Best Yakitori in Kyoto

Kyoto has dozens of fantastic yakitori restaurants. Here is our pick of Kyoto yakitori restaurants that are affordable, friendly, and delicious.

Yakitori in Kyoto: decoplus / Shutterstock.com

If you eat meat, it’s hard to argue with skewered, charcoal-grilled chicken. In Japan, this is known as yakitori. The chicken is grilled with either a soy-based tare sauce or salt. Yakitori can be as cheap and cheerful as you please, making a fantastic accompaniment to alcoholic drinks of all sorts. On the other hand, yakitori can be elevated to a veritable art form, given the kind of attention to detail you find in rarefied French restaurants to make the best chicken you’ve ever tasted in your life.

Something that distinguishes Japanese yakitori is the sheer variety of chicken parts available. Eating just thigh and breast is passe; if you’re feeling adventurous, why not try neck meat (seseri), reba (liver), sunazuri (gizzard), tsukune (meatball), or nankotsu (cartilage)?

Kyoto has dozens of fantastic yakitori restaurants. These are just a few that are affordable, friendly, and delicious.

• Torito (Downtown Kyoto; expensive)
  This is “haute yakitori” – dynamite yakitori (various bits of chicken cooked on skewers) in fashionable surroundings.
• Bajitofu (Downtown Kyoto; mid-range)
  You won’t have to wander far out of downtown Kyoto to find great yakitori. Bajitofu is a centrally-located izakaya serving some of the best in town. Reservations recommended.
• Wabiya Korekido (Southern Higashiyama; mid-range to expensive)
  Wabiya Korekido is a restaurant in Gion that serves top-notch oyakodon (chicken-and-egg rice bowl) at lunch and fabulous yakitori at dinner. If you can’t decide what time to head there, don’t choose – just go twice.

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About InsideKyoto.com and Chris Rowthorn

• Chris Rowthorn is the co-founder of InsideKyoto.com and has an unparalleled travel knowledge of Kyoto spanning three decades. Chris has written or commissioned and edited every page on the Inside Kyoto website.
• A former author of Lonely Planet Kyoto and Lonely Planet Japan guidebooks, Chris is also the director of the Kyoto walking tour company Chris Rowthorn Tours, and Japan Travel Consulting, where you can get bespoke travel advice for your Japan trip.
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