さらさ西陣Sarasa Nishijin

さらさ西陣Sarasa Nishijin is about a 15-minute walk from the 地下鉄烏丸線鞍馬口駅Subway Karasuma Line’s Kuramaguchi Station…to me it seemed much further since I came from 烏丸通Karasuma Street and eventually had to cross 堀川通Horikawa Street last weekend. It’s part of the さらさSarasa chain which started out as a renovated machiya cafe and now consists of six establishments, including a bakery.

When I finally reached it, I was quite impressed with its exterior which hasn’t been touched since it was built as a public bath (which went by the name “藤の森温泉Fuji no Mori Onsen (Fuji no Mori Hot Springs) 80 years ago. Renovations started in 1998 and in 2000 it opened as a c afé.

The first floor is the café space (there’s even a bar) while the second floor can be rented for many purposes; live performances are also held here.

The mirror is on the wall of the restroom right in the middle of the café, like a port-a-potty.

The majolica tiles are quite stunning.Two of the doors to lockers of the former bath (on top of the bookshelf) are used as part of the decor.This is where I sat.

After walking more than I had anticipated, I deserved a cool drink.

柚子ライムソーダyuzu lime soda, ￥550

The food served here is made from locally-grown organic vegetables; seasonal fruits are used in many of their desserts. I hadn’t had much to eat all day, so I ordered food to be my early dinner.

猫チャーハンneko chaahan (“cat” fried rice), ￥680

Great Japanese-style fried rice, just the right amount of tastiness and lots of it, too! I’d eat it again!

Even though I was quite full after the meal, I wanted some coffee and dessert which cost ￥900 total as a set:

hot café au lait and チョコチップとクリームチーズのケーキchoko chippu to kuriimu chiizu no keeki (choco-chip & cream cheese cake) (I love how it looks like a man doing a victory pose!)

Without a doubt this is the best cake that I’ve had at a café! The texture is a lot like chocolate cake back in the States which I’ve missed so much and added into that chocolate chips and cream cheese: pure heaven♥. I loved it so much that I got another piece to go!

07 Jun This entry was published on June 7, 2012 at 01:00. It’s filed under Café and tagged book café, Café, café au lait, cafe SARASA, cake, fried rice, Fuji no Mori Onsen, hitori kyoto, Kyoto, public bath, Sarasa Nishijin. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.