Zen Kashoin: The Kyoto Cafe Japan's Harshest Dessert Reviewer Couldn't Fault
然花抄院：辛口の正直レビューが全部褒めた京都のカフェ
When Japan's most notoriously blunt dessert reviewer visited Zen Kashoin — a confectionery cafe in a 300-year-old machiya just north of Karasuma-Oike — he praised every single thing, and the 620-comment thread treats it as an event: the top comment (13,133 likes) is disbelief that food this good, in a room this beautiful, costs this little, and another admits "seeing him praise everything makes me worried someone slipped him ¥10 million" (1,933). Regulars and Kyoto locals pile in to confirm — the courtyard weeping cherry, the service, the castella — and one local's aside points to a whole quieter Kyoto a few blocks up from the tourist crush.
“Seeing him praise everything for once actually makes me worried someone slipped him ¥10 million. …I seriously want to go.”
逆全部褒めてるの見ると1000万くらい積まれたんかって不安になるレベル マジで行ってみたい、、、
Scroll while you watch
What locals said (excerpted from 620)
- @user--ui👍 13,133
It's gorgeous, it's delicious enough for THIS guy to rate it highly… and it costs THAT little?!
めっちゃ綺麗でこの人が高評価する美味しさなのにこのお値段なの...！！
- @user-jl9ld9bm9g👍 6,203
The shaved ice looks amazing… and he's praising everything. Incredible.
かき氷美味しそう… 全部褒めてるやんすごい
- @suisui__johcho👍 4,571
Him praising everything is rare — I'm intrigued. Kyoto has so many shops that having someone flag the genuinely good ones really helps.
全部褒めてるの珍しい、きになるな〜 京都お店多いからいい所教えてくれるの本当に助かる
- @疾風怒濤の計👍 1,131
You can tell he simply loves wagashi. He does tend to rate anko things well.
和菓子が好きなんやなということは伝わってくる。あんこモノは結構褒めてますよね
- @kirakira-v1q👍 1,644
The fact that this is cheaper than an acai bowl is a glitch in reality.
これアサイーより安いのバグ
- @まぐろーーー👍 33
Honestly it's everything else that's overinflated… Kyoto sweets aren't cheap — acai is just too expensive.
そもそも全部がインフレしすぎなんよ…京都グルメが安いんじゃなくてアサイーがたかすぎる
- @きゃろっと-m2s👍 138
The drink add-on being ¥300 wins me over too.
ドリンク追加が300円なのも好感持てるね
- @やまだぁぁあぁああああ👍 806
There are more and more cheap-feeling places aimed at overseas tourists lately, so learning about genuinely delicious ones like this is wonderful. I travel a lot and these reviews are my reference.
最近、海外客目当ての安っぽいのが増えてきてるから、こーゆうほんとに美味しいものが知れるのって素晴らしい。 旅行が好きだから、よく参考にさせてもらってます。
- @みずき-k6k👍 658
In cherry-blossom season they do a sakura parfait here — eating it while gazing at the magnificent weeping cherry in the courtyard is as good as it gets.
ここ、桜シーズンには桜のパフェが出るんだけど、中庭にある立派な枝垂れ桜を眺めながらいただくのが最高
- @8686こうし👍 485
The service is as good as the food. I went on a quiet weekday and they treated me to a new item, chatted about the sweets, and when I mentioned where I was headed the next day they recommended cafes near there. I always buy the castella to take home.
ここ、味はもちろんですが、接客も素晴らしいですよね。 平日の空いている時に行った時は新作をサービスして下さったり、お菓子の話を色々していただいたり。 予定聞かれて明日○○行って帰ると言ったら、近くのおすすめのカフェ教えてくれたこともあります。 お土産にカステラいつも買ってます
- @あお-c4n👍 6
Local here. The garden view from the seats is lovely and the sweets were delicious — and the hojicha with a hint of plum that came with them was great too.
