A Visit to a Historic Fu Restaurant in Kyoto
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A Visit to a Historic Fu Restaurant in Kyoto

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food

Last year, I wrote about a fu (wheat gluten) cafe where I visited two of my friends. In the post, I also wrote the restaurant. If you're curious about the post, please click here.

Last week, I finally visited the restaurant with a friend. It's located in Kiyomizu-Gojo where is one of the most popular spots for foreign tourists. There are several famous temples nearby, including Kiyomizu-dera and Koudai-ji. If you're in the area and look for a nice restaurant, I highly recommend this restaurant. You need to make a reservation before going.

The shop has produced fu over for 330 years and run this restaurant as well.

When we entered, we saw old tools for making fu, which were displayed in the show-windows. All of them look antiques, and looking around them were fascinating.

Kyoto Gojo is also famous for the story of Benkei and Ushiwakamaru ( Minamoto no Yoshitsune). They met at Gojo-ohashi (Gojo bridge) for the first time, and Benkei tried to kill Ushiwaka. They fought against each other, and Benkei felt. Since then he had served Ushiwaka in his entire life. We saw their painting hanging on a wall. The right painting is Benkei, and the left one is Ushiwaka.

There was a beautiful screen painting (byoubu-ga) of Benkei and Ushiwaka at the entrance as well.

The shop also has opened its former kitchen as a part of small museum.

Before tap water was introduced in Japan, people used wells.

We saw a kamado ( a traditional cooking stove). People from the Kansai region call it "okudo-san". I felt a nostalgic sense when I saw it because it reminded me of my grandma on my dad's side. When I was a little kid, she had cooked with one.

We don't see this traditional style of kitchen anymore, but I really love it.

After enjoying the antique kitchen, some tools for making fu, and shop owner's antique collections, we enjoyed our lunch, which all were made with fu. While seeing a pretty Japanese garden, having lunch was great!

The third dish in the picture below shows tempura of fu. It was my first time trying it.

My friend and I especially enjoyed the tableware, which were served. All of them were hand-painted and antiques.

The picture below shows a single flower vase. The shape was very unique.

The next picture shows a vase made from a gourd. I'd never seen such a large gourd before.

In the kitchen, several traditional Japanese-style of umbrellas were displayed as well.

We absolutely enjoyed the nostalgic atmosphere, the nice meal, and the decoration. I'd love to visit this restaurant with my family as well!

Here is the information of the restaurant. If you're curious, please check it out here.

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