So we decided to pass up the more traditional eateries in Kyoto and follow the ones that Wallpaper* recommended.  These tended to be more focused on design (with a more Western menu), which I’m not mad at.  We stopped at efish, a cafe designed by Shin Nishibori.

I’m not the biggest fan of sitting in the ‘smoking’ section, but fortunately this afforded us a dope open-window view of the river that ran alongside.  And by open-window, I mean really open. Like lean-forward-and-you’ll-fall-out-of-the-window-open.

[Shot of the efish’s smoking area. Tempted to crawl up the side and scare the crap out of patrons.]

And finally:

When I think of the word efish, I think of electronic fish. That’s all.