Dining in Kyoto

There are many types of food to explore in Kyoto and we love all of it. We had the gift of time, which allowed us to scope out many restaurants and make reservations for later dates. If you don’t have the time for that, you can either plan a day early on in your visit where you go to these places and make reservations for later in your visit, or ask your hotel to reserve for you. You may want to be more spontaneous. We certainly found some great places by just walking in and getting lucky with availability. However, we found that in Kyoto, especially, many of the best restaurants are SMALL –they need advanced notice to plan the food, so sometimes they can’t take you even if there is room.

–there is still a shortage of personnel post-COVID we think. Maybe you see empty seats but they will stop taking diners if they can’t give all who are seated good service.

Kaiseki* and Other Meals with Prescribed Multi-Courses

Type: special occasion, yuba and tofu-focused

Location: 〒604-8134 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, 六角北東角ウエスト18ビル B1F

and elsewhere around the country

Website: https://umenohana-restaurant.co.jp/n_english/

On our first trip to Japan together, a local who helped us when we were lost suggested Umenohana for dinner. It remains one of our favorite food experiences in Japan. Umenohana is a chain, so if you end up in another part of the country, do look them up. Reservations are recommended–because they do book up but also because the “special” set menus are not always available with short notice.

The restaurant specializes in tofu, though they also serve wonderful sashimi (in beautiful little drawers). We highly recommend the yuba, which the waitstaff will teach you to cook at your table.

They describe themselves as a place people come to celebrate birthdays and other special moments. Umenohana also prides itself on the aesthetics of the dining room and food presentation (it is lovely) and on sourcing their vegetables from organic growers.

Type: Kaiseki with reasonable price and superior everything.

Location: 440-5 Nishigomoncho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0816, Japan. On an alley off a street with maiko houses.

Website: https://villa-sound.kyoto.jp/

Phone: 0755324025

Reservations: required. He is a one-man operation and serves about 6 people a night. Also, for any kaiseki, there is a lot of prep that usually requires advanced reservation. No English spoken, so either go in person or have your hotel call.

This is an amazing kaiseki restaurant. We have eaten many a kaiseki dinner at all price points all over Japan and the world. This one gets our highest recommendation because every single dish was excellent (well-balanced, well-executed, often innovative, nicely presented), the atmosphere and service are superb, and the price–wow–10K yen (about $80 per person) for the low-end dinner? That’s a steal. We had 3 “go’s”/ small pitchers of sake also and the total bill for 2 of us was $188.

The chef was delightful and used Google Translate to help us understand each dish, and shared how he prepared some dishes we really loved.

This chef opened his restaurant a year ago. It is on an alley off a street with at least 3 maiko/ geisha houses–a really lovely street where you will want to take photos. We stayed several weeks on this block and saw maiko daily. Best time to see them is on a weeknight at about 5:30.

Now to the food!

1st course: the starter was a collection of 6 dishes. Steamed greens with wasabi and bonito, vinegared tomatoes, buckwheat and mushroom porridge, bamboo and nori –not tofu but something similar, preserved firefly squid and yuba (tofu skin. I love yuba and his was great!)

2nd course: my favorite! this was a pea soup with a shrimp dumpling/cake. Look at the photo I uploaded. It tasted as pretty as it looked. Perfect balance of flavors.

3rd course: blowfish/ fugu. We were here in fugu season (early March). It’s great. There is no need to worry about eating fugu if you are with a trained chef.

4th course: grilled monkfish/anko. It was marinated in soy sauce and mirin and sake, and we grilled it ourselves (with the chef’s advice)

5th course: steamed sea bream with ginger on red rice. Red bean rice is served for auspicious occasions.

6th course: duck with several types of wheat gluten. This was my husband’s favorite dish.

7th course: miso + Takikomi gohan (rice steamed with fish) with clam. PERFECT. PROBABLY THE BEST RICE DISH I HAD IN JAPAN. Ok, clam in anything can tend to be fishy, and fish steamed with rice can tend to make the rice fishy. There was nothing fishy about this dish. We usually don’t have seconds on rice, especially at such a large/long multicourse meal, but this was so good we had to. (And when you get seconds then you have the crispy rice from the bottom of the hot pot–extra yum.) The flavors here were just perfectly balanced with clam, rice, aromatic greens. Miso also great–mild and not too salty with eggplant and other yummies.

8th course: dessert trio was gold medal winner. Shiso sorbet, buckwheat pudding, and sakura mochi.

