Otowa Saryo 音羽茶寮 @ Kyoto

This place is a hidden gem considering its proximity to Kiyomizu Temple and the entrance is shared with a pottery shop, so unless you know about it, you might not venture inside.

Otowa Saryo 音羽茶寮 is situated beneath Kiyomizu-dera Temple and embraced by the tranquil surroundings of Mt. Otowa, providing diners with a peaceful dining experience and majestic views of the city below. I was attracted but all the ceramic cats that were scattered around the way up and chanced upon this cafe/restaurant.

The restaurant is located in a traditional Japanese tea house, or chashitsu 茶室, that features a tranquil garden with a stone path (roji 露地) leading to a simple, unadorned room with a tokonoma alcove (床の間), shoji screens, and tatami flooring. Inside, essential elements include scrolls, seasonal flowers, incense, and a hearth for heating the tea kettle. 

It serves traditional Japanese cuisine using carefully selected local and seasonal ingredients beautifully presented on masterfully crafted pottery pieces from Japan.

I ordered the limited 舞台蕎麦 Butai Soba set and 抹茶づくし Assorted Matcha Green Tea-flavoured Dessert set.

The “stage” at Kiyomizu is a large, wooden veranda at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto, Japan, famous for being built without nails using traditional carpentry to overlook the city from a hillside. This iconic structure, known as Kiyomizu no Butai 清水の舞台, offers panoramic views, especially during cherry blossom season and autumn.

舞台蕎麦 Butai Soba is limited per day and is presented in a bento box that looked like 清水寺 Kiyomizu-dera. The refreshingly fragrant Japanese soba noodles are combined with nine carefully selected ingredients, including fresh yuba and conger eel, allowing you to enjoy a variety of flavours.

丹波の霧 蕎麦 Tamba Fog soba from Fukuchiyama, Kyoto is a high-quality, white-fleshed buckwheat noodle from the Tamba region of Kyoto, characterised by its less pronounced flavour compared to traditional buckwheat noodles. The term “fog” refers to the fine quality of the buckwheat grown in the foggy, high-altitude, and variable-temperature conditions of the Tamba area, which results in superior flavour, nutrition, and grain type

The set also came with three pieces of tempura, technically making it tenzaru soba (tempura with chilled buckwheat noodles). Tenzaru soba is a classic Japanese summer dish that combines two classic Japanese favourites: tempura seafood and vegetables, and zaru-style cold buckwheat noodles served on a bamboo mat.

There’s always that excuse of ‘just this moment’ that leads you to indulge a little too much. The tempura was so good that I ordered another a la carte portion of the tempura ebi.

The tempura came with the standard tempura dipping sauce (tentsuyu 天つゆ), and some matcha salt. It was quite strange to eat this in a savoury dish instead of a dessert.

These days in Kyoto (and especially around Kiyomizo-dera), every shop and cafe are selling matcha-flavouered desserts. 抹茶づくし The Assorted Matcha Green Tea-flavoured Dessert set came with every imaginable dessert, both Japanese and Western styles, all in matcha flavour. It came with matcha ice cream with sweetened red beans, matcha nama chocolate, matcha mousse pudding, match strawberry daifuku 大福, matcha warabi mochi わらび餅 and matcha Mille Crêpes.

Warabi mochi わらび餅 (bracken starch mochi) is usually covered with roasted buckwheat flour. Here it is coated in matcha powder to give it a different favour. Matcha is associated with Kyoto, especially very high quality tea from Uji 宇治市.

Ichigo Daifuku 苺大福 is a modern wagashi (Japanese confection) that combines the traditional daifuku 大福, literally ‘great fortune’, with a fresh strawberry to signify the the coming of spring as strawberries come into season at the end of winter. This confection was developed sometime in the 1980’s, apparently various mochi shops claim to have invented it. Whatever it’s origins, it can be had anywhere in Japan now.

After an exhausting day around Kiyomizu-dera, it was great to relax in a cozy sofa seat with a lovely view. I was lucky to get a table by the window with a nice view, despite a waiting list. The manager was not as excited, perhaps because of the constant stream of people coming through the doors. Food was good but not at the price they were charging. It’s for the view, and air-conditioning in the summer heat.

Otowa Saryo 音羽茶寮
1-287-1, Kiyomizu, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto, Gion, Kiyomizu-dera, Higashiyama 京都府京都市東山区清水1-287-1
Tel : +81 (075) 551 3666

Visited Jul 2025