Japan 2019: Exploring Kyoto (Starbucks & Soba Noodles)
DAY 5 (Pt. 2)
My last post was getting a little long, so I decided to finish off the day with a second, smaller post. Since my last post, we had just finished exploring Fushimi Inari and it was still early in the afternoon… so we decided to squeeze in something small. We knew of this traditional Japanese styled Starbucks in the area and decided to go check it out.
There was a lot of twist and turns and crossing street lights on the way. Also, there were a bunch of small shops on the way as well - selling snacks and souvenirs, so definitely stop and check those spots out. On the way back, we stopped by this small rice cracker shop that was giving out free samples. Once we had a taste, we knew we had to buy some to take home - they were so good! My moms favourite was the ones with different types of beans embedded in the crackers but I just love a classic wrapped in nori seaweed or the soy sauce glazed rice crackers, they’re so good!
STARBUCKS KYOTO (NINENZAKA)
This Starbucks in Kyoto is special because it has a traditional style to it. The building looks like a traditional style building and the interior even has tatami mat for you to sit on. There is a lot of small shops in this area too! During the time I went, I saw a couple taking wedding photos in this area - so you can just imagine how beautiful this area is.
I do want to give a little warning though, in the tatami mat area, you are required to take off your shoes before you sit down… and when I went, there were about 5 others there and smelly feet exists… We couldn’t even sit there longer than 5 minutes and we had to head out. I’m sure if you go during a less busy time or if there are less people in the tatami mat area, you’d have a much better time than we did.
I wouldn’t say this Starbucks had any special drinks you couldn’t find anywhere else in Japan… but as you would expect from a foreign Starbucks, they had drinks that I couldn’t order here in Canada. Nice to experience but if you don’t have time, I wouldn’t go out of your way to hit this spot.
SOBA NOODLES @ MARUI
Marui is a department store that is around downtown Kyoto. We were in this area because we would be taking the trains here back to Arashiyama where our capsule hotel was. Also, we were looking for food to eat and noticed that the top floor had about 8 choices of restaurants, so we knew we’d find something we could all enjoy.
Since we haven’t had the chance to eat soba yet, we decided to stop by the restaurant that served soba. I think we were all honestly surprised that the soba was really delicious - especially since we stopped by a random restaurant in a department store (not saying that restaurants in a department store can’t serve delicious food).
As with soba, there are hot and cold choices. With hot soba, the soba is served in soup and you would just eat it normally as you would with any other noodle soups. Though for cold soba, it is served with a sauce on the side for you to dip the noodles into and eat. As you can see, I got the cold soba with the shrimp and assorted vegetable tempura. For around $15, this was a great meal! Like I said, it was surprisingly really delicious and I would recommend you try out soba when in Japan.
The bottom of the department store had a lot of stalls selling different types of sweets. Again, since I haven’t eaten taiyaki once in Japan yet, I thought this was my chance. Taiyaki is usually filled with red bean or custard - with the outside being crispy and soft and bread like on the inside. Don’t mind my crusty ass thumb but I ordered the red bean taiyaki. Unfortunately at this particular shop, they didn’t make them to order, they just reheat it - so mine didn’t have that great crispy outside and honestly, the inside was still cold… Taiyaki is really good, don’t get me wrong. Just make sure you order it from a place that makes them fresh.
NOW, our day finally comes to an end. We head back to our capsule hotel in Arashiyama after our soba noodle dinner. Stay tuned for my last day in Kyoto where I finally get to explore areas I haven’t been to before! I’ll leave you with a couple of pictures I took on the way back. Thank again for tuning in
-Thomas