29 Best Restaurants in Kyoto, Japan

Popular Giro Giro has a lively atmosphere, excellent food, and great Takase-gawa River location. Sit at the counter to watch the busy chefs, many of whom have studied at the owner's Paris location, or grab a table upstairs. The set menu changes monthly to showcase seasonal ingredients. The chef's style has been described as "punk kaiseki ryori" cuisine; what this means is that you can have a multicourse, kaiseki-style menu without the strict convention. Expect an elaborate hassun (appetizer) tray followed by seven more courses. You will be hard-pressed to find a better high-end value than these meals. Giro Giro is easiest to find by walking the narrow lane along the Takase-gawa; look for the glow of the massive window a few blocks north of Gojo-dori.

The care lavished on every aspect of dining is unparalleled here, thanks to the conscientious attention of Kikunoi's owner, Yoshihiro Murata, a world-renowned chef and authority on Kyoto cuisine. A lifetime study of French and Japanese cooking, a commitment to using the finest local ingredients, and a playful creative sense make every meal hum with flavor. Once seated in a private dining room, you are brought a small sakizuke, or appetizer, the first of a multicourse meal, all of whose selections are seasonal and decided by the chef. Each is exquisitely presented and unfailingly delicious. Dishes like cedar-smoked barracuda fillets, citrus-infused matsutake mushroom soup, or sashimi served on chrysanthemum petals keenly accord to the nuances of each new season. This restaurant is on the northern edge of Kodai-ji Temple. Lunch is about a third the cost of dinner.

Since 1722 Mankamero's specialty has been yusoku ryori, cuisine intended for members of the Imperial Court. Every step of the meal is incredibly elaborate, down to the ceremonially dressed chef who prepares your dishes using specially made utensils. A dramatic if oddly named course is the "dismembered fish," in which each part of a single fish is prepared and served on pedestal trays, and prices reflect the aristocratic experience. A wonderful take-kago (bamboo box) lunch set contains a series of steamed surprises and is much cheaper than the full dinner. Mankamero is on the west side of Inokuma-dori north of Demizu-dori. Look for the white noren (short curtain) hanging in the doorway.

If you visit Tenryu-ji at lunchtime, consider dining at Shigetsu, within the temple precinct. The tenzo, a monk trained to prepare Zen cuisine, creates a multicourse meal that achieves the harmony of the six basic flavors—bitter, sour, sweet, salty, light, and hot—attributes necessary to balance body and mind. Although you won't partake in the monk's daily helping of gruel, a salted plum, and pickled radishes, you will try vegetarian Zen cuisine at its tastiest. The price for lunch in the large dining area overlooking a garden does not include admission to the garden, however. Open from 11 am to 2 pm. Reservations are required and can be made online.

This old-style soba noodle shop two blocks south of Tenryu-ji Temple sits right in the thick of things and has a splendid view of the river. Feel free to relax on a cushion and face the river while you recharge before visiting your next temple. The tempura comes highly recommended. An English menu is available.

On the road to Kiyomizu-dera, a wooden archway plastered with senja-fuda (name cards pilgrims affix on the entryways to shrines and temples) is the entry to this charming courtyard teahouse that opened in 1910. The specialties here are amazake, a sweet, nonalcoholic sake often served hot with a touch of ginger, and warabimochi rice cakes. The interior is adorned with an eclectic collection of kites and folk dolls.

In contrast to the expensive restaurants favored by tourists, residents seek out just-plain-folks places like this fun one. It's a late-night izakaya specializing in robata-yaki, which is to say it's a casual bar-restaurant with a charcoal grill and great selection of meat, poultry, and vegetable dishes. Here it's common to order several dishes to share. If no tables are available, find a seat at the long counter. The restaurant is two blocks north of Shijo-dori in the heart of Gion. Everything here is ¥390, even the drinks. The friendly men who work here enjoy using their broken English with tourists.

The estate of a former prime minister has been turned into a kaiseki (multicourse-meal) restaurant, and the stroll garden by landscape artist Ogawa Jihei ensures wonderful views by day or night. The century-old traditional structure, between the Kamo and Takase rivers, suits the delicate tasting courses served by kimono-clad women.