Type: vegetarian shojin ryori

Website: https://www.tenryuji.com/shigetsu/

Reservations: required. https://www.tenryuji.com/shigetsu/

Location: inside the Tenryugi temple complex 〒616-8385 Kyoto, Ukyo Ward, Sagatenryuji Susukinobabacho, ６８

A wonderful location to experience shojin ryori or vegetarian temple food. If you are vegetarian you should make this a destination, but even non-vegetarians will delight in the offerings. They range from 3,500-5,500 yen and you choose when you make the reservation.

This is a multi-course meal served in beautiful, formal style. It is recommended that you plan time to see the temple grounds either before or after your meal; you must pay a separate admission to the garden in order to enter the Shigetsu restaurant anyway, so get your money’s worth.

All the food was good at our February lunch, but some standouts were a mochi with yuzu filling, a soymilk hot pot, and lovely yuba with pickled fiddlehead ferns. We returned in March with 2 of our adult children. The service was not as good. They seemed overworked, it took a long time to get our first course, and they were not attentive to refilling our tea. Our kids also found the food too bland.

If you have trouble sitting on the floor at a low table they can provide you with a chair.

When you enter the building remove your shoes, step up to the main area. There is a call bell at the desk in front of you if no attendant is present. Shoe storage is straight ahead on the left. You will be in your socks only during the meal.

Type: Kaiseki with reasonable price and a la carte traditional Japanese dishes

Location: 〒605-0816 Kyoto, Higashiyama Ward, 新宮川筋松原下る西御門町 (same street as Japanese Cuisine Aoiki –described above)

Phone: 075-551-2861

This is a Kaiseki restaurant that’s been in business since 1979, but you won’t find it listed on anyone’s touring list. It’s on a street with exclusive clubs that host maiko and geisha.
The Kaiseki here is a traditional offering well executed for a great price. It’s 7,000 yen per person for 10 courses and tea.

You can get a reservation no problem. We were the only ones there when we ate there. We think most of their business must be private parties. There was a lineup of shochu bottles with customer names? You will need someone to call or you go in person to reserve. They don’t speak any English. So show on the calendar or google translate the day and time you want to come and Kaiseki – they will ask which one; we did the 7,000 yen kaiseki. (You can add a hotpot and pay 10k. They also do a la carte but you’d need to google translate the daily menu or ask the chef for omakase )

The food was nicely presented and very fresh and tasty. We’ve eaten a lot of Kaiseki and this earns all its stars. The tempura was the weakest — could be lighter with the batter but there was a generous portion and it was still tasty. If you want a Kaiseki meal that doesn’t break the bank this is the best inexpensive Kaiseki we’ve had. You also might spot a maiko on your way in our out. If you see a taxi approaching or waiting, wait to see who emerges.

Location: in the Gion on a lovely canal-side street, 456-2 Tenma-cho, Takatsuji corner, Nishikiyamachi-dori, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto-shi

Reservations: TEL: 075-343-1513 or drop by

Website: http://otaya-kyoto.com

Upscale restaurant in the Gion, overlooking one of the canals. Price about $50 for one for what would easily be $150-$300 in the USA (if you could get it) You need a reservation. 12 seats total including 5 at bar plus a private room. Menu only in Japanese but two options are omakase and seasonal omakase for 7k and 9k respectively. I’ve also added the translation for the menus though the offerings will change with the seasons. Waitstaff spoke English to ask our allergies and explain what was served.

Sardine lightly pickled (kyozushi) with tomatoes steamed greens and tofu dust 6/5
Mochi gomae mushi :Steamed rice, snapper and cornstarch soup 5/5
Sashimi 5/5. Tuna, ika, and something like swordfish (which had been crisped on the skin side for nice smokiness). In a season when everyone is serving sea bream (cheap and in season but rather bland) this place went another way – Grilled sea bream marinated in sake katsu, kakiage of baby ayu and a spring veg known as butter burr. The veg is quite bitter but mixing it with the fish cut it perfectly. Again the sea bream which is so mild benefited from the marinade here and, in the first dish, the steamed prep (with ginger). The pickles were also great.
20 kinds of veg salad: amazing. Every fruit and veg perfectly tasting and prepped. Served with a dashi vinegar sauce and a mackerel dipping sauce 6/5
Crab soup with onion and Wakame 5/5
Rice with baby sardines and sancho berries– other places serve this but here the sardines were not at all fishy! Pickles and red miso with mushrooms 5/5
Cream Catalan (crème brûlée) frozen!! 5/5 Service superior

The restaurant also supports the rejuvenation of fireflies at the river and they have some special firefly release parties (3) planned for late May in 2023.

