Hirobun — Restaurant in Kyoto

Nagashi Somen (Flowing Noodles) review only:||What this is: a small, beautiful, lush, green town about an hour away from Kyoto serving flowing cold noodles out of bamboo chutes at Hirobun restaurant. There are many restaurants built over stream platforms in Kifune (summer only), but as far as I'm aware of, Hirobun is the only one who has capitalized on nagashi somen. The rest of the Kawadoko (riverside dining) only serve traditional Japanese food ($$$$).||I'm sure this place used to be a quiet, peaceful, and pretty idyllic town with only Japanese vacationers and locals frequenting the area but with Youtube media exposure, it's exploded, and I'm sure there are a lot of locals living in the town who are downright salty about us being there: case in point - my son was standing in line with the rest of the herd when an older lady dressed in kimono (staff) yelled at my son irritably to get into a single line, in pretty good English: "stay in line! It's dangerous!" (due to narrow roads and cars). I wonder how many times she had to practice that line to get the inflection just right, because it was pretty doggone good, even the irritated part! Even if it weren't for this minor downer, this place would still get a four-star anyway.||PROS:||- It is tucked away in a tiny town called Kifune (or Kibune), and I must say I truly loved this town. Next time I come back I'm spending the night at Hirobun's Ryokan!||- The whole town is a water town! From it's flowing streams to even having water features at the bathroom and random faucets in the walls on the road is amazing! I keep forgetting this review is for the restaurant itself and not the town!||- Approximately $13.00 USD is not a bad price to pay for such a novel experience. Price is only for the dining platform noodles experience.||NEUTRAL:||- Minimal English spoken (unless they are yelling at you) or give you the instructions written in English, so be prepared to bring out your Google Translate, or read the rest of the review so you know what to do ;-)||- Cash only. And don't bring yens larger than a $100 USD or they will not have any change. ||- Allow a full day's excursion from Kyoto proper, because this place is only accessible through Eizan Line, Keihan Line and a local bus to get here. Clearly not near any other attractions, but I thought this was part of the charm. ||- If it is raining, be prepared to have your lunch cancelled, but they will refund your money. The restaurant itself is simply a thatched roof over a platform, and rain will go right through the straw roof.||CONS:||- Expect this 'somen lunch' to be just a snack. It's clearly entertainment and so you will not get filled up with food if you are thinking you'll get a hearty serving. Eat before you get to Hirobun so you won't go hungry the rest of the day. If you eat in their restaurant area (separated from the noodle area) be prepared to spend some serious money. ||- the more people in your party, the less chances you will have to grab your bunch of somen noodles (it comes down on one water sluice), so make sure you work it out with your group about the timing and spacing of the noodles.||- Wait time around 2 hours, total. If you go after lunch, you shouldn't have too much of a problem.||- Pretty disorganized, as far as getting any information about going down to the waiting platform. The employee (older man), told me the platform downstairs was filled, and I should go sightseeing around the town for about an hour. After 40 minutes, he tells me I need to head down to the platform pronto, bad news was that my family had wandered off around town and I had to find them.||HELPFUL TERMS/WORDS/THINGS:||- At the window: hitori (one person), futari (two persons), san-nin (three persons), yo-nin (four), go-nin (five), roku-nin (six persons).||- Ote arai wa doko desu ka? - where is the toilet? It is in the back of the restaurant. You have to go back up to street level, put on your shoes and find your way to the back of the building.||It was a fun and magical experience for just a day trip. If I were really a lot younger and more motivated (with more time and no teenagers in tow), I would hike from Kifune to Kurama and spend maybe another few hours in Kurama at their onsen before heading back to Kyoto (or stay in Kurama). ||There's a reason why people keep coming back to Japan year after year, maybe it's for magical...

