Nighttime food tours can be an iffy proposition. You’re out in an unfamiliar city tasting food from random carts and stalls and are at the whim of your guide to make sure those places are tasty and safe.
In Kyoto, Magical Trip’s Night Foodie Tour gets so many five-star reviews and breathless accolades that I couldn’t help but book a visit when I was in Japan last month. Fortunately, the feeding frenzy lived up to the hype.
Magical Trip runs small-group tours in Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima, with a focus on after-dark food tours. Our group of six travelers included a young plastic surgeon and his wife from Singapore, a dermatologist and his veterinarian daughter from North Carolina, and my wife and me.
We all met in front of the Izumo no Okuni statue at Gion Shijo station. Our entertaining and informative guide, Tomoe, walked us through the Gion area with its tightly packed bars and restaurants along the river. We started with seasoned Kyoto appetizers, including obanzai (vegetable plates) that is native to Kyoto, and moved on to oden (Japanese stew), sushi, sake, beer and, wait, that’s when I started to forget what we were eating.
The joy of the experience was that we didn’t push too hard or even overeat—a common “problem” on other food tours I’ve done. Tomoe let us take our time at each of the half-dozen stops, and it gave the group a chance to really bond. We heard about the dermatologist’s recent experience at the Tokyo marathon, and learned way more than I ever thought I would about people who get plastic surgery in Malaysia. Connecting with other travelers isn’t always easy when you’re in another country; particularly if you don’t speak the language. But Magical Trip gives you the space and time to make that happen.
In addition to the Night Foodie Tour, Magical Trip offers a Kyoto bar-hopping tour, a breakfast food tour at Nishiki Market, a sake and brewery tasting tour, a Kyoto tea ceremony experience, and a visit to Kyoto’s Arashiyam Bamboo Forest, on foot or by bicycle.
Unlike other tours, this one is small enough that you can feel like you’re visiting the city with friends, not as an embarrassing mob, and the small size (six to eight guests, usually) means you can all get to know each other.
I also like that you get an education, and not a boring lecture. All Magical Trip guides are carefully selected and must complete a comprehensive training course before they lead groups around the city. As the website says, “Even the veterans continue to hone their skills with Magical Trip’s ongoing development program. As a tourist, your vacation days are limited. Why not make the most of it with an expert guide?”
I agree. Eating your way around a city like Kyoto with a company like Magical Trip adds a dimension to the travel experience you really can’t get on your own. Plus, it’s nice not to have to worry about which gyoza stand or omusubi spot to pick. They do all that work so you can just enjoy your destination.
Source: forbes
