Bruno Abreu

Tokuha Motonari opened in December 2023, and before completing its first anniversary, it had already become impossible to book online.

The chef comes from Wakuden, arguably the finest school for Kaiseki in Kyoto. As with other restaurants led by Wakuden alumni, you can expect a Kaiseki meal with creative touches while remaining true to the essence of Kyo-ryouri—lightly seasoned and elegantly presented.

The specialties are the dishes prepared over a hearth with binchotan. These included kuruma shrimp, used in the owan soup (a missed opportunity, as the smoked notes don’t carry over to the dashi), sawara yuanyaki, Kagoshima wagyu with hachi miso and narazuke pickles, and salt-grilled sanma for the final rice dish.

It was a long meal, lasting over two hours. The food was delicious, and the counter is one of the most beautiful in Kyoto. It's easy to see why it's so popular. Less

Popular restaurant for Japanese “spice curry” in Ginza. There’s often people lining up outside, but it moves fast and the wait on a Saturday at lunch time was about 20 minutes.

The most ordered item is the double curry dish with keema and chicken curry with rice and pickles. The keema is cooked in red wine, which gives it an interesting flavor, combined with the traditional indian spices. The rice is Japanese rice with turmeric.

The curry was good, but nothing special. The “Murugi Lunch” at Ginza Nair nearby is still my first choice when it comes to a good curry in this area. Less

Top-tier sushi that checks all the boxes for me: a beautiful hinoki counter, interesting tsumami, sour rice, excellent fish, and a fun chef who engages with guests.

The concept is "acid and fat," which translates to sour rice and fatty fish. Only white vinegar is used for the rice, as the chef understands that red vinegar adds more umami, while white vinegar provides a sharper acidity. However, a small amount of red vinegar, specifically Fuji vinegar from Kyoto, is used to wet the chef's fingers when forming the nigiri.

The tsumami included a rich fried oyster with balsamic vinegar and tara shirako with dashi, both of which were outstanding. The nigiri highlights tonight were the kawahagi, anago with a delicate sprinkling of salt flakes, and a unique deep-fried eggplant piece Less

They have a tasting menu for 70 euros that looked interesting, but since I wasn't very hungry, I ordered à la carte.

Starters were smoked quail egg with chestnut and ham and a tartlet of minhota (Portuguese version of the Rubia Galega beef) with pickles. Main dish was sweetbreads with grapes and an hollandaise sauce with smoked eel. For dessert, mushrooms ice cream with caramel and crunchy barley. Everything was creative and really tasty. Less

A yakiton restaurant popular with the locals in Kyoto. Still easy to book, but it was full tonight so reservation is a must.

The focus is on pork horumon (offal), which I found that I’m not a huge fan of. I had, among other things, stomach, heart, uterus and cartilage. Easier to enjoy was the tsukune (meatball) of minced pork and chicken. I had both the common version with egg yolk and one with a slice of cheddar and grana padano on top.

Natural wine is another specialty of this restaurant, but unfortunately the only options by the glass are tetrapak wine (white, orange and red). There’s an all you can drink option of shochu hi, beer and sake though. Less