Soba Dokoro Sasaki is worth a stopover if you¡¯re heading north into Kyoto¡¯s hills to catch the trees in their autumnal colors. It¡¯s billed as a soba restaurant, but there¡¯s plenty of udon and tempura dishes on the menu, too. Your best bet is to opt for one of this restaurant¡¯s substantial set menus.
Sasaki dresses itself very much like an old-style Japanese restaurant; seating is divided between tables and chairs, and zashiki (floor seating). The staff are more efficient than friendly, but that doesn¡¯t stop the crowds: the line at the door builds up quickly, especially on weekends. Thankfully the wait is not interminable as soba and udon are served and eaten fast.
The standard ?1,460 zaru-soba set (cold soba served on a basket accompanied with a dipping sauce) becomes a hearty meal with extra toppings such as tempura prawn, eggplant and perilla, as well as sides including pickled radish and a bowl of rice topped with chirimen sansh¨ (dried baby fish seasoned with shoyu and pepper).
The wariko soba set arrives stacked in a three-tiered bento box. The top level contains soba and a fried egg, the middle section contained thin strips of laver and fish eggs, and on the bottom there¡¯s dashi-sweetened omelette and shoyu-marinated shitake mushrooms. Sasaki is worth checking out for the range and value of its noodle sets.
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