The day after walking around Nara, I decided to have a casual breakfast in my hotel room with some "kakinoha-zushi". I couldn't find anything other than the usual boxed lunches at souvenir shops near Kintetsu Nara Station, but here at Kintetsu Kyoto Station, I was able to choose my favorite sushi and have a custom sushi box made just for me! They had mackerel, salmon, shrimp, eel, as well as seasonal options like grilled saury and daikon radish. My daughter, who prefers shrimp over mackerel, asked for extra shrimp, and the fact that we could choose seasonal options like "grilled saury" and "daikon radish" was great. They are conveniently bite-sized, not messy to eat, offer a variety of flavors, and the traditional preservation method ensures they stay fresh for a long time... truly convenient and delicious food. I tried a few different types, but I still think the classic "mackerel" is my favorite ♥️. Thank you for the meal.

There is a shop called "Heisou" at Kintetsu Kyoto Station that serves Kakinoha Sushi. The shop is said to be a long-established store founded in 1861. I bought a set with mackerel, salmon, eel, and golden eye snapper as a snack. I ate it at the hotel. The toppings have a calm umami flavor without any fishy smell. The rice, made with Hinohikari rice from Nara Prefecture, has absorbed the aroma of the persimmon leaf and is delicious and easy to eat. I thought the Kakinoha Sushi was much tastier than I expected. It also has a relatively long shelf life, making it a convenient sushi for souvenirs.

■Visit date: September 22, 2019 ■Items received: Persimmon leaf sushi (mackerel, eel, salmon, sea bream, marinated mackerel) ■MEMO I visited on September 22, 2019. After watching the Rugby World Cup Italy vs Namibia match at Hanazono Rugby Stadium and returning to Kyoto, I came to this restaurant. The atmosphere was still filled with excitement from the game. The restaurant is located inside Kintetsu Kyoto Station. Before exiting the ticket gates, I purchased persimmon leaf sushi for dinner. You can buy Hiramune's persimmon leaf sushi, which I bought when visiting Nara, at Kintetsu Kyoto Station. I chose a selection of 5 types and bought 10 pieces. The purchased items were mackerel, eel, salmon, sea bream, and marinated mackerel. I enjoyed the delicious persimmon leaf sushi with its exquisite aroma of persimmon leaves. The perfect combination of persimmon leaf fragrance and ingredients makes it a delicious sushi that becomes addictive. It was a satisfying meal for my husband and me. It's a taste from Nara that I would like to purchase again.

I decided to visit Okayama on my day off. I bought some sushi for lunch, including some delicious sea bream sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves. Although the seared sea bream looked appetizing, it tasted pretty average. The cheaper mackerel sushi was actually the most delicious. If you don't mind the high calories, a beef bento would be a good choice, otherwise, mackerel sushi is recommended. The pork buns from 551 had 292 calories each, so maybe I'll just get two of those.

I needed to rush back from Kyoto and was looking for a station bento. I found some persimmon leaf sushi in Nara and decided to buy it. It was a bit pricey at around 2,000 yen for roast beef stick sushi and a few individual pieces. The individual pieces, like eel and duck, were tasty and reasonably priced at 200 yen each. The portion size per piece is small, so if you want a meal, buy more. The roast beef stick sushi had a small portion but was satisfying in taste. It's a good choice for when you want to treat yourself.

When I got off at Kintetsu Kyoto Station, I noticed this shop. I always associated persimmon leaf sushi with salmon or mackerel, but I realized there are various types available and my appetite was piqued. It has good name recognition as a souvenir from Kansai, and the price is just right. It would be a good choice to buy as a station bento. I recommend it for personal consumption as well.

The persimmon leaf sushi I had in Nara was delicious, so I bought some for dinner on my way back at Kyoto Station. I took Yamato on the way there, so I chose Heisou on the way back, mainly because it happened to be at Kyoto Station.

I'm going on a trip so I had a simple breakfast. My wife bought some at a shop in Kintetsu Kyoto Station. Originally, there were 6 pieces each of salmon and mackerel, for a total of 12 pieces. I swapped 2 mackerel for eel based on my preference. They are all delicious. The mackerel seems to have a slightly strong saltiness. The fish meat is thin, but it's convenient to eat. Easy to carry around.

I returned to Kyoto from Nara using Kintetsu line and found out that they sell Hiraso's Kakinoha Sushi at the station! I had bought a set of two at the main store, but they have a variety of options here and you can buy just one piece! What a surprise! I ended up buying the snapper for 194 yen each, and they even gave me a wet towel. The refreshing snapper went well with the Kakinoha Sushi. I enjoyed them on the Shinkansen.

On March 4th, I took the Kintetsu Limited Express from Nara to Kyoto. On the way back, I had dinner on the Shinkansen. I found Kakinoha Sushi inside Kintetsu Kyoto Station. I bought the limited edition pickled tuna and cherry blossom leaf sushi, available only on weekends. I ate them right away on the Shinkansen. The cherry blossom leaf sushi had a spring-like scent of cherry blossoms. The pickled tuna had a unique, moist texture that I really enjoyed. I love Kakinoha Sushi and would like to buy it again if I see it in Tokyo.

I head to Tokyo from Nara via Kyoto. At Kintetsu Kyoto Station, I come across and purchase some persimmon leaf sushi. The word "limited edition" catches my attention. Seasonal limited edition Sakura leaf sushi features the classic mackerel, salmon, and shrimp, wrapped in cherry blossom leaves instead of persimmon leaves. Persimmon leaves themselves are a bit rough so I don't eat them, but cherry blossom leaves taste delicious when eaten with sushi. Weekend and holiday limited edition marinated tuna wrapped in persimmon leaves is rich and flavorful. Wrapping sushi in persimmon leaves has benefits such as adding fragrance and preserving the food, showing the ingenuity of people in the past. Both persimmon and cherry blossom leaves have a pleasant aroma that stimulates the appetite. While you can also buy persimmon leaf sushi in Tokyo, eating it on the way back from sightseeing in Nara and Kyoto is truly special.

