its oysters and we have quite an evening polishing off an entire lot grilled lightly on the teppan with our beer kyoto calling much before the edo period 16031868 when the seat of imperial power shifted to tokyo or edo as it was then called it was kyoto that was the political and cultural centre think of the most common images that you would associate with japan shinto shrines and the beautiful gardens cherry blossoms tea houses and indeed the geisha and what you are really thinking is kyoto this old city is a magnet for anyone even remotely interested in japanese culture this is the birthplace of kabuki theatre sumo wrestling and tea ceremonies as well as the elaborately costumed and nuanced geisha one evening as i stroll down gion the traditional geisha district bustling with cafes bars and immaculate taxis ferrying streams of visitors to and fro i chance upon a quiet street by a canal and spot a geisha in all her formal wear walking briskly but authoritatively to some unknown errand later i spot some more modern ladies of the night solemnly bowing their goodbyes to guests stepping into cars but the real find in gion is not all this spectacular it is gyoza or panfried dumplings filled with pork and other bits originally ostensibly meant as snacks for the geisha instead a board outside a holeinthewall casual diner tells us in english because after all gion today is a much soughtafter tourist destination too that the original gyoza had to be bitesized dumplings delicate enough to fit the mouth of a geisha promptly we decide to check out whether this still holds true and order a plate of these potstickers the gyoza that arrive are indeed quite different from the versions i have encountered elsewhere where they tend to be much chunkier and thicker the skins than these phenomenally light bites the rise of udon osaka japans second largest city and the centre of trade has traditionally been dubbed as the nations kitchen it functioned as the centre of the rice trade in the edo period but today ironically it is wheat and wheatbased noodles that are driving gastronomic trends till some years ago udon the thick glutinous noodles were a distinct second cousin to japans other noodles ramen while ramen shops opened the world over got jazzed up and the noodles made it to gourmet menus udon hardly enjoyed the same popularity what after all do you do with something that is meant to be eaten and is so intrinsically devoid of taste plenty it would seem the noodles that some food historians say came from china are quite a rage the world over now including in osaka their birthplace where there are queues outside some restaurants and noodle stands deemed the best you can have a bowl garnished with ginger scallions shredded daikon radish and a sliver of sudachi a kind of japanese lime then there is soy sauce