Visiting a dessert shop in Kyoto was one of the things that I wanted to do. It was right at the top of the to-do list. Unfortunately, due to the long queues, our experience with these dessert shops was not exactly a positive one.
I planned to visit the two popular dessert shops in Kyoto – Gion Kinana and Gion Koishi. However, there was almost always a LONG queue outside both shops. We visited Gion Kinana in Hanamikoji Street on a weekday and the queue was horrendously long. Same goes for Gion Koishi. No matter how much I wanted to eat a parfait in one of these parlours, joining a queue was not an option for me. Not when I am on holiday.
I had already given up on visiting one, when we managed to get a table in Gion Koishi on our last morning in Kyoto, while we were on our way to Arashiyama. At 10am when the store had just opened for business. I ordered a matcha parfait and TBH chose a hot zenzai.
Cravings satisfied. A tick against my to-do list. The parfait was scrumptious. But definitely not worth queueing up over an hour for.