foodie friday in kyoto

Friday started off as a dreary day--drizzly and windy. I was to meet Tamakikat at noon, but there was an accident on the Hankyu train line to Kyoto, I would be late. I emailed her and found that she was running late also.

We both arrived a little after noon and headed into Mariage Frères. The restaurant was empty so we got to choose where we wanted to sit.

It was our first time eating there and if you have never been to Mariage Frères, they have 100's of teas (if not more) to choose from. Tamakikat ordered the Marco Polo, which is their number 1 seller. I like Marco Polo also, but wanted to try something different, I chose Chandenagor. Chandenagor is a spicy tea, like a chai. I first heard about this tea on Oswego Tea's site (no longer online) and have been wanting to have a chance to try it.

I'm glad I did, it was perfect for a cold blustery day with a splash of milk and good company to chat over it with.

Tamakikat and I both chose the assorted sandwiches plus dessert. This came with proscuitto, cucumber with a soft white cheese, smoked salmon and chicken mousse seasoned with Lapsang Souchang tea sandwiches, a little salad, the tea of your choice and choice of dessert from the showcase. 2625 yen (about US$26.25) Very reasonable considering the price of the tea itself.

Tamakikat said her favorite sandwich was the smoked salmon while mine was the chicken mousse seasoned with the tea. The tea flavor wasn't pronounced but it was still tasty. Dessert was very good also and the portions were very generous. After eeny-meeny-miney-mo-ing, Tamakikat chose the chiboust and I chose the cheesecake which was flavored with Marco Polo tea.

After a couple of hours with the restaurant to ourselves, customers started to come in and we were really full.

We paid our bill (the register was in a little ticket booth like thingy in the middle of the store!!) then headed to walk along the Kamogawa. The day turned from blustery and dreary to beautiful while we were lunching.

After a stroll up and down the Kamogawa, we headed towards Shijo and ran into this poorly parked Ferrari, which everyone including us were photographing...then we said our goodbyes.

It was a great day, lots of chatting, lots of noshing and lots of good tea. (Thanks Tamakikat!)

Mariage Frères Kyoto
BAL 1st floor
Nakagyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori Sanjo-sagaru 2-chome, Yamazaki-cho 251)
Phone: 075.255.5591
Open: 11:00-20:00 (Closed when BAL is)