Gion Tokuya

Avoid - not worth the 40min wait on weekday around 12:30pm and even without the wait, the desserts weren’t good enough to justify the approx 3500 yen we paid or small portions. Tried the classic warabimochi served on ice and with syrup and kinako as well as the red bean soup with toasted rice cake. The rice cake and kinako were great. The rest average. They make you buy at least one item per person which is frustrating when desserts are best shared.

Came here around 4pm, luckily no queue. After 15 minutes, the shop was already full. The warabimochi was soft and chewy — worth coming here just to try it.

Wow. You have never had warabi mochi until you tried it here. We waited 5 minutes and it was totally worth it. It's a tiny cafe and when we went there were only Japanese people inside. Lots of items were sold out by the time we came but everything we ordered was good.

Need to wait quite a while for this dessert. But the wait is definitely worth it. Both warabi and grill mochi are very authentic and extremely delicious. Friendly reminder, get queue ticket within the restaurant.

A unique mochi experience in this charming shop! Very traditional and special to try something like this, and we loved tasting such a cultural tradition. The service was friendly. Be sure to make a reservation—there are long lines every day!

Kyoto has cemented its reputation as a capital for traditional mochi and matcha based desserts. Where this establishment fits into Kyoto’s culinary landscape is their unique presentation of mochi as Honomi Rice Cakes: served like s’mores, campfire-style. The dining experience involves toasting raw blocks of unflavoured mochi on a miniature table top barbecue, letting the rice cakes puff and blister in the heat, and then cooling it off in a variety of dips and seasoning: some savoury (nori flakes, soy sauce), and some sweet (red bean paste, a sugary syrup). Worth a go purely for its novelty. For those less adventurous, their regular line up of matcha- and mochi-based desserts are comparable to most other traditional dessert places in this city.

Came to Gion to find this dessert house to try their dessert. We chose Warabi Mochi, Red Bean Soup and Black Sugar Shaved Ice. Every dish exceed our expectations so it’s 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼.

visited around 12.30pm, no queue! nice cooling warabi mochi . by the time i drank the matcha its kinda cold, could perhaps served after the warabi mochi.

Gion Tokuya is a tiny, unassuming storefront, so just make yourself known to the staff, who may direct you to the side of the restaurant, where you'll walk up the stairs to a seating area. It's all dessert and they specialize in warabi mochi and grilled mochi. Order quickly so you don't need to wait (or so that don't run out of menu items); I think the staff also appreciates a quick turnaround too, since the wait line was quite long as we were leaving. I recommend the grilled mochi or the standard brown wasabi mochi. You'll grill the mochi yourself, then enjoy in one of 3 ways (dip in hot water and kinako powder, dip in sweet soy sauce and wrap in seaweed, or dip in sweet red bean paste). For the warabi mochi, put some kinako powder on your large spoon, then add the shaved ice and a small piece of warabi jelly, and lastly, top off with the sweet sauce. The slippery warabi jelly is a bit hard to get onto your spoon, but it's delicious. I'd recommend this place, although they're not great with English, and it's not especially easy to share your dessert with others.

Large menu of traditional Japanese sweets. Grab a ticket and wait until you're called. I got lucky and got a private room to myself. Staff recommended the pure warabimochi & green tea pure kuzumochi. Both are sweetened with wasanbon, Japanese traditional sugar. You get black syrup and kinako powder for the warabimochi and red bean paste and green tea flavor kinako for the kuzumochi. At the end, you can use leftover flavorings to mix with the iced used to chill the mochi to create a mini shaved ice. Highly recommend! 5 min wait @ 12:40pm

My third time at this wakashi shop! It's my overall favorite warabimochi shop in Japan. Warabimochi is definitely my favorite Japanese dessert and I've been searching for some of the best warabimochi shop. This one is def my top since I literally took shinkansen all the way from Tokyo just so I can have their warabimochi and shaved ice. Warabimochi is a type of mochi jelly like dessert made from a plant starch called warabi. Normally dipped in kinako (soybean powder) and blacksugar syrup. Store bought warabi mochi tends to be in cubes and not as soft and jello-y with kinako already mixed with them. But when you are served with waterdrop like shaped and mochi texture warabi mochi with kinako and syrup separately from your warabi mochi, you know you're at the right place to try them. This shop is located in the street of Hanamikoji, there are two floors but normally packed with a line outside. They also served different shaved ice during the summertime and hot redbean soup during wintertime. My favorites Classic warabimochi set (also come in matcha flavor) - Personally I preferred the classic one. The set is served warabimochi on top of ice to keep the texture and temp. right. Comes with a side of flower shaped kinako and black sugar syrup. Matcha one comes with everything with redbean. Warabi mochi is just the right texture. Dipped in syrup first then kinako, perfect combo. Obancha shaved ice (summer only) - I fell in love with this the first time I had it. It comes with marinated thin lemon slices on top of the shaved ice which is sprinkle with tea powder and a side of obancha syrup. It is super refreshing during hot summer. Ice is super fluffy and syrup isn't too sugar. It feels like eating a nice lemon ice tea but shaved ice. Other set like sencha and roast mochi set is also popular as you can roast your own mochi with your own pot. If you're ever in Kyoto, this is a must!!! The reason I stopped by Kyoto nowadays.