Type: traditional kaiseki

Website: http://mrmd.co.jp/shinkiro/

Location: Japan, 〒605-0801 Kyoto, Higashiyama Ward, Miyagawasuji, 6−361
in the Gion, one block off of a street where Maiko can be seen most nights at about 5:30 and then later (end of work night).

We arrived at 6pm with no reservation. They warned us we might have to wait for our food as there were many orders ahead (no wait though for our first courses and very prompt service). We were put upstairs in a tatami room. Lovely. No shoes at this place btw and upstairs is floor seating. Downstairs is chairs at the bar you can get a Kaiseki set or pick and choose. The menu is laid out Kaiseki style. We chose on our own. Yuba– yum

Little fish with Sansho Sashimi ( the day’s selection was one fish not multiple types)
Tofu salad– nice mix
Broiled salmon with miso and fresh greens : 5/5
Yuzu chicken with greens– it’s ok.
Wheat gluten in dashi — great
Hot green tea soba
Rice with sea bream

English menu and English-speaking staff.

Type: Traditional Kaiseki for lunch or dinner

website: https://harise-kyoto.com/

Location: Japan, 〒605-0911 Kyoto, Higashiyama Ward, Daikokucho, 袋町 294

Reservations: we walked in after lunch (when the place was closed) and made a reservation for that evening. You can also reserve on their website.

They have Kaiseki lunch from 6K-25K, and dinner kaiseki from 7K-31K. No English spoken, even when we tried Google Translate on some things, so if you don’t feel comfortable choosing your dinner based on price point you might want help from your hotel.

This was good classic kaiseki, served in a private tatami room with chairs.

Type: modern kaiseki with REASONABLE PRICE

Location: 〒600-8027 Kyoto, Shimogyo Ward, 西木屋町松原下難波420-7

Reservations: https://jpneazy.com/restaurants/183 (there is an upcharge. You can contact them directly by walking in or phoning, but if you do not speak Japanese well, just do the upcharge. ) Try to book the bar. It is much more fun to sit there.

Our first visit to Giro Giro many years ago impressed us so much we’ve been dreaming of it ever since. It is modern kaiseki. Since we have had a lot of traditional kaiseki, we really enjoyed seeing how the chef updated some traditional items. However, on this our second visit, some 15 years later, either the chef has slipped a bit or we’ve gotten harder to please.

Giro Giro is still a good choice if

1) you’ve never had kaiseki before and can’t afford one of the very expensive top reviewed kind or a stay in a ryokan with good food or

2) you’ve had plenty of kaiseki and want to see a twist on tradition.

This place is a bargain price-wise (5K yen–note we have Sasabune listed above that is about $16 more per person and is better quality, and Aoki listed above that is twice as much but superior quality), so if kaiseki in general is scaring you off with the big ticket menus, let Giro Giro be your kaiseki experience but if you can afford a smidge more go for one of the other places we have listed above.

Tempura

Location: a few blocks from Nishiki Market at 〒604-8074 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Asakuracho, 540 富小路マンション 1階

Reservations: https://tabelog.com/kyoto/A2601/A260202/26033471/ There will be an upcharge for using tablelog, but it allows you to reserve online and in English. If you prefer, you can go in person to the restaurant and make a reservation without added charge (or call, if you can speak Japanese).

Notes: Tominokoji Tempura Matsui is an excellent tempura restaurant pretty close to Nishiki market. We happened in at lunch and were lucky to grab 3 seats. There are only 9 seats total, so it is best to make reservations. If you want the set meal, you must reserve in advance.

Since we had not reserved the set menu, we ordered one of 4 ten-don options (items over rice). One of us got the vegetarian and the other 2 got the "mix" which included both eel and shrimp. These sets ran 900-2000 yen per person, which is a great price. This tempura is so superior that you don't really think it's been fried. It is totally not greasy at all, not even a bit. All the items were perfectly cooked and slightly toothsome when that was called for (like in lotus root). The chef dresses the ten-don with sauce and shichimi pepper, and gives you salt to dip yourself if you like.

Location: 〒600-8083 Kyoto, Shimogyo Ward, Nishimaecho, 377-4

Reservations: Walk in and ask for a reservation. Limited English is spoken so use your Googletranslate. You will likely need a reservation for this place, since it's only 6 seats. Our first try at walk-in he was "full" so we made a reservation for a few nights later. We were the only diners from 6-8 pm, so in theory maybe you could walk in early in the night? But it's just as likely he needs reservations in order to plan the meal.

