One of the most interesting experiences of this trip was a kaiseki style dinner en Gion, the neighborhood of gheisha de Kyoto. At first it gave us a certain creep, since there are usually no menus outside, if there are they are in kanji and in addition to being quite expensive establishments, they are not usually oriented to tourists.
In this case we were lucky, the thing came out for around € 80 per person, including some local wine, sake and tea chosen from a not too clarifying sign in which they indicated that they had 2 menus (we opted for the most expensive).
La cena kaiseki it's more or less like a tasting menu Western, where the beauty of what is served matters as much as the dish in which it is served. It is usually made up of a long succession of small plates and bites. And although it was originally completely vegetarian and associated with the tea ceremony, the cuisine kaiseki Today includes all kinds of dishes, vegetables, meat and above all, as always in Japan, fish.
We started with a kind of creamy rice flavored with sakura (cherry blossoms), We went on to a set of appetizers that included small raw squid, broad beans, marinated silky tofu, tuna belly tartar and sea urchin meat. From here we go to a set of sashimi, with different marinades, with various types of fish, including raw eels. After him a calf of Kobe: wagyu ox Grilled accompanied by spring bamboo and an absolutely incredible plum sauce. A fish that we do not identify grilled is also excellent. A box with a set of inari sushi of various kinds that looked like a box of candy. And finally, with the tea, some sweets from mochi homemade, covered in macha (pulverized you) and filled with aduki beans… The whole dinner was delicious and we were more than satisfied.
The restaurant is called Mametora, is in the heart of Gion, in the area of gheisha, right on the corner of the streets Aoyagi Kōji y Shochiku koji.
You have some more information and some photos hereAccording to what they say, we are right with a place that offers kaiseki cuisine at an affordable price. Here is another page about the restaurant, where the owner appears and another that seems to be from the company to which I suppose the owner belongs. Mametora, Kiwa Corporation, although everything is hypothesis, it's all in kanji,
It might not be the cheapest meal of the trip (not the most expensive either), but it was one of the most interesting.