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Cocohana
This place is one of a kind: a Korean café in a converted old Japanese house. Dishes here include bibimbap (a Korean rice dish) and kimchi (Korean pickles). A full range of coffee and tea is also available. It's a woody rustic place with both table and tatami seating. There is no English menu but the friendly young staff will help with ordering. This makes a great stop while exploring southeastern Kyoto.
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Earth Kitchen Company
Located on Marutamachi-dōri near the Kamo-gawa, this is a tiny spot that seats just two people but does a bustling business serving tasty takeaway lunch bentō . If you fancy a picnic lunch for your temple-hopping, and the ease of an English menu, this is the place.
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Hirobun
Here you can try nagashi-somen (¥1200), which are thin noodles that flow to you in globs down a split-bamboo gutter; just pluck them out and slurp away. This dish is served until . To find Hirobun, look for the black-and-white sign and the lantern. It's at the top of the village.
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Honyaradō
This woodsy place overlooking the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park is an institution. It was something of a gathering spot for Kyoto's countercultural elite during the hippy days. It has the lived-in feeling of an eccentric friend's house, with stacks of books and magazines and interesting decorations. The lunch deal (a daily stew set) is good value. Surprisingly, considering the ambience, there aren't many veggie options. It's a good place to relax over coffee.
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Hyōtei
The Hyōtei is considered to be one of Kyoto's oldest and most picturesque traditional restaurants. In the main building you can sample exquisite kaiseki courses in private tea rooms. Set meals are available from around ¥4500 . It's very close to the Kyoto International Community House and Nanzen-ji. You can't miss the traditional building.
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Issen Yōshoku
Heaped with red ginger and green scallions, the okonomiyaki at this Gion institution is a garish snack - which somehow seems fitting considering the surrounding neighbourhood. It's open to the elements and you can't miss the griddles out front.
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Kailash
In an atmospheric old Japanese town house, this new organic restaurant is a very welcome addition to the Kyoto restaurant scene. The set lunch here usually includes a salad, rice, tsukemono , soup and a main dish. It has an English menu. We like to relax at the low tables upstairs. Look for the plants.
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Kameyama-Ya
We love this semi-outdoor restaurant on the banks of the Hozu-gawa. The service can be gruff, the food is only pretty good, but the location is impossible to beat. Dishes include tempura over rice and noodles. There is no English sign but there are a couple of vending machines near the entrance.
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Katsu Kura
This restaurant in the Sanjō Covered Arcade is a good place to sample tonkatsu (deep-fried breaded pork cutlets). Most of the cutlets come with a set that includes rice, miso soup and cabbage (extra helpings of these are free). It's not the best in Kyoto but it's relatively cheap and casual, and it has an English menu.
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Kerala
This narrow upstairs restaurant on Kawaramachi-dōri is Kyoto's best Indian restaurant. The around ¥850 lunch set is an excellent deal, as is the vegetarian lunch, and the English menu is a bonus. Dinners run closer to around ¥2500 per head and are of high quality. Finish off the meal with the incredibly rich and creamy coconut ice cream. Kerala is located on the 2nd floor; look for the display of food on street level.
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Kōsendō-Sumi
For a pleasant lunch downtown, try this unpretentious little restaurant located in an old Japanese house. The daily lunch special, which is usually simple and healthy Japanese fare, is always displayed out front for your inspection. It's near the Museum of Kyoto, next to a small parking lot.
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Kushi Hachi
Kushi Hachi, part of a popular Kyoto chain, is a fun spot to sample kushikatsu, a fried dish that is well suited to Western tastes. We enjoy sitting at the counter and watching as the frenetic chefs work the grills and deep-fryers. With a picture/English menu, ordering is a snap. Look for the garish lantern out front.
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Limura
Try this classic little restaurant for its ever-changing set lunch - usually simple Japanese home-style cooking. Dishes might include a bit of fish or meat and the usual accompaniments of rice, miso soup and pickles. It's in a traditional Japanese house set back a bit from the street, alongside a new five-storey building (look for the black-and-white sign).
