Aberdeen's Hidden Gems - Footdee & Japanese Food

When we were in Aberdeen recently we went to Footdee (pronounced Fittie by Aberdonians) which is a former fishing community near Aberdeen harbour. The small village was designed by John Smith in the early 1800's - he went on to design Balmoral Castle which is the Queen's Scottish residence.

The houses are built with their fronts facing into a central square so that they are protected from the north sea. Footdee was given Conservation Area status in 1968 with it's uniqueness being recognised. Walking around the community is really interesting and there are some really cute, lovely, and slightly weird aspects to see. Here's some pictures we took for you to enjoy it too.

I think it's time for this tree to be repotted.

Neglected bikes just waiting for someone to come and ride them.

Beautiful cat that was enjoying his bit of sun too much to talk to me.

Old water pumps - there were several of these dotted around the streets, all painted differently.

Lots of the dwellings had very interesting decorations, some lovely and some slightly odd.

Interesting driftwood person on the wall of one of the homes.

Someone obviously loves this shed a lot - they've kissed it all over.

Stunning mosaic on one of the garden walls. If you look closely you can see that it is made with sea glass, and old bits of pottery and crockery that are found on the beach. I really loved this and would love to do something similar.

Someone has a sense of humour.

This shed looked like it would fall over with one strong gust of wind.

Looking out to sea - the dots in the distance are boats lined up off shore.

One of our wonderful meals whilst we were in Aberdeen was at Yatai Izakaya which is a small independant Japanese restaurant - the food was exceptional.

As it was quite busy we were sat facing the grill - it was great, as long as I ignored the meat being cooked it was really fascinating watching the chef work, and on the plus side we were nice and toasty warm.

Do you like Ken's lovely little handbag that's beside him - just his colour.

Nice cheeky glass of wine to start the meal off.

Now to share our lovely food with you as it looked so pretty - we also had vegetables but I forgot to take pictures of them.

Tempura squid

Octopus balls

Tonka bean & caramel fudge and black sesame icecream

The food was really scrummy and I made sure to tell the waitress as I believe it's important to express appreciation when you've enjoyed yourself. As a result we were given two sakis to finish off the meal (Ken doesn't drink so I had to have both of them) and they were both really nice.

After our wonderful meal we only had a short walk back to our hotel and on the way we passed this lovely piece of street art by Add Fuel (Diogo Machado) - have a look at his instagram page if you're interested.

If you've never been to Aberdeen then I highly recommend it as there is loads of things to see and do, and wonderful restaurants to eat in.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and make sure you take time just for you this week.

Pamela & Ken
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