All day dining RAQOU — Restaurant in Kyoto

My second visit to this restaurant was on Jun18 and it gave me a WOW factor. What makes this place so remarkable is their effort in elevating every detail from food to service, making my second visit even more impressive. The dish that wowed the most is the Pasta with Okra and Edamame. The olive oil is infused with chili, garlic and bonito flakes, it gave a nice kick to the palate and woke up all my taste buds. Even though it is a pasta, it serves well as an appetizer. Margherita pizza is another Wow. The pizza dough is soft and moist, the mozzarella is nice. The temperature is right. Onion Blancmange with Corn Puree is another wow. I like this starter. The puree is silky smooth and the balanced sweetness goes so well with the onion. Pressed sushi with Unagi and Sansho really wowed me at the first bite. It is elevated with the sauce and a stronger distinctive flavor of Sansho. The taste is mind blowing. Tempura is fantastic. The frying temperature is spot on to make it so soft and crispy. The shrimp is delicious but the star is the Magochi, the tender texture and umami, subtle flavor makes it more delicate than fugu. Eggplant with meat sauce is elevated. The meatsauce and the topping cheese sent the taste to the next level. For sushi, I like Ika the most, while Ikura, Kampachi and Tamago are all good. Dessert is a major highlight. If you like the American way, I would suggest the sweet pastry. Apple lattice pie is good and it tastes even better if you put it in the heater. Getting a scoop of Yogurt or Vanilla ice cream to go with the apple pie is a perfect American style to end your meal. If you like the French way, I would have Matcha Milk Kakigori first, then a sponge cake. To finish, it has to be a Chocolate Cremia and a Lamington. Pistachio and berries mousse is also delicious. The contrast of sweetness of pistachio and the tartness of berries is a brilliant concept. On service, the chef team is remarkable. Sushi chef Yoshida is providing attentive service in small details, as little as how to brush the soy sauce so you know how to perfectly eat the sushi. This kind of service and attention is normally only available at a star rated sushiya. Matsumoto san provides great service and details to my Danzai noodles. Kurosaki san is taking great care of my tempura order and spent good effort in letting me know the fish he uses. Kawakatsu san and Shibasaki san are smart. It is not just that they prepare the best pizza and pasta, their service is beyond the stoves. When I queued up, Shibasaki san would spot my presence and take orders so as to minimize the waiting time. Last but not least, the waitress serving my table was particularly nice. Her presence, gesture and etiquette reminds me of one of those waitresses in a 3-star Kaiseki restaurant.

Will I go again? A big...

I went for the dinner buffet on Jun12. In general, it is a surprise on the upside for its culinary innovation, varieties and culinary skills.This restaurant offers a lot of choices in small dishes, the presentation is like a tasting menu style. I like the Roast Pork the most. It is cooked to perfect temperature, the meat has a good fat ratio, it melts in your mouth. Anago with sansho oshizushi is absolutely delicious. The red Perch fish with corn tastes better than it looks, especially if you add a drop of fresh lemon juice on it. The Hamo with plum sauce is nice. Dashi Chazuke with Tsukemono is a must try. The curry and the Hachidaime Gihee rice is fantastic. The cutlet burger may taste better if the bun is toasted with a bit of butter. The sushi is nice. It will definitely taste even better with more vinegar in the rice. The roast beef is stunning. The soy sauce based sauce is delicious. Steak teppanyaki is great. Even the beef is a lean cut, it has great texture and flavour. The Danzai noodle is delightful. I would suggest a try of the savory bread. Mentaiko, Blue Cheese with prosciutto and Sweet miso focaccia with cream cheese are all very good. Dessert is a highlight. The Sponge cake is absolutely delicious. Panna cotta with tomato is an interesting combination. Macha swiss roll is great. Lamington is good. The Macha milk kakigori is so good that I have to repeat. The cremia ice cream is a must try. The chocolate flavor is so well balanced. It is the best dessert to close a meal. I am amazed by several chefs with their passion at work. Yoshida san at the sushi section impressed me a lot with his service. He always tries his best to assist. Also Matsumoto san, Nakajima san are all very attentive. At the bar, Hata san always serves with a smile. She is great. Every time I went to the dessert section, Iino san always served with a smiley face. Her passion at work makes the desserts taste even better. The buffet exceeded my expectations. I like their variety and the composition of their menu and combination of every dish. The chefs also serve with passion. If they can keep their side dish, such as the potato of the roast beef and the corn of the steak hot, it will be perfect. At 5pm, every dish is cooked at prime and perfect temperature, I would suggest you to go early as the second service or refills may be slightly dry. If you want the best roast beef, you have to go early. Will I come again?...

It was my third visit to this restaurant on Jun 24. What keeps me from coming back again and again is their quality, service and consistency. I see the chef team has a lot of hearts with the details of their menu.

For the May/June menu, I have a lot of appreciation. As they are changing the menu soon in July with a Meat Theme, I am not talking a lot about their June menu. However, on my third visit, I was very impressed with their grilled steak. It was a prime Rib eye cut, with perfect fat ratio, and it was served at the best temperature. Tempura was great, the ingredients and serving temperature was impeccable. They also update the salad bar, and I like the pumpkin in particular. For the dressing, they also change the lemon dressing to beets, which is equally a good choice for summer time.

From salad, cold dishes, hot dishes, pasta, pizza, roasted beef, grilled steak, consomme, tempura, noodle, sushi, curry and desserts, the restaurant has maintained a high quality of consistency and sometimes with a twist. That shows a lot of hearts with their products.

Manager Yoshida is very polite and professional. I am very impressed.

For their service, Morita san served so well at the tempura counter, he even showed me the fish ingredients, Magochi, they used for tempura. Fukunaga san and Kawakatsu san are very friendly chefs. They even tried to do some social talking with me, particularly Kawakatsu san, he was talking to me while he was grilling steak for me. Even when he is cooking, he never misses the temperature. On several occasions, he always gave me perfect Medium, which is the best for Rib eye with decent fat. Iino san and Hata san are all very nice at the dessert counter and the bar taking my orders. On service, Kitajima san is first class. Not limited to my table but she is providing top class service to all the tables she served. All these admirations count twice herr, my table has 2 people, and it is a unanimous impression for all their supreme excellency.

As a returning guest, I would rate the June menu as a great success. I am inspired by the culinary innovations, varieties, quality and service.

I have to try the July menu which has a Meat theme and I believe it will be very...