A well-known Kyoto traditional Japanese restaurant with a unique character as the owner, serving bold yet delicate dishes. In today's mass-produced Japanese cuisine scene, some may find the prices to be reasonable for the quality offered. Personally, I feel that the cost performance is high considering the quality of the dishes and ingredients.

A hard-to-book restaurant in Gion. Finally managed to visit after struggling to find an available slot that fit my schedule. The cooking methods were not just unique, but rather eccentric. Many dishes had quite distinctive flavors. I felt that the staff were friendly and hospitable.

Michelin 2-starred Gion Oowatari is a reservation-difficult restaurant with a charming head chef. The course meal takes about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Located a 7-minute walk from Gion Shijo Station and a 12-minute walk from Kawaramachi Station, the restaurant is situated slightly off the main street of Higashioji. The exterior has the charm of an old townhouse, while the interior features a calm space with an 8-seat counter made of a single board, and a small tatami waiting room on the second floor. Head chef Makoto Oowatari trained at the seasonal cuisine restaurant Tsugimura in Osaka and became independent at the age of 34. His hospitality is overflowing, and despite being a popular restaurant, he remains humble and treats everyone with kindness, which is why both regulars and new customers love him. Oowatari brings out the goodness of the ingredients with his rich sensibility, adding genius seasoning that is simple yet delicious in every dish, resulting in a high-level course menu. With plenty of alcohol included, the satisfaction level at 33,000 yen is quite high. The menu includes: - Steamed hairy crab - Mochi whale with burdock dashi and sansho pepper - Somen noodles with peach and caviar - Fried ayu fish with cucumber vinegar - Grilled conger eel with conger eel roe - Grilled swordtip squid with Awaji red sea urchin and salted wasabi - Giji soup - Edamame hirousu with winter melon and grilled eggplant - Charcoal-grilled blackthroat seaperch with yukari black shichimi and ginkgo nuts - Abalone shabu-shabu with potato stems, myoga, and liver soy sauce - Ohara shizutama tamago kake gohan - Warabi mochi - Tea sweets - Matcha The conversation with Oowatari was so enjoyable that I became a fan in just one visit! I definitely want to visit again. This is the omakase course menu.

In Gion, Kyoto, there is a restaurant located north of Higashiyama Yasui, heading west. The building is a renovated traditional Kyoto townhouse with a well-maintained garden and a small room with a counter for 8 seats at the back. Reservations are difficult to secure, so I made mine about 2 months in advance. The meal started with a set course, and the chef created a lively atmosphere with jokes and humor, making the dining experience enjoyable and relaxed. Each dish was carefully prepared and delicious. Some of the highlights included a chilled chawanmushi with crab, tomato, and cucumber, red miso soup with mochi and burdock root, and somen noodles with caviar and peach. The meal ended with abalone shabu-shabu, clay pot rice, and homemade warabi mochi with matcha.

I finally got to visit a restaurant I've always wanted to go to. Every dish was refined and exquisite. Personally, the sweetfish was the most delicious. The chef was very friendly, creating a lively atmosphere for enjoying the meal. The tamagokake gohan (egg over rice) at the end was so delicious that I had multiple helpings!

I was invited to visit a restaurant that starts serving at 5:00 PM. I was excited to see what kind of place it would be, as I heard the chef is humorous. The restaurant had a nice atmosphere, with the old traditional house renovated tastefully. The owner, with blonde hair, and the young, clean staff members were very welcoming. Unlike many famous restaurants in Kyoto that can feel formal and intimidating, the owner here was friendly and made me feel relaxed, allowing me to enjoy the food comfortably. I chose sake to pair with the dishes, and they offered me both a new sake to try and my favorite brand, which made me happy. The food was delicious overall, but the grilled salted ayu fish left the strongest impression. I read in other reviews that the owner's stories were hilarious, and while he didn't constantly engage in conversation, he responded cheerfully to our questions, making him a very likable chef. It was a wonderful restaurant, and even though it will be a while before I can return, I made a reservation for my next visit before leaving. It was a delightful experience with delicious food. Thank you for the meal.

It was my first visit, but the homely atmosphere was amazing! I was a bit apprehensive because it's a famous restaurant in Kyoto, but the perfect distance with the customers made me feel comfortable and not nervous at all haha. No wonder there are so many regular customers! The restaurant received the Tabelog Award 2023 bronze and was selected as one of the top 100 Japanese restaurants in 2023. On Tabelog, it says they don't accept credit cards, but they actually do, so please be aware of the discrepancy in information! I visited on June 15, 2023, and had the following dishes: - Tofu with sea urchin and caviar - Conger eel soup with consommé jelly - Sweetfish, flounder, bonito - Ainame fish soup with octopus, myoga, okra, and taro - Grilled abalone and tomato tempura - Rice with appetizers - Warabimochi (bracken-starch dumpling) and matcha Overall, the portion sizes were just right, and everything was delicious. The way they served the conger eel soup was innovative, and the hot tempura with abalone and tomato was particularly flavorful. The food was not only delicious but the chef's hospitality was fantastic, and it was a fun and interesting experience. If you haven't been, I highly recommend visiting this renowned restaurant. Thank you for the wonderful meal!

