Tempura Endo Yasaka

Tempura in a house built for geisha

Tempura Endo Yasaka occupies what was once an ochaya, a teahouse where geiko and maiko entertained, in the lanes between Kennin-ji and the Yasaka Pagoda. The restaurant dates its history to 1885, and it still feels like a house rather than a dining room: low tatami rooms, a garden, and a tempura bar where the chef sits sunk below guest level, so that the frying happens at eye height beside the copper hood.

The cooking is Kyoto tempura, lighter and drier than the Edo style. Seasonal Kyoto vegetables and wild greens share the plate with seafood from the Seto Inland Sea and Wakasa Bay, and with river fish from the streams that run into Lake Biwa. One reviewer found the batter light and dry, with seafood the stronger half of the meal and vegetables close behind, and the pacing precise, each piece arriving as it left the oil.

How the meal runs

A course typically begins with a small appetiser and then proceeds through some dozen pieces of tempura, one at a time, before a rice dish chosen near the end, miso soup and a simple dessert. It runs about an hour and a half. Seating ranges from a counter of around a dozen places to tatami counters and private rooms, so the experience differs depending on where you are placed; the counter is the one to ask for if the point is to watch the cooking.

Gion has no shortage of kaiseki, and this is one of the few places where tempura is the whole subject. For the broader picture of Kyoto’s dining, the city’s kaiseki tradition is the natural companion.

Sources: Tempura Endo Yasaka; Ordinary Patrons: Tempura Endo Yasaka review; TableJourney: Kyoto fine dining. Check the official websites for current information.