Yakitei Juju, Nara, Japan

Nara, about an hour’s train ride east of Osaka, was the first permanent capital of Japan back between 710 and 794.

The Western area of the city is full of magnificent temples and shrines and thousands of roaming wild, but relatively tame, deer.

After several hours exploring Kofuku-ji and Todai-ji I was walking back to Nara station looking for an Okonomiyaki restaurant that I had spied earlier on in the day. The restaurant was called Yakitei Juju.

It was mid afternoon by the time I climbed the stairs to find only a handful of diners enjoying their meals.

Despite it being quiet it took some time to grab the attention of the server to get an English menu, but I soon had a beer and an Okonomiyaki on the way. Okonomiyaki takes a little while to cook, so given the warm weather and over 10km I’d already walked, a second beer was ordered just as my meal was ready to be served.

At this particular restaurant they cook the Okonomiyaki in the kitchen then place it on a smaller hotplate in your table to keep your meal hot while you eat it.

In all, a decent Okonomiyaki to tide me over for the hour train ride back to Osaka.