Katsu — Restaurant in Kyoto

We went there on a whim, and in typical tourist fashion we arrived half an hour before they were ready to open. They kindly asked us to wait patiently, but welcomed us in 10 minutes early.

They were very gracious hosts, and we were treated like guests in their home. We sat at a large table with the cooking tray ready to go (nice and warm on a cold night) where they offered us a menu with easy to follow English translations. The lady was kind enough to guide us through the menu, and offer us her recommendations.

The food is cooked in front of you, and was entertaining to watch. They present the food for you immediately as it’s cooked, so if you’re hungry you should definitely order some sides. The buttered corn and garlic buttered potatoes we ordered were delicious and served piping hot, and I could have easily eaten another serving.

The yakisoba was great, the noodles had a nice, firm texture and the sauce was very flavourful. But the okonomiyaki stole the night, absolutely the best we’ve ever had- we were devastated when it was over and we discussed ordering another, but regretfully decided not to be too greedy.

A nice big bottle of Sapporo to savour the experience was the cherry on top.

The prices were extremely reasonable, costing us less than 5000 yen (edit: my wife just corrected me, was actually under 3000 yen) We have spent much more for much less during our stay here, for sure.

Would recommend to anyone visiting Kyoto, and we hope that we can make it back here...

Delicious food and wonderful service at a decent price. We were waiting outside before the place opened at 5:30pm and one of the owners noticed us waiting in the cold and invited us in early so we didn't have to wait until opening time. The gracious service started from that point and continued through our whole meal. It's a very homely restaurant owned and operated by a cute couple who cook and serve all by themselves. They had an English menu and they took the time to explain the popular items. We had two types of okonomiyaki ( combination and Shrimp) and it was absolutely delicious - best we've had in Kyoto. We also had the fried Asparagus and it was so good we ordered another round. We had Yuzu mixed sake and plum wine with soda, which were both mixed well so we ordered a second round of those as well. Once the place officially opened for the evening, it got busy quite quickly as it's very popular with the locals. They offered to take a picture of us and always refilled our water promptly amidst the busy restaurant. It was a very homely dining experience with delicious food, courteous service, and value prices. Would highly recommend taking the (possible) detour to dine here! There are lots of shrines and temples in the area to check...

Update: Visited again a year later and Kasuaki-san and Chizu-san were delighted to host us for another outstanding meal. This time we had a round of Yebisu draft beer and it paired perfectly!

My Wife and I found this hidden gem after a short walk from Kinkaku-ji temple. We showed up right before they opened at 11:30am - thankfully we did as other guests joined shortly after. The owners Kasuaki-san and Chizu-san were very welcoming and were very excited to speak to us (americans) in English. Before entering we were required to sanitize our hands and wait to be seated at the grill with ventilation, and a plastic barrier to separate us from any other customers sitting next to us - this was great many restaurants have a small piece of plastic that wouldn't do anything, this was very reassuring.

For the important bit, we ordered two items, the combination (pork, squid, octopus) + cheese okonomiyaki, and the pork yakisoba. Both meals were outstanding and were incredibly filling and for a bargain price of 1000¥ and 500¥ respectively, even better was 500¥ draft beer to go with it! 10/10 recommend to anyone visiting Kyoto, seek no other...