Izusen Kita - Kyoto

Located in the Daitoku-ji area, this restaurant is a fantastic find. The vegetarian combination dish offers a delightful array of flavors and textures that will surprise you. The fried tofu starter is particularly delicious.

I was not aware of the mixed reviews or doubts about whether the food at this restaurant was vegan. I assumed it was, given that it is a shojin ryori restaurant on temple grounds, and I am confident that everything I ate was indeed vegan. I enjoyed a wide variety of delicious and well-presented dishes. At a price of 4300 yen, I found this restaurant to offer excellent value. Some shojin ryori restaurants may leave you still slightly hungry despite offering a large spread of dishes, but this was not the case here.

Daitokuji is a famous temple in Japan and accordingly is highly touristed. The idea of eating temple food in a famous temple sounds good on tourist brochures and Isuzen feels to be designed to meet this demand. Unfortunately however in an attempt to please a mainstream meat eating crowd they use animal ingredients ludicrous, as it is totally possible to achieve robust flavours without. Even more unfortunate is that they don't notify the wait staff of this fact, so even upon the most vigorous enquiry the staff will swear black and blue that the food is fully vegan. It is not. We found this out the hard way... having tasted the tell tale bonito flake flavour in our meal we enquired as to whether the food was really vegan and were laughed at how funny that the gaijin thinks it tastes like real fish! Another dish came out again, that unmistakable fishy smell. This time we insist the waitress goes to ask the chef how he managed to manifest such a remarkably fishy flavour and smell. She comes back with a grave face... turns out they put fish in it. We asked how many of the remaining dishes contained dead animals and were assured there were none. But of course several more followed and by the end of the meal we were both feeling a bit off (funny how the body reacts to things it is no longer accustomed to! . We hope we made enough fuss of the matter to make them realize the gravity of the fraud they had committed and can only hope they don't do it again but realistically speaking we doubt they will cease using fish, more likely they will just be more careful to answer in the affirmative when inquisitive foreigners start asking whether they use fish. They certainly didn't seem to appreciate the importance of being honest up front and had no concept of why a shojin restaurant should avoid using animal products.

Located inside the temple grounds of Dai Toku Ji, this restaurant may be a bit difficult to find. However, you can ask the people at the entrance to provide you with a map. The restaurant is beautifully designed in a traditional Japanese style. The food is expertly prepared and presented, and delicious to taste. You will be served a variety of small dishes. While not inexpensive, the dining experience is well worth it as you not only enjoy delicious Shojin Ryori, but also immerse yourself in a stunning traditional setting.

A wonderful place in the Daitoku-ji area. the vegetarian combination contains many surprises of different taste and textures. the starter of fried tofu is a delicate.