Barraca — Restaurant in Kyoto

This Spanish restaurant is so delicious we ate dinner there twice! Our host, Chef Kiyo, was thoughtful and accommodating, and his food was superb.

After talking with him in the afternoon to make a reservation and discuss the options for dealing with my food allergies and celiac disease, he was kind enough to print a menu just for the evening listing all of the gluten-, soy- and dairy-free options available to me. At Barraca, there was far more than one safe thing for me to eat. In Japan I'm turned away from restaurants more than welcomed, so this was a rare thing indeed. Chef Kiyo really does care about a personal experience for his customers and for himself.

Why don't you start with the artful smoked Okinawan pig's liver, which is like a smoky-tender foi gras, with a glass of dry sherry? The Spanish ratatouille was a standout, but there wasn't anything we tried that we wouldn't recommend. The pork stew was comfort food with pizazz, just like I remember it from Barcelona. And though the seafood and Valencian paellas we're plate-scrapingly good, we were enchanted by the hint of bitter mixed with clove-like sweet of the caramelized onions in the sardine and...

The atmosphere is good. I lived in Spain for 12 years and it felt like Spain. The food was ok - I had the paella. Dessert was great though.

What was weird is that the other tables seemed to be getting food that we could not order. We were given the English menu (despite me speaking Japanese) and when we snuck a couple of items from the Japanese menu daily specials we were told they weren’t available. The whole night it felt like we were getting a different experience. I wouldn’t go back...

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food at this paella restaurant. Everything from bread, salad, soup, paella, to desserts were all superb. Even better than most of the highly rated restaurants in Spain. Service was great and very fast. Portions are big to Japanese standard. I highly recommend giving this...