地元民です。 ここは席から見える庭が素敵で、スイーツも美味しかったです！あと梅が入ったほうじ茶もついてきたんですが、それも美味しかったです
- @dcmad4838👍 41
Oh, this place is well known. The kohakuto candies are worth it on their own, and everything is genuinely good. The one catch is that the location is easy to miss. Around here, a lot of old wagashi houses have renovated and opened shops like this.
ああここは有名。琥珀糖単体でもいいし、全体的に本当に美味しいですよ。場所がわかりにくいかな。お店の雰囲気もいいです。このへんは老舗の和菓子屋さんがリフォームして店を出してますよ
- @Kochakaden-619👍 5
The value of the handmade parfait "Yuzen"… this beautiful even with all the tourists… and a price that feels a bit high to a country bumpkin like me but is nowhere near a rip-off… perfect.
おてづくりぱふぇ遊膳のお得感…観光客いっぱいでこの綺麗さ…そして田舎民からするとちょっと高いけどぼったくりってほどではない価格…完璧や
- @まめぱと-o2x👍 2
I've been several times — my top pick is actually the kombu-sansho from the souvenir corner. It comes in little pellets and I snack on it like candy.
ここ複数回いったことありますが、特におすすめなのがお土産コーナー？で帰る昆布山椒です。 粒状なのですが私はいつもお菓子としてつまんでました笑
Where locals go instead
- @お茶ぐま👍 5
My advice for Kyoto: go north of Karasuma-Oike. Step off the famous streets and just a few blocks up there are good shops everywhere within walking distance. Even locals find Shijo-Kawaramachi too swamped with tourists to bother with these days, haha.
京都は烏丸御池より上がおすすめです。観光名所外して街中ちょっと上がるだけで、徒歩圏内にいい感じのお店が多いですよ☺️ 地元民でも四条河原町界隈に行くのは、インバウンド多すぎてしんどいです笑
Places named in this article
- Zen Kashoin Kyoto Muromachi Honten然花抄院 京都室町本店Muromachi-dori, north of Karasuma-Oike
The cafe from the review — full praise from Japan's harshest dessert critic, confirmed by regulars and locals in the comments. Easy to walk past, per a 41-like warning.
Named in the source comments — hours, prices, and openings change, so check each map listing before you go.
FAQ
- Is Zen Kashoin worth visiting in Kyoto?
- The comment section's verdict is an unusually loud yes: Japan's harshest dessert reviewer praised everything, which commenters called a first (4,571 likes on "him praising everything is rare — this really helps in a city with this many shops"). Regulars confirm the courtyard garden, the service, and the castella, and a 1,644-like comment jokes the set costs less than a trendy acai bowl.
- Where is Zen Kashoin?
- The main shop is on Muromachi-dori just north of Karasuma-Oike, in central Kyoto — a renovated 300-year-old machiya townhouse. Fair warning from a 41-like commenter: it's easy to walk straight past, so use the map link below rather than hunting by eye.
- What should you order at Zen Kashoin?
- Commenters name the parfait "Yuzen," the castella (a standard souvenir buy for one regular), kohakuto crystal candies, and — in spring — a sakura parfait eaten in view of the courtyard's weeping cherry. Drinks were an extra ¥300 as of the comments, which several people singled out as refreshingly fair.
- How do you find non-touristy cafes in Kyoto?
- A Kyoto local in the thread spells it out: head north of Karasuma-Oike, away from the landmark streets — "just a few blocks up from the famous spots there are good shops everywhere within walking distance." The same local admits even residents now find the Shijo-Kawaramachi area too crowded to bother with.
