Sarasa Nishijin

Belle surprise que ce café-​restaurant implanté dans un ancien Sento (comprendre: un ancien bain public).
Tout est encore là ou presque: le symbole au dessus de la porte à l’entrée, le mur de séparation hommes/​femmes au fond du restaurant, les carreaux colorés aux murs, le plafond très haut et même une partie des canalisations!
Le parquet et les poutres en bois, ainsi que les canapés et les fauteuils, ajoutent un côté très chaleureux et cosy au lieu. Digne d’un Starbuck café! ;)
D’ailleurs, l’établissement est classé dans la catégorie café, mais vous pouvez également y déjeuner ou y dîner. C’est ce que nous avons fait deux fois de suite.
Une première fois, lors d’un repas entre collègues. Nous avions négocié une même formule fixe pour tout le monde à 1600¥/pers, de type «izakaya», avec: salade, karaage, yaki-​soba, gratin de pomme de terre à la béchamel, yaki-​udon, somen champuru, escalope de poulet/​frites et riz frit aux crevettes + 1 boisson comprise! Franchement, une super offre pour le prix demandé. Les plats étaient très simples mais bons. Certains originaux, d’autres très classiques.
Et une deuxième fois entre amis, où cette fois-​ci nous avons tous choisi à la carte. Du coup, j’ai repris le «Champuru de somen (vegan)» à la mode kyotoite, car j’avais trouvé ça super bon et je n’ai, encore une fois, pas été déçue. Il s’agit d’un bol de somen (des nouilles de blé très fines) sautées avec du tofu frit, des petits champignons, du poireau et des oignons. Vraiment très bon et très digeste. Moi qui suis habituellement une vraie carnivore, j’ai adoré!
Seul petit bémol: nous n’avions pas pu le remarquer la 1ere fois car nous avions une formule fixe pour tout le monde, mais c’est vrai que les tarifs sont quand même un peu élevés pour les quantités servies.
Un endroit que je recommande du coup, plus pour son originalité que pour sa gastronomie. Même si moi, perso, j’ai adoré.

The atmosphere and ambiance are rustic, comforting, and pleasant and the food was delicious. Bonus point for reusing an old public bath and keeping some of the original fixtures!
I had the chai tea, they told me it would take a while to make it and I’m glad I waited. My meal was their pork, potato, and onion gratin, which while a little soupy more than made up for it in flavor, and some bread ordered separately, which approvingly came with olive oil. Very good.
The location was a little out of he way, but it was in a nice quiet neighborhood that was a pleasure to walk through.
I definitely recommend giving it a try if you are in the area.

Sarasa is a mixed sex public bath in Kyoto.
Probably filled with a bunch of ugly people, right?
No! lots of attractive and hit people were there when I went.
So half of you stopped reading my review and headed out the door for Sarasa.
The rest of you will learn that Sasara is actually a café built by renovating a building that used to be a public bath. The customers are mixed sex and many are attractive, but they are all fully clothed. In fact, if you started stripping naked at Sasara, you will likely get arrested.
So perhaps I’ve lost interest of majority of the readers, but let me convince that this is a really neat café. You definitely need to check it out.
As you enter the building, the café is split in the middle. When it was a bath, one side was for male and the other side was for female. Now, the left side has the sweets showcase and cashier. Right side, which used to be female changing room, is non-​smoking section. Deeper into the café, where the actual bath used to be, is smoking section.
What makes this space so cool is their high ceiling. So many places in Japan are crammed and tiny, but Sarasa’s high ceiling makes the place feel very spacious. Decoration is retro looking with lots of wood and colorful tiles. Wooden chairs and sofa make the place feel very warm and at home.
I went there after lunch for some sweets and coffee, so I cannot comment on their lunch deals. What I can say is that their Apple Walnut Cake (アップルウォルナッツケーキ) was very tasty. For Japanese standards, it was quite substantial You can easily have this cake as your lunch and become full. It came with whipped cream on the side, which made me really happy.
When to go?
You can go by yourself and feel quite comfortable in a nice spacious building. Otherwise, it is an ideal place for a date. I am sure that your counterpart would be impressed by your café choice.

Sarasa Nishijin is around a 20-​minute walk Kuramaguchi Station… for me it too far to get here by a train. I strongly recommend you to take a bus to get here! The bus stop is 千本北大路 Senbon Kitaohji. It’s a chain store which is the second store ofさらさSarasa chain, which is restoring and renovating machiya (traditional Kyoto townhouse) to a café and consists of seven brunch stores now.
I got with one of my friends for dinner and we really impressed with the building which it was built as a sento (a public bathhouse and called it «藤の森温泉Fuji no Mori Onsen) 80 years ago. It opened as a c afé in 2000.
This is a good place to have a break where you want to feel real Kyoto. My favorite item here is cheese cake! To the truth, the food at Sarasa NIshijin is not so much different with other cafes in Kyoto but really reasonable and the atmosphere is great. I don’t you want to get it wrong! This café is not just old. It’s quite cool and retrospective!