SUMI WINE COFFEE — Restaurant in Kyoto

Fabulous wine, coffee, and ice cream. I love the casual self serve system; insert a ¥1000 bill and get two special coins to put into the slot of the tap machine, grab a glass, then pour the wine of your choice. They had run out of two bottles by the time I was there but I was still able to sample a few great wines. My only quibble is that the serve temp would have been kept more or less constant across the taps whereas some bottles may need a more chilled presentation (in my opinion).

The ice creams were a revelation. I enjoyed the mango shiso gelato and smoked milk with shaved brown mushroom so much. It’s the type and standard of dessert one would get at the end of a tasting menu. The espresso macchiato and the lime juniper fizzy drink were also yummy.

Can’t wait to be back to grab a few bottles from the...

Wine prices are very sneaky. Sign out the front says 500yen for a wine, but once you're inside, the cost is actually 500yen for a 50ml glass - barely a tasting. Had a beer & gin instead. Both tasty and okay priced - still not great value.

Then there's the "food". 1000yen for the smallest shavings of cheese you could imagine. 500yen for 6 teeny-tiny slices of saucisson.

Had to laugh at the absurdity of it. I've had larger cheese courses at Michelin starred restaurants. Who puts that on the plate and thinks they're doing the right thing by...

Nice concept, but the execution wasn’t great. The machine didn’t recognize my coin, so I went to the counter to exchange it. Unfortunately, I was given the wrong coin, so I still couldn’t get anything from the machine. When I explained the situation to the girl at the counter, she didn’t understand and reacted a bit sharply. She called over a colleague, and after some back and forth, I finally got the right coin. A bit of a strange experience. The drink...