Oryori Menami

The food is art on a plate. We recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for an authentic experience. We recommend using Google lens to translate the Japanese menu to get a much fuller experience. They offer more advanced dishes such as gizzard and fish head. Service is excellent, friendly, and fast. We recommend reservations, but if you get lucky take advantage of the opportunity to have a meal here. We ate at the countertop. Watching the chef prepare the food was a great experience on its own 10/10 will return

Our dinner consisted of a selection of izakaya favorites. We had yuba spring rolls, grilled lamb chop, fried chicken, steamed lotus dumplings, miitake mushrooms tempura style and rice. Everything was delicious. Our favorite were lamb chop, fried chicken and steamed lotus root dumpling. Service was wonderful and people were very friendly. This is a particular style of cooking called obanzai. You should definitely try. I would come again.

DO NOT TRY THEIR TATAMI ROOM. They charge 3300 for it and the room service is not even close to good. They also charge tips 500 yen per person. English menu is way shorter than the Japanese menu. We have 4 person reservations but not enough menu choices for us to order. The food is mediocre for the best. The vegetables are not fresh. The fish is tasteless. Worst experience last night.

Had a good Obanzai dinner trying many different dishes. Everything was good and it was interesting to seat at the counter and watch the kitchen staff at work

Great little restaurant with authentic Kyoto dishes. This place is NOT easy to find from the street if you're a tourist, with no English signs, you have to walk into a doorway, past an elevator, and open a sliding door. Check my picture for clarification. Don't be discouraged if the place looks full, they have an upstairs as well. When we arrived it was all locals, the staff didn't speak great English, but there is an English meny available, check my picture. We spent 8,500 yen, including two drinks. The chicken and the spring rolls were great, but some of the other dishes (particularly appetizers) were a bit bland, hence removing 1 star on the food.

We had a great experience at this Obanzai restaurant, it was our first dinner in Kyoto and it was very special. The food and drink is flavorful and creative, the staff attentive and professional made us feel welcome. Would definitely visit again.

Loved their variety of food!! My personal favourite was the Yakitori with Sansho Pepper. Their Hojicha was also very nice and strong! The Yuba Harumaki were also very great!! Recommend ordering their 5 Sorts of Obanzai, seasonal appetizers. The taste overall is very soft, for me all a bit too less salt. Rice was a bit overcooked. You can easily spend around 5000Yen per Person here since the plates are quite small.

I stopped by this restaurant as my Kyoto expert friend recommended. Obanzai is basically a Kyoto style tapas restaurant and this is it. They got wide variety of different dishes and each of them were very good. Especially the beef tail stew was something I would order twice. Perfect place for dinner with great Sake.

Kyoto, Nakajimacho. March 2024. Kyobanzai is small dishes produced with products from Kyoto and respecting the 24 seasons. The general term is obanzai, encompassing Kansai produced food. Oryori Menami does oryori that is perfect for locals dropping in for a few dishes or visitors to Kyoto, like me, seeking an expanded meal. They are located on Kiyamachi-dori, near the Sanjo Ohashi, a bridge crossing the Kamo River leading into Gion. There is a clear, peaceful, small, shallow canal running along the street. paralleling the Kamo River. The neighborhood is peaceful and green. The third generation owner runs a low key shop named after her grandmother. From the time you walk in and get seated until the time you depart she will be there to personally overlook everything put in front of you. They open early, from 4:00pm, and by 4:30pm you can expect to be surrounded by locals who come for obanzai comfort food and something to drink. There is a limited English menu of things most Westerners can eat. The Japanese menu is more specific to what is seasonal. On the counter in front of you will be bowls of what is best today. Looking and selecting with your eyes works well here. Locals will simply ask for for things not on any menu, simply indulging their desire for something specific or in season. This is like Midnight Diner on Netflix, they will make anything if they have the ingredients. Just go with whatever catches your eye on the counter or what you see others eat. The attention and service is great. Show appreciation for what is put in front of you. This is very good kyobanzai.

Japanese food is more than Sushi and Ramen... One of the reason for travelling is to experience local food and if you are in Kyoto, Menami is not to be missed. Thanks Naoko, my Yelp Kyoto's friend for making our reservation for us. She was even kind enough to ask the hostess to help us with our order and made us feel like a VIP. There is no English Menu here and their menu is seasonal and changes daily. So photos on internet is not going to help you. I suggest to order a few dishes of combination of hot/cold, meat/vegetables to try out. And of course hopefully that English speaking hostess would be around to guide you. Menami serves Obanzai (おばんざい) which is a traditional style of Japanese cuisine native to Kyoto. In order for food to be considered obanzai, at least half of its ingredients must be produced or processed in Kyoto.Ingredients in obanzai cooking must also be in season.Obanzai cooking heavily relies on vegetables and seafood, prepared simply. Consistent with the concept of mottainai (a sense of regret concerning waste), another characteristic of obanzai is the incorporation of ingredients which are usually discarded as garbage. * (from wikipedia) We enjoyed all the dish we ordered. A more delicate and subtle taste. The presentation is homey but still artistic. Highly recommend if you are visiting Kyoto.

Sat in a tatami room - yuba was good and bamboo root with miso pepper was an interesting taste, but overall nothing too memorable