Wandering Fel

8D Avia Japan Trip: Hida Beef Fest at Takayama Old Town

Hida beef katsu from Takayama Old Town Japan

Hida beef katsu from Takayama Old Town store

Hida beef buns shop from Takayama Old Town Japan

Hida beef bun from Takayama Old Town Japan

Brown on sake barrel at Takayama Old Town Japan

I am getting a bit lazy to write lately because the burden of daily life has make me losing my inspiration. But I forced myself to write tonight no matter what it takes. Anyway, I feel it’s easier to write about past travel story because it somehow motivates you to earn dollars to fund your next travel plan. So let’s continue our walk in Takayama Old Town, shall we?

If you are not keen to go for sake tasting with empty stomach, you may want to take a deeper stroll to the alleys in Takayama Old Town because you don’t know what you will find out here. For instance, the road will lead you to a food store selling Hida beef skewer. Hida beef is so popular here in Takayama but it doesn’t come with cheap pricetag so in order to make it more affordable (and hence, attracting cheapo tourists’ attention like us), shops in Takayama Old Town sells Hida beef at various sizes. One skewer of Hida beef costs 500 JPY. Considering you can get a bowl of ramen at that price, oh well you know it’s not really a cheap delicacy but don’t leave this place without trying it, okay?

A few steps later we stumbled into a fried beef Croquette shop. I suppose all the shops here claim to sell Hida beef so let’s just believe them since there’s no way for us to proof them otherwise. I love this traditional croquette, it’s so crispy and the taste of the hot beef in curry sauce just burst at your mouth when you bite it. Yummy. Best to eat it hot so devour it straight away upon getting your hand on it.

Next, on the way back to the meeting point with the tour group, we saw a shop selling Hida beef buns. Since we are not going to see anymore Hida beef after leaving Takayama Old Town, we decided to say goodbye to this lovely old town by buying this beef bun. Same with the croquette, it’s best to consume this bun immediately because it won’t be so nice when it’s cold. I wish I have more time to explore Takayama Old Town but there is not much you can do when you join a tour group. At least, I had the chance to munch a lot of Hida beef that day. Oops, must not forget to take Brown after some photo-taking hehe.

8D Avia Japan Trip: Sake Tasting at Takayama Old Town

Award for sake sold at Takayama Old Town Japan

Price for hot sake at Takayama Old Town Japan

Sake drinking area at Takayama Old Town Japan

Heating machine for hot sake at Takayama Old Town Japan

Hot sake bottle for two at Takayama Old Town Japan

Doll decoration at Takayama Old Town Japan

Sarubobo decoration at Takayama Old Town Japan

Do you know what’s the best thing to do after a morning walk by the river? It’s a visit to an old town in Japan. This time we are going to visit Takayama Old Town. The old town has so many kind of shops from daily household shop, souvenir shop, skincare shop, food shops and even sake shop. While all of these shops are charming, I really recommend a visit to the sake shop. This is because the shop owner will allow you to taste the sake for free (while he secretly hoping you to buy few bottles of sake of course). The shop owner (or the tour guide, if you are joining a tour group) will give you a picture of all kind of sake which are available for testing. If you’d like sweeter kind of sake, you can mention the word “amai onegaisimasu” and the shop owner will understand. Well it sounds like broken Japanese I admit, but at least the shop owner understood. Hahaha.

Since the weather is pretty cool outside it’s probably the right time to try out hot sake, especially since it’s only 500 JPY. My brother is not slow to take the offer and the shop owner immediately asked us to go to the drinking area (which looks like a simple cafe) where he puts the machine to heat the sake. He gave us a timer too and told us two simple words “three minutes”. I suppose we just needed to wait for three minutes before the timer alarm us to take the hot sake from the machine. The three minutes rules work for all kind of things I suppose, not just cup noodles. There were no other customers except for two Japanese tourists drinking but I had to admit it was a bit too early for sake-drinking. But hey, we may not be able to visit this place again so cheers!

We spent around 15 - 20 minutes drinking sake until our Mum started to nag us to finish drinking it faster cause she wanted to check the other shops but reluctant to go first by herself. But mom, I don’t think sake is meant for one-shot unless we are super depressed about life. Oh well, I eventually tried to finish it faster with the help of my brother but I did not leave the store without taking one cute souvenir, Sarubobo doll in wooden sake cup. Kawaiidesune~

Wandering Fel

8D Avia Japan Trip: Hida beef fest at Takayama Old Town

8D Avia Japan Trip: Sake Tasting at Takayama Old Town