We visited a difficult-to-book traditional Kyoto restaurant in May with a budget of 38,000 yen for four men. It was our first time going with just men, and we could tell it threw off the chef a bit. Anyone want to join us next time? We are always captivated by the wonderful atmosphere at Oo-san, where we had delicious dishes like Nanohana beans and other delicacies. The meal included dishes like yam tofu, uni mochi, salted conger eel, fried sweetfish, and more, all with delicate flavors. We also enjoyed two types of rice, white and with egg yolk.

The head chef was fun and friendly, and we had a great time dining there. The dishes featured plenty of fresh spring ingredients like tree buds. I usually don't like miso soup with lees, but the white miso base was delicious. The white rice was also tasty, I had several helpings, haha. TKG was the best!

In April, Mr. Odo (^ ^) started with warm sake due to the return of the cold weather♪ ◆ Steamed sea bream white roe, elegant umami of sea bream white roe♪ ◆ White asparagus jelly with caviar, quail onsen egg, smoked firefly squid. White asparagus cooked in dashi, with the delicious dashi turned into jelly and poured over it ♡ The quail egg has a truffle scent (°▽°)! Delicious dishes that are typical of Mr. Odo♪ ◆ Cherry blossom steamed dish, with red rice, shirauo and konoko inside. The scent of cherry blossom leaves♪ The saltiness of konoko is also nice (o^^o) ◆ Fried sweetfish with wood sorrel sauce, the aroma of sweetfish is nice♡ The wood sorrel sauce is a tangy sauce♪ I personally prefer Worcestershire sauce though ◆ Akashi sea bream and Awaji purple sea urchin, with sea bream skin and kelp on top. Sea bream, sea urchin, and salted kelp make a golden combination♪ ◆ Steamed sea bream roe, cooked elegantly and goes well with sake (*´∇｀*)◆ Sayori and urui with lemon vinegar. Sayori is delicious, but the lemon vinegar is too sour for me◆ Carp soup, the carp is fried and has no fishy smell at all♪ Wonderful umami♡ Elegant and delicious (´∀｀*) ◆ Bamboo shoots, simmered clams, and small clams. Clams are delicious without any strong flavors! The bamboo shoots are sweet and fragrant(^｡^)♪ The dashi was also perfectly to my liking, an excellent dish♡ ◆ Smoked and grilled cherry salmon, white miso with butterbur. The cherry salmon has a crispy skin, but the inside is slightly rare and moist♪ The aroma of cherry wood smoke (*´∀｀*) The idea of eating it with white miso is kind of genius, really delicious! ◆ Nori sole from Yanagawa. I feel like Nori sole tastes better when cooked rather than raw, is it just me? The dashi is also delicious♪ I really like this dish♡ ◆ Meal. White rice, pickles, and firefly squid, with egg over rice from the second cup onwards◆ Warabi mochi, thin tea. Once again, I enjoyed the creatively crafted dishes by Mr. Odo♫ Not everything is to my taste, but there are dishes that are impressively delicious! If you want to eat Japanese cuisine in Kyoto, this is a must-visit restaurant♡ Satisfied and full♡ Thank you for the meal (^｡^)!

Located on the south side of Gion, this high-end Japanese restaurant has received two Michelin stars and boasts a high rating of 4.29 on Tabelog (as of August 17, 2023). However, during my last visit, I found myself questioning the high praise this restaurant has received. In my experience, restaurants that significantly fall short of my personal evaluation compared to their Tabelog score tend to have issues or problems arise after my review. Unfortunately, it seems that our visit last fall confirmed this trend, making it the fourth restaurant after Yamamoto Menkura, Kusakui Nakahigashi, and Sanjo. Despite placing a strong bet on this restaurant, it didn't quite hit the mark, but it was on the right track (bitter smile). It seems that there was some buzz surrounding our mishap, but last fall, the talk of the town was still dominated by Enomoto (Osaka), so our news only made a small splash, if any, with only Yamagencha being mentioned. Whether it's our restaurant or Enomoto, it seems that excessive praise from customers may have been a contributing factor to the incident. Perhaps customers should feel a little embarrassed for praising such restaurants too much. Now, the omakase course we had that day included the following dishes: sea bream shirako (with rapeseed paste), white asparagus jelly (with firefly squid and onsen egg), steamed white fish with cherry blossoms, assorted sashimi (sea bream, sea urchin, sea bream roe), saury (with lemon vinegar), Ise lobster and yamaimo soup (with sake lees and white miso), grilled cherry trout (with butterbur sprout salad), assorted simmered vegetables (bamboo shoots, clams, fava beans), rice with nori, sesame, and sansho pepper, and warabi mochi. The taste of the dishes was somewhat better than last time. However, I was surprised by the excessive saltiness of many dishes on this day. The simmered vegetables and rice dish were overly salty, to the point where I couldn't believe it. Even the Moroko dish was too salty, which was truly surprising. While the sea bream sashimi was delicious and full of umami, I couldn't find any other dishes that impressed me. Similar to my previous visit, the service and atmosphere were excellent. However, there seems to be a tendency to mistake performance for service, and I wonder if they could focus more on the essence of their dishes.