Patrons enter this restaurant through a dark-blue curtain on the east side of Shinmachi-dori. The design inside is pure contemporary, minimalist, and sleek. The chef emphasizes Kyoto vegetables in many of the dishes. Because Izama is the restaurant attached to the Mitsui Garden Hotel-Shinmachi, three meals a day are served, and at reasonable prices. Breakfast, Japanese, and Western-style buffets, start at 6:30 am.

Vegetarian cuisine plays a part in all major Kyoto temples, and one of the most scenic restaurants in which to sample it is in the southwestern section of Daitoku-ji. The monastic shojin ryori cuisine here is served in luminous red-lacquer bowls at low tables in the temple garden (beware the mosquitoes in summer) or inside if the weather is inclement. Another branch of Izusen outside the east (main) gate serves the same excellent cuisine but has table seating.

Kazariya has been serving tea and aburi mochi—charcoal-grilled and skewered rice-flour cakes dipped in sweet miso sauce—for centuries. You can enjoy the treats under the eaves of 17th-century houses as you watch visitors proceeding to and from the Imamiya Shrine. Kazariya is just outside the shrine's eastern gate, northwest of Daitoku-ji.

Tempura and tofu hot pots cooked at the table are staples at this attractive two-story restaurant along the tree-lined Philosopher's Path. Try the Kisaki nabe, which includes pork, chicken, beef, chrysanthemum leaf, shiitake mushrooms, and spinach. Though like the nabe some dishes include meat, this is essentially a tofu house whose cuisine is centered on fresh vegetables, including plenty of pickles and seaweed. The hospitable, English-speaking owner, Emiko, will cater to special requests.

The unpretentious vibe, the sense of adventure, and the superb cuisine—Japanese-based, with European and other Asian influences—have made Manzaratei a local favorite. Depending on the season, the ample menu includes handmade soba, oven-roasted chicken, or spring rolls with citrusy ponzu dressing. Outdoor dining in warm months and counter seating on both floors of the two-story town house facilitate mingling with other patrons; for a more intimate experience, ask for a table upstairs under the eaves. An English menu is available.

Five generations of chefs have preserved the delicious sukiyaki recipe prepared since 1873 at this restaurant that was among the nation's first to serve beef. A kimono-clad attendant will serve and assist with the dishes cooked at your table. The beef dishes include sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, and oil yaki. All beef is of the highest quality and price, as shoppers buying from the associated shop nearby can attest. The Lunch Course is good value for such high-end dining.

A short walk west of Nanzen-ji's middle gate, Junsei specializes in yudofu (simmered tofu) served in the traditional Kyoto kaiseki style. The beautiful Edo-period building sits among wonderful sculpted gardens; entrance is slightly set back from the road, through a small gate with two lanterns hanging on either side.

Near Nanzen-ji Temple, Kikusui serves elegant kaiseki ryori (traditional cuisine) with an aristocratic flair. Dine on tatami mats at low tables or at table-and-chair seating, all overlooking an elegant Japanese garden. The subtle flavors of the set menus are embellished by the setting, where in spring a canopy of pink-and-white cherry blossoms accents a meal, and in autumn the fiery red-and-orange maples highlight the warm flavors. Kyo-no-aji, smaller versions of kaiseki ryori served for lunch, make it possible for you to savor Kikusui's elegant setting and fine cuisine for less than half the price of dinner. This restaurant seats 200, yet the serene garden view makes it feels cozy and intimate.

The country-style exterior of this popular noodle shop near the Philosopher's Path echoes the hearty fare served within. Men means noodles; the O is honorific, appropriately so. The ingredients are served separately with a small bowl of fresh sesame seeds for you to sprinkle as liberally as you like. You can dine on stools at the counter, chairs at tables, or tatami mats. Reservations are accepted only on weekdays.

This branch of the famed soba noodle shop is convenient to the downtown shopping area, just across the river from Gion. It's a perfect place to drop in for a lunch of udon noodle soup with a liberal sprinkling of sesame seeds.

