Daitokuji Ikyu - Kyoto

This place is located in a Japanese tempel garden. the seats are in Japanese style. everything is Japanese style. with how to eat is served in small dishes. everything is so incredible. must be here when they visit japan!

A great experience of the schojin ryori kitchen, with a wonderful service. visit the daitokuji tempel then a meal at this place to enjoy another taste of japan

The third and last stop for this neophyte Zen vegetarian on a pilgrimage to discover Japanese vegetarian cuisine or to discover the original Japanese cuisine was daitokuji ikkyu. beside another famous tempel, his name encoder, Daitoku-ji, it is today more than the manufacturer of black and dry fermented soy beans called daitokuji natto known,[22] ikkyu also served an adopted honzen roori of two suppen and five like the other two restaurants. as typical of this style, rice and suppe were served on the first tablet, along with others directed so that the diner could pair the salty dishes with rice instead of going what was only appropriate in a temple setting. instead of pure rice, ikkyu cooked the rice with nutritious mukago (baby yams) slightly, so that the subtle aroma of earthy mukago could be sweetened with its soft baby skin. the white mistsuppe was creamy and rich as a pot: in which pieces of gluten, daikon ray and Japanese taro were cut into a circle, a square and a hexagon to sign Buddhist principles. the flat plate was composed according to the schojin ryori principle of five colors: the white and the pink of the pick-shaped radishes, the orange of the jam of kumquat, the black of the grilled mushroom and daitokuji fu (a grilled gluten) and the green of the sprinkled seaweed. not only visually appealing, before the discovery of vitamins and minerals, which counts the colors delivered a simple lead for nutrition. Then, as if the diners awake from the lethargic slum of the cold winter, the rapini in yellow senf stimulated the tons with a whirlwind of aromen – sweet, tangy, bitter and spicy at once. it was sweet and yet not saccharin, spicy, without being overwhelming, and the controlled use of edgy strengthens every taste to maximum. it was a great hommage to gomi – the principle of five aromes: sweet, salty, acidic, spicy and bitter. after he raises the palate to a new Zen Height, the next several dishes sadly, forced it back to earth. the signature burdock raft was batter-fried burdock sticks, whose originality was in washing off the oil after roasting. less oily, certainly, but the laundry turned the fried burdocks sticks in limp and lumpy logs.

Delicious schojin ryori cuisine. we paid about 4000 ¥ per person, but eating was amazing and we were served in a private space by the most dedicated employees of all time. we sat on Tatami mats, the chef went out to introduce himself and overall this restaurant really made us feel like the imperial of japan.

We've eaten here twice, maybe 3 times and it is always pleasant. The presentation and flavours are lovely and the setting is too super traditional tatami mat rooms with tiny traditional chairs that for some reason always make me feel like I've been reborn as Japanese royalty. They have a splendid zen garden outside but every time we go there the doors are closed, to keep out either the heat, the cold or the mosquitoes... so you'll see the garden on the way in and out but will eat your meal looking at the wall and the sparsely furnished zen minimalist room. If you haven't been to any other shojin eateries I wouldn't recommend this as your first ever experience, if only because it's severely overpriced and you can get more for less elsewhere. I also don't really like the way they objectify foreigners here they're never rude (quite the contrary, it's more an issue of over-politeness), but they just refuse to speak to me as though I'm an actual person despite the fact that I actually speak native level Japanese if only given a chance to open my mouth. Rant over though, that's probably just a cultural thing and the way they treat us is no doubt a reflection of their experiences with foreigners to date (or perhaps the lack of), plus a desire to please. They are famous here for a particular type of fermented soybean (natto). Surprisingly it doesn't feature prominently in their meals, but apparently it is used in their cooking. Our theory is that their natto fame may be behind the cheeky prices. If you'd like to take your own slice of zen away with you, the natto beans are available for sale in the street-side store outside. We're always feeling decidedly broke after dishing out for our meal, so are yet to venture that far. Next time, perhaps.