Shunkoh Hinaka

I read about this restaurant in Lonely Planet and then the reviews online as well as a blog post and was totally sold on going. We had been in Japan for almost three weeks when we arrived in Kyoto and wanted to try some more modern Japanese food. It took us two days to locate this place. The locatio...n in Google Maps is wrong. When we did locate it, it was in a building with a few other menus posted. Hinaka was written in English - the only English letters - but there were so many other distractions. And even then we had to ask someone in one of the other restaurants because there were no signs or anything indicating which door was for Hinaka. So when we finally got around to visiting, we had already tried two other similar places that we were excited about. So really there was nothing wrong at all with our meal here, the waiters and chef were friendly, they did have an English menu, and the food was beautifully prepared - we just preferred the menu at the other places. This menu was strong on meat, cream, gluten and fried foods. We did very much enjoy the black sesame gelato and the green salad. Sure there were smokers - if you are absolutely against eating with smokers possibly in the room - then do not go out to any smaller local restaurants as they all seem to allow smoking. The larger and chain restaurants seem to have separate smoking sections although they aren't always that separate.

Visited November 2015

We went to hinaka a few days ago. Restaurant is not so easy to find for non japanese speakers- name is writen in English in small characters. They have nicely prepared food and a specialty in tofu- a bit pricey for the small portions though. What we did not like so much was the atmosphere. A group o...f drunk people were making loads of noise, smoking and behaving weird. The waitresses and chef were embarrassed but did not do anything to intervene, despite it was bothering all the other customers. They just said they were sorry when we left the restaurant. Hence I would not come back nor recommend the place.

Visited October 2015

It does not disappoint. really fresh sashimi, Kyoto specialty soft tofu is silky, wagyu beef is perfectly pink. This would be a $50+ meal in Australia but here only cost $30. Chef's English is limited but sufficient and English menu is good. There were no other foreigners there so we felt like w...e are getting authentic experience . But beware: smokers were allowed inside.

Visited September 2015

Best Restaurant we have been! Oboro soft Tofu (speciality from Kyoto), Namafu and prawn butter sautéed, souffle cheese cake and tofu ice cream or even the black sesam gelaton are delicious!!! You have to ho there!!!

Visited August 2015