horrible!! A tall male waiter told us over 2 hour wait perhaps and it was very sunny and hot so we got our wait ticket and went back to our hotel instead of waiting outside and came back by taxi to eat here. they refused to seat us next and asked us to wait in line all over again as if we never got the first wait ticket. They would not give us the next table. really horrible customer service and experience.

An interesting cultural experience that really gives you an idea of traditional, Japanese cuisine! The warabe mochi that they are famous for is super gelatinous, so it's an acquired taste for some. When we stumbled upon this dessert spot, there was a line forming out the door. We were curious to see what was going on, so ended up following the crowd. The venue is super cool, and traditional! The warabe mochi came with a mound of ice, which you can later pour sugar syrup over to make a shaved ice. The food was a 3/5 for me (warabe is an interesting texture that I don't see myself eating all the time), but the atmosphere gets a 5/5.

This was my first time trying kakigori. Chose the one with condensed milk and red bean paste. Which also included red bean mochi (great surprise). And it was huge! Extremely friendly and helpful staff.

Rating: 80/100 pts Tokuya is one of Kyoto's many "Japanese sweets" cafes, located right along one of the busiest alleys of the historical Gion district. Despite its looks--an inevitably long line along the walls of a traditional-looking building--Tokuya is far from touristy. For every foreigner here, there are several times as many Japanese lined up to enjoy their signature dessert item: supreme quality warabi-mochi. This is one of the best warabi-mochi I've ever had. It's served, rather atypically, in gelatinous goops around a ball of shaved ice. The ice is not to be eaten, but is there to ensure every piece remains chilled. It basically looks like an amorphous soup of plasma gloop, but look closely and you'll notice some ridges that hint at where to aim your chopsticks. Still, this warabi-mochi gets max marks for gooeyness. Oxymoronically, it also gets max marks for elegance. This warabi-mochi is mixed with "wasanbon", a high quality Japanese sugar squeezed from sugar cane and known for its gracefulness on the tongue. This makes the warabi-mochi already sweetened, but it is also served with kinako pressed into a flower shape, and kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup) which are to added to taste. There are only around 8 individual pieces per order, and one order costs a whopping ¥1200--making this the most expensive warabi-mochi I've ever had. But due to its elegance--not to mention being in the heart of Gion--I'd say it's still worth it. Speaking on taste and texture, it is supreme and an easy 5 stars. I initially found it on a list of top 10 warabi-mochi in Kyoto, and taste-wise, I agree with it being on this list. However, factoring in cost, I consider it a 4-star value. I wouldn't come here regularly, but perhaps once in a while as a treat. If you have a taste for Japanese sweets and want to try some of the best, I'd recommend coming. Note that aside from their signature warabi-mochi, they also have zenzai (red bean soup) and shaved ice desserts, which I haven't tried. **Don't speak Japanese? Kind of a problem; do as follows.** The menu is only in Japanese, but has some kawaii cartoons drawings of each item. There were a lot of foreigners when I came, and the young and hip staff made efforts to communicate with them. When it doubt, just say "warabi-mochi o hitotsu kudasai" to grab one order. Also, the line does not move particularly fast outside, but the idea is that once you're inside, you can relax and take your time enjoying the atmosphere and luxury of eating here.

Although I do not know much about warabi-mochi, I knew I wanted to go to this place from the pictures. The interior is small, and although I went on a random week day mid afternoon, I still had to wait about 15-20 minutes for a seat. The mochi is a lot more fluid than the typical mochi you are accustomed to from the States, and the texture did need some getting used to. The ice keeps the mochi cool, and you get a variety of dipping sauces and powder, including green tea, bean powder, brown sugar and red bean. Definitely an interesting experience for an amateur like me.

A great experience in Gion! There was actually no line out the door, which made it rather hard to find as there's no big sign outside and you can't see inside. We did eventually find it and walked in and were seated immediately, no troubles there. When we arrived around late afternoon, they were already sold out of their most popular warabimochi, I forgot which it was. We still enjoyed our warabimochi--but it's very different so be warned! Everything is sort of deconstructed so you have to cut up the jelly yourself, pour sauce on it, and sprinkle the powder atop. Be careful, because the jelly is very delicate and slippery! This traditional dessert is not very sweet at all, and the textures are very different compared to Western cuisine. But overall we enjoyed our warabi mocha experience! Certainly a must try when visiting Kyoto area.