"Amazed It Hasn't Gone Under": Japan's Verdict on Arashiyama's Most Notorious Tourist-Trap Cafe
“My only impression is that it still hasn't gone under…”
Read this roundupThis is one of 12 local roundups for Kyoto. See them all →
More from Japan
- #Kyoto Food
🍜 Food & Restaurants👍 1,107Food & RestaurantsYouTubeArashiyama Street Food, Rated by Japan's Bluntest Reviewer: “For Once, Everything Scored High”
Japan's bluntest food-review channel walked Arashiyama's street-food strip — and, to its own viewers' surprise, liked everything: the reaction that summed it up (403 likes) is simply “Wow, high marks across the board for once.” One commenter offers the local logic: competition near the big sights is so brutal that only genuinely good shops survive. Then Kyoto locals started adding their own picks — a huge, cheap kinako dango at Koto Imo Honpo (1,107 likes), a mysterious warabi-mochi-like sweet at Enman Mochiten, gelato worth repeat trips at Shinpachi Chaya, and a tea-and-scone shop regulars call flat-out godly. The one warning comes from a Kyoto resident (129 likes): the area is packed, priced for tourists and gridlocked — plus a local tip on where the eating stays reliably good, just off the famous strip.
307 comments - #Kyoto Food
🍜 Food & Restaurants👍 23Food & RestaurantsYouTubeWhere Kyoto Locals Actually Eat Ramen — and Why They Skip the One With the Hour-Long Queue
When a Kyoto channel posted nine ramen shops "tourists never find" out in the city's southern neighborhoods, the locals in the 61 comments did what locals do — they argued. The single most-liked reply (23 likes) doesn't thank anyone; it snaps that the list forgot Ore no Ramen Appareya, and others pile on with the branches it missed, like Takabashi Daiichi-Asahi in Joyo. The consensus that shakes out is not the downtown queue spots at all: regulars are openly skeptical that one hour-long-line famous shop is worth the wait — "the dipping broth goes cold fast" — and what they rally around instead are neighborhood joints far from the temples. Above all Miyako Hanten in Yawata, whose Sichuan ramen one commenter calls flat-out No.1 and another calls the local "soul food." These are working-class shops off the tourist path, not a walkable downtown list — but they're the ramen Kyoto locals actually go out of their way for, in their own words, and a hint that the queue you were about to join might be the wrong one.
61 comments - #Kyoto Food
🍜 Food & Restaurants👍 26Food & RestaurantsYouTubeThe Kyoto Souvenirs Locals Actually Buy — and the Famous One They Skip the Queue For
When a Kyoto local food channel posted its eleven real souvenir picks, 120 comments filled with locals adding their own — and quietly rewriting the tourist playbook. The classics they back: Shizuya's "Carné" bread roll (one local can't board the shinkansen without it — 26 likes), Demachi Futaba's bean mochi, and Ajari-mochi. But locals attach the kind of tips a display case never tells you: Futaba's mochi hardens within the day, so "I just eat it on the street right there" (13 likes); at the Ajari-mochi honten, buy the loose ones and eat them the second you step outside, still faintly warm (5 likes). And the sharpest note pushes back on the internet-famous pick — Futaba is genuinely great, but it "isn't worth queuing hours for." A local who lives nearby walks right past it to a tiny no-queue shop, Otafukuya, in the Demachi Masugata arcade, and swears its mame-mochi is even better. Here's what Kyotoites actually buy, in their own words.
120 comments - #Kyoto Food
🍜 Food & Restaurants👍 16Food & RestaurantsYouTubeWhere Kyoto Locals Actually Eat: The Cheap Diners Tourists Walk Past
When a Kyoto local posted their five favorite working-class diners (taishu-shokudo), the 112 comments did what no guidebook does: other locals piled in to back the picks and name their own. The top local sets the frame — Kyoto's TV only ever features high-end kaiseki, but the real everyday eating is at cheap diners and neighborhood Chinese joints; as one Osaka resident puts it, "for everyday food, Kyoto beats Osaka." Then the names come: Shinodaya, whose Chinese-style noodles one regular swears beat the dedicated ramen shops; Suehiro, packed even on weekdays; Masugataya for its mackerel sushi; and Gonpachi, tucked inside the Central Market, for cold soba with an oyako-don. A few come with a caveat — one beloved diner has closed, another went takeout-only — a reminder these are living neighborhood places, not a fixed list. Here's where Kyoto locals actually eat, in their own words.
112 comments