To. — Restaurant in Kyoto

That morning, I had the rare chance to enjoy an incredibly hard-to-book brunch in Kyoto. The food was so delicious and memorable that I couldn’t help but ask if there were any dinner reservations available for that same evening. Although dinner wasn’t open that night, the chef at brunch kindly offered to reserve a seat for me for the following day’s dinner. And just like that, I extended my stay in Kyoto by one more night.

The dinner service was led by a different head chef, and it was just as impressive. I ordered the ¥6,000 omakase course, to my surprise and delight, was seated at the exact same spot as my brunch the day before.

I enjoyed four perfectly paired drinks throughout the evening, and the meal concluded with a Kyoto-style umeshu Prosecco cocktail, alongside a sake-infused Italian-style ice cake—a flawless finale.

The kitchen team consisted of just three people: the head chef and two assistants. Their pace was impeccable, and every guest received attentive, personalized care. As I was preparing to settle the bill, the chef suddenly mentioned that he had been sitting among the guests during brunch the previous day. Knowing I had reserved dinner, he had specially arranged for me to sit in the same seat again.

When I returned to my hotel and looked through the photos and notes from the evening, I realized they had even prepared a personalized English menu just for me. Every course was thoughtfully explained in English, despite the language barrier—and with such care. I was just a traveler passing through, and yet they treated me with such sincerity and heart. It was truly moving.

I hope one day I can return to Kyoto, sit at that same spot again, and savor every dish crafted with such thoughtfulness.

And yes—thank you, too, to that umbrella during the sudden...

Sorry but no. Just no. We had 6 dishes, 1 was wonderful, 2 were mid, 3 were bad to un-edible. 2 dishes had so much raw sichuan peppercorns (Chinese pepper) our mouth went numb (totally serious). On the 3rd we just stopped eating and counted ~30 raw peppercorn in the sauce! No idea what the chef was thinking. really. Tofu dish was really good (but we tasted similar dishes along the trip)

Regarding service, they were all very nice and welcoming, but service wasn't good. We ordered wine, it tasted completely spoiled and sour. Not just a little bit, even the guy next to us said its so cloudy its obviously been open for a while. We told the staff and they said it's supposed to be sour. That's it, they left us with our wine (which we obviously didn't touch). When we left a half-dish with a whole bunch of separated peppercorns on the side no one flinched as well.

For half the price this still would've been unacceptable, let alone for the expensive chef-experience they charge you for.

(took me 2 weeks to write this review, they all seem nice with good intentions but as it stands I wouldn't recommend anyone...

Modern Izakaya located in a small street, clients are mostly young locals having chilled conversations (couples, small groups of friends…) which creates a very comfortable atmosphere. The restaurant has 3 high tables for two people and a bar for 9-10 people. The menu seems tailored by seasons and the market conditions which makes the dinner more special, the selection of drinks is also interesting with some wines and selected beers. The staff explains everything clearly and most of the dish preparations happen at the bar in front of the clients. The food is delicate and tries to have some “fusion” points mixing typical japanese ingredients and some more “european” preparations. There are some vegetarian dishes but also some meat (haunt) options. Out of curiosity we tried also the French fries and I have to recognize that, probably because the used oil, the lack of oily feeling, perfection on the cooking and the seasoning made me feel like having the best...