Originally Posted by
blueline7
Many thanks for all the suggestions, everyone.
I ended up booking Hiiragiya, based upon the fact that reserving via email was possible, and also because I got a sense (maybe mistaken), from various reviews and recommendations, that although both it and Tawaraya were great, there was slightly more enthusiasm for Hiiragiya from people who had stayed there. Anyhow, I only booked it for a single night, to try and get a bit of the Ryokan experience, and booked the Hyatt for the second night in Kyoto. It was my intention to use the second night to try out another kaiseki dinner, but it turns out I have a good credit to use at the Hyatt restaurants on dinner, so I may end up having the dinner at the hotel....That's one way of saving about $300 on a meal!
...although a tough call....
In Tokyo, I am leaning towards trying Kondo for tempura, but I just can't get my head around how a dinner there could be justified at about $250 per person, for mainly fried vegetables and a few pieces of seafood, even if done 'extraordinarily well'. I am also encountering the same issue for booking high end sushi like at Mizutani; how can it be justified when one can get supposedly great sushi at Tsukiji market for hundreds of dollars less....Which leaves me to Ryugin...$300 for a kaiseki in Tokyo when I am going to try that at hiiragiya in Kyoto?
Confounded! I am very willing, and do in fact, spend big money on major dinners, if I feel the value is there, such as an expensive steak or expensive lobster/seafood....But for relatively cheap ingredients and simple foods, even when done by an artist, I personally struggle to justify it. That being said, PLEASE convince me to go and try these places,; I desperately want to try them....
I think the idea of eating at the hotel to use the voucher in Kyoto would be a false economy. The food at HR Kyoto is acceptable, but it certainly isn't how I would choose to spend the only night I had to dine at an outside restaurant in Kyoto.
I would highly recommend eating at a counter seat at Gion Nanba (I posted a link to the website in my previous post), or at the excellent restaurant Gion Suetomo which is located very near the Hyatt Regency. The price will be around ¥20,000~ for Gion Nanba, and around ¥25,000 ~ ¥30,000 at Gion Suetomo.
Re tempura, I completely disagree with statements above that a ¥2000~¥4000 lunch is an acceptable substitute for a gourmet Tempura dinner. In Japan you get what you pay for. Believe me, once you have tried tempura at a fine restaruant, you will appreciate the quality difference. The same goes for sushi. If you are staying at the Peninsula, as you said in your OP, then you do not need to look any further than Tsuruya, which is downstairs on B1F of the Peninsula, in order to experience excellent tempura.