la papaye verte — Restaurant in Kyoto

We visited this restaurant two nights in a row during our trip to Kyoto. My boy liked every single dish we ordered, so delicious and refreshing.

You may have noticed that some customers have rated it very low-1 out of 5. I guess it’s mainly because of the owner-chef’s lack of smiles. He was also in no hurry to welcome his newly arrived guests. We had the same experience 😏! When we walked into the restaurant, we had to wait a while till he came out of the kitchen. Then he passed us a card, not the menu, that stated the simple rules, like everyone must order a drink. We found him a highly efficient person despite his coolness on the surface. He took the orders, cooked and served professionally 🥹👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼.

Why I gave his service a 5/5 is that when my boy ordered a bowl of noodles, he automatically gave us 3 bowls and 3 spoons to share, in addition to the plates we already had. Don’t forget that he’s the only one doing the dishes. He did not speak much, but he was doing everything attentively and with his heart. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼😊😊😊

After all, we met an intriguing person and had delicious...

DO NOT GO HERE YOU WILL BE SCAMMED ESPECIALLY AS A FOREIGNER. This was the worst experience I have ever had and I thought gaikokujin tax wasn’t real but oh boy was I wrong. We were forced to order a drink (600 yen) per person then at the end our charge was 1,200 yen more than what I calculated. THERE IS A 500 YEN CHARGE PER PERSON as a “dine in” fee. We disputed it speaking in Japanese (I reside here and speak Japanese fluently). He then showed this paper in the photo. ADDITIONALLY, we were upcharhed an additional 100 yen per person (200 yen) for no reason at all.

Here is a breakdown: 600 + 600 for drinks 1500 + 1000 for two bowls of pho = 3700 yen

He charged us 4,900 yen which is insane.

This entire time, he was extremely rude to us, said barely anything, and slammed our food on the table. We were also not informed of this hidden fee when we came in (in Japanese). We were informed we needed to buy a drink when we came in.

There also was a random ass cat inside jumping all over the place and hair in the utensil boxes. It is...

Very good Vietnamese restaurant. The service is not what you expect from restaurants in Japan despite him being Japanese but it's similar to the treatment you get in SEA so they call it cold or unfriendly. The vibes and music choice was good. The portions size were huge and go well with drinks. The food was freshly prepared after ordering so it took a bit of time but was worth the wait!! There's a lot of fresh vegetables and herbs in every dish! Would definitely recommend the papaya salad! Had a Nep moi cocktail for the first time and went back and bought a bottle! (That shows how good it is!).

Also, a Vietnamese friend recommended the restaurant to me so you know it's been approved!

Unrelated note: Lost a necklace that day so I went back and the owner helped me look for it all over the restaurant! Was very nice of him to do when he didn't...