Notes:

There were 16 lovely dishes in our set menu. We had 300ml sake and tea also and the bill for 2 was 13,500 yen. That is a great deal. We paid as much for a sub-par ten-don bowl in the train station when we needed a fast meal.

This was masterful tempura. You taste the food and not the oil and the batter is light. What the chef chose to cook reflected the fresh ingredients of the season, including several fishes we'd never had, or never had as tempura. Everything was excellent and we felt really special being the only ones in the restaurant for two hours! We had the full attention of the chef!
In addition to tempura, there was a chawanmushi (savory egg custard) starter, a fresh salad midway through, and a fruit dessert. These non-tempura items were the perfect balance to the fried foods.

Location: in the Gion @ 570-119 Gionmachi Minamigawa, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0074

Reservations are required--it's a small place. It is in the Gion, and an area with other super special restaurants (a Michelin starred place is across the street) This alone means more demand, but also you will need a reservation as they do one seating for lunch and one for dinner and a max of 8 people each seating.

Website: http://gion-tensou.jp

Notes: This place was a tad more expensive than Tempura Yoshioka, but we could see that this was not just for the fancier atmosphere. Everything was super fresh and big, and there were well-planned extra finishes for many dishes. We went here twice: once for dinner and once for lunch.

This is a next-level tempura restaurant.

We got the 10-item tempura dinner course which is the cheapest at 13k yen. There were a total of 16 dishes. Honestly, I could not have eaten more!! We returned for lunch and chose the smallest course again. Lunch was excellent but if you can visit here only once and can afford 13K yen, we recommend dinner instead. Some of the extra touches they do at dinner are not there at lunch (but some are).

What made this next level is not only were the ingredients super fresh and plump -- other great tempura places that we’d rate at the top were also very fresh-- and the batter very light/ not oily, but everything here was a little bigger or sweeter or they finished many items with a sophistication that other places don't do. The scallop-- huge--finished with ikura and wasabi. A piece of gobo-- which is an earthy root-- finished with sweet soy sauce drizzle. White fish with seaweed spread. And the sweet potato -- omg. Two pieces for me to dip in salt and the other 2 he finished with sugar and brandy. Mmmm.

On the last dish we had three choices. Sarah got #3, tendon, with egg. The egg was soft scrambled with some of the tendon sauce making it a sweet topper for an amazing kakiage. Dan got #1 which was fermented tea -- a bowl of tea with rice in it and the kakiage to dip. The other choice was soba in soup with the kakiage to dip

Our dessert was a coffee gelee and fruit. Other diners with bigger meal sets got matcha tea and mochi for dessert.

The ambiance is modern Japanese, sleek and lively. The service is impeccable. They kept my water glass full and worked hard to translate the ingredients into English, and the chef gave each diner special attention.
Upon leaving, they will bow you out, as all restaurants will, but also they offered to take our photo out front and then gave us the formal goodbye (when you get about half a block away, or before you turn the corner, turn around and bow to him as he is waiting. Read more on restaurant etiquette on our main Japanese food page.)

Other Food Categories: Curry, Yaki, etc

Type: Curry and Udon Noodles. Also tempura.

Location: 〒604-8223 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Komusubidanacho, 420 東側

Website: https://aim-e.com/brand_detail.php?id=22&mode=

Holy moley this was great curry. This is curry worth traveling for. Dan loves Japanese curry but Sarah is not a huge fan--at least she wasn't until this place. The keema curry is amazing. The udon noodles are tasty and perfect and chewy. The restaurant has an English menu. Basically, you have 2 main choices: noodles hot or cold and broth of bonito or soy milk. Both broths were good but the bonito is outstanding.

Then you can choose add ons:

Tempura--tempura banana yes, get this. It is sweet and creamy. Kakiage only comes with the "special" set and is not always available. Other tempura was fine, but not the star at this restaurant.

Toppings--fried mochi is great. It's warm and chewy and the curry sticks nicely to it.

Sauteed Vegetables set--this is wonderful! The veggies were still toothsome and perfectly salted.

All sets come with egg rice which is a perfect ending. Sarah liked to mix the egg and the rice together. Other diners like to add the curry and/or the broth.

Lunch lines are long. We went for dinner on a weeknight and seating was no problem. We went for dinner on a Saturday night and waited about 5 min in line; things move pretty fast. They have seats upstairs and downstairs.

