• 5
• Lovely vegan set lunch

Location: between Tominokoji-dori & Fuyacho-dori in Nishiki Market, on the north side of the street. There's a restaurant sign on the wall above eye-level that's easy to miss among the distractions of the busy market. Look for the glass door next to a sweet shop vendor. Had our first lunch in Kyoto at Hale in 2013, and kept coming back year after year. After the pandemic shut down travel, we returned in 2023. The lunch set meal was exquisitely prepared and well worth the price for a variety of dishes: soft tofu , pickled veggies, rice bowl, yuba and mushroom soup. The restaurant is tranquil, wood walls and floor, overlooking a small garden, tucked behind the market stalls in Nishiki arcade in a Kyoto townhouse Machiya . Reservations are definitely recommended ; just make a phone call if you can. Several drop in customers were turned away while we were there. Updated from previous review on 2014-10-26