All summer I’ve been seeing posters and web reviews of Kifune (sometimes called Kibune) in Kyoto, it’s a place where you can eat delicious food on a tatami platform over the river.
I took two trains, a subway and a bus to get there, then had a 30 minute walk to the restaurant.
At least it was a walk in a beautification area!
By the time we reached the shops and restaurants are it had started to rain a little.
There were lots of different resturaunts with prices from ¥7,500 to ¥15,000 per person. We were heading to Hirobun though where they have somen noodles for ¥1,300. But by the time we reached it they had just closed service because of the rain.
We walked back down the hill checking the other places but they all said the same – full and/or that they were moving people from the river inside.
Passing Kifune shrine we popped in to pray for no rain! But the queue for praying was so long we gave up! I guess everyone else was doing the same!
We found a small coffee shop to sit out the rain a little, but it was just getting worse. While we waited I tipped my entire coffee cup over into my lap. Fantastic.
In the end we walked back to the starting point soaked (in rain and coffee in my case) and disappointed.
To lift our spirits we stopped at an organic cafe advertising local beer! My friend got an umbrella and a beer for us each….the bill was ¥3990. Wait what, the umbrella was only ¥500!!!
¥1,000+ bottle of beer.
Actually walking back in the rain with squelchy shoes, beer in hand singing “I’m singing in the rain” was kind of fun.
We jumped on a train back to Kyoto main, and then a bus into town.
Food was our main priority and after a little wandering picked a nice tempura place.
Yummy.
After that we wanted to go somewhere special, after a bit of googling we found Kyotos secret bar at Kanga-an temple.
A Buddhist temple with a bar facing a zen garden where you can drink their homemade umeshu, yes please.
It took a bit of finding and we nearly entered the wrong area but eventually we were welcomed into the bar by one of the monks.
The umeshu was so delicious and sweet!
The barman slash monk was very kind he was interested in our day, how we found the place and gave us some history of the place as well as a plate of snacks.
It was a lovely place to relax and dry off.
A few pictures on our way out.
Our day trip certainly had it’s ups and downs but I had a good day overall! I hope I can go back to Kifune someday but it’s nearly the end of summer here, so it might have to wait until next year.
Wow, really beautiful photos! Next time I go to Kyoto, I’ll have to try to eat at Kifune, too! Too bad about the rain T^T looks like the Buddhist temple you found was pretty great though! Hahaha didn’t expect to ever read about a barman/monk, but thats so awesome!