ARCHI coffee and wine

Kyoto is seeing an increase of old buildings being restored and repurposed as new shops or cafes instead of destroying and replacing them with generic new buildings.

The latest addition is a stylish café called ‘Archi’ , located in a quiet neighborhood on a ten minute walk from Hankyu Kyoto Line’s Omiya station.

Opened in September 2022 the café sits in a former kyomachiya that was build in 1944 and has been left mostly intact during the renovation. It is the owner’s second shop with the first one being ‘&laboratory’ in Kameoka city. The name comes from the owners interest in architecture as is apparent from the design of the shop and the huge stacks of architectural magazines in the shop. The owner studied architectural design but decided to open his own shop instead.

The café has a lovely typical old Japanese style façade with sliding glass in wood doors that are opened completely and give a clear view of the stylish curved kitchen/order counter. Its counter-wall consists of wood paneling with the curve part made up of vertical light-yellow bricks. To the right of the kitchen is a long hardwood counter that serves as a standing bar. In the back is a raised floor with a seating space that requires to take your shoes off before taking a seat.

The raised floor consists of two sections with the front part a square woodboard floor with a Japanese washi lamp above it (watch your head!). Passing through to the back is the seating area which is an untouched room featuring worn tatami mats, old electrical outlets and mudwalls . Seats consist of four zabuton with an old tatami mat placed upside down as the coffee table. There is no light in the room except for the natural light coming in from the window in the back giving it a dimly-lit cozy atmosphere.

The menu is simple and consists only of coffee, wine and beer. If you don’t drink coffee and if you are lucky there is a yuzu sour soda available as well although it’s not on the menu. There is drip coffee (550 yen) or milk brew (600 yen) with a choice of various blends. There are also sweets available: financier, cake or pumpkin flavored cheesecake.

If you are into wine and coffee and love retro Japanese buildings, ‘Archi coffee and wine’ is the place to be.