During the New Year, all the surrounding shops were crowded, and the children were tired. We went into a restaurant and ordered a kakiage udon for 650 yen and a tempura and egg rice bowl for 880 yen. However, the portions were small overall. The tempura and egg rice bowl only had one shrimp tempura covered in egg, so I was a bit dissatisfied considering the price.

I have arrived at Kiyomizu-dera. While it's nice to buy and eat lunch while walking around, it can be quite difficult to find a place to sit and eat peacefully. Enjoying Kyoto cuisine at a somewhat pricey restaurant is also a good option. However, it's hard to find a place where everyone is okay with spending over 1000 yen. On the other hand, it's also challenging to find a restaurant that can accommodate a group of nearly 10 people near Kiyomizu-dera. So, I decided to walk down to the area near the parking lot at the bottom of Sannenzaka. There are a few eateries in this area, surprisingly not too crowded (I went around 1 pm). Last year, I dined at a restaurant on the 2nd floor of a souvenir shop called Sanjuroku-hon. Both places tend to be crowded with school trip students, but the atmosphere after they leave feels like a local eatery. The menu has English translations, and the prices are standard, although slightly touristy. I ordered "kitsune soba" after a long time, and it was delicious as always. The post-school trip atmosphere gives off a local eatery vibe. Even though there are English menus, some foreigners may hesitate to enter such places based on the appearance. However, I hope that they can experience the down-to-earth atmosphere of these kinds of restaurants.

On Sunday, September 18, 2011, I spent the day showing a friend around Kyoto's tourist spots. We started at around 9 am at Hankyu Kawaramachi, walked east along Shijo Street, crossed Shijo Bridge, passed Gion-Shijo Station, and visited the famous Minami-za Theater. We then headed north on Kawabata Street to see the beautiful cherry blossoms, walked to Tatsumi Bridge, and explored the charming area frequented by geisha. Next, we visited Chion-in Temple, where we admired the largest Sanmon gate in Japan, and then strolled through Maruyama Park to see the weeping cherry trees and statues of Ryoma Sakamoto and Shintaro Nakaoka. We continued to Yasaka Shrine, passing through the west gate on Shijo Street, and then guided my friend through Nene-no-Michi to visit Kodai-ji Temple and the famous Yasaka Pagoda. Afterwards, we planned to visit Kiyomizu-dera Temple, but my friend's interest in the Meiji Restoration and the Bakumatsu period led us to Kyoto Ryozen Gokoku Shrine and the Ryozen Historical Museum instead. Despite skipping the museum due to time constraints, we managed to see the five-story pagoda at Hokan-ji Temple and then made our way to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. The temple was crowded due to the weekend and nearing noon, but we enjoyed exploring the grounds and the famous stage. After leaving Kiyomizu-dera Temple, we walked down Matsubara Street, passing by souvenir and food shops, until we reached the Y-junction with Gojo-zaka. We stumbled upon an interesting restaurant called Umekado, where we decided to have lunch. Umekado is located near the parking lot for Kiyomizu-zaka and offers American-style imported goods and unique character masks. The restaurant turned out to be a perfect spot for a quick meal during our Kyoto sightseeing adventure.

Visited at noon on September 24, 2012 (Monday). This restaurant is located in the middle of the slope that leads to Kiyomizu-dera, right where Gojo-zaka and Matsubara-dori intersect. Many people can be seen resting in the nearby rest area due to the location being in the middle of the slope. The customers of this restaurant seem to be mostly taxi and bus drivers, as there is a taxi stand and a large bus parking lot right in front of the shop. There were also people in work clothes who seemed to be working at construction sites. I haven't been to Kiyomizu-dera since a middle school field trip, so it's been a while. However, my memories are not very clear from that time, as I was sleep-deprived from being too excited the night before. I was young back then! Walking around this area after a long time brought back some memories. It was a weekday, but due to the proximity to a very famous tourist spot, there were many people and several large buses parked. However, strangely, this restaurant had few customers, mostly taxi and bus drivers as mentioned earlier. Perhaps they have intentionally targeted this customer base. I decided to enter the restaurant. The restaurant is connected to a souvenir shop, with the dining area on the first floor and basement. The menu mainly consists of udon, soba, rice bowls, curry, etc., giving a cafeteria-like vibe. Prices range from around 600 yen for udon and soba to 700-900 yen for rice bowls, curry, hayashi rice, etc. The recommended menu item was the "nishin soba," but since I'm not a fan of herring, I chose the "tendon-don" (850 yen) from the menu. Water and tea were self-service, but the staff brought it to me this time, perhaps because it wasn't too busy. The dish arrived in about 5 minutes. It was a relatively small rice bowl, with a shrimp tempura hidden under the gooey egg. The taste was average, slightly on the salty side. The crispy texture of the tempura peeking out from the gooey egg was enjoyable. The portion size was normal, maybe slightly on the smaller side. This was probably my first time trying tendon-don, and the gooey egg was more than expected, which was a bit surprising. Overall, there were no negative points, and I would say it was decently tasty. The staff, although few in number, were friendly and energetic, leaving a good impression. The prices may be a bit on the higher side, but considering other nearby restaurants had similar prices, it seemed reasonable. There were high-end looking restaurants around, but this place seemed like a good option for a quick and casual meal.