Kyoto Sushi Recommendations

[guojie]

I'll be spending a week in Kyoto in early October and am looking for recommendations for a memorable sushi meal for a non Japanese speaker. I have done some of the Tokyo restaurants recommended on these boards (Saito, Daisan Harumi) and am looking for something of similar quality in Tokyo. Appreciate any recommendations.

[wekabeka]

For a memorable meal the two star Michelin Sushi Matsumoto, in Gion, might be a good option. The lunch courses start from ¥8,000, with dinner starting at around ¥15,000. Your hotel may be able to secure a booking for you.

http://r.tabelog.com/kyoto/A2603/A260301/26002579/ (Japanese info)

http://www.luxeat.com/my_weblog/2010/... (English info)

[MoGa]

If you'll consider going to Osaka for sushi I can give you some recommendations for outstanding places there.

Kyoto isn't somewhere I'd search out sushi. If I were to try and find some I'd hunt out saba-zushi which has a reasonably long tradition in Kyoto. DIane Durston (who wrote the wonderful "Old Kyoto") recommends Izujuu, a soba ya established in 1892 which specialises in saba-zushi. Be warned, it is the daddy to modern sushi but they have other kinds there also if this venerable old style isn't to your taste.
http://www.bento.com/kansai/rev/7110....

[guojie]

Thanks. Not going to have a chance to make it to Osaka this time around. Is there anything in Kyoto that would be a good (if not incredible) sushi option? Also, since you seem to know Kyoto pretty well, do you have any other recommendations on not-to-miss meals there?

Thanks again!

[MoGa]

Ugh, just lost the lengthy reply I made

here's the jist of it:
Komameya for yuba
address: http://www.bento.com/kansai/rev/7012.html
review: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/512843

Hyotei for kaiseki
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/513183

Yaoya no Nikai - for the wonderful local vegetable produce
http://www.bento.com/kansai/rev/7006.html

For gifts, the Ujicha Shoro from Koyama en are beyond sublime
http://www.marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp/eng...
The matcha ones are wonderful, but it's the hojicha ones that I still drool about - they both make the Pierre Herme matcha macarons taste almost unpleasant in comparison

- And are you sure about Osaka? the trip from Kyoto to Osaka is like travelling from one side of Tokyo to the other

[MoGa]

Sorry - there was a typo in one of my previous posts. Izujuu isn't a soba shop but a sushi shop. You can get other kinds of sushi there.

Bento.com lists two other places for sushi in central Kyoto
http://www.bento.com/kansai/rev/7049.html
&
http://www.bento.com/kansai/rev/7002....

I wouldn't expect any of them to reach the heights you've experienced in Tokyo or could experience in Osaka.

[kersizm]

I was really disappointed with Izujuu. As one of my Japanese observed, 'Why would you go inland for sushi?'

[MoGa]

Kersizm - Did you have saba zushi at Izujuu or did you stick to the fresher tasting kinds?

[kersizm]

I did indeed have saba zushi.

[Robb S]

Well I'd say all three of those are good value for money, and accessible to visitors, but definitely not in the upper echelons of the sushi world. For something a bit more upscale it might be worth checking out the Japanese restaurants in Kyoto's top-class hotels.