Restaurants in Kansai
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Uosue
Uosue is one of the best value Japanese places in town. It’s a traditional Kyoto-style restaurant with a clean interior and friendly proprietors. For lunch, try the wonderful nijū bentō for ¥1000. At dinner, the omakase ryōri kōsu is a great way to sample kaiseki ryōri without breaking the bank: it costs just ¥3800. It’s next to a tiny shrine – keep an eye out for the sake barrels out the front.
reviewed
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Manzara Honten
Located in a converted machiya (traditional Japanese town house), Manzara represents a pleasing fusion of traditional and modern Japanese culture. The fare here is creative modern Japanese and the surroundings are decidedly stylish. The omakase (chef’s recommendation) course is good value, with eight dishes for ¥4000, and à la carte dishes are available from ¥500. Last orders are at 11.30pm.
reviewed
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Wabiya Korekidō
This slick restaurant on Gion’s atmospheric Hanami-kōji serves what, for lack of a better term, we will call ‘haute yakitori’. It’s the nicest yakitori we’ve had, and the setting is a lot more elegant than your typical yakitori joint. At dinner, the shunsaiwabiya kōsu (full chicken course; ¥3675) is excellent. At lunch, choose from one of the meals on the picture menu outside. The name of the place is written in English in tiny letters on the black-and-white sign.
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Capricciosa
For heaped portions of pasta at rock-bottom prices you won’t do much better than this longtime student favourite. Pasta dishes start at around ¥800 and you can choose from pizzas, salads, and various meat and fish dishes. It will definitely not be the best Italian you’ve ever had, but you’ll probably leave full and happy. It’s near the Sanjō-Kawaramachi crossing; look for the red-brick steps and the green awning. There’s an English menu and an English sign.
reviewed
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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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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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Aunbo
Aunbo serves elegant, creative Japanese cooking in traditional Gion surroundings. The last time we were here we started with sublime sashimi, moved on to fried yuba pockets and went from there. We recommend asking for the set and leaving the difficult decisions to the master. Aunbo takes reservations in the evening. There is an English menu but no English sign; look for the traditional Japanese façade.
reviewed
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Dōtombori Arcade
Dōtombori Arcade (Dōtombori Chūō-ku; Namba Station on the Midōsuji, Yotsubashi or Sennichimae subway line) is the heart of Minami, and it's crammed with eateries. This is not the place to go for refined dining, but if you want heaping portions of tasty food in a very casual atmosphere, this place can be a lot of fun. And because it sees a lot of tourists, most of the big restaurants here have English menus.
reviewed
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Kana Kana
Inside an 80-year-old machiya in Naramachi, this simple, relaxing place serves healthy Japanese food, much of it (but not all) vegetarian. We recommend the kanakana-gohan set (daily lunch special). It's tricky to spot, since it hardly looks like a restaurant at all; look for the pile of rocks outside next to a house with a tree in its front yard.
reviewed
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Fujino-Ya
This is one of the easiest places for non-Japanese to enter on Pontochō, a street where many of the other restaurants turn down even unfamiliar Japanese diners. Here you can feast on tempura, okonomiyaki, yaki-soba and kushikatsu in tatami rooms overlooking the Kamo-gawa.
reviewed
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Chibō
A great okonomiyaki specialist. There's an English sign in addition to the English menu. Try the house special Dōtombori yaki, a toothsome treat with pork, beef, squid, shrimp and cheese for ¥1550. Some tables look out over the canal. Last orders an hour before closing.
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Modernark Pharm
This interesting little restaurant serves tasty sets of Japanese and Western dishes, including burritos and rice dishes. There are some veggie choices here. Look for the plants.
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Kani Dōraku Honten
This crab specialist does all kinds of imaginative things with the unfortunate crustaceans. If the main branch is full, there’s an annexe just down the road.
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Bikkuri Udon Miyoshino
A simple place that does good-value sets of typical Japanese fare. Stop by and check the daily lunch specials on display outside.
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Mellow Café
- Nara, Japan
- Restaurants › Cafe
Located down a narrow alley (look for the palm tree) not far from Kintetsu Nara Station, this open-plan cafe is a pleasant spot to fuel up for a day of sightseeing. The menu centres on pasta and pizza (there's a brick oven). There's an English sign and menu.
