Omen

Omen sits on busy Shijō-dōri, a few doors from the southern mouth of Ponto-chō. There are tables upstairs, but the five seats at the downstairs counter suit a bowl of udon and the pleasant business of being left to it.

The noodles come hot or cold, with a bowl of kombu-and-bonito broth for dipping. Alongside sits a plate of seasonal vegetables and garnishes. Start with the sweet-savoury burdock, add a pinch of sesame, then try a little ginger with the next mouthful. The burdock tends to go first.

Tomi Shinagawa was born in this part of Kyoto, but she learned to make the dish in Isesaki, in what is now Gunma. She stayed with her husband’s family there during the war. Her mother-in-law taught her the recipe, and the family remembers Tomi working the dough with her feet, a child on her back. She and her husband opened the first Omen near Ginkaku-ji in 1967. The Shijō branch opened in 2003, bringing her udon back to the neighbourhood where she grew up.

After dinner, turn into Ponto-chō. The lane runs north beside the Kamo River, its red lanterns hung beneath low eaves. Teahouses here once drew their trade from boatmen and travellers on the nearby Takase Canal. Half a kilometre on, the glazed roof of the 1927 Kaburenjō theatre marks the far end of the walk. There’s time to get there. The bowl will take a little longer than planned.