Coffee Shop Yamamoto — Restaurant in Kyoto

Stumbled upon this beautiful, classy, old world charm kissaten which seems like a cafe locals frequent. The mahogany coffee bean drawer at the entrance is a nice touch. And the wall told us that (I am guessing) the owner climbed Mt. Fuji in 1998, impressive.

A young male staff welcomed us in english, it is a cash only premise. He also introduced their best sellers - steak sandwich and Yamamoto blend coffee, which I went with. The steak sandwich was very good value, there were steak pieces in my sandwich with a hint of wasabi, very delicious.

Outside there is a small coffee roasting hut beside the cafe, not sure if it is still in use or that was the original roaster when the cafe started. A sign on the wall states that they also offer single origin coffee beans from Mt. Kilimanjaro and Yemen Mocca Matari, such interesting beans that I have not tasted before. Unbeknown to us at that time, Yamamoto is a long established cafe of 59 years and their owner like to say "we don't care about profit, we just want you to have a good cup of coffee." I think they have definitely achieved that and much more. The staff even gave us a small discount when they didn't have change. Overall this was such a pleasant dining experience. Amazing ambience, heritage, food, service from the staff and of course the coffee was おいしかった...

We stopped here earlier this week and I just haven't had a moment to post my review. This was a fantastic experience! I had the beef cutlet sandwich and I was so excited to eat it that I forgot to take a photo, so I guess you can just look at my empty plate in the background. 😜 The shop is run by a father and son team after the grandfather retired from the business and the father roasts the beef himself. It tastes so good! It's hearty to energize you for walking around but not so heavy that you need a nap. If you are American, you should know that I ordered the Mocha Mattari No. 9 and it's a black coffee, not the sugary drink that I was expecting. I'm good with adding cream and sugar, but this is a more traditional coffee place. I ordered the coffee au lait next which was much closer to what I had been...

After walking in Arashiyama, I was desperate for caffeine intake. This was one of the only shop that was open nice and early. We thought to give it a try, given it its high reviews on both Yelp and Google. We definitely were not disappointed. This café comes off as very classy, and serious simple about their music. I can tell that they are audiophiles, playing music from the vinyl collection with dedicated speakers spread throughout the restaurant. Admittedly, the coffee was alright for me, but the egg sando and fruit sando were on point. Loved just relaxing here, hearing the good music, and enjoying the food with coffee.

Overall Kel rating: ★★★★★/5 The good: very good fruit sando, love the cafe environment The decent: cash...