Kew

Located in North-West Kyoto near the famous Ryoanji temple is ‘Kew’ , a lovely sweets café that is run by a husband and wife who both studied at the London culinary art school. The café opened in March 2019 and started as a small café with only 7 seats, however due to its popularity they expanded to the building next door and renovated it into one new larger café.

To visit Kew you will need to make a reservation in advance. Without a reservation it is very difficult to get a seat but you will still be able to take out.

Kew sits in a beautifully renovated corner building with a complete white exterior and a large window to the left of the entrance. Inside you will find a narrow interior with window counter seats on both the left and right side of the entrance, the kitchen and register in the middle and a few small tables in the back. Like the exterior the interior is also mainly white but with wooden ceiling, support beams and furniture which gives the café a charming and rustic atmosphere.

The menu consists mainly of custard cream donuts and cheesecake that need to be reserved in advance. A baked cheese cake set is (1700 yen) or custard donut set is (1000 yen). Depending on the day they also sell other sweets like: “Madeleines, brownies, cheese-tarts, rhubarb sorbet, custard tart and more. The custard donut and the cheesecake are the two most popular items. Drinks that come with a set menu are: Coffee, cafe au lait, Cambells tea, ice tea, ice milk tea, Uf-fu, herb tea or herb cordial (please note some drinks are 100 or 150 yen extra).

Kew is a little on the pricey side but it’s lovely sweets café with delicious sweets, great to visit after lunch and/or during an outing to the beautiful Ryoanji temple.