63 editor picks in Kyoto.
This is the heart of how Kyoto eats: kaiseki, kyo-ryori and the seasonal traditions that built the city's reputation. The high end runs through Kikunoi Honten and Mizai in Higashiyama, Hyotei in northern Higashiyama and Gion Sasaki and Gion Nishikawa in Gion, with Kitcho Arashiyama Honten out west. Around it sits the everyday city: tofu houses like Tousuiro Kiyamachi in Pontocho and Nanzenji Junsei, obanzai at Menami and AWOMB Karasuma Honten, and shojin-ryori at Shigetsu in Arashiyama.
63 japanese places in Kyoto we have eaten in, sorted by editor score. All cuisines in Kyoto · Japanese across every city.
Order Eight-course tofu kaiseki with yuba sashimi and warmed soy-milk pots
Tofu-kaiseki on a Kamogawa riverside terrace, hidden down a narrow Kiyamachi alley in a preserved Taisho-era townhouse just steps from Pontocho.
Order Yudofu Gozen course with simmered Kyoto vegetables and tempura
A long-running garden-side yudofu room beside Nanzen-ji, set on a 1,200-tsubo strolling-garden plot in Kyoto that changes with every season.
Order Yudofu set with dengaku miso-glazed tofu skewers
Nanzenji Sando Kikusui in Sakyo in Kyoto is a sukiya inn near Nanzenji with a Jihei Ogawa garden, yudofu kaiseki featuring Hattori tofu, seasonal courses.
Order Matsu Gozen set: yudofu, yuba-sashimi and seasonal Kyo-yasai
A Nishijin yudofu room set in a former silk-warehouse machiya, opened in the 1970s.
Order Cold sesame Omen with seasonal vegetable plate
A hand-cut udon counter beside Ginkaku-ji, opened in Kyoto in 1967.
Order Unaju lacquer-box rice and grilled eel with sansho
Charcoal-grilled freshwater eel on Kyogoku Shotengai since the Taisho era.
Order Hitsumabushi served three ways with dashi tea-pour finish
A Michelin-listed unagi specialist on the main Arashiyama lane since 1967, rebuilt 2009.
Order Unaju with white-grilled shirayaki appetiser
A Pontocho unagi room above the Kamogawa in Kyoto, founded 1916.
Order Yuki shojin set with the temple's signature sesame tofu
Bib Gourmand-listed shojin-ryori inside Tenryu-ji's precinct in Arashiyama.
Order Tetsubachi ryori shojin set, served in seven nested bowls
Daitoku-ji shojin-ryori served in nested vermillion lacquer bowls modelled on a Buddhist begging bowl.
Order Premium wagyu sirloin and tongue salt for two
The Sanjo flagship of Kyoto's largest yakiniku family, run from a Kyoto Sanjo shopping-street site since 1997.
Order Premium-pork loin set with sesame-ground tonkatsu sauce
Tonkatsu born in Kyoto and exported nationally.
Order Obanzai assortment with simmered ebi-imo and yuba
The grandmother of Kyoto obanzai counters.
Order Daily tofu obanzai set with simmered fish
An obanzai counter five minutes from Hankyu Kawaramachi in Kyoto where the tofu plates outshine the rest.
Order Tesaki sushi assemble-your-own tray
AWOMB Karasuma Honten in Nakagyo in Kyoto is the original teori-zushi machiya, around 50 seasonal vegetables and obanzai to assemble hand-rolled sushi.
Order Yakitori assortment plus three-sauce kushikatsu set
Yakitori and kushikatsu on a Kiyamachi second floor, the house tare on its 20th year of topping-up.
Order Premium kaiseki with seasonal seafood and wagyu
A modern kappo on Pontocho serving 10-course kaiseki anchored by Maizuru seafood and Tamba wagyu.
Order Chef's omakase with open-fire grilled vegetables and seafood
A 10-seat modern Japanese counter from chef Jacob Kear (ex-Noma) and Stuart Brioza.
Order Daily fish teishoku with side plates
A teishoku counter near Karasuma-Oike in Kyoto.
Order Issen yoshoku, the single menu item
A 1925 Gion counter selling one dish only in Kyoto: issen yoshoku, a pancake of batter, green onion, meat scraps and Worcestershire sauce.
Order 30-piece gyoza order with a draft beer
A Gion counter on Hanamikoji that sells one item: pan-fried gyoza orders, paired with cold Asahi.
Order Premium loin katsu set with sesame sauce ground tableside
Katsukura's Kyoto Station basement outlet, perched in Porta's depachika.
