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Do You Know the Best Japanese Food You’re Missing Out On? My Kyoto Favorites!

  • Jason Stauffer

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    Emily:   The best part of traveling is seeing new places and experiencing things I’d never get to see back home.  Kyoto, Japan is a fantastic place to explore old temples, see natural beauty, and meet friendly people.  And you can ride all around the city (safely!) on a bike!  These experiences make Kyoto a very unique place to visit and a place I would love to return to!

    If you haven’t already done so, check out our free Beginner’s Guide to Miles and Points!  Also, check out my Visiting Japan 101 series, as well as my How to Stay in Tokyo for Free series.

    The. Most. Refreshing. Dessert. EVER!

    Miles and points earned from just a few credit cards can help get you to Japan — or anywhere else you might want to go — for a fraction of the price!  My partner, Alfy, and I flew from the US to Japan round trip for ~$110 in Business Class.  He was raised in Japan and had not seen his family for ~20 years!  And for 3 weeks of lodging (including some fancy five-star hotels), I spent ~$450!  In this series, I will show you how you can do it, too!

    Best Restaurants in Kyoto

    Pro Tip: Don’t forget to use your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve® to pay for meals when traveling.  You earn bonus Chase Ultimate Rewards points on travel and dining.  And there are no foreign transaction fees.  You can’t beat that!

    How to Use Miles for a Trip to Kyoto Index:

    Where to Eat in Kyoto

    My favorite restaurants were in Arashiyama.

    Riverside Restaurant, Arashiyama

    For lunch, we stopped at a Japanese restaurant that specialized in Japanese comfort food.  Most people think of sushi and Ramen when it comes to Japanese food, but they also prepare comfort foods very well!

    This Restaurant Has a Fantastic View of the Lake

    This restaurant is located on the riverfront near the Arashiyama bridge.  It’s very modern and Japanese inside.  We sat in front of the windows so we could watch the river and the people pass by.

    Grab a Seat to People Watch

    The menu looked amazing!

    Japan Has So Much More Than Sushi!

    Alfy ordered hamburger steak curry…

    The Best Japanese Comfort Food–Hamburger Steak Curry

    …and I got a hamburger meal (in cheese) with soup.  In Japan, they sometimes stuff the hamburgers with cheese on the inside.  It is divine!

    Japanese Hamburgers Are Lighter and Tastier than American Hamburgers

    We loved this restaurant.  The prices were very affordable at about ~$10 per meal.  They also had a fantastic looking dessert menu, but we were too full to try anything.  Oh well, we hope to return to Kyoto soon, and this will be one of the first places on our list!

    The Japanese Rival the French With Their Culinary Attention to Detail

    Café Restaurant Akamanma, Arashiyama

    After a day of visiting the Monkey Park and Bamboo Forest, we decided to eat in Arashiyama before heading back to Kyoto.  So we stopped at Restaurant Akamanma, which is located on the main shopping street.

    This Cute Cafe Also Had Delicious Food!

    Their menu looked delicious and was also affordable.

    The Serving Sizes Were a Bit on the Small Side

    We received a fresh salad with our meal.  I loved the salad!  The dressing was on point.

    The Salad Was Delicious and We Wanted Seconds

    I ordered local Kyoto chicken with mushrooms….

    At Least I’ll Have Room for Dessert

    …and Alfy got a beef dish.

    Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner

    Both of them were excellent, but the portions were a little on the small side.  However, this meant we had room for their amazing desserts!

    We Thoroughly Enjoyed This Meal!

    Japanese shaved ice is one of my all-time favorite desserts from my travels throughout the world.  They are on par with the French patisseries.  And I loved brigaderio from Brazil, too!

    My mouth began to water just looking at the menu, and I had trouble deciding what I wanted.  They all looked so good!

    Saving the Best for Last

    I finally decided on the strawberry milk shaved ice.  Wow!  It looked even more amazing in person than in the picture.  If I lived in Arashiyama, I think I’d come to this restaurant once a week, and maybe twice a week just for the shaved ice.  Yummmmm!!!!

    Yum! Strawberry Milk Shaved Ice

    Ramen Restaurant, Kyoto

    Near our Airbnb, there were many traditional Japanese sushi restaurants.  Because I am allergic to fish, I need to be extra careful where I eat.  And I tend to prefer places that don’t focus so heavily in fish.  So Alfy and I sought out a place that had an English menu and found a Ramen shop near our hotel.

    Ramen Shop in Kyoto

    We tried a couple of appetizers — wings and gyoza.  They tasted so good.  We also got Ramen, and the broth was delicious!

    After Riding Bikes All Day, We Were Famished

    As with the other restaurants, we paid about ~$10 per main course.

    Pick a Dish, Any Dish

    Bottom Line

    There are some excellent restaurants to be found in Kyoto.  Japan has many more types of food than just sushi!  Use a guidebook, Tripadvisor, or Yelp to help find restaurants that appeal to you.  Try to sample different kinds of Japanese food — because there are a lot!  And don’t forget those mouth watering shaved ice desserts!

    Before you head to Japan (or anywhere else!), remember to get a card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees AND earns bonus points for your spending!

    These are the cards I recommend:

    What are your favorite places to eat in Kyoto?  Let me know in the comments!

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)