A little Kyoto gem

Today we are leaving Kyoto.

The city was nice. Easy to navigate, with lots of great nooks and alleys to visit. We easily had our best experience last night when we visited a small restaurant we had discovered on an earlier foray. It was situated along a small canal, not too far from our ryokan, lost amongst the houses.

It was probably on our first night here that we passed the restaurant. The sign out front had declared okonomiyaki and teppanyaki. We had declared that we should try the place out. And so it was not until our last night visiting that we actually found the time.

After the Gion Corner show, we hiked across town to the small restaurant. The entrance was a frosted-glass door that slid, opening into a small room with a raised tatami floor and five small tables arranged upon the mats. The place was surprisingly full and the owner directed us to the only remaining table.

Dinner was cooked one dish at a time by the owner, and with about twelve people in the restaurant, he had his hands full! Especially since the first group ordered such varied food. But we were content to wait. We ordered our food and some cold sake and enjoyed the ambience.

The owner had an impressive collection of fish, arranged in three or four tanks. And the fish were not small, either! I wondered if perhaps some were kept on hand to serve...

We both ordered Kyoto style okonomyaki. It was similar to Hiroshima style, with noodles cooked into the mix, but the dough was thicker and more like a very thin pizza. The only true similarity was that the servings were huge!

As we enjoyed our meal, the proprietor brought a small journal to the table. It was filled with well-wishes from all the previous visitors to the restaurant from all over the world. It seems we were not the only tourists fortunate enough to find his small establishment over the years.

Neither of us was able to finish our meal, so the owner gave us a small take-out box to bring the remainder home with us. We were happy to oblige! And, for each person who visited the restaurant, he also gave a parting gift of fruit. It was a really nice touch!

We stayed and chatted with him for a little while after we were done eating, telling him a little about Vancouver and complimenting him on his very fine food. The restaurant was Kawa. It was located along the canal near the river to Gion. If you ever visit Kyoto, you are doing yourself a disservice not to visit this remarkable establishment.