Delicious, colorful, magical kakigori… and cheap too! Surprisingly cheap given that it is in a high end restaurant specializing in Kyoto Style food. Moreover, the restaurant is located in Saitama Prefecture’s capital city, albeit in a somewhat rural area of the city, in Nishi Ward. Be sure to check out the Instagram video below, to see the magic of the dried ice. And please excuse me having half the table in the reel! I went to this restaurant for the kakigori, but the dried ice was a surprise to me too. So I didn’t have the camera or myself ready for when the waiter poured the water on the dried ice!
Colorful Kakigori in Saitama City
Every color of the rainbow is in this shaved ice and its accentuated with cream and sherbet… or it could be sorbet. I am not entirely sure, but it had a slightly creamy consistency and a bit more bite to it than any sorbet I’ve had lately! There are two chocolate flavored Pocky sticks in the ice too and some sprinkles on the cream. This is one type of kakigori that is best expressed through a video:
The restaurant
The restaurant is Sanmon, which is located beside Aobaen. Aobaen is a cemetery in Nishi Ward, that has featured on this blog quite a bit. Because it has a famous wisteria, some beautiful cherry blossoms, a striking pagoda and stunning hydrangea. Moreover, since last year it also has a hanachozu (water font with flowers) and a tunnel of color, as I call it.
The ‘tunnel of color’ is located in front of the pagoda and every 4 to 8 weeks they change the display. We went to see the wind chimes today, which were put up mid July and come down tomorrow, September 1st. But don’t worry if you missed them, they will put up something else colorful for September 2nd. You can see the past displays (pinwheels, lanterns and teru teru bozu) here.
The restaurant is located near the famous wisteria, across the road, beside Aoba Hall. I went specifically for the kakigori. The kakigori that features in this post may be a ‘kids’ kakigori, but it is a large size that even an adult would struggle to finish. I was surprised to see it was only 550 yen (including tax). The average price nowadays seems to be around 800 yen, or maybe that’s just in cafes that specialize in the frozen treat? Moreover, they also have two different flavors of snow cones for adults that are only 770 yen each (including tax). You can check out their full menu here.
Information
Restaurant: Kyoto Style Food Sanmon 京料理 三門
Address: 5 Chome-934 Mihashi, Nishi Ward, Saitama, 331-0052. View on Google Maps.
Hours: 10 am to 3 pm from Thursday to Tuesday, closed on Wednesday. They close some other days during the month too. You can check out the calendar here.
Cost: 550 yen for the children’s kakigori, 770 yen for the other two kakigori. They have other dessert choices that start from 495 yen. The rest of their menu varies greatly from 1430 to 3850 yen.
Access
There is a large parking lot by the restaurant. The Aobaen bus stop is directly outside the restaurant. The bus goes to / from the west exit of Omiya Station.