Most of the time, you’re enjoying Japanese food in Japan. But there’s no reason that you can’t try out a variety of cuisines when you’re in a big and culturally rich city like Kyoto.
Obviously there are a huge number of Chinese restaurants in the city.
I had dinner at the Rogairo Chinese Restaurant. The first thing that caught my eye was the elegant furniture, vases, jars, statues and lamps at the entrance.
Dining at Rogairo: Mandarin Specialties and Seafood in Kyoto
A board at the front of the restaurant gave the timings for lunch and dinner. I saw that lunch was served between 11:30am and 3pm and dinner was served between 5:30pm and 10:00pm.
There were couches in the corridor where guests could wait for a table.
The restaurant was almost empty when I went so I didn’t need to wait long. I could see signboards with Chinese characters on the walls.
I had read that Rogairo specialized in Mandarin items and was looking forward to ordering a wide variety of things. The first thing I ordered was a tasting platter of five cold dishes. It had prawn and some sort of crispy noodles.
The egg and vegetable soup was warm and full of fresh vegetables. I quickly finished my bowl and waited for the next dish to arrive. Thankfully, the soup wasn’t too filling and I had plenty of space in my stomach for the other food.
Then there was the stir fried shrimps and vegetables. Tossed in a glossy and light sauce, I tried the assortment of broccoli and shrimp. The portion sizes were a little small, so I was thankful that I had ordered many things.
The braised red snapper in cream sauce tasted really good on its own. It was unlike most Chinese dishes that I had ever eaten.
The next dish was the stir fried pork and vegetable in black pepper which was slightly spicy and tasted good with fried rice.
I had also ordered a fried rice to eat with my meat and fish dishes. The rice had vegetables and egg in it.
Finally, there was a bowl of fruits and cream for dessert. It was the perfect note to end the meal on.
My napkin was laid out in a pretty flower shape on my plate and I had been provided with soup spoons and chopsticks.
The menu was quite extensive.
There were some set menus at different price points, with dishes like Beijing duck skin and shark fin.
Most of the set menus started with a tasting platter of five cold dishes. They also had the dessert of the day.
The a la carte menu was where I ordered from. Appetizer options included preserved eggs and shredded chicken or shredded bean curd with crab meat.
There were all kinds of seafood options, from abalone and shark fin to crab, prawn and shrimp. The restaurant was heaven for seafood lovers!
Most of the dishes were served with some vegetables so that it made for a good, balanced diet. Oyster sauce or XO sauce were just some of the sauces on offer.
Then there was the poultry and meat options, like duck, chicken, pork and beef. There were even vegetarian and vegan options like bean curd and bok choy. The roasted Beijing duck skins looked really interesting.
The mains included rice and noodles prepared in a variety of styles, with soup or in a dry manner. They had shrimp dim sums and spring rolls and desserts like litchi jelly and fried sesame balls.
Chinese liquors and sake was available, in addition to white or red wine, cocktails and soft drinks. I saw that they even served champagne.
