Kikunoi Honten
Kikunoi Honten sits in a quiet garden setting near Yasaka Shrine and Kodaiji Temple in Kyoto's Higashiyama district. Founded in 1912 by a family who had served as tea attendants guarding the Kikusui well once used for tea ceremony by Hideyoshi's wife, it has been led since 1993 by third-generation chef Yoshihiro Murata. Guests dine in one of ten tatami rooms overlooking landscaped gardens, each with its own seasonal scroll and flower arrangement, savoring refined kaiseki cuisine built around Kyoto's seasonal ingredients.
Address
459 Shimokawarachō, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0825, Japan
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Hours
Today
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Monday
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Tuesday
12:00 – 12:3017:00 – 19:30
Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday
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Features
Kyoto kaiseki cuisineMulti-course kaiseki onlyTatami private rooms, 2-40 guestsTraditional Japanese garden views10 tatami rooms, seats 2 to 40 guestsClosed 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month
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Menu
* The menu was scanned by a user, not uploaded by the owner. There may be inaccuracies.
Choko (Small Cup Starter)
Hassun (Seasonal Assortment)
Mukouzuke (Sashimi)
Futamono (Lidded Simmered Dish)
Yakimono (Grilled Course)
Sunomono (Vinegared Dish)
Shiizakana (Supplementary Dish)
Gohan (Rice Course)
Tomewan (Closing Soup)
Mizumono (Dessert)
Choko (Small Cup Starter)
Raw sea urchin tofu with wasabi sauce and wakame puree
A silky house-made tofu topped with fresh sea urchin, finished with a delicate wasabi-flavored sauce and a seaweed (wakame) puree.
Hassun (Seasonal Assortment)
Assorted seasonal bites: pike conger sushi with saffron ginger, baby octopus, tilefish with cucumber, shrimp matsukaze cake, and tender-simmered abalone; salted-and-dried white melon with sesame-vinegar dressed wheat gluten
A seasonal assortment platter featuring several small bites: sushi made with pike conger (hamo) flavored with saffron-infused ginger, simmered baby octopus, tilefish paired with cucumber, a grilled fish cake (matsukaze), and tender-simmered abalone, alongside dried white melon and wheat gluten dressed in a sesame vinegar sauce.
Mukouzuke (Sashimi)
Sea bream and hairtail sashimi with garnishes; blanched pike conger with plum-flavored soy sauce and shiso flower spikes
Fresh sliced sea bream and hairtail served with traditional garnishes, alongside lightly blanched pike conger (hamo) dipped in a tart plum-flavored soy sauce and topped with shiso flower spikes.
Futamono (Lidded Simmered Dish)
Deep-fried Kamo eggplant in broth with Manganji sweet pepper, prawn dumpling, condiments and grated ginger
A warm lidded dish of Kyoto's signature Kamo eggplant, lightly fried and served in a savory dashi broth with sweet Manganji pepper and a prawn dumpling, finished with condiments and fresh grated ginger.
Yakimono (Grilled Course)
Salt-grilled sweetfish (ayu) with water-pepper vinegar sauce
Whole river sweetfish (ayu), a summer specialty, simply grilled with salt and served with a tangy water-pepper (tade) vinegar sauce.
Sunomono (Vinegared Dish)
Chilled lemon soup with junsai water shield, scallion and shiso flower spikes
A refreshing chilled soup with a bright lemon flavor, featuring junsai (water shield), a gelatinous aquatic plant prized in summer kaiseki, along with scallion and shiso flower spikes.
Shiizakana (Supplementary Dish)
Soy-glazed grilled beef with bitter melon and amanatsu citrus sauce
Grilled beef glazed in soy sauce, paired with bitter melon (goya-style) and a sauce made from amanatsu, a Japanese summer citrus.
Gohan (Rice Course)
Pike conger rice with ground sansho pepper and kinome
Steamed rice cooked with pike conger (hamo), a prized summer fish in Kyoto cuisine, finished with fragrant ground sansho pepper and kinome (young sansho leaves).
Tomewan (Closing Soup)
Pureed burdock root soup with fried burdock and shichimi pepper
A smooth pureed soup made from burdock root, topped with crispy fried burdock shavings and a dash of seven-spice pepper.
Mizumono (Dessert)
Yatsuhashi-flavored ice cream with warabimochi
Ice cream flavored with yatsuhashi, Kyoto's famous cinnamon confection, served alongside warabimochi, a soft bracken-starch dumpling dusted with kinako soybean flour.