Bon On Shya Cafe — Restaurant in Koya

The food at this vegetarian restaurant is very delicious. Makes you challenge what you might have thought vegetarian food could be. Tasty drinks, wonderful deserts. Completely enjoyable.

The couple that runs this restaurant had been very kind to me and a friend on our first trip to Japan. My friend had to go see a doctor due to a condition with his foot, and the doctor spoke very limited English, I spoke very limited Japanese, and my friend only knew a few phrases. The couple that runs this restaurant are a man from Japan who spoke fluent Japanese and French and a woman from France who spoke fluent English and French. Long story short, a memorable game of "telephone" ensued and the situation got under control. Unfortunately it was our last day there so we could not visit the cafe on that trip.

However, on our next trip to Japan, we sought out this restaurant. The couple then had added a daughter to the family. The first night in town we went there and there was some incredible music being performed in the cafe, which also has incredible acoustics. We were very impressed.

We finally got an opportunity to dine there and were not disappointed with the food at all. Everything was tasty. The menu changes on a frequent basis. I strongly recommend a visit to Bon-on-sha when...

There’s only one two types of cake for breakfast nothing else which we were fine with. The gentleman that owns the restaurant a complete sweetheart he showed us how to play some instruments that were native to his culture but when his wife cafe came the atmosphere shifted we had placed the instrument down and didn’t realize there was a buckle that needed to be closed she started saying to us oh it’s wet the humidity is going to ruin it when we had literally used it for 5 minutes. I apologized but her demeanor was so cold you can tell when people are talking about you in a different language. Complete 180 different experience than all of Japan and you can tell she’s European or something therefore I can see why doesn’t embrace the Japanese culture. I would better recommend the cafe next to the pharmacy best curry best ramen and many selections for breakfast....

What a precious little gem! 💎

We discovered this place on a rainy and cold day.

The menu is simple and doesn't offer many options but we didn't need more as they had everything we wanted & needed.

There was only 1 option for cake. I believe that's their normal approach and the cake changes daily.

Ours was ginger & nuts and we found it to be perfectly baked. Very delicious.

They had decaffeinated coffee, which is something I have been struggling to find for over 2 weeks (I have only found in 1 very fancy hotel).

The food was served in the most beautiful pottery. More: the entire cafe was a bit of an exhibition of the pottery of 2 local master artisans. Hearing the owner talking about the artisans to other customers was beautiful.

I loved the furniture, so unique and warm.

And the personnel are super kind.

They made our souls and...