Shinshindo - Kitayama — Restaurant in Kyoto

There are many Shinshindo bakeries in Kyoto, but this one is my regular, and I love it. It’s clean, it’s friendly, there’s a cafe space upstairs where you can sit and eat, and there’s a restaurant adjoined to the bakery where you can get a pretty decent lunch or dinner if you want more than a snack. If there’s a place to buy a better baguette in Kyoto, I’ve not yet found it. I buy baguettes here several times a week, sometimes sandwiches, sometimes sweet pastries etc, and I’ve had lunch here many times. When you eat in the restaurant, for a small, additional, and reasonable charge, you’ll get to sample a lot of the different breads from the bakery, as someone comes around regularly to keep you topped up with as much bread as you can eat with your meal.

Sometimes when I go to buy a baguette, if I get there at the right time, the chef at the back will see me and bring out a fresh, warm one for me; that’s great service. I love that you can see the chefs baking, through a large window behind the cashiers. Anyway; great bakery, great selection of breads and pastries, well...

We waited about 30 minutes for seating. Although they had changed to the lunch menu before we were seated, we were still able to order the breakfast set, so that was nice.

We had to wait about 45 minutes for our main dish. I think there was a mistake in the kitchen because the people seated after us received the same food much earlier. However, since we could have all you can eat bread, it's not a big deal to wait.

All of the bread was very good. In particular, the croissants were excellent. The walnut and raisin bread was another favorite. But you can't go wrong with any of it.

I'd recommend it, but during peak times, it's not good if...

We went to the bakery side. You get into line and circle around with a tray. In order to use their sit down area upstairs, they'll ask you to purchase a drink at the counter. Upstairs they have extra bags in case you don't finish food. Everything is very tasty if on the slightly...