Osaka-Kyoto-Nara Trip - Dining advise
 

Hi guys, I'm planning a 11 day trip to Kansai with my parents during Christmas. The biggest problem with my trip is dining, as I would like to bring them to the best restaurants in the area. To my understanding, unlike Tokyo, restaurants in Osaka and Kyoto aren't tracked by Zagat or Michelin. :confused: Therefore, I would like to turn to you guys for help.

I would highly appreciate it if you guys can point me to the best fine dining restaurants in Osaka, Kyoto and Nara. Budget and cuisine doesn’t matter, as we’ll be in each city for 4 days, so we’ll likely try everything. Also, are there any good Kobe beef restaurants in O/K/K, or is a side trip to Kobe necessary to find the best Kobe beef restaurant?:p

Thanks a lot!

I think you are going to find some of your best dining in Kobe, and may want to split Nara and Kobe, as 4 days in Nara is probably one or two too many to see the main stuff.

There's a pretty damn good Indian restaurant in Nara called "Manna". The tabehoudai (all you can eat) meal is amazing... make sure you're hungry!

Ninnikuya is one of my favorite restaurants in Japan. The name means "Garlic Restaurant" and almost every dish has garlic in it.

It really isn't hard to walk around Umeda, Osaka or Sannomiya Japan and find hundreds of restaurants within a few blocks. Be sure to have yakiniku (table-top bbq) somewhere nice. Okonomiyaki in Osaka will be a must eat, but get it at a place where they can make it for you, not where you have to make it yourself (until you get good at it). A tradition meal in Kyoto will be a must, but it can also be had at a ryokan where you stay. These can be expensive and amazing, and should be had at least once.

I would recommend more than picking restaurants, picking what you want to eat. If you are staying at hotels they'll be able to help you out, no doubt.

Merikesh (sp?) is my favorite Indo-ryouri in Kobe, but there are a ton of good places, aren't there?

Kansai ppl are very serious with their food. May it be Osaka, Kobe there are lots of really good restaurant .

Let them try the infamous Kobe Beef, I think its around 10000yen/100g . Im not sure which restaurant serves the most expensive one, but you can probably ask information counter in Sannomiya (Kobe).

Another is the cruise dining in Kobe. The ships leaves from Kobe Harbourland.

Daimaru, Hankyu, Hanshin store also have lots of expensive restaurant lined up.

In Kyoto, you can try in Kawaramachi area. Near the river, you can find restaurant that served traditional Japanese Cuisine.

Thanks for replying, guys!

I started digging around, and it seems like Yahoo Japan has a very good restaurant guide by the city.Here. The thing I wanna do is to make reservations early, as I suspect most of them will be full during the holidays (24 through 2nd)

Do you guys know if restaurants are usually closed during christmas and new year or do most of them remain open? I would hate to go over there and find out that all the shops close on 1/1 -.-

Christmas isn`t a real holiday in Japan, and is only sparsely celebrated - so pretty much nothing closes. New Years, on the other hand, is closer in feeling to Christmas/Thanksgiving. Everyone heads to the relatives, and most places close over the New Year holidays. Chains will be open, I imagine, but smaller places will likely not be.

It is going to be hard to really hit on somewhere awful unless you`re looking for it. Japan has fairly high standards for restaurants to begin with. If the place looks run down and has no customers - either they`ve gone out of business or are about to. Places that are good will be fairly obvious, with lines, many customers, etc.

Do you know how long restaurants close for new years? I’m gonna be there from the 24th to the 4th. I don’t wanna to eat McDonald’s and instant noodle starting from the 1st -.- (Well, I can make do with Mos Burger, but I’m not sure if my parents can XD)

I would plan on eating in hotel restaurants from the 31st to 3rd...but look around. Family owned places will likely be closed.