Tag - kyoto-restaurants

 
 

KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jul 8, 2017
Nanaezushi: Quality, affordable neighborhood sushi
Nanaezushi, on Shichijo Street in Kyoto, occupies that middle ground between the gimmick and conveyor-belt joints and the high-end places where you can expect to pay ¥20,000 for an atmosphere that's often as much fun as a funeral, however good the sushi itself might be.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jul 8, 2017
Tentation d'Ange: A vaguely European atmosphere and top-shelf bread
Tentation d'Ange tries hard to channel a little corner of Provence, or somewhere similar where potted flowers are caught up in the tendrils of runnings beans and grass grows among the paved stones to accordion music. It is also at complete odds with the grayness of its surroundings, on another dull residential street in the north of Kyoto. This is a nail that stands out, and may it never be hammered down.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jun 10, 2017
Taihou: Excellent Sichuan cuisine in a family atmosphere
Taihou is the kind of place where everybody gets to know your name. On a recent visit for Sunday lunch I stayed well past last orders, past dessert, past an impromptu cheese course, only leaving before chef Kouki Watanabe and his staff sat down for their meal and a power nap before gearing up for the evening dinner rush.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jun 10, 2017
Da Yuki: An authentic Neapolitan pizzeria
Da Yuki is an authentic, bijou Neapolitan pizzeria opened 10 years ago by Yuki Kamada, who, like many Japanese, is not prone to doing things in half measures.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
May 13, 2017
Shimme offers unpretentious pub cuisine for all
As much as I love eating out in restaurants that run the gamut from high class to low, from holes in the wall, to all-you-can-eat, my heart — or is it my stomach — sings most when I'm in a good, solid izakaya (Japanese pub).
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
May 13, 2017
Al Camino's simple pizza offerings are hard to resist
Pizza's time has truly arrived. There are plenty of places where the pizza is more like a first cousin of that fried batter staple, okonomiyaki, meaning smothered in mayonnaise — but the true Neapolitan masterpiece also has a following here. If you're in Kyoto, be sure to search out Al Camino.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Apr 8, 2017
Queen of Chickens: Great chicken in close quarters
Chicken is king at Queen of Chickens, and it comes cooked every which way you can think of, but most notably it's the rotisserie chicken — skewered on a spit and slow roasted — that brings people in.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Apr 8, 2017
Burlesque: Hamburgers and haircuts
Am I alone in thinking that some of the best-looking restaurants in Japan turn out to be hair salons?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Mar 10, 2017
Iwasaki: Family run, Michelin starred, and no food photos allowed
It was a coincidence that on the same day we had a reservation for Iwasaki, a small family-run restaurant west of Kyoto's Municipal Office, the Iwasaki's were quietly marking a milestone: the restaurant's 10-year anniversary.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Mar 10, 2017
Asano: Sake tasting as an antidote for the shopping blues
This one is for the shoppers, or for those who have to go shopping but would rather be drinking sake. On the ground floor of Kyoto Aeon Mall, directly behind Kyoto Station, and just beyond the cash registers at Kohyo supermarket, you'll find Asano, a sake shop that has a small counter where they serve tasting menus and a concise but lively food menu, which consists of morsel-sized appetizers such as smoked cheese, smoked mackerel and miso paste.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Feb 10, 2017
Tan: One table, washoku and experiments in communal dining
At its most elemental, cooking is experimentation: a bit of this, some of that, hey presto. In Japan, the experimentation is mostly confined to the kitchen. It's unlikely restaurants such as London's Dans le Noir, where diners eat in darkness sans phones, would take off here.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Feb 10, 2017
Usaya: Perfecting classic dishes in a cozy, family-run environment
Sanjo's shotengai (shopping arcade) has long been a poor relative of Nishiki Ichiba, the overcrowded shopping arcade of downtown Kyoto. Go a bit west, however, and you'll discover the Sanjo arcade, where you won't have to fight through crowds and there's everything from secondhand shops to kissaten (traditional coffee shops) dating back half a century. While you're there, why not stop by Usaya, a cozy family-run restaurant serving homely Japanese cooking.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jan 13, 2017
Gi Han Ebisu Do: a window on Japanese-inflected dim sum
Restaurateur and chef Yoshiyuki Gi has spent a lifetime working in Chinese restaurants. He grew up in the kitchen of his parent's eatery in Yokohama's Chinatown before working his way through Chinese restaurants in Japan and onto China. When he returned to Japan, he settled in Kyoto and opened upscale restaurant Ichi no Hunairi in a former tea house overlooking the Kamo River.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jan 13, 2017
Suzuya: one of the old capital's oldest coffee shops
Last year, Suzuya celebrated its 70th anniversary, making it one of the oldest kissaten (traditional coffee shops) in Kyoto. To the best of my knowledge, only Salon de The Francois — which opened in the interwar period — pips it for longevity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Dec 9, 2016
Izuju: A hidden home for sweet 'Kyozushi'
When you live in a tourist mecca like Kyoto you tend to avoid the major attractions. However, having a visitor in town provides a good excuse to join the horde and get into tourist mode: taking over footpaths, meandering slowly along backstreets and taking photos of everything, especially photos of yourself with everything — a selfie stick is de rigueur.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Dec 9, 2016
Togenkyo: A return to Japan's traditional coffee-shop style
Togenkyo is a cafe curated to the nth degree. Being so self-conscious, even self-indulgent, could be a turn off, but Togenkyo has its charms.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Nov 11, 2016
Ajiro: Vegetarian 'shojin ryori' in a Buddhist temple complex
I ate my lunch at Ajiro in the company of a bewildered farmer with a comical Donald Trump-like mop of hair. But looks were the least of his concern; rather it was a bull that had got the better of him, escaping from the herd and hightailing it to the hills. Luckily he finally found the animal hiding behind a rock, lassoed him and triumphantly led him back to the herd. Was there something in my miso soup you might be wondering?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Nov 11, 2016
Soba Dokoro Sasaki: Traditional soba sets worth lining up for
Soba Dokoro Sasaki is worth a stopover if you're heading north into Kyoto's hills to catch the trees in their autumnal colors. It's billed as a soba restaurant, but there's plenty of udon and tempura dishes on the menu, too. Your best bet is to opt for one of this restaurant's substantial set menus.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Oct 7, 2016
Tempura Endo Yasaka: Deep-fried morsels in a downtown teahouse
After reading the recent review by Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold of Tempura Endo's Beverly Hills restaurant I thought it was high time I went to the original. Tempura Endo Yasaka in Kyoto is housed in an ornate wooden teahouse south of Gion; waiting staff in delicate light blue kimonos wait outside for guests at their appointed time of arrival. If it all feels a little elite, it's probably because more than a few of the elite have dined at Endo during its 100-plus years of frying food.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Oct 7, 2016
Sarasa Nishijin: A curious cafe in the bones of an old bathhouse
Sarasa Nishijin is a sentō (bathhouse) — well, it used to be. But using the past tense here belies how much of its old spirit still lives on. The waters may have drained away — replaced by sofas, tables, chairs and people lounging about fully clothed — but the sentō's old life is revealed in the gorgeous tiles that wrap around the interior walls and on the ceiling, which slopes up to a huge opening where steam would have once poured out narrow windows. What's left of the bathhouse makes Sarasa Nishijin feel like a museum — one that offers udon noodles, fried chicken, pizza toast and a nice selection of cakes.

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