Itadakimasu
- I'm going in for my shrimp
- Oh look at that.
Beautiful, steamy noodles. (slurps)
So this here is a tentoji udon, this is a Kyoto specialty.
It's tempura udon with scrambled egg on top.
The egg is super soft and silky and it just has a very home
cooking kind of feel to it, yum!
This is so different.
- [Martina] So good.
- Wow, so much sweeter, the noodles when it comes
to Kyoto udon are a lot softer.
From what I've been told
you're not supposed to chew them as much as it's supposed to
have a good throat feel.
There's a Japanese word for it that I don't know.
Also the broth is super sweet compared to what Tokyo
broth is like.
It's not like candy but it just tastes a lot sweeter.
- They do like mirin or when they do miso soup it always
seems to fall a little bit on the just sweeter side.
- [Simon] Yeah.
- But the throat feel thing, it's a real thing.
You just put it in your mouth and then you swallow the
noodles whole and it's supposed to be soft enough that you
can do that, one shot, no chewing.
- How'd that feel?
- Felt very warm.
- It's very warm.
- I still feel a whole warm mass of udon noodles making--
- You feel the warm as it works it's way down your throat.
- I feel it warming, yes I do.
- There you go. - Yes.
- This house to me feels almost kind of like a smaller
version of that Kyoto Kitcho house we went to.
This feels like we're part of a different land right now.
This doesn't feel like Tokyo whatsoever.
- Can't hear you over the sound of the truck.
- I said it feels like we're part of a different land.
- Oh I see.
- It's very
- Tranquil
- Very historic.
(low funky beat)
♪ Never really knew that you could dance like this ♪
♪ She makes a man wants to speak Spanish ♪
♪ Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa ♪
♪ Shakira Shakira ♪
- You see how it looks?
Just testing out the camera angles, this is the kind of
difficult thing, you have to figure out when filming.
- Especially with me because I'm a big boy, I shake
everything when I move.
- Oh my god Simon, how are you doing that?
When I walk around I'm just like
din-din-din-din-din-din
and you're like nein-nein-nein.
See look at this.
- I'm a big boy.
- We've been through this before,
look at my eye level, nips.
- Stop staring at the nips, you pervert.
- You're so pervert I can pick you up and squeeze--
- [Martina] Bork bork, bork bork.
Oh no, snuffmuffler's angry
- [Simon] Bork bork.
- Come here big snuffmuffler.
Good job, snuffmuffle.
Little muffler of snuffs.
Oh yeah, get on top, hi-yah!
So we're going to be sticking in today and just making
like a nabe hot-pot miso because there's a kitchen in our
hotel room and you know that we're really into cooking.
So there's like tons of stuff you have to do after vlogging
and unloading and dumping and everything sounds like
a washroom joke but since I'm in Kyoto I'm gonna kind of
indulge in the local miso.
It's so easy to make a hot-pot
so unfortunately there's a lot of stuff that's sold out
already, boredom.
So I'm gonna grab this one and anything I
don't finish I can really just bring back with me because
I live a couple hours away by Shinkansen.
So let's get the ingredients for hot-pot
and let's get back to the hotel
and cook, I might even put on a face mask, who knows.
Just gonna look crazy and getting a bottle of wine, mhm.
I think this five dollar wine will suffice for my recipe
of putting wine in my mouth. (laughing)
So we're gonna use these little Blendy hand drips so I can
snobishly hand pour coffee over the world's tiniest filter.
(happy music)
This is shredded ginger,
I think it makes everything taste great
and I'm also gonna get...
And we need to get eggs for breakfast
What, huh, how did I end up inside of the
instant cup ramen aisle.
I think we've got everything let's get going, Simon's
uploading all the footage.
I'm hungry as heck.
To the hotel room.
(light music)
Okay, you ready?
Hey, I'm Martina and welcome to Martina's midnight munchies
for real because it's really late.
That's it, that was done very properly.
We are pretty hungry but we had an intense day.
We're too tired to leave anymore
and we love places that have
kitchens, as you know, you've seen a lot of our videos where
we cook.
So I'm gonna make a miso hot pot as I mentioned
earlier in the grocery store.
Simon is doing tons of stuff.
Come on over and see this area.
This is our little Japanese tatami mat area.
Simon is working very hard we have
so much to import and because we shoot in 4K, it takes a
long time.
And there's even these awesome
I want this place to look like "Kill Bill" doors.
Ready for this, it just feels immediately like...
What the, what the heck.
Ducky, do you want wine?
