#restaurant #city/kansai/kyoto 🦆🍜 is a small restaurant (there were about 10 seats in the restaurant) hidden in an alleyway in Gion. It’s a very popular restaurant among tourists (at least, given our experience—it seemed like almost everyone lined up was a tourist), and the line continued to grow as we were there. I think we were lined up for just over 30 minutes before getting a seat. When we were there, the line seemed to be moving at a rate of ~2-3 people every 10 minutes. Just as the restaurant name is done using emojis, so was the menu, which left many people perplexed until one of the staff came out to try to explain the menu. If memory serves me right, the base menu options were ramen, tsukemen, and rice, each coming with 2 pieces of duck. Then there was a 😋 version of each of these, coming with 5 pieces of duck and an egg. You could choose for your slices of duck how many pieces you wanted to be thigh versus breast. For the ramen, you had a choice of clear or cloudy broth. For the tsukemen, you have a choice of cherry or orange flavoured dipping sauce. If you get an egg, it is not possible for the egg to be well-done. Simon and I both got the large 🦆🍜😋 with 3 pieces of breast and 2 pieces of thigh (2200円). I got the clear broth and Simon got the cloudy broth. ![[gion duck noodles.jpg]] Overall, it was a delicious meal and I thought it was worth the ~30 minute wait. While I preferred the taste of the thigh meat, I liked the texture of the breast meat better. Next time, I might get more if not all breast meat. One of the things that was noticeable here as we were sitting at the bar was just the level of attention that went into every detail. The bowls were warmed with hot water and steam before the food was plated. While I think the duck was probably cooked via sous vide, the pieces were blow torched by hand before plating. Even the noodles were run through with a comb to give them an organized, parallel appearance in the bowl as it was served. It may have been because we’d recently been to [[Himeji Castle (姫路城)]] or recently watched [_The Last Samurai_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T50_qHEOahQ), but it reminded me of a quote from the movie: > [!QUOTE] Nathan Algren, _The Last Samurai_ > They are an unusual people. From the moment they wake up they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they do. I've never seen such discipline.