Guilo Guilo Hitoshina

Located in a renovated warehouse south of Gion-Shijo Station, Guilo Guilo Hitoshina offers a delicious, modern take on kaiseki cuisine at ridiculously affordable prices.

Guilo Guilo Hitoshina – image © Chris Rowthorn

Kaiseki – traditional multi-course Japanese fine dining – is often inaccessible to many diners, simply because of its price point. Many great kaiseki restaurants are expensive: a typical kaiseki meal averages JPY10,000 per person if it’s to be above average and well-executed. This is what makes dining at Guilo Guilo Hitoshina so wonderful and surprising: at a hair less than JPY4000, dinner here is ridiculously affordable for kaiseki.

In this tiny, funky little restaurant, where chefs dance around each other in the cramped kitchen space within an open counter, you’ll enjoy a parade of surprisingly well-executed and quirky kaiseki dishes. This is a much more modern take on kaiseki. You won’t see the likes of pea mousse, broad bean dumplings, or hojicha-infused raw caramel at most kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto!

The ingredients themselves are not the most luxurious around; don’t expect spiny lobster or sea urchin. But this is what makes Guilo Guilo Hitoshina’s food affordable: the use of humble but good ingredients treated with care and flair.

A meal at Guilo Guilo Hitoshina, depending on the menu du jour, can be outstanding to merely very good. Don’t expect it to compete with the likes of Kikunoi or Gion Owatari – that would be expecting too much. Go for a casual, well-priced, kaiseki meal with a good dose of fun and energy. It’s a fairly English-friendly place. Reservations are essential.

For more Kyoto kaiseki choices, see our Best Kaiseki in Kyoto page.

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Destination

Check-in date

Fri 08 Sep 2023

Check-out date

Sat 09 Sep 2023

Name in English:
Guilo Guilo Hitoshina

Name in Japanese:
枝魯枝魯 ひとしな

English address:
420-7 Namba-cho, Nishikiyamachi-dori-Matsubara-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku

Japanese address:
下京区西木屋町通松原下ル難波町420-7

Opening hours:
5:30pm-11pm
Closed last Monday

Price:

Non-smoking area: No

Nearest Transport:
3min walk from Kawaramachi Matsubara Bus Stop, Kyoto City Bus 205 from Kyoto Station

Reservations:
Possible

Telephone: 343-7070

Website:
Official site (Japanese)

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