Today, I visited Gion in Kyoto for dinner for the seventh time in four months - looking forward to enjoying spring-inspired dishes and the hilarious Ogiwara Theater (^○^). We started with a variety of mountain vegetables and spring vegetables like bracken, butterbur sprouts, taro sprouts, skunk cabbage, young burdock, spring cabbage, along with sea bream shirako, sillago, saury, rice octopus, firefly squid, cherry salmon, and dishes like seasoned with wood sorrel, cherry blossom steamed dish, and a hot pot of spring clams - all making us feel the arrival of spring. The lively and delicious dishes enjoyed at the Ogiwara Theater with the audience added to the fun of the evening (^○^). Today's menu was 35,000 yen and included dishes like steamed sea bream shirako, butterbur sprouts, bracken, cherry salmon, wood sorrel sauce, cherry blossom steamed dish, sillago, red rice, sea bream with sea urchin, sea bream skin, kombu, saury, young burdock, shiso with lemon vinegar sauce, and many others.

When I went to Kyoto, I visited this restaurant and the kaiseki cuisine here is excellent. I was so focused on enjoying the meal that I forgot to take photos of the dishes, that's how delicious the food was. The atmosphere is also great, and I left feeling very satisfied. I think it's a restaurant that foreigners would enjoy as well. 😊✨

It was delicious! Very delicious! I'm not a big fan of shellfish, but it was really tasty. The chef was as lively as ever. The best part was the egg over rice at the end. The rice was just so good!! And the egg was also incredibly delicious!!

This restaurant offers dishes such as steamed egg custard, red clam paste from Oita, steamed sushi, charcoal-grilled moroko fish, crab shinjo soup, cold flounder and squid, fugu milt salad, eel and daikon radish cooked together, salted managatsuo fish with mixed grain rice, whale soup, milt rice bowl, and bracken rice cakes. With crab season over, they have shifted to winter's end and the beginning of spring ingredients. The food is delicious but expensive.

I visited Gion Ogiya in February. The evening started with a light-hearted conversation with the chef, creating a relaxed atmosphere at the restaurant. The first dish, a simple white dish, was served, showcasing the unique flavors of the Michelin 2-star restaurant. The chawanmushi with "kono ko" hidden inside was a delicacy that perfectly represented the restaurant's ambiance. The crab and yam dish was exquisite, followed by a delightful course of blowfish and shirako. The dish of seirogan and conger eel sauce highlighted the deliciousness of the daikon. The second chef's support was also evident throughout the meal. The seasonally appropriate dish of beans mixed with quinoa and kale was a subtle delight. The meal continued with a crispy whale hotpot, blowfish porridge, and grilled shirako, reaching the peak of satisfaction. It was a thoroughly enjoyable dinner, and I look forward to visiting again this year. If anyone would like to join me, please DM me. The budget is around 42,000 yen. #DeliciousAndEnjoyable #GionOgiya #Kyoto #KyotoCuisine #KyotoDinner #KyotoLunch #KyotoGourmet #KyotoSightseeing #KyotoTravel #Gourmet #ConnectingWithFoodLovers #ConnectingWithKyotoLovers #DeliciousFood #ConnectingWithFoodies #Foodstagram #GourmetStagram #KyotoFoodCrawl #KyotoDate #JapaneseCuisine #HighlyRatedOnTabelog #HardToBookRestaurant #Gion #GionGourmet #GionCuisine #GionDinner #GionLunch #KyotoHardToBookRestaurant #ConnectingWithFoodies #KyotoMichelin

In 2023, a famous Japanese cuisine restaurant in Kyoto with a bronze Foodlog Award and two Michelin stars. Located 500m from Gion Shijo Station. I had heard about this restaurant many times before but finally had the chance to visit thanks to a friend's invitation. The exterior is in the Gion district, with a traditional Kyoto-style two-story building and a noren curtain with three rabbits and the Roman letters "o-watari." The interior exudes a charming Japanese atmosphere, and the 8-seat counter allows you to enjoy the chef's performance. The food was incredibly delicious, with the dashi (broth) leaving a lasting impression. The crab shinjo with dashi was particularly delicious, with a hint of miso hidden inside the crab, creating a wonderful flavor. The combination of miso-marinated sea bass and tangy multigrain rice was also very interesting and delicious. Above all, Chef Owatari's cheerful personality made the atmosphere at the counter naturally joyful and pleasant. It's a welcoming and enjoyable space that even first-time visitors will love. The reason why this restaurant is beloved by regulars was evident. The course menu I had included dishes like chawanmushi, red clam sashimi, grilled Moroko fish, and more, along with two highballs, totaling 43,000 yen. I thought it was a great restaurant, so I won't forget to save it.