Renkonya

A very local place, no tourists (except for us). Amazing home cooked food. Dishes are small so you get to try lots of things. Primarily vegan and vegetarian a few meat fish dishes. We have had a lot of great food in Japan but this is one of the best .

Visited February 2020

I visited here with my fiancée on Friday night. I was expecting a small Izakaya, but there was space at the back sitting on tatami mats. The place is run by a family of women who cook some beautiful homemade food. They had numerous English menus and were very helpful and friendly to us tourists. Thi...s was one of my favourite dining experiences in Japan

Visited December 2019

From the outside it looks like a 'hole in the wall' - inside there's enough space for a very small open kitchen run by 'Mum' and seats/floor for a max. of 20 people. Orders are small so you get to try many different dishes, sometime twice because you can't resist having more. Our first delivery was... Japanese peppers topped with minced sardine. Stunning - with no too strong a taste from either element. And on it went, course after course containing plenty of vegetables (which we love) until we were done. The place proves, you don't have to be big or have a top gun chef to gain devoted fans like us.

Visited May 2019

We have been searching for an authentic, real, Japanese dinner since we arrived in Kyoto. It has been so difficult to find. We are a couple who trys to avoid heavily populated tourist areas so tonight we are so excited to review the most authentic dinner we have had not only in kyoto but in Japan. F...rom the outside it is easily missed as there are no english signs for promotion. You enter to find 4 tables 2 on a tatame mat and a bar. Greeted and seated you can choose from a seasonal menu with English translation. We ordered the, eggplant and herring, grilled broadbeans, bamboo shoot and seaweed, sardines, dried macarell, shitake mushrooms, deep fried tofu and ginger, rice accompanied with beer and sake! You can see the lady make the food fresh in front of you and within 5 minutes we had our first course! It was so cosy and warm we didn't want to leave. So much so that we will be heading back tomorrow! If it is an authentic experience you are after look no further! All up we paid $66! Love this place!

Visited April 2017

While in Kyoto I wanted to try obanzai or Kyoto home cooking. I found this place on a blog and had our hotel reserve for us. We sat at the counter. There are a couple of tables with western chairs as well as a couple of tables on tatami mats (where you sit on the floor). Not a large place which mak...es sense as the owner is doing all of the cooking herself. Obanzai typically involves at least some dishes that are already prepared and sitting on the counter. You can simply point at them (if you are lucky enough to be sitting at the counter). There are two menus, one that has the dishes always on offer and another with that days specials. The main menu is in english and the specials menu on the day we were there was mostly translated. We ordered one dish that wasn't translated just to try it and it turned out to be shirasu (baby anchovies/whitebait) which my husband likes. Other dishes we enjoyed were the namesake lotus root with mustard, the beef simmered in soy sauce, sardines and black pepper, grilled peppers, baked flat fish, beef and potato stew and shitakes in vinegar. We shared two bottles of sake. The young woman serving us was very friendly as was the owner. It was great being able to watch the owner cook and to see all she could do with her tiny kitchen. Very local place. Highly recommended!

Visited October 2016