Kikunoi Roan - Kyoto

Very good! One of the best Kyoto restaurants I've ever been. Strongly recommend!

This a stunning 2-Star michelin for the price !! one of the best kaiseki! the quantity of food is a lot ! come hungry ! everything is delicious and so well prepared.

I came back a second time after a two years’ break. My expectations were high. Was it good? very good. It’s a surprise what you’ll get. Some courses are heavenly others good. The eel rice at the end seems to be a standard and hasn’t changed, they know it’s too much because they’ll doggy bag the remains for you. (Wished they were as generous with the other foods. Is it worth the price? Don’t forget you have to add 20% to the stated price for service and tax (most expensive is 30,000¥ and you get some more bites like duck . I don’t think it is anymore. It has faded in its way. The place is very nice. But don’t expect any over the top service like I have seen it in other places. After all these years the English continues to be very poor and basic. For a place that probably has half its customers from abroad. There is no interaction with the cooks at all. They are not explaining anything of what they do and it’s amazing to watch them. You are getting instructions on what to dip in which sauce. The reception is basic. The jacket that was hung for me smelled of food more than me. I know Japanese staff do not interact with their guests but it’s a lost opportunity probably little follow up business anyway. It could make the difference to be more open and improve the language skills. Should you come? Hard one. You have to reserve, let the hotel do it (language again . It is amazing what they do, no doubt. But I’d say try another one first. Sorry. Will I go back? I will most likely not. I am sure I will find something else next time I come back to Kyoto, me favourite City in Japan. Because the haute cuisine of Japan, Kaiseki, beats the French ; . I love it. Thus I will have the extravaganza again, and save on the hotel.

Huge Quantity of Low Quality Kaiseki food Sadly Disappointing Of the 11 courses none were delicious. The 4 of us love Japanese food, consider it our favourite. We were blown away by high end meals in Tokyo at Sushi Ya, Honmura An etc.. However Kikunoi Roan was an abundance of bland food. French influence heavy dishes like quail and foie gras dumpling with truffle just made us yearn for something delicate and refined. The appetiser sushi were the same quality found in a local food hall. The grouper hot pot was grissly and unappetising. The one nice dish was tuna sashimi with an egg yolk dipping sauce. The crusted sea bream tasted like English fish fingers. The cod semen tofu was gross (where as a delicacy as served at Sushi Ya) Even the typical Kaiseki rice dish at the end of the meal was odd with overpowering raw green onions! We were stuffed midway with heavy handed dishes and wanted to get out. I’ve attached the menu. We opted for level 2 at 16,000 yen , which costs 25,000 yen through their Tableall online reservation site. Always better to get a Japanese speaker to book direct with the restaurant. Overall our expectations for Kyoto cuisine was too high. We found some decent simple places, like Sensaku soba and Kaiseki at Teramachi Yoshikura, but nothing like what Tokyo had to offer. Maybe it would have been different if we went to his older brothers restaurant Kikunoi, but Roan was Michelin 2 star, the other 3 star. Roan’s 2 star seems to have been completely misplaced. There are many bad and good eviews of Roan. From seeing the young tourist customers at the bench table, I suspect their ignorance might have contributed to the good ones.

京都で素晴らしいランチのおすすめです。確かに、最高の食事とは言えないかもしれませんが、優れたサービス、旬の食材、そして品質管理が行き届いているので、何度でも戻りたいと思います。9月19日に訪れた際、和歌山さんがまだいらっしゃいました。彼は9年前からシェフとしてここにいます。このような一貫性は、オーナーがシェフでない限り、多くの店では見られません。