A few curious things here. One is that the neighborhood of Kyoto behind the city hall has an abnormal number of modern, foreign restaurants and cafes mixed in with the old vegetable shops and paper stores. It’s quite nice, especially ‘Gokomachi street’ where we stayed. Another curious thing is the trend toward hyper-American cafes in […]
Kyoto
- Kyoto
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Fujita, Kyoto (藤田)
Sure, this was the third day in a row that we visited Pontocho, but what the hey? Fujita is a pleasantly reserved-looking traditional place up near the top of the alley, with a youngish master but a feeling of long history. The food was decent; this would be OK for a lunch, but if I was […]
- Kyoto
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Yuubi, Kyoto (遊美)
Really outstanding food from a modern kappou in the deep south of Gion – on the street with all the chayas, if that helps. While the atmosphere was a little cold, this was some of the best Japanese food I’ve ever had. But first, stone-paved streets with rickshaws! Quel queint! No pictures were really possible (master’s policy, […]
- Kyoto
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Takenaka, Kyoto (竹中)
There’s nothing like 8 courses of kaiseki to pep you up from walking around looking at red leaves and tide you over until dinner. I mean, I already felt pretty peppy from walking around this neighborhood (for reference, this is the bit on the mid-east side of Kyoto, north of Kiyomizudera and south of Yasaka […]
- izakaya
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Karaku, Kyoto (華楽)
Nice place they’ve got here. I like this whole Kyoto thing more every year. Friday night, got up the courage to poke my head into one of the nearly unmarked kappou on Pontocho. With a number of the places there, it’s hard to tell what they do – just a name over the door. They […]