A Symphony of Colors – My First Take on Japanese Food in Japan
Once you’ve had Japanese food in Japan, you can never go back to Japanese food elsewhere.
This has been the comment I have heard from many, many people. As this was my first trip ever to Japan, I naturally had high expectations for its food. Yet, to my great disappointment, the food that I had on this trip had been the worst aspect of the traveling experience. I will discuss briefly some of the food I had in this entry.
Some Preliminaries about Dining in Kyoto
As a first course, perhaps the book Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan’s Food Culture by Matt Goulding will be helpful for those who are quite serious in learning about Japanese food. It is so well written that you will salivate by reading it. The book has the power to convey the brilliance of Japanese cuisine in words that readily transform into actual sensations in your palate.
For Hong Kong people, the go-to website for restaurant information is Open Rice. In Japan, the locals use Tabelog. These are sort of equivalent to the American Yelp. The great thing is that Tabelog comes in English as well.
With the exception of Unagiya Hirokawa, there was not one restaurant that required advanced booking. However, there were a few that have limited seating and required some kind of advanced queuing.
For example, Menya Inoichi, a Michelin-recommended ramen house in Kyoto, has only ten spots. Lines form at 5pm for dinner, and I arrived at around 5:35 pm or so. The waiter called out the person right in front of me as the very last customer they could take in the evening. Yes, they cut off the queue right in front of me. I begged, but a no is a no.
The restaurants in the following table come in a random order, it is not a ranking.
Unagi Hirokawa
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Unagi Hirokawa (Kyoto) | 44-1 Kitatsukurimicho Sagatenryuji, Ukyo-Ku, Kyoto 616-8374 | Unagiya Hirokawa is a 1-star Michelin restaurant serving charcoal grilled freshwater eel over rice. The flavors of the unagi were wonderful, but the eel was lacking in texture. | Lukewarm recommendation |
Curry House CoCo Ichibanya
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Curry House Coco Ichibanya (Kyoto) | 411 Matsuyacho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto 600-8105 | Curry House CoCo Ichibanya is a chain restaurant specializing in Japanese curry. I had a katsu curry and it was good. Unlike the Japanese curry I had previously, the dish at Coco Curry came with a bit of heat. It was a pleasant surprise. | Yes |
Sushiden Kenzan
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Sushiden Kenzan (Kyoto) | 7th Floor, Kyoto Takashimaya Shopping Center | Sushiden Kenzan serves mostly sushi. There was a piece of sushi that I had never tried before in my sushi platter. I thought the sushi was quite good, but perhaps not necessarily much better than what I get in the United States or in Hong Kong. I arrived at a later time of the night and so some of the items I wanted were sold out already. There was a half hour wait around 7:30pm. | Yes |
Namaste Dhaula Giri
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Namaste Dhaula Giri
(Kyoto) |
80 Tamamizucho, Higashiyama-Ku, Kyoto | Namaste Dhaula Giri serves Nepalese cuisine near the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Its curry was excellent with the naan. | Yes |
Machikadoya Karasuma Gojo
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Machikadoya Karasuma Gojo
(Kyoto) |
418 Matsuyacho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto 600-8105 | The Machikadoya Karasuma Gojo is a perfect spot for solo diners, offering one-person meals for a super economical price. The food is simple, very basic, but you can taste the natural flavors and it is very satisfying. It is commoners’ food and that was what I liked. Opens 24 hours. | Yes |
Ootoya
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Ootoya
(Kyoto) |
601 Nishiuoyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto 604-8142 | I went into this Ootoya before heading into Nishiki Market because the sign outside says, “fall vegetables,” and I was craving just that. My dish came with a generous portion of wok-fried oysters with an assortment of fall vegetables, and it was exceedingly pleasant. | Yes |
Marion Crepes
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Marion Crepes
(Kyoto) |
230 Eirakucho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto 604-8071 | In this pedestrian area with many wonderful street food establishments, Marion Crepes offers a wide selection of both savory and sweet crepes. I opted for a simple strawberry with vanilla ice cream. To be fair, it wasn’t too bad. | Lukewarm recommendation |
7-Eleven
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| 7-Eleven
(Kyoto) |
