Kyoto

(this still shows the location as Kim's Vietnamese, but trust me, it's Kyoto now)

I've been trolling the Topeka Restaurant Group on Facebook for a couple months now and the consensus is most definitely that Kyoto is amazing. So, I decided to go check it out and see for myself.

Ryan and I ordered sushi and hot food from the hibachi. For sushi we got a rainbow roll, my favorite, and he got some other sashimi that I'm not too fond of. The rainbow roll is basically a California roll topped with raw salmon and a white fish (the menu said "white fish" so I'm not sure the exact type it was) and this particular sushi chef decided to top his with roasted garlic. I liked the garlic, but Ryan did not -- he scraped it off of his portion. I didn't mind it because there was a small amount on each piece of sushi and I felt it complimented without overpowering the raw fish.

After our meal, our waitress asked us if we like sushi and if she could recommend a few rolls to try next time, (there will be a next time and soon). She pulled out her phone and showed us three or four rolls that are her favorite, including the Hawaiian roll. That's the one I'm looking forward to ordering next time.

I ordered the hibachi ribeye that comes with a soup, salad, rice, noodles and vegetables.

The salad had a sweet ginger dressing -- that I could have drank by the cupful -- with crunchy noodles, carrots on iceberg lettuce. The soup was just a broth with green onions and thinly sliced mushrooms floating around in it. I liked it but the weather was too hot for me to want to eat much of it. I ate my entire salad because that dressing!

The hot food all came on one plate. The noodles were thin and sweet, I could eat just those for dinner they were so tasty (with a cup of that ginger dressing, of course). The fried rice was steamed and then fried and chewy but in a good way. The vegetables were cooked just right, al dente and not soggy. There was a lot of zucchini and carrots, my favorite.  My meat was cooked a perfect medium rare just as I asked and I really just have no complaints about anything at all.

The portions were huge and even though the menu is pricey, you get your money's worth. I have lunch for tomorrow.

When we were on our way out, the waitress asked us if we had ever tried their Ramune drink, a Japanese soft drink. She said it's made with real sugar. We were intrigued so we said of course we'll try it. The one we tried was strawberry flavored. When she opened the drink, I was confused about what exactly she was doing, but with further research on the good old world wide web, I found out all about it. Sometimes, this soda is also referred to as marble pop, and that's because the bottle is sealed with a glass marble. It's opened by forcing the marble out and into the the drink, where it clangs around while you drink.  Hey, but who cares about a marble, the soda was good and I would buy one next time I'm there.

I will return and try other items on the menu. The people working were friendly and seemed like a family. The atmosphere was inviting and there was a cute little kid walking around smiling at people. He even said goodbye to us and followed us to the door waving. How cute. I can't wait to return.