Sojiki Nakahigashi

A great experience with a Japanese Michelin two-star restaurant. I had the opportunity to explore high-quality Japanese ingredients, featuring fresh and natural flavors. Memorable dishes: - Matsutake mushrooms, with an incredibly rich aroma. - The signature dish, the New York bowl, was creamy and enriched with egg yolk. - Crispy rice from the bottom of the pot—it sounds simple, but it's actually very difficult to make. - Uji tea impressed me with its unique, salty aftertaste, which was truly memorable

We were underwhelmed with the food in general. I really identified with what the chef's ideology of appreciating what nature has to provide natural flavors, and thus paid a visit. However, I am not impressed by how good ingredients are used for their natural flavors to shine in a dish. The food ingredients had lots of duplication and similar taste (often too salty) throughout the couses. While I can tell the good balance the main chef was able to bring for the entire meal via different flavors and sauces ( and the aesthetics were great), I wasn't impressed by the interpretation nor felt that I have tasted freshness of nature from this food experience. Maybe it is the time of the year where the ingredients are limited? I have seen other reviews with more attractive dishes. I do appreciate the efforts and creativity required to constantly updating the menu and design of course, but the spring edition was not impressive. The additional rice dishes for foreigners were not adding any point. People are coming here for an elevated food experience not just home cooked plain course.

Very elegant Michelin rated dining experience. The dress code is definitely business casual/formal though they do give a lot of slack to foreigners. It’s also a cash only place and required reservations ahead of time. The who dinner takes about 2.5 hours. They try to speak English, but they do provide a written menu which is not always accurate. This was a 9-10 course menu. Overall the dishes were very vegetable-heavy and very artfully decorated. Wouldn’t say I enjoyed every course, but I did appreciate the the beauty of every course and it definitely reflected many of the traditional themes of Japanese fine dining. Overall, would recommend if you’re in the area and have cash to spare.

I'll start by saying that this experience was great. The service (if you speak Japanese) and food was amazing. With that said, I slightly felt that this getting a reservation at this place was wasted on me. If you don't speak Japanese, you'll miss out a lot on the show, humor, and explanations for what you're being served. It was still extremely delicious, but compared to the other 2 michelin star places I went in Japan, you could tell that this place was more focused on its Japanese guests. This was especially shown by the process of getting a reservation which took nearly 100 calls with busy signals to accomplish. All that said, I'd still recommend going as everything I ate was delicious but very different than anywhere else I went in Japan.

One of the best kaiseki meals we had in Japan. The lunch is of very good value, about 6000+ Yen without drinks. They also offer a veg meal (without dashi) on request. Book well ahead. Keep about 2.0 hours for this experience. It's worth every minute.

I once read a review that said it was worth flying from New York just to eat at Soujiki Nakahigashi and then fly home again. That review understated the case of how life changing and how amazing each meal at Soujiki Nakahigashi has been for me (three times - 2007, 2011, 2018). I would never disparage Japan favourites of mine like Nobu, Kitcho, Rokusaburo Michiba, any restaurant in Europe, Canada or the US - but Soujiki Nakahigashi transcends whatever and wherever I have eaten elsewhere. A reservation at Soujiki Nakahigashi is not for just a meal - it is more like a dinner party with the most amazing food ever in the world (at least where I've been). Everyone (all 12 of us) is supposed to arrive for the same time (do not be late! traffic is not an excuse!). Then everyone starts their meal at the same time. The courses are table d'hote - everyone is served the same courses - but once in a while you may have a small alternative. There will be many courses in your meal - all will be tiny/delicate and the most impressive version of food like that you have ever had. Nakahigashi-san himself introduces and talks about each course before it is served. The meal is never rushed (if you want faster food or different timing/service, no insult intended, please go somewhere else. Please). Kaiseki-style cuisine, at least in this case, means seasonal and locally-sourced vegetables (that you may not recognize), small/perfect locally-sourced fish and/or game, soup, rice and dessert. Every time I pointed and asked "oishii, oishii, oishii - what is that?" I was usually told "local Japanese vegetable" - but a printed menu in English was given to me. My #1 recommendation to assist anyone to enjoy their meal at Soujiki Nakahigashi is to know the exact dates you will be in Kyoto - then ask for a reservation at least two months in advance. You will not know right away if you got a reservation. At the beginning of each month, Nakahigashi-san puts together the plans for the following month (e.g. if you want a reservation April 15-17, Nakahigashi-san makes all the April plans at the beginning of March). You want to be on the possible list with lots of time to spare.

A great adventure of a dinner. Chef Nakahigashi is a master at local and seasonal ingredients. Each dish brings impact to the eyes as well as the palate. Definitely will come to try different seasonal menu. Friendly staff and English menu available. Awesome place.

I cannot express in words how much I love this place. It is art. The best, most caring and beautiful food I have ever seen, tasted, experienced. With each bite was a burst of emotions and I felt like each ingredient was alive, dancing and speaking to me. This was such a life changing and moving experience.

