Best duck noodles & the cutest antique store ⛩️

If I can only pick one place in Japan to recommend to anyone visiting, it would have to be Kyoto. I've visited Kyoto 3 times, and loved it every time. On my recent trip with my BF in Feb'24, we only had 2 days to spend in Kyoto. I would recommend 3-4 days to see all of Kyoto, but you can squeeze in many things in a couple of days too. Here's our 48 hours itinerary >>>

DAY 01

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🚍 Overnight bus

> We took an overnight bus from Tokyo, which I'll write more about in a subsequent post. We landed bright and early around 7AM in Kyoto and left our luggages at our hotel before starting our day.

☕️ murmur coffee kyoto

> Came across a quaint cafe near our hotel and decided to grab a quick bite. My BF ordered the toast with marshmallow chocolate with an iced cafe au lait, and I got a pizza toast with a matcha au lait. Decent quality of food and a great way to kickstart our day.

🏯 Kinkaku-ji

> Finally got to visit the famous Kinkaku-ji on my third visit here. It was a rather small place and got pretty crowded with lines forming to take pictures with the golden temple. We came across a small food stall outside the temple that sold takoyaki in soup??? It was so unique that we had to try. The takoyaki was soggy after being served in the soup, but it was yummy nonetheless, and was a great piping hot snack in the cold weather.

🦆 Gion Duck Noodles

> Locating this shop turned out to be a real treasure hunt. It was tucked deep in an alley, away from the busy streets. The shop uses the emojis 🦆🍜 as their signboard, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them. The menu was entirely made up of emojis too. Don't worry though, it turned out to be pretty intuitive. You can choose between breast or thigh meat and the 😋 represented adding 3 more pieces of duck meat. We preferred the orange sauce 🍊 tsukemen, which created a nice fruity kick in contrast to the bonito-infused savoury dipping sauce. The queue can get pretty long as the restaurant only sits around 10 people so try and avoid peak hours. Highly recommend!

🍵 Ujicha Kigetsudō

> This shop is run by an elderly couple and said to be over 100 years old. Although they didn't understand English, they were super friendly and smiley in helping us navigate and package the items. My BF bought both the houjicha and matcha. I think the price is slightly more expensive than what you can get elsewhere but it's worth it! The houjicha tasted smooth and aromatic while his friend feedbacked that the matcha was comparable to ceremonial grade matcha.

🐰 Miffy's Oyatsu-do by Miffy's Kitchen Gion

> You can't not go into this shop when you walk past it. THE STOREFRONT IS ALREADY SO CUTE!! They sell all sorts of miffy merch - keychains, stationeries, plushies and snacks.

🎐 アンティークショップ 猛虎 thrift store

> An unassuming shop selling second-hand knick-knacks, mostly porcelain wares. I got a couple of vintage postcards! The lady at the shop was friendly and inviting, and even looked for suitably sized recyclable bags for us since we were holding on to way too many things LOL.

🥛 Mr.SOY

> I'm very biased towards soy products so I had to try this place we walked past. Each customer had to purchase an item to sit inside the cafe. We ordered the hot soy milk, which was nice and smooth, and the soy soft-serve ice cream, which was creamy and sweet. We didn’t manage to try their donuts, which seemed to be their most popular item on the menu, as they were sold out, so that was a bummer.

🛍 Character stores

> We browsed around the Donguri Kyowakoku (Ghibli Store), Sumikkogurashido and SNOOPY Chocolat shops. Pretty self-explanatory. Whether you like these characters or not, it's worth taking a look around the shops.

🏯 Kiyomizu-dera

> We walked along the streets all the way up to the temple and took some pictures. Didn't pay to go in as I've already been inside before.

🍜 Kitada Clam Soup Ramen

> I'm not a huge fan of clams but my BF is, so we headed down to try this ramen store. TLDR: He loved it. We had the Clam Karamiso Ramen, Kaidashi-men and a side order of clam on rice. The ramen had a low-mid spice level, which helped to cover the strong clam flavours. Great if you want to try out clam dishes without getting overwhelmed. On the other hand, the noodles had intense clam flavours and it got "jelak" after awhile. They have a yuzu pepper condiment on the side that you can add to your dish, serving as a great addition to reset your palate.

🛏 Hotel M’s Est Nanajo Wander Kyoto Nanajo

> We stayed at this hotel that was within walking distance of Kyoto station, which was super convenient. Very small room, simple and no frills.

DAY 02

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☕️ Café Amazon

> Found another cafe near our hotel! These quaint cafes are really the best way to start the day. We ordered the 600Y pancake set with coffee. The pancakes were super aesthetics, served with whipped cream and syrup. They were slightly fluffy and were very well-prepared. The iced coffee had a slight sourness with decent levels of coffee aroma. We also got the egg ham sandwich, with a sprinkle of pepper and garlic.

⛩️ Fushimi Inari Taisha

> We reached the famous torii gates around 10AM and the street was already packed with people. There were food stalls lined at the entrance, so we decided to try a few. We got a strawberry slushie, strawberry custard pastry and egg inari, which were all pretty mid. Give them a miss. The best item was the raindrop cake. The shop owner taught us how to poke and break the skin, and let us try it ourselves. It was a fun experience, and the powder and brown sugar syrup were a good combination. And onto the famous gates. We didn't climb all the way to the top because I was unfit AF and panting midway through. Do climb higher if you can though, as the crowds will thin out and give you more photo opportunities without people photobombing. Another tip is to take pictures around the bends, which will hide any oncoming people.

🍣 Sushiro - Kawaramachi Takoyakushi-dori

> We eat at Sushiro all the time in SG so of course we had to try it here. NO REGRETS. The food quality was much better, as expected. Highlights were the sweet potato dessert, uni on seaweed and the crab claw chawanmushi, which was on promotion!

🛍 Teramachi Street

> We shopped at a couple of stores, mostly for souvenirs and cute stationeries. Kyukyodo mainly sells traditional stationeries and craft supplies while Tag sells almost any stationery you would need, including a huge range of cute cards, stickers and notebooks.

🧸 Arcades

> We checked out the arcades along the shopping streets, namely Gigo and Round One. We LOVE LOVE LOVE claw machine games but didn't find good ones here. Spoiler alert: We did find a gem in Osaka though, and I'll be making another post just for that hehe. We also spent way too much time in the countless gachapon stores :")

🐟 Nishiki Market

> Walked along the famous Nishiki Market stretch, but nothing really caught our eye, partly because we were pretty full from Sushiro. We did try an expensive wagyu skewer though, which was worth every penny. Still salivating at the thought of it.

🚉 Takashimaya Kyoto Store

> Stopped by Takashimaya to grab some light bites for supper. We tried the gyozas and meatballs from 551 Horai, and they were delicious.

That sums up our two days in Kyoto. Pretty packed but sufficient to take in the famous sights! You can also add Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and Nara Park if you have extra days.

Check out #YatGoesToJapan for my other Japan posts, including the best spots to see Mount Fuji, Tokyo Disneyland hacks and exploring a wintery Central Japan.

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