Glossary
This is a list of important terms to know when it comes to Japanese cuisine. We'll use these words when describing various dining opportunities across Kyoto and Tokyo.
Kaiseki
A multi-course meal served in a particular order. This type of meal was for upper class/ royalty, so Kyoto specializes in it since this was the center of power for a long time. You can see the traditional order here. In ryokan (traditional inns) the kaiseki dinner is usually part of the price (as is breakfast). If you are not spending at least one night in an upscale ryokan, we recommend having at least one kaiseki dinner or lunch while in Japan. We’ve included Shojin Ryori in the Kaiseki section. It also has a prescribed order but is purely vegetarian or vegan. Some other restaurants vary from the strict kaiseki order or amount, but are included in this section below because they brought out dishes one-by-one in a prescribed order. Kaiseki restaurants almost always require advanced reservations because of the planning and food shopping needed.
Izakaya
Alcoholic drinks with food. There is generally a cover charge of about 250-350Yen in the form of a mandatory appetizer. Izakayas can specialize in the type of food, or not. Sometimes it’s yakiniku, or obanzai, or tempura, or oden (soup).
Obanzai
Home cooking Kyoto style. To qualify as obanzai, at least half of the food must be Kyoto/local. Emphasis is also placed on sustainability (using foods sometimes discarded as waste), seasonality, and simplicity. You will find some restaurants in Kyoto that are obanzai-only, and you’ll find lots and lots of restaurants that include obanzai options with other types of menus–for example, obanzai starters at a tempura restaurant.
Tempura
Battered and fried items. When tempura is done well, it’s not greasy. You can hardly tell it’s a fried item. You can find tempura in a variety of restaurant types, like ten-don, which is tempura over rice, or straight tempura where you order the items and they are presented to you over the course of the meal. In the latter case, it is customary to order all the items you want at the start – in many cases, there are prixe fixe meals so the order is already predetermined. The chef will fry them in a specific order to decrease oil waste and avoid strong food flavors from passing to mild foods. Sometimes you are given a bowl of dipping sauce, some grated daikon radish (either in the sauce or on the side) and salt. Other times, the sauce is applied for you by the chef and you will have salt to add to your liking. New this trip for us was tempura sesame tofu. This is one of the best things we’ve ever eaten. It is both savory and sweet and gooey but with the crispy tempura exterior. We ate a lot of tempura on our most recent 7 week trip in Japan, which surprised us because we don’t generally eat a lot of fried food. However, the tempura in Japan is something you just can’t find in the US (at least we have not so far) and when it is done well it is, again, not greasy or heavy.
Yaki
The word “yaki” means “cooked over direct heat” so it’s no wonder this root word is part of many foods you’ll hear about. Teriyaki glaze is something most from the west are familiar with. Yakitori are grilled chicken skewers–and usually includes many parts of the chicken. SOME yakitori places do more than chicken, but not all. Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake-like one-plate dinner filled with shredded cabbage and usually some meat (pork or shrimp are most common). Some come with noodles inside, some not.
Udon/Soba
Soba are thin noodles and made of buckwheat and udon are thick noodles made of wheat. While we like a good bowl of either, this is not what we eat most of in Japan but you’ll find a few suggestions below.
Unagi
Unagi is eel. There are some excellent unagi restaurants all around Japan. Most of the great unagi we had in Kyoto came from unagi vendors that are only take-away. Generally, the quality at these places is very high and depending on the shop’s popularity, they may sell out within about 2 hours of opening. Such vendors grill over charcoal and you can really taste the lovely difference. Some make unagi-don and others do not–just sell the whole eel (which we paired with some microwave rice we got at 7-11). A whole eel here is about 2,000-3,000 yen ($16-24). Quality-wise, these places and the high-end unagi restaurants were all delicious, and the unagi you buy in the grocery store was good and cheap (about 1,500 yen for a full eel)– a step above what you’ll get anywhere in the USA but not as good as other options in Japan. Unagi, especially in Japan, is pretty hard to get wrong. Even the bad stuff is pretty ok. We have listed some spots in the “other” category below, but you can also search for unagi on Googlemaps wherever you are and your greatest risk is they will be sold out already.
Other Area Specialties
- Pickled fish (and vegetables): traditional here because it was a way to transport fish from the sea to an inland town. Mackerel, herring, and vegetables are all pickled and/or salted. When you are in the market, notice the vats of pickled or salted items.
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Saba-zushi–Pickled mackerel sushi
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​Tofu, sake, and noodles: things made with water are considered Kyoto specialties because Kyoto is known for good water quality. We really like tofu and yuba, which is tofu skin, and talk about it in many restaurants listed below. We also drink a lot of sake. Our favorite type is nama (unpasturized) genshu (undiluted). If you don’t know anything about sake, you can start by asking for “a kyoto nama genshu” or “a nama genshu”