Rediscovering Kyoto with Kids: Hidden Gems, Family-Friendly Eats & Unforgettable Cultural Adventures

Kyoto dawned bright and sunny; we’d been here once over 15 years ago and were less than impressed by the kitsch of Gion, the hilly shrines, the pink and green kaiseki goo and hard sweets. You wouldn’t think that coming back here with children would change that but the experience was entirely charming.

The red maples (in December!) were stunning, the wooden machiya where we stayed, the central parks and wide farmland horizons gave them more room to ramble. The boys spent 100 yen of their Christmas money at the dollar store on tally counters and thrilled themselves by clicking the ascent of the gates of Fushimi Inari, declaring the shrine their favorite experience.

But it was more than that, it was something about the light, the cold clean air and the quiet of the narrow streets at dusk, the aromas drifting from the small izakayas, the aesthetic of the contemporary craft shops and the neighbourhood wards that housed them. It’s been a long time since I just wandered around maps picking out places to try, it was truly a beautiful place and way to spend our 15th anniversary.

Here are some of our favorites, none particularly spendy:

• Mensho Takamatsu Honten: chain ramen restaurant with chewy buckwheat tsukemen, the dipping sauce is thick and tasty.

• Gion Tonkatsu Wadafuku: in the land of picky tonkatsu connoisseurs, this was tender, pale pink pork done well.

• Gion Duck Noodles: while on foot to tonkatsu, I spotted a line forming in a narrow alley and decided to queue; turned out to be a tiny Michelin star galley restaurant with a starkly simple menu. You get a choice of breast or dark meat and cherry or orange dressing. The breast was supple and tender but the dark meat was packed with flavour. The bloodsport of a queue is supposed to add to the taste but this was probably only my second-best duck noodle (Raikuchi soba). The tsukemen noodles were a little thick but the dipping sauce, ramen broth and green sansho pepper were unusually good.

• Ohana Batake: some of the best sandwiches I’ve had, ever. Was still thinking about it two days later.

• Gion Unagi Kawato : unagi dishes in a traditional atmospheric ryokan

• Onimaru Yaki-musubi: hand-made onigiri with roasted seaweed, deep pockets of flavours.

• Traveler’s Factory Kyoto: the mecca for cult traveler’s factory notebooks and kits. Housed in the chic architectural ShinPuhKan mall.

• Ichizawa Shinzaburo Honpu: understated hand-made linen canvas bags of all sizes and functions; a feast for the eyes and down the street from a Bluebottle coffee.

• Kuzushi Kotowari: an unconventional, special kaiseki, using seasonal products and a talented, friendly chef confining himself to a 10-seater, 88k yen 8-course menu (used to be 55k yen).

• Men-Bansan: peeked in during the day to see the chef sitting at accounts and we struggled through translation to discover this newly-opened two month-old izakaya, his 7th opening. The water-kimchi was ridiculously good, that rare and harmonious balance of acidity, mellowness and texture. The yuba, fishcake somen and black sugar warabi mochi were excellent.