• 5
• Best place we ate in 2 weeks

Contemporary Shojin cuisine with a fair price for the quality, variety and ethos. There is a branch in Okinawa as well apparently, and at the time of our visit the Kyoto branch had been open for only 2 months or so. You wouldn't have known though, the whole team are obviously passionate, friendly and knowledgeable about everything they do. Our host spoke perfect English (and presumably Japanese and his native Italian as well) and gave a full description of each dish as well as bringing the tapas options to view before ordering. We had tapas to start. I had a pasta dish with a Japanese twist while my partner had the faux-fried fish tofu (something we have tried back in the UK). The wine list looked very nice but the house white was perfectly good too and a fair price. It was slightly hazy but this was deliberate as they did not use conventional finings to clear the wine (I am used to hazy homebrew wine however I thought I would note this for other diners who might be concerned about veggie/vegan wines). Chocolate cake for pudding and I had a sake (which again was described expertly by our server.) The ambience is very nice inside with a good view of the kitchen. We turned up fairly early for dinner which is probably advisable if you aren't making reservations. There is another well reviewed vegan place in Kyoto that the one time we visited was already fully booked before opening - I can see this place doing just as well. Even for a low-moderate budget, it is worth treating yourself here at least once if you are in Kyoto. We look forward to coming back... at some point!