Ajiro

Reservation is required. We did their Myouhou course that includes Yuba (tofu skin) and it was simply delicious. The meal is filled with delicate unknown flavours, and nuances in taste. Our hosts were welcoming and kind, and our table was ready when we arrived for our booking. The chef manages to draw each ingredient’s depth of flavours and the results are perfectly balanced dishes that will enchant any palate. From beginning to end we had a magical culinary experience and we highly recommend this place to anyone curious about Shōjin Ryōri.

Shojin ryori at its finest. Definitely deserve their Michelin star. Surprisingly quick service, even though we showed up early for our lunch. The sweet lady kept sliding the door open and close, as she set out one plate after another. Would highly recommend this meal to anyone visiting Kyoto. Its Buddhist cuisine, so its vegan, but a real traditional Japanese expeience.

Every dish is yummy. Staffs are nice and friendly.

Reservations required. No English-speaking staff, so you may need your hotel to make the reservation. Food was delicious. Everything is vegan, as it's based on the traditional diet of Buddhist monks. Prix fix only, no menu or beverages (other than green tea at end of meal)

Outstanding lunch! The host started serving our meal in small courses right when we sat down in our private little dining room. A wide variety of soups and small dishes, all with truly excellent flavor; the eggplant dish and the milky tofu soup stood out as particular favorites. We called at 10am the day of and got a reservation for an 11:30 lunch, I think we were lucky that it was a slow day. Absolutely loved the meal and am so glad we found this restaurant.

This is a Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant specializing in shojin ryori cooking commonly practiced by monks. The chef worked in a temple prior to opening Ajiro. Tofu is Kyoto's specialty and you will see numerous interesting variations of it here. We made reservations through our concierge and were seated in a private room (not requested, maybe because we were a larger group). The service was efficient and friendly.

The food is very unique, and beautifully decorated. Might not be to everybody's taste BUT I definitely recommend to try it. The service was amazing. The elderly couple were so sweet, making the experience even more amazing.

I love it, the kids don't. One of my kids has allergy to dairy and egg so it's a safe option for him. I love the variety they came up without meat or any kind of animal byproduct. Made reservation months ahead and got a private room at no cost as expected due to kids. Pleasant surprise with what you can do with an apple. Like any upscale Japanese restaurant, dessert tends to be melon, which is very expensive in Japan but for me, it was mehhh cos melon is so cheap where I came from. One particular dish that left a deep impression was the tofu. Look like an ordinary tofu but it's not. Don't know how to describe it's texture but I still dream of it at night! P/s: you can't pack your leftover. Lesson learned: bring your own doggie bag.

Serving up on the best shojin ryori meals by Buddhists in Kyoto, this place is not to be missed. When we arrived to the restaurant which sits right across from a Buddhist temple, a kind older woman greeted us into our room where she immediately brought out assortment of keiseki meal (small plates). Each course different from the other made solely by plant based items without any dairy. Mine was also without any gluten but did not lack when it came to taste. The simple ingredients stood on their own and tasted phenomenal. The fast paced service ran by this older Japanese grandma felt like you were at someone's house enjoying their home cooked meal. Truly amazing! I can definitely see why this place has a Michelin star rating. It's a shame that there aren't more places like this that exist in the states where one can enjoy impeccable taste, service and it all be vegan and gluten free.

Very innovative dishes since it's all vegan. They use tofu and miso really well to create great flavors. You get a private dining room and impeccable service. They don't speak much English but you don't really have to order anything since it's a set menu and they can communicate for the the most part. I highly recommend trying this place if you want something healthy but also tasty. While the ingredients probably don't cost much, the skill and labor involved justifies the price.

Ajiro is a one star michelin star restaurant that serves temple food (strictly vegetarian, no meat or seafood). It's surprisingly AMAZING (I love meat). All dishes were unique, fresh and delicious. On top of that, it's actually not that expensive comparing to some Michelin star restaurants. The restaurant it self does not have amazing decoration and looks like a home from the outside (we weren't sure we were in the right place when we arrived). All dishes were great but one of most memorable dish they served was a pot of soy milk that you cooked until it forms a layer of tofu skin. You dip the tofu skin in one of the four condiments they provided.

- Part II of Shojin Ryori Grand Tour - The second pilgrimage was on a deadly blizzard day to a desolate corner of Kyoto, to a largely deserted house, which was the restaurant arm of Ajiro - a Michelin one-star caterer to the largest Zen temple in Japan, Myoshin-ji (and its subaltern temples). As it is still sometimes done in old-fashioned hotels, guests are greeted by their own names displayed prominently by the entrance - a practice obviously leftover from time before privacy was invented. Lacquered placement plates were already set on the table in lieu of the pedestal, awaiting, in a traditional but tired, fluorescent-lit tatami room. The course, also based on honzen ryori, commenced rapidly with a pickled plum water - tepid and tasteless - which failed its role as a non-alcoholic aperitif; and the sesame tofu was too dense to be considered a delicacy. A owan in Japanese cuisine is a clear soup, which tests the chef's skill as the French consommé, regardless of whether it is Japanese kaiseki or shoji ryori. While Ajiro's owan was doubtlessly clear, as it was clear of even dashi, it seriously tried and tested the diner's patience and skill of chopsticks. The tofu skin ball in the clear soup was as slippery and bouncy as a rubber ball, that is, a rubber ball fallen into a bathtub full of bathwater, and just about as tasty. Another Zen vegetarian staple, koya-dofu (a frozen and dried tofu), was chokingly sweet, which obscured the flavor of kombu and shiitake, if there were any. Its overreaching sweetness overwhelmed the hapless neighbors on the same plate - the presumably piquant rapini in mustard and sour radish pickle. The hiryouzu (literally, "the head of a flying dragon") was a fried tofu ball, popular in oden (a Japanese pot-au-feu) due to its spongy texture for soaking up the dashi, yet the muddled head of Ajiro's flying dragon swallowed too much salt water and seemed to have drowned in its own soup. The only interesting touch at Ajiro was the refreshing use of apple in the shiroae - a salad with pureed silken tofu - with Japanese celery and konjac jelly. However, the meal, having begun with the plum water and commenced with the customary two soups, had to end with even more water to fill the empty belly and emptier heart. The waitress ceremoniously presented a grilled rice ball in a tea pot, in lieu of tea leaves, and poured out the watery dreg and drowned any remaining hope. All in all, there was simply too much water: on top of the two customary soups in honzen ryori, there were additional liquid supplements to befuddle the mind and to blur the distinction between a stew and a soup. Perhaps the ascetics monks used to fill up their growling stomachs with this much liquid, nonetheless, without their dedication or faith, the modern diners will surely find such a liquid diet to stretch their patience way too thin. For more take on vegan/vegetarian/shojin ryori in Japan, please visit my blog (hint: in the profile section).