I absolutely have to hand it to Ling for having done thorough research for us to check out the more special dining places during our stay in Kyoto. We checked out the second and third (of four) of her ‘must try’ eating places on Day 4, both of which were located in the Gion area.
Kinana is an ice-cream restaurant that’s situated off a little alley way in the Gion district. While Ling had the map and front eatery façade printed out, the street map looked so convoluted with its criss-crossing street and small alleys that it was by dumb luck that we stumbled upon the place! The place is a little out of the way from the main road and from where the other tourists were walking abouts. It didn’t help as well that the front façade was about indistinguishable from every other old-styled establishment in this part of Kyoto.
As soon as we got in, sat down and took a look at the other patrons, we realized something; as far as we could tell, only locals were patronizing this restaurant. Maybe it’s the price, the taste of the kinako ice-cream or just the place isn’t very well-known; but oh well. The wait staff couldn’t really speak English, which is an appropriate time now to explain how the both of us go about dining when in Japan. It’s easy – we follow our P.E.P. protocol. What’s that? Point, Eat, Pay LOL.:)
The damage? A pretty pricey 1575円 that made us wince a little, but it’s pretty good ice-cream.:)
wa! the parfait looks really good!!
Point, Eat, Pay — This I can relate to.