An adventurous menu sets this restaurant inside a 150-year-old town house apart from its competition. The chef here goes to the market daily and improvises based on what's fresh. Charcoal-color walls, wooden staircases, and a great view of the Kamo River provide an elegant setting for dishes like sea urchin in wasabi broth, grilled river fish, and the ever-popular kami-nabe, a hot pot made of treated paper and cooked on an open flame at your table: it's mesmerizing and tasty. Deck seating is an option during the summer.

Nestled along the atmospheric Pontocho Alley, this establishment's black-and-white latticed storefront with a lantern above the door conceals a vegetable lover's paradise. The dining area is raised with sunken seating, allowing customers to view the busy chefs in the open kitchen. For a survey of typical Kyoto dishes, opt for the Obanzai course menu. The cooks here bring out the flavors of local organic vegetables, fish, and meats with a conspicuously restrained hand, creating flavors so light they seem to float in your mouth. Suishin, meaning "drunken heart," is a popular chain with other branches around the city.

Here's a good spot to take a tea-and-sweets break while wandering the stone-laid streets of the Gion district. The house specialty is warabimochi, made from yomogi (steamed and pounded rice and mugwort). The sweet, which has a gelatinlike consistency, is served on a heap of golden kinako, toasted and powdered soybeans. The restaurant also serves ice cream along with other Japanese sweets.

After a long day of sightseeing there is nothing better than a hearty bowl of ramen, and this place is one of the best in Kyoto. Great choice of rich broths (pork, chicken, soy sauce, salt, miso), reasonably priced, plus there's an English menu. Don't forget to order the excellent gyoza dumplings too.

Inspired by the classic food movie Tampopo (1985), directed by Kyoto-born Juzo Itami, this ramen shop's soups are well made and satisfying. The restaurant, part of a chain from Hokkaido, is well located, even offering a view of a rock garden.

Nestled among the backstreets of northwest Kyoto, Tozentei emphasizes to-the-letter traditional Japanese cooking. The meals here, made with only local produce, are old-school enough to please a shogun. A wooden wall with a low gate fronts this intimate hideaway that fits only 12. Lunch is less pricey than dinner.

Enjoy fine traditional fare inside this distinctive red and wooden-latticed machiya-style townhouse in the heart of Gion. If you snag one of the counter seats, then the chefs prepare everything right in front of you. Dishes comprise high-quality fresh and seasonal local produce, so that means ingredients such as bamboo shoots in the spring, ayu (a succulent and small freshwater fish) in early summer, and matsutake mushrooms in the fall. The mini-kaiseki lunch costs less than half the price of dinner.

Along one of the centuries-old exit roads from the city into the mountains, this roadside inn is beloved for its multicourse kaiseki ryori dinners, duck hot pots, boar stew, and boxed lunches with mountain potatoes and barley rice. There were seven roads that led out of the city, and wayside inns such as Yamabana Heihachi-Jaya provided travelers with food and respite before the long trek ahead. On the bank of the Takano River, it is one of the more picturesque examples.

Adjacent to an inn of the same name, Yoshikawa serves multicourse kaiseki ryori lunches and dinners. The beautifully presented meal includes soup, vegetables, grilled or baked fish, and a light, crisp tempura that is the house specialty. Roasted duck is available for those who don't eat raw fish. Tempura dinners include 13 pieces of fried fish, meat, and vegetables. A special shabu-shabu set is offered to hotel guests, and a visit by a maiko or geiko can be arranged by the hotel staff. The establishment boasts a breathtaking Enshu-style landscaped garden that greatly complements this truly elegant experience.

Amid Arashiyama's lush bamboo forests, this quiet retreat offers a fine example of hot-pot tofu yudofu cooking. The set meal includes delicacies such as abura-age (fried tofu with black sesame seeds), tempura vegetables and shrimp, and Kyoto's famous Morita tofu. The service is leisurely and elegant, and most tables have garden views. Both floor and chair seating are available. The owner is an enthusiast of the bamboo shakuhachi flute. Its dulcet tones accompany meals.