Karasuma and Kawaramachi food guide
19 editor picks in Karasuma and Kawaramachi, 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. Eight seats, garden window, lighter price tag.
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. Open-fire technique meets Kyoto produce in a 12-course menu.
Order Six-skewer assortment with tsukune and yolk dip
A yakitori counter on Teramachi in Kyoto using Omi-jidori and Kyoto-duck. Signature tsukune comes with a yolk-bath dip, all grilled over binchotan.
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. Morning-picked Kyo-yasai, charcoal-grilled and lacquered.
Order Kamonanban duck soba with smoked-yuzu broth
Kawamichiya's adjacent Kosho-an counter in Kyoto, a renovated 110-year machiya. Cleaner soba menu than the Sohonke parent, faster-paced lunch trade.
A nine-seat tempura counter in central Kyoto run by Tawaraya, the ryokan operating since the early 1700s. Located in Karasuma Kawaramachi. Priced at ¥¥¥¥.
Order Rare-cut omakase skewer flight
A binchotan-grill yakitori counter near Karasuma in Kyoto. Specialises in rare cuts: furisode shoulder, sankaku-nankotsu cartilage and chicken hotpot sets.
The Muromachi outpost of the Wakuden group, set in a Karasuma machiya with open charcoal braziers in the dining room. One star and a classical hand.
A 1952 ryokan and tempura counter in Kyoto set around a sublime Japanese garden, downtown. One Michelin star, garden lunches across all four seasons.
Order Three-plate showcase set with grilled fish
An obanzai showcase three minutes from Hankyu Karasuma in Kyoto. Pick plates from a glass case; the set comes with rice and miso for under 1,200 yen.
Order Unaju lacquer-box rice and grilled eel with sansho
Charcoal-grilled freshwater eel on Kyogoku Shotengai since the Taisho era. Lacquered chests, tatami rooms upstairs, the smoke spilling onto Sanjo.
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. Japanese black wagyu cuts grilled tableside.
Order Obanzai assortment with simmered ebi-imo and yuba
The grandmother of Kyoto obanzai counters. Daily-changing seasonal dishes set in clay pots along a tatami room since 1958, three minutes from Sanjo Station.
Order 10-dish simmered vegetable course with sake flight
A vegetable-focused kappo counter on a Kawaramachi second floor in Kyoto. Daily-changing simmered Kyo-yasai across a 10-dish course with drink pairings.
Order Premium-pork loin set with sesame-ground tonkatsu sauce
Tonkatsu born in Kyoto and exported nationally. The Sanjo flagship still grinds its own sesame for the dipping sauce; both loin and fillet plates.
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. Daily set lunches, no reservations needed.
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. Three dipping sauces, late-night counter trade.
Order Daily fish teishoku with side plates
A teishoku counter near Karasuma-Oike in Kyoto. Daily-changing fish set, simmered vegetables and rice; cash, fast turnaround for the office lunch.
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. Cash-friendly weekday lunch.
