Can I restore my apps from previous iCloud backup?

Yes, upon completing the intial iCcloud restore, it will kick in and start to re-download the apps that was in the iCloud backup/snapshot..

But for me it appears to be doing so even slower than usual..

I updated my iPad Mini last night to iOS 9.0 and was able to restore the backup, of course you know the apps are not in the backup, once the restore is compelete your device downloads the apps that were installed when that backup was taken from the appstore again

I let mine run overnight, got up this morning and all was good