Type: grilled skewers

Website: https://www.torikou.net/?utm_source=google-mybusiness&utm_medium=referral

Location: 47‐2 Shioyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8247, Japan

Notes: This place books up every night. Ask for a reservation about a week ahead and note that for us it was easier to get in on a Friday night than a weeknight.

Sumi yaki means charcoal grilled. Here's what we had from the grill:
- Moist chicken with various dressing options
- Mushrooms flavored with butter and the grill smoke
- Chicken meatball dipped in raw egg yolk, radish and mustard
One thing that is unique from other izakayas is the lovely charcoal flavor on the food. The tofu and mushroom especially showed this off.

7450 yen for tons of food for 2 and 2x 180 ml of sake ( about $60 total)

Type: okonomiyaki, other "yakis" and izakaya. Gluten free options.

Location: 604-8223 kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Komusubidanacho, 435 (Floor 1)

Website: ikkakujyu-shinmachi.gorp.jp

Notes: This izakaya serves many different types of yaki--okonomiyaki (lots of cabbage and usually seafood or meats of your choice mixed into just enough pancake-type batter to hold it together), negiyaki, and rikyu-yaki.

The chef has invented a wonderful take on okonomiyaki that is yuba based and gluten-free. The usual fillings are wrapped like a burrito inside a big sheet of yuba (tofu skin), grilled nicely, and topped with soy milk sauce and dried yuba. It is fabulous.

We went back for lunch a second day and got the Butadama a.k.a. okonomiyaki (normally 800Yen and on the 10th of each month discounted to 500 Yen) and rikyu-yaki (lots of onions in a thin bottom pancake with tomatoes and seafood topping it). The former was a great version of okonomiyaki and the latter was a delicious change, kind of like an Italian-Japanese food fusion.

The prices are great: at about 1,500 yen, or $12, two people were well-fed. The hot tea is free.

Type: Obanzai/izakaya

Location: 108 Nishirokkakucho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8217

Reservations: required for breakfast as they only serve 30 people per day; advised for dinner but we did ok walking in.

Website: kyoto-imari.com

This was amazing. The restaurant was recommended by our Airbnb host as a good place to get obanzai breakfast. We noticed it was open for dinner and walked in without a problem. The dinner was so good we asked to make a reservation for breakfast the next day--only to find out they would close for a winter break for a week. Good thing we are in Kyoto for a month!

For dinner, we ordered a lot of food and 2 x 180 ml sakes and the total bill was $55
Breakfast was tasty--one of the best Japanese breakfasts we had in Kyoto.

The salmon was moist and well flavored. The vegetables were tasty (eggplant and separate greens--it is February). The miso soup was a mild good flavor with plenty of vegetables. Tea and rice rounded it out, plus pickles.

Type: izakaya/obanzai

Location: 115番地 Butsukōji Higashimachi, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8054, Japan

Website: https://ouchigohan-nakashimaya.com/space/

In theory, it is possible to walk in and snag a table, but they usually book up so we suggest you reserve.

Potato salad w crab 5/5
Eggplant and herring 5/5
Namafu in dashi 5/5
Sashimi--very good
Yuba -- excellent
Corn tempura. Wow. 5/5
Duck wasabi. Wow. 5/5

Other photos: Obanzai on a ring plate. Our neighbor asked for "sashimi one person"-- and they gave her an omakase selection of 5 fishes (this is not on the menu)

Everything was very well-seasoned. You can taste the ingredients, all fresh, all good blends of flavors. We had some great Obanzai in Kyoto and this might be the best because the balance of flavors was top-notch on every single choice.

The service also put this place at the top of our experiences. The chef speaks great English and is totally charming in English and Japanese. We came here twice during our stay, the second time we had 4 in our party and we begged them to let us reserve at the chef’s counter, even though they usually put parties of 4 at tables elsewhere.

Type: Izakaya/Obanzai

Website: https://tsukitokage-honten.com/shinmachi_top.html

Location: 108 Machigashiracho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8206, Japan

This place is literally 3 doors from our first Airbnb. It's a neighborhood spot with 10 seats around the chef and several tables in the back and upstairs. When we were there, the other 8 seats in front were filled with a father and son, a husband and wife, 2x 20-something women, and 2 x 30-something women--so a much different vibe than some of the places where only crowds of salarymen gather.

