A note on the words: kawayuka are the raised dining decks Kyoto restaurants set out over the riverbank. The course is a kaiseki meal, served in fixed stages that each have a name: sakizuke is the opening bite, wanmono the lidded soup, tsukuri the sashimi, yaki-hassun the grilled course, hiyabachi a chilled dish, nimono the simmered course, and gohan the rice that closes the savory part of the meal. Hamo is pike conger, a long eel-like fish full of fine hair bones, which is why cooks score it with dozens of cuts before cooking. Hamo otoshi means the scored fish blanched so it opens like a flower. Shinjo is a light dumpling of pounded fish or shellfish, junsai is water shield, a pond plant whose young shoots come wrapped in clear jelly, and fu is wheat gluten, here cut into iris shapes. Ayu is the sweetfish, a small river fish eaten whole, innards included; tade-zu is the tart green sauce of water pepper leaves and vinegar served with it. Shuto is a salty fermented paste made from fish, used here as a seasoning. Akadashi is miso soup made with dark red miso, jako are tiny fish simmered in soy and scattered over rice, and shirasu are translucent whitebait.
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Pontocho Robin on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. When it comes to a night in Kyoto, the one thing I’d always wanted to try was the kawayuka — the dining decks over the river. At Kibune and places like that I think they set them up directly above the water, but the place I visited this time was Pontocho Robin, in the atmospheric strip along the bank of the Kamo River known as Pontocho. I thought it might still be a bit cold for it, but the reservations seemed to be full and the place was almost entirely taken. We had booked, of course, but I was still glad to get in. The entrance has real character to it — a lovely feel.
Go inside and there’s a small courtyard garden, and beyond it the outdoor seats!
That said, at this time of year it really is cold. There wasn’t much wind, so it was fine, but chilly.
Hanamizuki course: 7,700 yen
Ayame course: 12,100 yen
For the course I went with the standard Hanamizuki. You can add individual dishes on top, and while I was looking at the menu I spotted “bamboo shoot sashimi” — yes please! — so that got added. This was my first time eating on a kawayuka, so I was looking forward to it!
A highball first, for the toast!
![[Sakizuke] An assortment of five seasonal cold dishes](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/17072843/th_DSC03071-scaled.jpg "Pontocho Robin: Kyoto Kaiseki on the River Deck 9")
The sakizuke, an assortment of five. Bamboo shoot, something simmered, shirasu whitebait, fish roe and so on. Nicely done dishes. Good.
![[Wanmono] Scallop shinjo, grilled hamo, green yuzu, junsai, iris-shaped fu](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/17072842/th_DSC03080-scaled.jpg "Pontocho Robin: Kyoto Kaiseki on the River Deck 10")
A soup bowl with scallop and hamo. It was cold out, so a hot bowl is very welcome! And the slippery texture of the junsai is lovely.
![[Tsukuri] Three to four kinds depending on what came in that day, with a full set of garnishes](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/17072841/th_DSC03083-scaled.jpg "Pontocho Robin: Kyoto Kaiseki on the River Deck 11")
An assortment of sea bream, bonito, yellowtail and scallop.
This was outrageously good. Crisp, fresh bamboo shoot with not the slightest trace of bitterness — really delicious. Best of all is bamboo shoot eaten with soy sauce and wasabi. Bamboo shoot hot from the pot or straight off the grill is wonderful too, of course, but chilled and eaten like sashimi it’s superb. I really think you should order this!
![[Yaki-hassun] Charcoal-grilled young ayu, with a full set of garnishes](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/17072839/th_DSC03090-scaled.jpg "Pontocho Robin: Kyoto Kaiseki on the River Deck 13")
And here we have the charcoal-grilled young ayu, with shrimp and grilled things. They told us to try the ayu with tade-zu, water pepper vinegar. You almost never see tade in the Kanto region, I think, so that was new. As in the old saying — some insects even eat water pepper, there’s no accounting for taste. Dip the little ayu in it and there’s no bitterness at all. Or rather, since it’s a small ayu you eat the whole thing, head to tail. And anyway, with ayu you can eat the innards. Very good.
![[Hiyabachi] Hamo otoshi, vinegared miso, set yamaimo, wakame, cucumber](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/17072838/th_DSC03097-scaled.jpg "Pontocho Robin: Kyoto Kaiseki on the River Deck 14")
And this is the hamo. Kyoto means hamo, after all. The bones have been properly scored, so it’s easy to eat.
Those bones give it a texture that’s interesting compared to an ordinary fish, don’t they.
![[Nimono] Hamo with shuto, done in a clay pot](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/17072837/th_DSC03099-scaled.jpg "Pontocho Robin: Kyoto Kaiseki on the River Deck 15")
Hamo again, I think. It had been quite cold up to now, so I’d been taking my drinks cut with hot water, and when a warm dish like this turns up you feel yourself relax. In a quiet way, the crab and mitsuba that came with it were delicious. Kyoto vegetables are good.
![[Gohan] Seasonal rice, akadashi, pickles](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/17072836/th_DSC03105-scaled.jpg "Pontocho Robin: Kyoto Kaiseki on the River Deck 16")
This was quietly delicious — jako rice, tiny simmered fish over white rice.
Honestly, this sort of thing is the best of all. Good.
And I was pleased that dessert turned up as quite a spread!
So that was my first kawayuka experience, and the food was careful and delicious all the way through, and eating outdoors at night — with food this good, no less — is not something you get to do often, so it was great. Along the Kamo River there aren’t many streetlights, perhaps out of concern for the view. About the only thing lighting the dark is the lamps of the kawayuka themselves, and eating while listening to the river run was a wonderful experience. Well, it was a little cold, that’s true, but summer will be cool and I expect it gets extremely busy, so this time of year might actually be the easier one to visit.
Pontocho Robin (Japanese Cuisine / Sanjo Station, Sanjo-Keihan Station, Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
