Kitcho

Michelin ☆☆☆

Located in Arashiyama along the riverside, Kitcho is about as famous a restaurant as any in Japan. The restaurant is housed in a 100 year-old building and has seven beautiful rooms, all of which face the lovely traditional Japanese garden.

Third-generation owner-chef Kunio Tokuoka makes one appreciate the season and the colourful layouts in harmony with the beautiful serving dishes are a real treat for the eyes. While preserving tradition, he is also enthusiastic about creating new tastes.

Kitcho is one of not just Japan’s but the world’s priciest restaurants, however it also needs to be seen in context; you have a large private room, your own garden, faultless service, beautiful serving dishes that in many cases are antiques, and course after course of exquisite food that an enormous amount of effort has been expended in producing, using obsessively sourced ingredients of the very highest quality. If you want to indulge in traditional kaiseki dining then Kitcho is the restaurant that sets the standard that others should aim towards.