In December and January I was fortunate enough to spend a month travelling around Asia. My trip started with visiting Beijing and Shanghai before flying to Osaka. I then travelled further around Japan visiting Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima and finally Tokyo (I thoroughly recommend the Japan Rail Pass for anyone intending to travel to different cities in Japan. It’s a brilliant form of efficient transportation that’s really easy to use and widely accessible).

Kyoto is a beautiful city rich in Japanese culture and filled with gorgeous pavilions, temples, shrines and natural sights. I visited the Kinkakuji – the stunning golden pavilion – as well as the beautiful Arashiyama Bamboo Forrest and the mesmerising Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine (the famous orange gates and fox statues). With all that sightseeing, my benedict and I quickly worked up an appetite. We visited Kyoto Takabashi Honke Daiichi Asahi, a ramen restaurant that popped up on every search and came highly recommended. The restaurant is located about a 5 minute walk away from Kyoto Train Station. We arrived at the restaurant and had to queue outside in the icy cold for about 45 minutes (in Japanese culture this is a good way to check whether or not a restaurant is decent; if there’s no queue outside rather give it a skip). Suffice to say, the wait was well worth it. We had the original tonkotsu shouyu ramen which is their traditional pork based ramen broth. The ramen was absolutely phenomenal. We also tried their gyoza, more commonly known as Japanese pot stickers. I fell in love with these amazing little dumplings. They were very flavourful and tasty.

The service at Kyoto Takabashi Honke Daiichi Asahi is really efficient. The restaurant setting is simple and low key. The food is seriously amazing. To this day, that meal was one of the highlights of my Asia trip. It’s no surprise this restaurant was so highly recommended. I hope to visit again one day should I be lucky enough to ever find myself in Kyoto again.