Nagashi Somen (Flowing Noodles) review only:||What this is: a small, beautiful, lush, green town about an hour away from Kyoto serving flowing cold noodles out of bamboo chutes at Hirobun restaurant. There are many restaurants built over stream platforms in Kifune (summer only), but as far as I'm aware of, Hirobun is the only one who has capitalized on nagashi somen. The rest of the Kawadoko (riverside dining) only serve traditional Japanese food ($$$$).||I'm sure this place used to be a quiet, peaceful, and pretty idyllic town with only Japanese vacationers and locals frequenting the area but with Youtube media exposure, it's exploded, and I'm sure there are a lot of locals living in the town who are downright salty about us being there: case in point - my son was standing in line with the rest of the herd when an older lady dressed in kimono (staff) yelled at my son irritably to get into a single line, in pretty good English: "stay in line! It's dangerous!" (due to narrow roads and cars). I wonder how many times she had to practice that line to get the inflection just right, because it was pretty doggone good, even the irritated part! Even if it weren't for this minor downer, this place would still get a four-star anyway.||PROS:||- It is tucked away in a tiny town called Kifune (or Kibune), and I must say I truly loved this town. Next time I come back I'm spending the night at Hirobun's Ryokan!||- The whole town is a water town! From it's flowing streams to even having water features at the bathroom and random faucets in the walls on the road is amazing! I keep forgetting this review is for the restaurant itself and not the town!||- Approximately $13.00 USD is not a bad price to pay for such a novel experience. Price is only for the dining platform noodles experience.||NEUTRAL:||- Minimal English spoken (unless they are yelling at you) or give you the instructions written in English, so be prepared to bring out your Google Translate, or read the rest of the review so you know what to do ;-)||- Cash only. And don't bring yens larger than a $100 USD or they will not have any change. ||- Allow a full day's excursion from Kyoto proper, because this place is only accessible through Eizan Line, Keihan Line and a local bus to get here. Clearly not near any other attractions, but I thought this was part of the charm. ||- If it is raining, be prepared to have your lunch cancelled, but they will refund your money. The restaurant itself is simply a thatched roof over a platform, and rain will go right through the straw roof.||CONS:||- Expect this 'somen lunch' to be just a snack. It's clearly entertainment and so you will not get filled up with food if you are thinking you'll get a hearty serving. Eat before you get to Hirobun so you won't go hungry the rest of the day. If you eat in their restaurant area (separated from the noodle area) be prepared to spend some serious money. ||- the more people in your party, the less chances you will have to grab your bunch of somen noodles (it comes down on one water sluice), so make sure you work it out with your group about the timing and spacing of the noodles.||- Wait time around 2 hours, total. If you go after lunch, you shouldn't have too much of a problem.||- Pretty disorganized, as far as getting any information about going down to the waiting platform. The employee (older man), told me the platform downstairs was filled, and I should go sightseeing around the town for about an hour. After 40 minutes, he tells me I need to head down to the platform pronto, bad news was that my family had wandered off around town and I had to find them.||HELPFUL TERMS/WORDS/THINGS:||- At the window: hitori (one person), futari (two persons), san-nin (three persons), yo-nin (four), go-nin (five), roku-nin (six persons).||- Ote arai wa doko desu ka? - where is the toilet? It is in the back of the restaurant. You have to go back up to street level, put on your shoes and find your way to the back of the building.||It was a fun and magical experience for just a day trip. If I were really a lot younger and more motivated (with more time and no teenagers in tow), I would hike from Kifune to Kurama and spend maybe another few hours in Kurama at their onsen before heading back to Kyoto (or stay in Kurama). ||There's a reason why people keep coming back to Japan year after year, maybe it's for magical...

HIROBUN !!!!!

CASH ONLY

Gawd this experience will remain in my memory for a long time. I have never done anything like this. Scooping noodles from a stream flowing down a bamboo stick. I've only ever seen this on social media and idealized it as an "exotic" dream.

On my last day in Kyoto, instead of taking a day trip to Kobe, and instead of waking up really early, I made a last minute decision to check out Hirobun. I took a ¥5940 Uber at 11:30 AM to destination "Hirobun". I had no idea what to expect. Our Uber driver wove through the windy narrow road and dropped us off in front of a bamboo building. I saw a whiteboard that said "25" and "28". I found out there was a line that I had to wait in order to get a number. Then there is another line after getting the number.... The people in queue do not wait there, so it's misleading. You think no one is waiting!

I got to the window. I read the whiteboard sign in disbelief - it read "over 3 hours". My number was 90. Bruhhhhh. I paid ¥3400 for two people in cash here. When I checked back in two hours, they were calling "79". It really did take them 3 hours to call me back.

However, the 3-hour wait only got me into the waiting area, where you remove your shoes and sit on the bamboo with everyone else. This is downstairs from the window to get your number. I waited another hour sitting down before they called numbers 90-95. Then we moved upward to the tables, where you are separated by group. Here I was able to watch the group ahead of me, and I learned that you have to be ready with your chopsticks to pick up the noodles. If you are not ready, then you don't get to eat the noodles. When you get the red noodles, that signifies your turn is over. There is also a very nice view ahead. But you can't really enjoy the view when you're constantly waiting for noodles.

You can say I am crazy for waiting 3-4 hours for something like this. But I'm glad I did it. Now I don't have fly all the way back to Japan and make my way to Kyoto to...