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Mikatzuki
There are several shokudō on the main drag in Arashiyama and this is one of them. The thing that distinguishes this place is its English menu and the fact that it is a little more spacious than the others. Dishes include the typical shokudō noodle and rice classics. The tempura teishoku around ¥1600 gives value for money and should power you through a few hours of Arashiyama sightseeing. The sign is in Japanese; it's black-and-white and one of the Japanese characters looks like a bullseye.
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Minokō
This classic Gion restaurant serves a lunch bentō for around ¥4500 and kaiseki dinners starting at around ¥13,000 . The décor is classic old Kyoto, the service is excellent and the food is of high quality. There is no English sign; it's across from a parking lot - look for the metal lantern out front.
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Momiji-An
Located in a rustic old-Kyoto house overlooking Maruyama-kōen, this is a great spot for a rest while touring the Higashiyama area. Ask for the usucha (thin green tea; around ¥600 ) and the staff will do the rest. It's just to the right of a traffic mirror, up a flight of steps.
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Mukade-Ya
Mukade-ya is an atmospheric restaurant located in an exquisite machiya west of Karasuma-dōri. For lunch try the special bentō: two rounds (five small dishes each) of delectable obanzai (Kyoto-style home cooking) fare. Kaiseki courses start at around ¥5000 .
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Omen
This elegant noodle shop is named after the thick white noodles that are served in a hot broth with a selection of seven fresh vegetables. Just say 'omen' and you'll be given your choice of hot or cold noodles, a bowl of soup to dip them in and a plate of vegetables (you put these into the soup along with some sesame seeds). It's a great bowl of noodles but that's not the end of the story: everything on the frequently changing menu is delicious.
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Omen Nippon
This is one of two Downtown branches of the famous Ginkaku-ji noodle restaurant. It serves a variety of healthy set meals, including a good lunch set for around ¥1900 that includes noodles and a few sides. It's a small, calm place that's a nice oasis amid the Downtown mayhem, good for a light lunch while out shopping, and it has an English menu to boot. Look for the word 'Nippon' on the sign.
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Ōzawa
Located on one of the most beautiful streets in Gion - Shirakawa-minami-dōri (also known as Shimbashi) - this charming little restaurant offers excellent tempura in refined Japanese surroundings. Unless you choose a private tatami room, you'll sit at the counter and watch as the chef prepares each piece of tempura individually right before your eyes.
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Ryūmon
This place may look like a total dive but the food is reliable and authentic, as the crowds of Kyoto's Chinese residents will attest. There's no English menu but there is a picture menu and some of the waitresses can speak English. Décor is strictly Chinese kitsch, with the exception of the deer head over the cash register - still trying to figure that one out. Look for the food pictures out the front.
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Senmonten
This place serves one thing only: crisp fried gyōza, which come in lots of ten and are washed down with beer or Chinese raoshu (rice wine). If you can break the record for the most gyōza eaten in one sitting, your meal will be free and you'll receive - guess what? - more gyōza to take home. The last time we were here, the men's record was around 150 gyōza . Look for the red-and-white sign and the glass door.
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Shirukō
For a light meal, Shirukō has been serving simple Kyoto obanzai-ryōri since 1932. The restaurant features more than 10 varieties of miso soup, and the rikyū bentō (mixed lunch box; around ¥2600 ) is a bona fide work of art. Shirukō is down a somewhat seedy pedestrian alley near Shijō-Kawaramachi crossing; look for the bamboo out the front.
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Somushi Kochaya
This is the only Korean teahouse we've ever seen in Japan. It's a good place to go when you need a change from the creeping monoculture of coffee chain stores. It's a dark, woodsy and atmospheric spot with a variety of herbal teas (the menu details what they're good for). The teahouse also serves a few light meals, including some unusual Korean favourites (just don't expect Korean barbecue).
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Taco Tora
Try this spot for Kyoto's best tako yaki (fried, battered octopus balls - no, not those balls). The place doesn't have much in the way of ambience, but, then, what tako yaki place does? Be careful: the balls are served piping hot and you can easily burn your mouth if you're not patient. It's near Kitano Tenman-gū .
