麦潤

A great place for a date, it’s non-smoking so no need to worry about stinking up your clothes or having the smoke hinder your enjoying the taste of the beer. The atmosphere is a nice concrete minimalism with around 8 seats at the bar and maybe room for a friendly dozen at the tables by the window. The bartender was really helpful and talkative and seemed to know his beer plus some English. The selection was mostly Japanese with one Belgian on tap when I was there but he’s got other beers in a fridge and is happy to recommend something. The prices are a little higher than average with most half pints around 700 yen and most pints over 1100 (though the nice Bearen Alt was just 700 yen for a pint!). There’s a 300 yen table charge which comes with a little snack. The food was quite nice, for 2000 yen we had a pasta and meat set for 2. First a pasta course followed by a meat stew. Nice. A good place to go for a bite to eat and some nice beer. Great for a date, my wife has already chosen the food she wants to try next time!

New small-to-medium beer cafe in Kyoto, opened by a veteran bar manager. Modern, minimalist design is bright and clean. 8 taps serve Japanese and American craft beer. Decent enough selection. ¥300 table charge, and beers are a bit higher than average for here. Owner puts his all into preparing handmade food, which is pretty good. Very restrained atmosphere.