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Maru
A great place for a cheap lunch or dinner while in Kita is the Shin-Umeda Shokudō-Gai which is located down the escalators and to the right of the main exit of Hankyū Umeda station (just past the McDonald's). There are heaps of good restaurants here that vie for the lunch-dinner custom with cheap set meals, many of which are displayed outside, making ordering easier. Our favourite spot here is a sashimi and grilled fish specialist called Maru station (on the Hankyū line), where the lunchtime sashimi set meal costs about ¥800. It also serves oden, the classic Japanese winter dish of meat, vegetables and tofu stewed in broth. To get there, exit Hankyu= station via the e…
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Omen
This noodle shop is named after the thick, white noodles 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 don't stop there: the à la carte menu is also fantastic – ranging from excellent tempura to healthy vegetable dishes. It's about five minutes' walk from Ginkaku-ji in a traditional Japanese house with a lantern outside. Note that there's often a line during tourist high season.
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Ganko Zushi
Near Sanjō-ōhashi bridge, this is a good place for sushi or just about anything else. There are plenty of sets to choose from, but we recommend ordering sushi à la carte. There's a full English menu, the kitchen is fast and they are used to foreigners. Look for the large display of plastic food models in the window.
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Sunny Place
Sunny Place is a fine little organic vegetarian eatery not far from the Hyakumamben intersection (within walking distance of Ginkaku-ji ). It has a long wooden counter at which everyone tends to chat with both their neighbour and the friendly owner. The standard set includes a nonmeat protein dish (such as tempeh), three vegetable sides, rice and miso soup. Sunny Place is a bit tricky to find. Starting from the Hyakumamben crossing, walk west on Imadegawa-dōri to the first set of traffic lights; turn right and walk about 200m (you’ll cross one fairly large street). It will be on the right; there’s usually an English sign out the front.
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Santōka
The young chefs at this sleek restaurant dish out some seriously good Hokkaidō-style rāmen. You will be given a choice of three kinds of soup when you order: shio (salt), shōyu or miso – we highly recommend you go for the miso soup. For something totally decadent, try the tokusen toroniku rāmen, which is made from pork cheeks, of which only 200g can be obtained from one animal. The pork will come on a separate plate from the rāmen – just shovel it all into your bowl. The restaurant is located on the east side and ground floor of the new Kyōen restaurant and shopping complex.
reviewed
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Daruma
This quaint little mom-and-pop yakitori restaurant serves simple skewers of the usual yakitori favourites and a very interesting Japan Alps dish known as hōba miso, which is a type of miso cooked over a leaf on a hibachi in front of you. There is no English menu, but it's easy to point at what you want. You'll be asked whether you want shio-yaki (cooked with salt) or tare-yaki (cooked with yakitori sauce). There is an English sign (it's 10m in from Higashimon-gai).
To get there by subway, take Sannomiya station on the JR Kōbe line, Hankyū Kōbe line or Hanshin Main Line.
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Kanei
A small traditional place not far from Funaoka Onsen, Kanei is the place to go if you’re a soba connoisseur – the noodles are made by hand here and are delicious. The owners don’t speak much English, so here’s what to order: zaru soba (¥850) or kake soba ( soba in a broth; ¥900). Note that handmade soba quickly loses its taste and texture, so we recommend that you eat it quickly. The servings are small and the dishes are only likely to please real soba fans. Kanei is on the corner, a few metres west of Saraca Nishijin.
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Anji
This smoky izakaya -style fish specialist is a great place to sample a wide variety of sashimi, cooked fish and standard izakaya dishes. You can sit on the tatami mats in the zashiki (communal room), but you’ll have to have a high tolerance for cigarette smoke. If you don’t smoke, and don’t want to be smoked, we recommend the counter. There is no English menu, so you’ll have to bring a Japanese-speaking friend or point at what your neighbours are eating. Anji is on the 2nd floor, up a flight of steps festooned with signs (in Japanese) advertising the menu; you’ll know the place when you see it.
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Genroku Sushi
Of course, Minami is all about shōtengai (shopping arcades) and the Sennichi-Mae Arcade is one of the biggest. In addition to all the pachinko parlours here, you'll find lots of cheap, casual restaurants like Genroku Sushi a bustling automatic sushi place where plates of sushi cost a mere ¥130, and Izumoya an old unagi (eel) specialist that serves tasty dishes like mamushi nami (small unagi over rice) for ¥700, or the larger tokujō (special unagi, ¥1400). It's on the corner with a brownish marble front.
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Wakkoku
If you're a carnivore, you'll want to try a bit of Kōbe's famous beef, and you'll find it cheaper and better here than overseas. Our favourite Kōbe beef place is this relatively approachable spot below the Crowne Plaza Kōbe. The steaks here are among the best we've had anywhere. We particularly like the way they 'introduce' your steak to you before they prepare it.
It's on the 3rd floor of the Avenue shopping centre at the base of the hotel, just outside the south elevator bank. There is no English sign - look for the black and grey marble exterior.
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