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Saturday, 17 November 2012
Kyoto's selection of shops and restaurants are pretty interesting. I don't know what shopping or going out is like in other parts of Japan, but in Kyoto it's a really cool experience. I didn't expect a lot to be around the area where I live, so when I actually took a look around I was really surprised. There is a lot to do even here, despite Kinugasa being around a 25-30 minute bus ride from Kyoto station and the main city.
Nishiojidori especially has a lot of things to see. Considering it's only about a 5 minute walk (max) from my apartment, that's pretty awesome. Restaurants closest to Kouraku Heights include Jolly Pasta (sells--you guessed it, pasta!), Big Boy (sells burgers and steak), Ganesha (Indian food), Joy/ジョイ (Japanese), McDonalds (it is currently being rebuilt and should be done by December 21st according to the sign), and a little yakisoba restaurant that is an extension of an old lady's house right next to the copy and print shop. I've tried most of these restaurants except Jolly Pasta, which I heard was overpriced and not very good. But since I haven't tried it myself yet I'm not sure.
The first restaurant I went to was Joy, where they do a lot of Japanese 定食(food sets) quite cheaply. I've only ever tried their Karaage Chicken set, but you get a lot of food for the price and it is all pretty delicious. They do seasonal food too, like right now they have an autumn 弁当(bento) set. However, there's a few other Japanese restaurants around so if Joy doesn't impress you you could try 和食さと(Washoku Sato) which is also cheap and has a good range of Japanese food.
Since Indian food is really popular in Scotland I was really missing it when I came here. I'd been wistfully gazing at Ganesha every time I went by, ahaha. I finally went and I was quite impressed, but I could have been biased (and accepting the closest thing to chicken tikka masala I could find!) They are a bit pricey, but their chicken tikka masala is really good, and their cheese naan is filling and delicious. If you like Indian food I'd say give it a try.
Big Boy are a bit expensive, but mostly because many of their meals give you unlimited access to their salad, soup, rice and curry bar. I could have had a meal from the rice and curry bar on its own! You can get unlimited drinks for an extra 300 yen or so. Good if you like to eat a lot. The burgers are nice but loaded with onions which I'm not so fond of. I'm not big on steak either but they have quite a few options like chicken or omurice.
Also a little further away are places like 松屋(Matsuya) and なか卯(Nakau). Matsuya is a meal ticket place that sells very cheap and delicious Gyuudon (with the smallest bowl being only 200 yen!) among other things. If you're hungry and want a cheap and quick meal, Matsuya is probably the place to go. Nakau also uses meal tickets and has a larger selection of meals, but is a bit more expensive. Still incredibly delicious though, their Katsu Curry is probably my favourite so far.
Quite close to Ritsumeikan is also a 回転寿司(Kaiten-Zushi, or a 'conveyer belt' sushi restaurant) called くら寿司 where pretty much every plate of sushi is 100 yen. Super cheap and the sushi is pretty good.
The area I live in is quite generous in terms of places to shop for food and other things. Izumiya is a large department store about 15 minutes walk down Nishiojidori. It has a food market, coffee shops, a bakery, a phone shop, clothing sections, a book shop, household items, furniture...pretty much everything you need for daily life. It's not too expensive and the things I've bought from there have been great quality.
There are two more supermarkets nearby, one is Kyoto Co-op and the other is next to Matsuya but I don't know its name. Kyoto Co-op is closer to me so I usually buy food/etc there. I think in some stores they usually expect you to have your own bag so you might have to ask for one if you don't.
There are two bakeries nearby, one is fairly new and opened last month (it looks really fancy inside but I haven't actually been yet) and another (next to Hirano shrine entrance) was recently refurbished inside? They sell nice pastries that aren't too expensive.
Konbini are basically everywhere on Nishiojidori, but I prefer 7-11 since it tends to have a better selection of food and the staff are really nice. Right now they're doing a lottery game if you spend over 700 yen in store, you get to pick out cards and you can win small prizes (my friend got an ice cream) or you can collect cards to enter prizedraws. Pretty cool!