It was early evening and my mother and I were walking in the general direction of the ryokan we were staying at, vaguely hungry and possibly up for something more exciting should it come our way. My feet were getting clammy and wet with the snow that would not stop falling from the sky, flakes settling on my newly purchased bright purple scarf and clinging to my eyelashes.
Wondering whether we should just go back to the ryokan to warm up the frozen toes, we noticed a small wooden door along the row of houses to our left, and having decided to take a closer peek, were greeted by the warm and bustling atmosphere of a typical bar/restaurant where we immediately took seats at the counter. Our coats were taken off us (great service) and as is custumary, we were each supplied with a little cup of octopus bits as a snack.
A tall good-looking man standing behind the counter, who soon turned out to be the owner of the place, immediately struck up a conversation with us despite his complete lack of English, and we did manage to chat for hours, me translating for my mother who can't speak more than two words of Japanese. Based on his personal tastes, we were served special orders of all the best that he could find, from fantastic sashimi to hot sake, him telling me all the while how we were the first Finnish people he had ever met. There had once been two French tourists who came into his restaurant, though apparently he didn't like them much in the end. (From what I can gather, they were probably a little closed-minded in terms of new culinary experiences).
Having shown us photos of his kids, he gave us contact details and the addresses of the two restaurants he owns in Kyoto where we were to travel the next day, and suggested we try to find them some evening.
Unfortunately for you Mr/Mrs Reader-of-my-journal, I can't remember the name of the place, and can only describe very vaguely how to get there, but the name isn't displayed anyway as far as I can recall. However, there are lots of similar little places on the small streets near the main pedestrian shopping area if you take a moment to look, and with an open mind you should have a wonderful time at it.
Be aware that many of the places have table charges and can generally be a bit pricey, but you will find that almost everywhere in Japan, and most of the time it does guarantee quality. The small authentic places are absolutely worth the visit, and are one of things that allowed me enough access to and understanding of people's way of life to make me fall in love with it.