Kansai Food Page Restaurant and Market Guides

Okonomiyaki in Osaka, kaiseki in Kyoto, Kobe beef in Kobe - you'll find it all here in our Kansai restaurant guide, with listings for more than 400 Kansai-area restaurants, bars and takoyaki stands. Browse by neighborhood, search by cuisine, and take it all on the road with our handy mobile versions.

The bento.com Kansai guide is also available in Japanese, on the web and on your mobile.

Kyoto-ryori

Where to try out Kyoto's famous specialty cuisines - tofu, kaiseki and vegetarian shojin-ryori.

More local favorites

From takoyaki and okonomiyaki to Kobe beef, here's where you can find some more local Kansai dishes.

Travel Feature: Eating in Nara

Where to find local dishes like cha-gayu - rice flavored with green tea and seasonal vegetables - and Nara-style pickles.

Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum, Kobe

An old brewery in the Nada sake-brewing district of Kobe

Sammy's Ebisu Plaza, Osaka

A recreation of Taisho-era Japan in a three-story food theme park

Entertaining restaurant signs

Giant mechanical crabs, forty-foot octopi and other commercial enticements from the streets of Osaka

Osaka subway map

How to get there

Daimaru Food Floor, Kyoto

Pastries and sake, miso paste and fishcakes, from one of Kyoto's most luxurious department store food floors

Sogo Food Floor, Kobe

Delicate Japanese sweets, savory crackers, and regional sushi variations at this popular department store food basement

Hanshin Food Floor, Osaka

Fresh crabs, grilled fish and oden ingredients from Osaka's legendary railway-station department-store food market

Isetan Food Floor, Kyoto

Pickles, yuba (tofu skin) and other Kyoto food specialties at this food-floor basement inside Kyoto station

Nishiki Market, Kyoto - photo tour

An introduction to central Kyoto's sprawling food market and the people who shop there

Nishiki Market, Kyoto - favorite shops

From rice crackers and spices to soy-milk doughnuts - where to go for delicacies in Kyoto's market

Nenohi: Osaka Umeda

Managed by a Nagoya-area sake brewery with a 300-year-history, Nenohi offers premium seasonal and limited-edition sakes along with excellent grilled chicken and regional dishes. The dining room is quite spacious and attractively laid out. Budget around Y6000 for food and drink. [ Restaurant data ]

Benoit: Osaka Umeda

A mid-priced bistro-style menu served in a flashy skyscraper dining room, from French celeb-chef Alain Ducasse. Unlike the Michelin-starred, pan-Mediterranean Benoit Tokyo, the Osaka branch is more classically French. Typical entrees include roast baby rabbit with carrots and green onions; and braised halibut with champagne sauce and creamed spinach. Prix-fixe dinners are Y5700-8000 or a la carte; lunch is Y2600-5200. [ Restaurant data ]

Inaseya: Kyoto

Chicken sukiyaki is the specialty of the house here, and they use only the very best free-range birds - slightly chewy and very flavorful - in all their dishes. Sit in the zashiki room overlooking the beautiful traditional garden and choose from one of the three sukiyaki-centered full-course menus, priced at Y4200, Y5250 and Y7350.

If you're more daring (and speak Japanese), you can chat with the staff at the counter and ask for recommendations from their excellent sake list, and explore the wide range of delicacies - including raw chicken livers! (They were better than we expected.) No English spoken. [ Restaurant data ]

Dining Diary