Kyoto to Nara, the Raji family often uses Kintetsu. This shop is a Kakinoha-zushi shop located inside Kintetsu Nara Station. Hiramune is a major shop for the Nara specialty Kakinoha-zushi. This time, I bought the standard mackerel and salmon, as well as the limited marinated tuna. At this store, you can buy your preferred choice from one piece each. They will sell it without making a face even if you buy just one (laughs). The prices were 120 yen for mackerel, 150 yen for salmon, and 200 yen for marinated tuna excluding tax. Raji Mama has been going to Nara for a long time, so she feels like the prices have gone up... And the ingredients are now much thinner than they used to be, which really dilutes the taste. The ingredients need to be of a certain thickness for the flavor to come out... If it was the first time eating at this thinness, it might be okay, but since I know how it used to be... It's a shame. So, I had to give a negative evaluation on the cost performance. In this day and age, is this the result of this price? I love it, but I want to eat Kakinoha-zushi with thicker ingredients! As a Nara fan, it was a harsh review. Thank you for the meal! by Suneo

This is a review of a shop located inside Kintetsu Kyoto Station, a long-established store founded in the first year of the Bunkyu era (1861) called "Kakinoha Sushi". The main store is in Yoshino, and they also have branches in Nara, Osaka, and Tokyo, including KITTE, but the only place you can buy their products in Kyoto is here. It's a convenient spot to buy bento boxes or souvenirs before boarding a Kintetsu train or transferring to JR. "Kakinoha Sushi" is a local dish from Yoshino, consisting of vinegared rice with ingredients wrapped in persimmon leaves, which have a preservative effect. It can last for 3 days. The vinegar used in the rice is the prestigious "Marukan vinegar" chosen by the Imperial Household Agency, and the rice is the carefully cultivated Hinohikari from the Nara Basin. They offer sets and individual pieces, and I purchased the following items (prices excluding tax). - May Gourmet Set (1,065 yen) A limited edition set for May, including yuzu-an grilled mackerel sushi and Kakinoha Sushi (shrimp, mackerel, chahan anago, salmon). - Kakinoha Sushi Assortment of 5 types, 5 pieces (with chahan anago) (695 yen) Includes wasabi daikon, chahan anago, mackerel, salmon, and shrimp. The vinegared rice had a chewy texture. While shrimp, mackerel, and salmon are common ingredients in Kakinoha Sushi, chahan anago was new to me. The combination of vinegared rice with chahan anago, flavored with vinegar, was delightful. Wasabi daikon was also unique, providing a refreshing contrast with the vinegared rice. It has a good shelf life and is easy to eat, making it convenient for various occasions. If you don't plan to eat it right away, store it in a cool room (10-20 degrees Celsius). The rice remains soft enough to eat the next day as well. (The attached flyer recommends sealing it in newspaper or a plastic bag and storing it in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.)

I was on a business trip to Tokyo from the evening, and I was thinking about what to eat on the Shinkansen. I was worried that the smell of 551's pork buns might bother the people around me. But then, I found this at Kintetsu Kyoto Station. I had researched that food on the Shinkansen tends to cost over a thousand yen. This one had 6 pieces for just over 900 yen. There were mackerel, salmon, and conger eel, and the conger eel sushi rice had a colored topping. It tasted delicious. I found out it was tea-flavored rice. The other toppings had plain rice, but I felt like the flavored rice added something special. It was cheaper than the pork buns and they also sold them individually, so I think I'll try that next time.

I went to Nara and ate too much meat~ No motivation to cook dinner! I saw it being sold at Kintetsu Station in Kyoto a while ago, so I bought it on my way back. I'm at my daughter's house, but when I messaged her to buy it, she replied, "Bring it home!" My daughter seems a bit tired, so she only made miso soup. I had some side dishes prepared in advance: potato salad, simmered hijiki seaweed, simmered daikon radish, pickled turnip greens, sweet and sour ginger, etc. We were all tired from eating, so I only bought 10 pieces - I had 2, my daughter had 3, and my son-in-law had 5. The miso soup had tofu and seaweed. We also had sake, a souvenir from Izumo Taisha that my daughter and her husband brought back. It's a Junmai Ginjo made from 100% Tsuyahime rice, quite delicious! The box had the words "Gotsu-o" (hearty and satisfying) written on it, just like my mother used to say. The mackerel was definitely "gotsu-o" and delicious! The conger eel was okay, but I will never skip the salmon! We were quite full, and we also had dessert - rice cakes and gateau chocolat. It was a day of overeating.

A specialty wrapped in persimmon leaves. The flavor is aromatic and very good. The fish tasted like smoked and was delicious.

When my mother's hospital stay became longer, she became friendly with other patients and received some gifts from them. This time, she received some persimmon leaf sushi. The sushi included daikon radish, sweetfish, golden eye snapper, conger eel, salmon, and mackerel - a set of two each. There were various types, making it enjoyable, but the most delicious was the mackerel. The strong flavor of the mackerel paired well with the vinegared rice. Surprisingly, the dark horse was the daikon radish, which had a refreshing taste. Overall, it was a delightful gift that my mother couldn't resist despite her goal of losing weight before being discharged.