Lunch at Nishiki Ichiha in Nishiki Market, Kyoto: matcha soba with mountain vegetable, bamboo shoot and grated mountain potato, and soft-served matcha ice cream on three kinds of Japanese tea flavored caramel popcorn (matcha, houji-cha, and genmai-cha). The two small wooden cylinders aside are spices: shichimi (七味: Japanese seven spices) and sansho (山椒: japanese pepper)
I found mild konbu-majored dashi for the soba, which is often used for noodles with mountain vegetables (could be different in Kanto region). The soft-served ice cream with caramel popcorns was part of lunch set and smaller size, yet a bit too much for me after having soba. You can buy those caramel popcorns either outside the restaurant or on Kyoto Daimaru department store’s underground floor. Especially the genmai-cha flavored has a real refreshing roasting aroma of genmai (brown rice) and ryoku-cha. I personally recommend gennai-cha flavor the best (and I have never seen the flavor at any other shops).
Japanese tea room Chikusei by Tsubakido, at Fushimi, Kyoto. A purveyor to Fushimi Inari Taisha (shrine). Tea, sweets, the interior design, everything’s great. Surely wanna visit again.
Tsubaki-do 椿堂 http://www.tsubakido.kyoto Only in Japanese, but has a nice tea company film. Tranquil and worth to watch. “Tsubaki” means camellia FYI.