Hyoutei Main store

Had a great 2 michelin dinner here. Garden ambience and dinner is in private rooms. Very zen and posh Dinner is a 10 course affair in typical kyoto kaiseki style. Every dish is very good to excellent. And service of course sublime. Seems to be family run 9/10

Visited May 2025

This is the typical establishment that makes me wonder why we ever go to 3-star restaurants, unfortunately it is not the first time we were disappointed by the best... Let me go through the good and the bad of Hyotei though The place: It is charming from the outside. Unfortunately, the room the...y gave us was less than up to standard. The wall was falling apart in places. The A/C was terrible. It blasted arctic air at me from my arm's distance. We did not have a comfortable time at all. The food: We had the full menu, which on paper looked fab. The reality though was very different. The tastes were simply missing, everything was just flat, like what you would expect from a big industrial kitchen, not from a 3-star. There was no spark to anything. No soul. Very disappointing. I would venture to say that it was the worst and at the same time most expensive dinner of our 2 week stay in Japan. The service: This was the best part of the dinner. Like everywhere in Japan, polite, respectful and excluding significant delays from the kitchen, generally very good.

Visited August 2024

One of a kind experience and first time in a 3 Michelin starred restaurant. The vibe was very peaceful, somehow awkward. Maybe the most expensive meal I’ve had in Japan when it comes to the value of food but as what people say, you pay for experience. We were the only non-Japanese in the restaurant ...and most of the time we didn’t understand each other but on the reservation, it also said depending on the day, English service might be limited. Didn’t get a chance to know what I really ate but it was memorable and good to try once. If they have a new breakfast menu, I would try to go back. My hotel concierge helped me book this reservation and when I arrived, I was already greeted by my name which was a pleasant surprise.

Visited November 2023

It is impressive to eat in restaurant that has been around for 450 years. It is nothing like other traditional 3 star restaurants in the world. This is a once in a lifetime experience. The atmosphere is very Zen. The food is excellent off course and the setting is stunning. You eat in a private roo...m and are unaware of other guests . Just mind your head if you are tall, because it is an ancient building.

Visited October 2019

I have been to Japan many times. Kaiseki has always been my favorite. Hyotei offers Cha kaiseki, which is a little bit different from ordinary Kaiseki, despite some modification. Hyotei offers a very unique dining environment. The place is near the Nanzen-ji Temple and very quiet. In the restaurant,... every group of customer has their own room. The decor of the whole restaurant was also very traditional. The most renown food of this restaurant is the Hyotei tamago, which is essentially a semi-boiled egg. The restaurant was a tea house four hundred years ago, when they offered egg and tea for travelers to Kyoto. They still always add this semi-boiled egg to their menu today. The technique of the chef is very good. The taste of food was light. Full of fish and sea food in the menu. If you are a fan of Japanese cuisine, you will love it.

Visited October 2019