
2025] 15 Recommended Lunches in the Shijo-Karasuma Area
One of the best places to visit in Kyoto is the so-called "Kyoto obanzai" restaurants, where you can enjoy the taste of home and traditional cuisine. Each restaurant has its own specialties and innovations, such as using seasonal vegetables and carefully prepared soup stock.
In this issue, we feature 12 obanzai restaurants in Kyoto recommended by our local editors! You are sure to find the perfect restaurant for you.
Kamigamo Kirin (Kita-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture) is a buffet-style restaurant where you can enjoy a variety of obanzai dishes centering on vegetables from Kamigamo and incorporating many ingredients from Ohara and Miyama. The owner, who is a certified vegetable sommelier, offers a variety of dishes from seasonal vegetables depending on the day. The restaurant also offers a wide variety of dishes served on cute bean plates and other dishes, allowing customers to enjoy the time they spend preparing their dishes as they wish. Inside the restaurant, customers sit around a large table and engage in lively conversation with each other. In addition to the buffet lunch, the take-out Kamigamo bento and daily rice ball bento are also popular.
Buffet lunch 3,000 yen. Enjoy about 15 kinds of obanzai (side dishes) using fresh vegetables such as the famous meat miso fresh green bell pepper, today's dish, onigiri (rice ball), and even dessert!
At Tan (Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture), an affiliate of WAKUDEN, a Japanese restaurant established in 1870, you can enjoy Tango vegetables grown by natural farming methods and homemade rice. The warmth of the wood interior makes you feel as if you are at a friend's house, where you can relax and unwind. The restaurant's "small sincerity," which is the meaning of the Japanese word "tan" (meaning "small sincerity"), is sure to put your mind at ease as you enjoy seasonal ingredients in a peaceful atmosphere. In the evening, you can spend a casual time around the table kitchen on the first floor, enjoying a la carte dishes while sipping Tango's local sake or craft beer.
Tan no sansho filled beef bowl for 3,300 yen. A delightful rice bowl set with seasonal salad and vegetable miso soup. You can also enjoy changing the flavor by pouring the egg topping over the beef bowl on a separate plate.
When you open the door of the Kyoto machiya, a unique world unfolds with vintage clocks, record jackets, and photographer's photos. This popular restaurant offers a wide selection of Japanese sake, and serves obanzai, a dish made with Kyoto ingredients and Western vegetables that goes well with sake. The first floor features a sunken kotatsu-style counter and table seating, while the second floor is a tatami room for a relaxed atmosphere.
Quickly simmered yam soaked in bonito broth, ume plum flavor, 600 yen. The pleasantly slimy and crispy texture is irresistible!
The proprietress opened Seasonal Cuisine and Obanzai Suzu (Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture) about 20 years ago as a restaurant where customers could enjoy obanzai. Her son, Kyosho, who grew up watching his mother's back and naturally became a chef, now joins her in the kitchen and together they run the restaurant. Lined up at the counter are large bowls of freshly prepared colorful obanzai. Many of the dishes are made with seasonal Kyoto ingredients such as Kamo eggplants, Manganji peppercorns, and Kujo leeks, and change daily, making for a rich selection of about 60 dishes in all.
Stir-fried Kujo leeks and chicken with black seven spice 800 yen. Fresh Kujo leeks from Oharano, the owner's hometown, and chicken from Kyoto are used. The homemade sweet sauce made with soy sauce and brown sugar is accented with Hararyokaku's black shichimi.
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