If you’re in the Saga area, the cafe Saganoyu is a pleasant spot for lunch or a cup of coffee. Originally built as a public bathhouse in 1923, the building has been thoroughly renovated and was reopened as a cafe in 2006. You can still see the original tiling on the floors and the faucets along the walls.
Here’s what we had. Miu chose a cheese curry (1,100 yen).
Which she washed down with an iced “Island milk tea” – so-named because it contains coconut milk (700 yen).
And I had a peperoncino with anchovy and nanohana (950 yen)…
…with a refreshing framboise squash (680 yen).
Everything was tasty and the service was good too. As you can see from the prices above, Saganoyu is not so cheap, but the Saga/Arashiyama area is rather touristy so cheap places are hard to find…
Saganoyu is located a short walk south of the JR Saga/Arashiyama Station. There is a map on their website and also a Google map. Check out the website menu also for other dishes: http://www.sagano-yu.com/
OPEN 11:00am
CLOSE 8:00pm
TEL&FAX 075-882-8985
ADDRESS
〒616-8366
京都府京都市右京区嵯峨天龍寺
今堀町4-3
One of the things we found most surprising during our two visits to Japan was the relatively high cost of drinks compared to the low cost of food. If you go back, I’d love to see images of the interior, especially the faucets and such details that remain from its bathhouse days.
Do you know I would, but right above those faucets are little signs asking people to refrain from taking photos – so as not to bother the other customers. Fortunately they were ok with pictures of the food.