The tempura was good. The sashimi specials are on the wall for you to google translate. The starter appetizer was a yummy potato salad. (Potato salad is a thing in all izakayas so we made a habit of comparing them.) We finished with udon and rice with egg. Both were good. The egg was runny inside and the outside fried into a purse to hold the yolk Very cool looking and the whole thing was salted just right. For sake, there is a larger menu they can give you, though google translate had trouble reading it and the waitstaff's recommendation was a good choice. (We asked for one from Kyoto). The father/son next to us ordered oden (winter-only organ meat stew) and a small dish of skate fin; they said both were very good.

Location: 182-10 Minoyacho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8015, Japan

Type: soup; casual; no reservations. Low wait times.

Website: https://www.instagram.com/subasoba/?utm_medium=copy_link

This is a stand up restaurant for soba in hot soup. Good. Fast. Cheap. We liked the tempura chrysanthemum greens best.

On the tables are water and cups, plus a bowl of the fried leavings from all the tempura they make, in case you need a little more fat in your diet. Without these crunchy extras the soup base is flavorful and not fatty or too salty.

Type: crepe; buckwheat crepes; French-Japanese fusion

Location: near Philospopher's Path and Eikendo Temple, 24-3 Wakaojicho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City

Website: https://le-bretagne.com/creperie/kyoto/

Notes: We dined at this restaurant twice when in Paris and loved the buckwheat crepes. We were walking along the Philosopher's Path from Gingakugi towards Eikendo Temple, and surprised ourselves in passing the Kyoto location of this chain.

The buckwheat crepes are wonderful. The Japanese location has a crepe version that presents like sushi: everything rolled in a crepe and then sliced into sushi-roll sized pieces.

Other Food Categories: Breakfast

Type: Obanzai breakfast set

Location: 108 Nishirokkakucho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8217

Website: kyoto-imari.com

See the review above with other dinner/lunch spots. This was the best Japanese breakfast we had during our stay. Even if you are staying across town, you can breakfast here and still have plenty of time to cross town for any temple, garden or shopping you want to do--especially since most sites and shops in Japan don't open until 10 or 11.

Location: 13 Katsukyoyamacho, 下京区 Kyoto, 604-8224, Japan

Type: Japanese cafeteria breakfast

This place is open early; many similar places are only 11 am through dinner.

Food is identified in English and Japanese and you select your own dishes, cafeteria style.

The food we selected was tasty: pickled mackerel, sesame okra, stewed eggplant, and burdock salad. The steamed spinach was very plain. I added the sauce from my eggplant and that was perfect. We also got 2 large dishes: stewed mackerel, which was tasty but had many bones, and hot pot, which was tasty but a tepid temperature. I selected a tofu triangle and a boiled egg. One could also pick wheat gluten and potato.
Tea is free. They also have empty dishes available near the utensils to make it easy to share (with children, but could be used by anyone.)

The total bill for our 7 small + 2 large dishes and 1 rice was 1850 yen, or about $15 for 2 people

While items could be hotter the overall taste is good and this place does a good job of being what it is: a cafeteria casual dining Japanese breakfast place. It's not my top choice for Japanese breakfast in Kyoto, but it is the easiest and probably the cheapest, and it's good food.

Other Food Categories: Snacks

Type: macha and cloud cake snacks

Location: 3-317, Irishimizu, Sannen-zaka Matsubara, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto (on the approach to Kiyomizu-dera)

The place is infinitely instagramable. If you can't snag a spot at the front table with its moss garden and mister, head upstairs where there are 2 other mossy spots.

But this is more than a place for those who've rented kimonos to take great pictures with their food. The hot matcha latte was excellent and the little cloud cakes--we tried matchs and the seasonal strawberry--were both great. Strawberry was sweet but not too sweet, and the matcha one with bean filling was mildly sweet.

Another winter treat which can also be found year-round if you know where to look. Amazake is traditionally made from sake lees--the leftovers after one makes sake. It's blended with water and often sugar and sometimes ginger or other flavors. The ones made from sake lees have a deep flavor of the sake without being alcoholic. Other amazake, just made from regular rice, is comforting, though not as complex.

These usually fish-shaped sweets are found all over Japan, sometimes in other shapes, and generally come in bean, custard, sweet potato, and matcha filling.

The best in our opinion are from Naruto (604-8036 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Ishibashicho, 6 寺町東入6. This is in Nishiki Market) and have a crispy outside and soft inside. Naruto Taiyaki branches can also be found in Tokyo (e.g., Asakusa ward) as well as many other big cities. Most other taiyaki are more like eating an American pancake sandwich with the fillings mentioned.

Call

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