- [Simon] I would love some wine.
- They actually have a wine opener but no need because
it's a twist off cap.
Dan do you want a glass of wine?
- [Dan] How am I going to hold this glass of wine?
- Well, you should see the video that I did when Simon made
pierogies with his parents.
I was both a camera woman and wine drinking connoisseur.
Seriously, you guys know what I'm
talking about, that's right.
The whole video you see my hand
come out and Mr. Stawski will pour me more wine and I
would bring it behind the camera.
It just got better and better as the video went on.
The five dollar, I mean, $50 wine is very expentual.
- I have finally imported everything and I finally
synchronized the audio and now I just gotta do some
color correction.
- Boo.
Boring.
Basically a nabe is super simple, you're building a dashi
base, which I've made a lot of videos on explaining how to
make that soup base.
Conveniently Japan often sells a lot of
these pre made packs, I'm gonna add this into the pot.
You guys can see it's just like granules.
This is instant dashi.
If you smell it, you smell it Dan?
Oh, he went in for a deep smell, yeah that's...
- [Dan] It smells like the sea.
- It smells like the sea.
Don't worry if you're not super precise its not gonna be the
end of the world for your soup.
The veggies, you're add a lot more water as well.
So I don't wanna like over water things.
(upbeat music)
If you guys are cooking fans name it, ready?
Now I'm going to whip the butter.
(crickets chirping)
Eh, Simon?
Eh?
- [Simon] Oh, that's Gordon Ramsey.
(sad music) (gun shooting)
(lofi music)
- Hey, thanks for making this great dinner,
Ducky this looks so amazing.
- No problem.
Mmm. - Mmm.
This is so much of a creamier, milkier--
- Yeah, it's creamy right.
- It almost tastes like a tonkotsu.
- Yeah, I was really tempted to add a little of the soy
milk because that's what makes it creamier.
- Wow.
- And this is just like a couple of ingredients,
this would be better with more things in it.
Like little hot pepper flakes on top.
- I think when you're coming to Kyoto you can definitely
think about all the restaurants you can go to, but Kyoto
also has really good produce that's unique to Kyoto.
Like this Kyoto miso and if you have a kitchen
that you can cook in then you can try some of it out.
I highly recommend it because this is so different
than what you usually make and I'm really happy.
- I don't wanna sound like a TV commercial but it was so
easy all I did was just toss it all in the pot.
Tomorrow morning let's have a good solid breakfast,
I saved a little bit of the stuff so that we can maybe do
some scrambled chicken meatball eggs and stuff like that.
And we got your pickles, call it a night
and see what kind of adventures we can go on later.
- Mmmm.
(drums beating)
(sizzling)
Finally, I get to try the pickles that
I've been so excited about.
- [Martina] You want like a pickle bowl or like a...
- Nah, I'm just gonna unceremoniously dunk them on top of my
beautiful TKG.
- [Martina] Really?
- Oh yeah.
(slurping)
Oh.
(percussive music)
I'm not sure if you can hear me over the roaring of your
stomachs or the roaring of this water but we're about to go
to an amazing chocolate shop, for real.
This place is really good.
- I know that this is not something you'd think of when you
come to Kyoto.
Two years ago, on one of our trips, we found
this place by accident in the winter time and we had the
warmest cup of delicious hot chocolate.
And then we wandered down this area which is like
a really beautiful area to take
photos so were gonna get some chocolate, were gonna recreate
that whole thing.
(light music) (children laughing)
- Looks at these beautiful, old, Chinese tins.
These are great gifts for you to give to yourself.
Forget about friends and family.
You deserve this.
You've been a good boy or a good girl.
You deserve the chocolate.
Okay, this seems like the most adult thing.
Adult, I don't know.
I just feel like so wrong for doing this
but I'm gonna do it anyways.
You get these beautiful little tins right here
and then you can fill them up with
the chocolates around here.
Look at this, are you ready?
Let's get a shot of this.
How does this even work?
- Shit.
- [Simon] You got it? - [Dan] I got it , I got it.
Oh yeah, triple chocolate toffee, are you kidding me?
Oh my god, look at how retro this is.
Steampunk chocolate.
- Are we gonna be broke after this?
- No.
- This is like what you do when you get bulk candy and then
it's like that'll be $80 and your soul.
Did you get the chip malt balls?
I definitely want some mint chip malt balls.
- Oh, so first you're like don't do this and now you want
some of these.
Double chocolate bacon pretzel.
Lots of great words on their own
together, they sound a lot better.
