Kyoto doesn’t have Tokyo’s bright lights and big city vibe. But there’s still a party going on in Kyoto. According to Ken Yokoyama, the general manager of the Hyatt Regency Kyoto, who is giving me a tour of the Gion entertainment district, a night out with friends consists of dinner at 5:30 pm—people in Kyoto eat dinner early—after that they go to another place for drinks, then have a bowl of ramen or udon, and finally they go to a karaoke bar for a final round of drinks.
If you’re looking for a place to hang out with friends, try an izakaya, a drinking bar with small plates of food. Each izakaya with a specialty, an izakaya is whatever the owner-chef wants it to be–dark and intimate, crowded and smoky or casual and laid-back.
Izakaya Ichi (373-1 Kamiya-cho Takasegawauji Shijo Agaru Nakagyou-ku) is a small, smoky restaurant, where I have a sake tasting. Served cold in small glasses, the sakes–filtered, unfiltered, sweet, dry, full-bodied or delicate–are as different as they could be. I like Kagamiyama the best with its light, dry, clean taste.
