Set in an old sweets shop in a traditional Japanese building on a quiet downtown street, this is where Kyoto locals come for excellent soba. The house speciality, hourai soba, arrives as a stack of five small plates topped with shiitake mushrooms, shrimp tempura, thin omelette slices, and sesame seeds. The building itself exudes the quiet elegance of old Kyoto — low wooden beams, sliding screens, and the gentle hum of regulars who've been coming for years.