This is a must stop in Kyoto. You will likely be the only tourists dining here but trust me it's worth it. You watch the chef prepare his artist creations which tell a story of the season. Ingredients are all extremely fresh and flavors are all inventive. Ambiance is minimalistic but staff is dressed traditionally. The presentation of the set menus is impeccable. Fully worthy of a serious detour and reservations are quite challenging to secure. I particularly enjoyed how seafood heavy and fresh each of the stories were.

Difficult to book Kyoto style kaiseki. Luckily our hotel was able to help us book this. Small place with ~ 12 counter seats. First be forewarned- this is very much a local establishment and we were the only non Japanese there. The staff don't speak much English but they tried throughout the dinner to make us feel comfortable. This is usually not a big deal, but with each dish, the chefs gave an explanation and seems like maybe there were stories being told as there were several exchanges with other guests and much laughter. Unfortunately, we didn't understand any of it. The food was very interesting and the best description I can think of is farm to table. Very vegetable focused with mild seasoning and really made the fresh ingredients the star of each dish. There were a lot of courses and expect to spend about 2.5 to 3 hours here. Ambience is very unique as you watch the chefs in action. At the beginning of dinner, one of the staff "waters" the front entrance and the walkway inside the restaurant. As a result , water trails throughout the stone floor during dinner. This was interesting and I couldn't figure out if this was the norm or if they did this to channel the weather outside as it was raining to create an indoor / outdoor experience. Also for some reason the final price was about 6000 yen more than what the menu says, but maybe it depends on the ingredients and what was served that day. Good kaiseki experience but it's a one time experience for me.

Best meal I had in Tokyo and Kyoto was here. It's a 2-star Michelin restaurant that is very hard to make a reservation (only about a dozen seats and a lot of regulars who make reservations in advance). However, if you can splurge and get in, then you'll be in for a treat of your life. Our hotel concierge was able to get us on a waitlist and fortunately someone dropped out. The chef goes and forages the mountain every day (it's basically the Japanese version of Noma). There's a heavy emphasis on the local vegetables and seasonality. There are so many courses and you'll leave full no matter how hungry you are. My highlights were the sukiyaki (the chicken was moist and surrounded by raw egg yolk) which he later turned into a rice dish; the soup with eel wrapped in root vegetables super thinly sliced; the roasted sardines/smelt type fish; and the persimmon dessert with a chocolate branch and carrot core. Everything was just so beautifully presented and tasted like the embodiment of the season. The chef tried his best to speak English to us and did a pretty good job actually of explaining the intricate dishes and their ingredients. Some of the regular patrons who had superior English helped out in explaining but it's clear that they don't get as many non-Japanese guests as Japanese guests. But they were very kind and helpful, which made the whole evening so wonderful. You can tell the chef takes great pride in his food and has a lot of confidence in his skills -- as he should. In the end, the chef even walked us out to our cab and gave us his business card which was a very nice touch. I will remember this experience forever as truly magical and as having transformed my perspective on Japanese cuisine and what's possible.

RACIST DURING CORONA ("because you look foreign, others will become nervous") I speak Japanese and live in Japan. They confirmed they had space in April 2020, but prior to accepting my booking, asked: "are you gaikokujin (foreigner)?" Upon confirming I was, but that I live in Japan, they responded - shockingly - "sorry, but we cannot serve you; due to corona, other customers will become nervous and uncomfortable if they see you". Absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. I am a mega foodie and eat at a lot of Michelins and other high end spots (at least once a week) throughout Japan; not once have I b

I've never had a better meal in Japan than this one. If I could give them 10 stars I would. Nakahigashi-san is a super star among kaiseki chefs, forages his own greens every morning, and creates dishes that are both delicious and visually appealing, but also tell a story. The menu changes all the time so it's not like you can go in and ask for any specific dish I've photographed or discuss here, but on both visits the one thing that has remained consistent is the rice dish, though even that has evolved. On this last visit the rice course (shime, at the end) started with white rice and some pickles and a grilled fish. All of these were served on dishes that looked like clouds. There's a kind of cloud in Japan that is described as an iwashi (sardine) cloud. So what was the fish on the cloud plate? A grilled sardine, of course. If you aren't full from that the chef will invite you to Paris - in which you get "peri peri" (peri sounds like Paris in Japanese and means crunchy) rice, which is the crispy rice at the bottom of his traditional rice cooker. This will be topped with an assortment of amazing flavors, all house made or foraged. And if you aren't full form that, he'll take you to New York - "nuyoruku" in Japanese means "hot bath" so this is rice in steaming dashi broth topped with red ume paste and chopped greens (the green changes daily) and the result looks like a sunset over Central Park (to hear the chef explain it). But before the rice dish, every other dish is a work of culinary, visual, and textural art while also having a story built around it. Last year it was a koi pond on a plate, this year it was a boy's day kite made of fish and vegetables. The dishes are vegetable and seafood heavy so don't go expecting meat and potatoes. This is definitely a place for gourmet diners. As of early May they were taking reservations for October, so book early. Kampai!