deep kyoto

JJ O’Donoghue writes…

If Café Independants could speak French it would probably say something like “Je suis cool.” And I would probably agree.

It’s a truism that there is a Café Independants in every city all over the world; laid back and beautiful staff, laid back and beautiful customers, long wide tables, Apple laptops, foreigners reading local papers, locals reading foreign papers, jazz and lounge music on the sound system and plumes of cigarette smoke flirting with sunlight seeping in from the street level windows. This might be just enough information to turn you on or off the place.

Housed in the basement of an adobe building – adobe in Kyoto? – a stone’s throw from the northern end of Teramachi mall, Independants shares the building with bohemian tenants; jewelers, record shops and a little gallery.

Café Independants is situated in the basement of the 1928 Building. This art deco structure built in… 1928, is itself a tourist attraction for those interested in Kyoto's modern architecture.

There’s more empty space in the cavernous basement than there are tables and chairs which makes a nice change from cafés where you are nearer your neighbor than your cup of coffee. The café is open for lunch, dinner and when the night comes it transforms into a live music venue with a wide repertoire of acts, many of which are free.

Food wise its simple fare at pretty reasonable prices; the lunch plate, which changes daily, is 630 yen. Word to the wise, or people who spend too much time online; the Independants blog is updated every day with a picture of the main lunch plate. There’s also a stock of sandwiches: chicken baguette, BLT and croque-monsieur as well as pasta and Spanish-style omelettes and pizza.

If I was to single out one dish the Nice salad is pretty darn massive and tasty. There’s also plenty on offer for those with a sweet tooth.

At the taps Independants serves Guinness, Suntory and Ebisu and has a handful of foreign bottled beers as well as wine and the usual long list of coffees, teas and cold drinks.

Café Independants is in the basement of the 1928 Building on the south-east corner of Sanjo and Gokomachi. Here is a lovely map.

Tel 075 255 4312
Open 11:30-24:00
http://www.cafe-independants.com/

Text by JJ O’Donoghue.
Pictures by Michael Lambe.
You can read other posts by JJ if you click here.

One of the big events I attended while I was (interminably) offline was *La Mano Fria’s Beer Tour Party* at Cafe Barbatica on July 19th. La Mano Fria is a designer, artist, performer, record label owner and (most importantly) amateur brewer who came all the way from Miami just to share his many splendid talents with us. I was very happy to meet him.

Though son of Costa Rican & Colombian immigrants La Mano Fria grew up in Queens, New York, an Irish neighborhood, and so as a youngster he was surrounded by lovely Irish people. And they gave him his love of beer (aren’t Irish people great?). Anyway, this beer he made at a brewery in Ibaraki called Kiuchi. Anyone can go there and make their own beer it seems. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? And his beer was good too. I think I want to give it a try. And indeed I shall, for here I have found some details… But I digress. Read the rest of this entry »

Ha-Ha apartment + cafe specialises in burgers and sandwiches served with really good fresh bread baked on the premises. Everything is reasonably priced, the food tastes great and the portions are extremely generous. Their most popular dish is the  “88″ (in Japanese “ha ha” – geddit?) sandwich plate, which is two sandwiches + salad + fries. Mewby likes the burger and spinach omelette “88″ set seen below:

There is also a cheese sandwich plate, which consists of bread, melted cheese and a side dish of your choice. The one below is with shrimp, advocado and green salad. Read the rest of this entry »

Vanilla is a stylish location for lunch, dinner or just a simple coffee. They do a very good coffee.

The interior is decorated with cool, mellow Scandinavian furnishings. Presumably there is some connection with the “Nordic Countries” store downstairs. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a nice quiet place for coffee and cake. Mewby and I found this cafe last Saturday and spent a pleasant afternoon there enjoying the tasty fare and the cosy mood and burying ourselves in our books. Tucked away down an old residential machiya alleyway it’s not a place you’d find by chance. It’s word of mouth that gets you there, and Quarirengue has clearly earned its reputation as a place of quiet retreat and fine confections.

Let’s take a look at those cakes shall we? This chocolate cake (自慢のクラシック・ショコラ – Classic Chocolate Pride) will set you back 550 yen. And yes folks, those are real blackberries you see on that plate.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Boxing Day we had lunch at Oggi on Kawaramachi (not to be confused with Kei’s Cafe Oggi). Oggi is an Italian/Spanish influenced cafe & dining bar in an machiya building full of comfy sofas. They do a pretty good lunch set. For 1000 yen you get a plate of tasty hors d’oeuvres…

…good bread and (on this occasion pumpkin) soup… Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of weeks ago, jazz singer Allison Adams Tucker invited me to Blue Note to see her live performance there. It was a great show but also an excellent opportunity to check out this legendary live music venue. I spoke to the current master Ohigashi-san. A mild-mannered chap, he goes by the nickname of  Chooper-san (after blues musician Al Kooper), and is as Allison put it “a very cool cat”. Blue Note has been open for 47 years now and has seen a fair number of famous musicians walk through its doors, either to perform or to kick back after performing elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »

Ted Taylor writes…

On a warm autumn afternoon, during a north Kyoto hike from Ohara over to Kurama, we came across a group of young people building a wood burning oven out of stone. Standing in front of this ishigama, we made small talk with the young couple in charge of the project. The young woman told us that the bread that this oven would bake would be a centerpiece of the cafe that had just opened here, her hand gesturing at a comfortable looking building made of wood and glass. We promised to come back again.

A month or so later we ran into them again in Ohara, this time as part of a larger group busy harvesting adzuki and soy, some of which would wind up that night on the table of Cafe Millet.

What at first seems like a throwback scene to the old hippie days is actually a large and growing trend in Japan. Driven by both environmental and economic concerns, many young Japanese are shunning a life in the cities for one in the soil.

The idea of returning to the countryside is hardly a new one. Masanobu Fukuoka’s classic work, “The One-Straw Revolution” has for over 30 years lured people back to a traditional life of farming. What is different this time is that the movement is not simply at the personal or grass roots level. In March of this year, Prime Minister Taro Aso created the Rural Labor Squad, as a way to give employment to the young while simultaneously revitalizing rural communities and their dwindling labor pool. Local farmers are for the most part grateful for the help, though some feel that the young will once again return to the city when the economy picks up. Read the rest of this entry »

Lately I’ve been eating at Cafe Bibliotic Hello. They do some pretty awesome sandwiches, but the other night I treated myself to the day’s special. It was pleasing both to the eye and tongue.

Spinach & tomato pasta with whitefish.

The main building is a renovated machiya. Sitting here, surrounded by lights and books and old wood is a balm to the soul. Read the rest of this entry »

Our Mewby was very pleased with her lunch yesterday.

We ate at Kei’s Cafe Oggi on Gojozaka. It’s famous for its antique furniture and for its light and fluffy rice-filled omelettes. Neither of us was in an オムライス mood though. I went for the vegan option and got myself a fantastic vegetable sandwich instead. Just look at the way the colours of those fresh vegetables leap out at you. The dressing was lovely too.

Mewby ordered a hearty meal of hashed beef and rice. Read the rest of this entry »