- [Martina] That's enough sir
- Should this be enough?
- Think about your diet.
- I'm doing this for the video.
There you go.
- We've done a terrible thing.
It's okay this is good omiyage.
- Right, we had to get some gifts for our neighbors.
- Yes, we're not going to eat this later on in the
hotel room at nighttime.
- Right.
(whimsical music)
- Now not only is this a chocolate shop, which is like,
I think, reason enough to come visit it.
It's located near Gion Shijo Ecchi
which is like a really popular area that kinda bridges over
the Kyoto River and if you turn the corner
you're so close by really beautiful old school Kyoto.
There's gorgeous rivers, there's cranes,
you can see people dressed up in kimonos,
either their renting them.
You can even see real life geishas walking around.
Get a bit artsy, find yourself a corner and a hot beverage
and just kinda camp out and wait for Kyoto magic to happen.
(door squeaking)
- Or you can just sit here and eat chocolate.
Forget about he art, eat some chocolate.
- Are you saving any of those for me?
- This is your mint one that you wanted.
- Are you about to eat it?
Don't you!
Spit it out!
- There's one more left for you.
- There's only two?
- Your one is gross.
- He only got two and he ate one of them.
This is a mint malt ball.
Oh my god.
- I am gonna get a tummy ache.
(mystical music)
Okay, so we have a bit of a story with this next place
that I want to recommend.
Two years ago,
when we were in Kyoto, we went to this ramen shop right by
Kyoto station that's supposedly really famous.
Well, not supposedly, it is very famous.
The lines are always huge.
Guys, I can't tell you how excited I am for this.
We are going for what our ramen otaku friends
say is the best shoyu ramen in all of Japan.
In all of Japan!
- So we're in Kyoto for this.
- Yes.
- And if you look around right now, literally,
there's an apartment, there's a bridge.
- There's nothing. - Nothing.
- But it's literally 11:30 at night and we are in a line.
- I'm scared what if we don't like it?
- Our friends say that they literally travel to Kyoto
just for this ramen.
- They take the bullet train, two and a half hours,
ate the ramen and then go home.
- It's that good, and I'm worried what if
I don't like it as much.
Will they still be friends with me?
- I mean, we're gonna like it no matter what.
We just may not love it.
I don't know what to expect.
- I'm so nervous.
We went there, we waiting in line and we shot a video.
And you know, we really didn't love it at the time.
But I thought it's been two years, I've grown
and I've developed, I started liking pickles.
Why don't I try this ramen shop one more time.
So I waited in line for like 40 minutes,
just to give this place a second chance and sweet Jesus
I'm so glad that I did.
This ramen is absolutely fucking amazing.
The broth is so delicious,
the noodles are just so lovely,
just the texture,
the bites, everything about them,
it's so good.
Amazing.
This is worth waiting in line half an hour for.
Go right by Kyoto Station, it's called Daichi Asahi Ramen.
You have to go.
That's it, over and out.
Thank you for listening to my TED talk.
Now back to the rest of the video.
(lofi music)
I had a wonderful night.
I had amazing ramen and then I came home and ate the rest
of the chocolates.
I even got to share one with you.
- [Martina] You know what, that was not fair because
I didn't come with you for ramen, and you smashed that
entire thing of chocolate.
I didn't have any, I had one I think.
- And then I had a great sleep, this is probably like our
fourth or fifth time in Kyoto, and this is the only time
I've actually really loved the bed that I have slept in.
- [Martina] Yeah, no, I really enjoyed the bed too
and that's great for me.
- I'm very comfortable in this place,
we got a kitchen, we got laundry,
we can just live here forever.
(Martina laughing)
Thank you Mimaru Hotel for bringing us out to Kyoto
and thank you for watching this video and for learning some
great places you can go on your trip when you come to Kyoto.
Ain't that right Kogi, you're my pig now too.
(Martina grunts)
Goodbye everybody.
Wee, I need my own travel pig.
- [Martina] We'll call him Bogi.
- You're my travel pig come here let me hug you.
Let me squeeze you.
No, the big piggy behind the camera, come on.
(Martina grunts)
Come on, you and me girl.
I'm gonna squeeze you.
I'm gonna hug you and squeeze and love you forever.
Thank you for watching this very long video of ours.
We have a lot more footage, in fact, Martina made an entire
midnight munchies out of that dinner.
That's gonna be up in a couple of days.
Make sure you click on the link here, otherwise,
if you want some extra scenes or some bloopers
we got those here so click on that.
Thank you everybody, we'll see you again soon.