Last month, I went to a ceramic festival in Kyoto with two of my painting friends. Since I took lots of photos, I'd like to device the day into two parts and write about what we did.

The first part is all about what we ate! Girls love eating whenever we get together, and we're no exceptions.

One of my friends recommended a very retro-style udon (a type of Japanese noodle) restaurant, so we decided to had lunch there. We arrived at the shop at 11 am, but there was already a long line, which made us think this place must be really good.

The restaurant looked like it had been built in the early Showa era (1926 to 1989), but it actually opened in 1975. The walls were decorated with autographs from many celebrities.

We sat at the counter and ordered udon. Kyoto-style udon is sweeter than in other regions, and I love the flavor. My mom is from there, and I grew up with that taste. When I make udon at home, mine also tastes sweet.

The picture shows their specialty dish.

The place on the poster was our main destination, and I'll write about it in the next entry.

After the festival, we returned to the area where we had eaten udon. We came across a Japanese-style cafe, which was produced by a shop that has been around a long time, more than 330 years.

Since the main shop specializes in fu (wheat gluten), the cafe also serves fu-based dishes. We tried cold zenzai with fu instead of mochi (rice cakes), along with matcha ice cream, and it was our first time.

This zenzai was so delicious that I'd love to go back sometime soon!

The shop has a beautiful website, so I'd like to share it.

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