Tucked away in a side street of Kyoto is a very unassuming little gem of a restaurant. I wish I could say that it’s Kyoto’s best kept secret but the cat has been let out the bag a long time ago as this restaurant, Izakaya, is well known and quite possibly the best Izakaya in Kyoto, and requires a reservation.
That said, you too can enjoy all the delicious delights that Bingo Izakaya in Kyoto has to offer with a little advance planning. It certainly is worth planning ahead of time, you will not be disappointed.
Upon entering this small Izayaka, the team that works hard to deliver a very memorable and reasonably-priced experience greeted and welcomed us with big smiles on their faces, for what was about to be the best food in Kyoto that we were about to devour.
We were escorted to our seats and offered a cold towel. It brought back memories of flying business class in Qatar Airways. Menus were placed on our table and at first it was a bit overwhelming since it’s all in Japanese but Google Translate came to our rescue. In no time we placed our first order and within minutes our dishes started arriving at our table. Just one of two tables downstairs as the rest of the seats are facing the cooking station.
As always, when faced with a menu where everything looks scrumptious, ordering multiple dishes to share is the order of the day and so, we enjoyed an array of dishes packed with all sorts of interesting and tantalising tastes and flavours. We started off enjoying some of the freshest sashimi in Kyoto I’ve ever tasted, served in a beautiful soy sauce dressing topped with nori. In fact, is was so good I ordered 3 plates! Other dishes included asparagus: coated and fried to perfection in a light and crispy tempura batter. We ordered some bamboo shoots which were prepared in a similar style as the asparagus, equally as delectable. Then came the salmon: 4 pieces of perfectly tempura-covered salmon, almost completely crudo in the centre, just ever so slightly cooked on the surface as a result of the tempura frying. It was served on top of a bed of homemade tartar sauce like you’ve never tasted before, perfectly complimenting the fish. Let’s order another 2 more of this amazing dish shall we! And so we did…
As if that wasn’t enough flavour, we saw some spring rolls that our neighbouring table ordered so decided to order a few. Who doesn’t like a perfectly fried crispy spring roll? Let’s just throw in a poached egg and you’ve got yourself the best restaurant meal in Kyoto.
2023 Top 3 Winner – BINGO IZAKAYA RESTAURANT written by Hassan – one of the seven international Thacks Awards panelists, who loves the finer things in life and was in his element in Japan. When not traveling and drinking wine, Hassan works in Operations and Service Management for an awesome remote-based gaming company.
SEE THE CURRENT LIST OF 2023 WINNERS HERE.
SEE THE FULL LIST OF 2022 WINNERS HERE.
SEE THE FULL LIST OF 2021 WINNERS HERE.
MEET THE INTERNATIONAL PANELISTS HERE.
READ ALL THE BLOG POSTS HERE.
Thacks Awards 