Order Black wagyu sirloin set with tongue salt for two
The Kyoto Station tower outlet of the Hiro yakiniku family, five minutes from the platforms.
Order Six-skewer assortment with tsukune and yolk dip
A yakitori counter on Teramachi in Kyoto using Omi-jidori and Kyoto-duck.
Order Rare-cut omakase skewer flight
A binchotan-grill yakitori counter near Karasuma in Kyoto.
Order Tableside grilled-vegetable course with sashimi
A vegetable-led counter on Kiyamachi in Kyoto, the chef-owner running his own farm in north Kyoto.
Order Kamonanban duck soba with smoked-yuzu broth
Kawamichiya's adjacent Kosho-an counter in Kyoto, a renovated 110-year machiya.
Order Five-plate obanzai set with a clay-pot rice option
An obanzai counter near Hankyu Kawaramachi in Kyoto, with a daily-changing five-plate set built on seasonal Kyo-yasai.
Order Three-plate showcase set with grilled fish
An obanzai showcase three minutes from Hankyu Karasuma in Kyoto.
Order Five-plate obanzai assortment with simmered yuba
A small obanzai room near the Arashiyama tram in Kyoto, dinner-only and locals-favoured.
Order 10-dish simmered vegetable course with sake flight
A vegetable-focused kappo counter on a Kawaramachi second floor in Kyoto.
Order Lunch tempura course with sea bream and prawn
The walk-in counter of the Yoshikawa tempura ryokan in Kyoto, an alternative to the full kaiseki room.
The defining three-Michelin-star kaiseki room in Kyoto.
An Edo-era teahouse at the gate of Nanzen-ji in Kyoto, restyled as a ryotei in 1837.
Three-Michelin-star kaiseki on the Hozugawa river bend in Arashiyama, Kyoto, run by chef Kunio Tokuoka in a sukiya-style garden tatami room.
Hitoshi Ishihara opened Mizai in a corner of Maruyama Park, Kyoto, after years at Kitcho Arashiyama.
Chef Yoshimi Tanigawa's kaiseki room beside Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto.
Hiroshi Sasaki runs a teacher-and-apprentice kitchen on Komatsu-cho.
Murata's casual-counter spinoff on Kiyamachi, opened for Kikunoi's 60th anniversary.
Masayoshi Nishikawa earned a star a year after opening at 33 in Kyoto.
The Muromachi outpost of the Wakuden group, set in a Karasuma machiya with open charcoal braziers in the dining room.
A nine-seat tempura counter in central Kyoto run by Tawaraya, the ryokan operating since the early 1700s.
Tempura in a converted teahouse near Yasaka Pagoda, Kyoto, an ochaya from the early 1900s.
A 1952 ryokan and tempura counter in Kyoto set around a sublime Japanese garden, downtown.
Named for the central kaiseki course, Hassun runs a quiet ryotei in Gion, Kyoto, a block south of Hanamikoji.
A Meiji-era kaiseki house on the Kodaiji grounds, established in Kyoto by the third-generation Yamato proprietor in 1949 and rooted in an 1877 Osaka original.
Try Kushikatsu and yakitori
Azumaya's late-night yakitori counter on Kiyamachi in Kyoto runs until 01:00, Saturdays to 02:00.
Try Pan-fried gyoza
Senmonten's one-item gyoza counter on Hanamikoji stays open through 01:00 in Kyoto.
Try Chicken-paitan oden
Ponshya Santoku's standing oden counter in Shimogyo, Kyoto, runs until 01:00.
A small counter on Hanamikoji in Gion, Kyoto, with one item only: pan-fried gyoza by the order.
A shojin-ryori room inside Daiji-in sub-temple at Daitoku-ji (founded 1585) in Kyoto.
Try Issen yoshoku pancake
Gion's 1925 single-dish counter selling issen yoshoku pancake for 680 yen in Kyoto.
Try Tonkatsu set with free-flow sides
Katsukura's tonkatsu set in Kyoto Station Porta basement at 1,300 yen lunch.
Try Unaju eel rice box
Kane-yo's lunch unaju is the cheapest eel lacquer-box in Kyoto around 2,000 yen.
Try Sesame Omen udon set
Omen's hand-cut udon under 1,600 yen at the Ginkaku-ji branch in Kyoto.
Try Mame mochi sweet
Salted-bean and azuki mochi for 220 yen at the city's most famous wagashi shinise in Demachiyanagi, Kyoto.
Try Five-plate obanzai set
Kotowari's obanzai set in Kyoto under 1,500 yen lunch.
