Sake Bar Yoramu

After reading about this place in a NYTimes article, we had to check
it out our first night in Kyoto. Armed with little more than vague
directions, Jaclyn and I battled pitch dark Kyoto streets on Tuesday,
wind, cold, and a smattering of rain.

I passed by it on the left, and noticed the long interior which was
the photo from the website. A small sign, which we would have passed
by otherwise, said "Yoramu" in Hiragana - and looked non-native
Japanese script at that. This was the place.

We entered into a cozy, small, and modern bar. It was warm. Obscure
Thelonius Monk jazz playing in the background. Yoram was our sake
bartender for that cold, rainy night. at 8PM, we were the only ones
there. He thanked us for braving the elements in coming.

Yoram looked like an Israeli living in Japan for 22 years. We spoke
fluidly between Japanese, Hebrew, and his soft British accented
English. This guy loves sake and music. Both tended to reflect his
personality, a little mysterious, very interesting, and extremely
individualistic.

To prepare for our tasting, he asked us which white wines we had a
preference for, then used that as a template for sake. Our sake
tasting flight was a revelation - some sakes had floral notes, others
had hints of chili or fruit. This is rice wine, nothing more. All of
the sake changed notes as we bit into some small dishes he prepared
for us. Alas, that night did not have his famous home-made falafel or
a Kyoto speciality - yuba, but spring salad and miso marinated fish
complimented all the sakes we tasted.

I asked him how has Japan changed in the last 22 years. "Women are no
longer slaves. Otherwise, it's exactly the same". We told him about
our stay in Beit Shalom - the Christian Zionist guesthouse. "From what
I understand, they're lovely people" - he noted. "I just am very
uncomfortable with people who automatically love me prior to meeting
me just because I happen to be labeled with a certain ethnic or
religious group identity."

That got me thinking about whether anti-Semitism and philo-Semitism
are two sides of the same coin, when two Japanese middle aged men came
in. Very loud for Japanese - a superior and subordinate, with the
superior trying to show how "hip" he was going to a just-enough exotic
place. I'm sure some gaijin sitting at the table added some "street
cred" as well. Quickly yet subtly, the background music changed from
mysterious jazz to neo-Middle East Arabic music. Yoram knows his
customers

That's when another couple came in as well - and then no more room, as
the bar only sat for 6. After half an hour of him taking care of his
new customers, he came back to us. "Sorry about that - the first
people that came in here really are not my regulars. Please accept
something for their rowdy behaviour." He looked at me "what year where
you born in". 1974 - then out came a bottle and a pour of what looked
like and tasted like excellent brandy. Amber gold in color, warm and
sweet. "great brandy". "That's not brandy" - Yoram replied "It's sake
brewed from 1973". I've never had 35 year old sake before, and
probably never again. It was absolutely delicious.

It did end up being one of our favorite nights out in Kyoto. The warm
feeling kept going as we staggered out a few hours later, buzzed from
sake and mysterious conversations in the cold Kyoto night.