43-2 Bishamoncho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto 605-0812 | The egg salad sando’s of Japanese convenience stores are world famous. I had just one opportunity to try it near the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It was quite good. | Yes |
Natakanidou
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Natakanidou
(Nara) |
29 Hashimotocho, Nara 630-8217 | The mochi of Natakanidou is the delightful product of the traditional pounding technique of mochisutki. | Must-try |
Kyo Tsuke-men Tsurukame
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Kyo Tsuke-men Tsurukame
(Kyoto) |
559 Nakanocho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto 604-8042, Nakagyo Ward | I decided to have a bowl of ramen here because of the “votes” of the Japanese locals. There was a bit of a line. The restaurant was very cramped. I ordered the spicy ramen and it did not turn out that well for me. The broth was simply too thick. But maybe their other ramen flavors would turn out better. | Lukewarm recommendation |
Kyoto Gyo-collet
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Kyoto Gyo-collet
(Kyoto) |
The shop at Nakagyo Ward (close to the Nishiki Market) closed permanently and they are now at another location. | Gyoza is the Japanese rendition of dumplings. I ordered the kobe beef gyoza at this shop, and it did not turn out well. The meat had a gamey taste that is unusual for beef. It only tasted better after adding soy sauce and their spicy chilli oil. Their gyoza were also way overpriced. | No |
Nero
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Nero
(Nara) |
39 Hayashikojicho, Nara 630-8227 | Nero is a restaurant in Nara serving Japanese styled western food. I had a burger patty meal, but the meat did not turn out well. Like the kobe beef gyoza at Kyoto Gyo-collet, the buger patty had a gamey taste that is unusual for beef. The restaurant had a pretty cool ambience however. I went in the late afternoon and even then they almost turned me down because they were quite full. | No |
Myriam Café
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Myriam Café
(Nara) |
39 Hayashikoujicho, Nara-shi, Nara 630-8227 | Myriam is a petite Japanese styled café in Nara. I had its signature chocolate cake with black coffee, and sat there for an afternoon admiring the non-Japanese lady there speaking fluent Japanese. | Yes |
Moku Kintetsu Nara
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Moku Kintetsu Nara
(Nara) |
Floor 2, 5 Konishicho, Nara 630-8226 | Yakiniku is Japanese grilled meat. You grill the meat at the table in open fire yourself. I really enjoyed my only dinner in Nara there. Needless to say, all beef is Japanese-grown there. | Yes |
Sally’s Kitchen
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Sally’s Kitchen (Kyoto) | 400 Funayacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto 604-8051 (inside the Nishiki Market of Kyoto) | Sally’s Kitchen offers the famous Japanese fruit sando’s. I liked my strawberry sando but perhaps it did not live up to all the hype that surrounds it. | Lukewarm recommendation |
Ichibachosou Kaisentonya
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Ichibachosou Kaisentonya (Kyoto) | 209 Kajiyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto 604-8052 (inside the Nishiki Market of Kyoto) | In Kyoto’s Nishiki Market, Ichibachosou Kaisentonya offers a wide spectrum of sashimi over rice kaisen-don (seafood rice bowl). I ordered uni (sea urchin) and tuna, which are supposedly the higher-end sashimi, but the food was underwhelming. It was not cheap either. | No |
Romantei Lucua
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Romantei Lucua
(Osaka) |
Lucua Food Hall B2 Level | Romantei Lucua is a chain restaurant specializing in beef don (grilled beef over rice). The seasoning was a bit too light at first impression. I added a whole lot of furikake and it was much better. | Lukewarm recommendation |
Oyajino Kushiya Honten
| Restaurant | Location | Comment | Recommendation |
| Oyajino Kushiya Honten
(Osaka) |
2 Chome-4-14 Ebisuhigashi, Naniwa Ward, Osaka, 556-0002 (inside the Shinsekai neighborhood) | Oyajino Kushiya serves a special kind of Osakan food known as kushikatsu, which are skewers deep fried in breaded batter. This restaurant has very interesting ambience and offers more than kushikatsu. I wanted to try it because this type of food typified the Osakan workmen culture as a kind of cheap street food for them. However, it is just not my type of food. | No |
I think what readers can take out of this list is the types of common Japanese food that you should try on your first visit in Japan. Although some of my meals did not turn out so well, the same type of food can be found in other restaurants. If you are quite serious about the local cuisine of Kyoto, certainly look up kyo-kaiseki in your research.