Nominokoji Yamagishi, Kyoto

Nominokoji Yamagishi Kyoto

560 Honeyanocho, Nakagyo Ward,

Kyoto, 604-8064, Japan

Nominokoji Yamagishi in Kyoto is a casual yet refined dining experience that reflects the essence of its parent restaurant, the renowned Michelin-starred Tominokoji Yamagishi. This newer establishment opened in July 2022 to meet the demand of those who find it difficult to secure reservations at Tominokoji Yamagishi or for those who prefer a more relaxed a-la carte style setting. For us, Nominokoji Yamagishi is a completely different dining concept, and one for those who would like a refined izakaya style dining.

Nominokoji Yamagishi's interior and atmosphere is warm and welcoming, where guests are seated on a rounded counter facing the charcoal grill, prep areas as well as a very impressive selection of ceramics. The design is meant to foster an intimate and interactive dining experience. Whilst the team did not speak very good english, it was still very engaging as we tried to interact with our broken Japanese and the servers using a translation device. I thought it felt extremely charming although there are several google reviews that suggest that the servers were brisk and not particularly friendly. We never felt so and thought the team tried to do what they could for a pleasant and enjoyable meal.

Interior at Nominokoji Yamagishi

The concept blends a short initial degustation, which features 4 courses using seasonal ingredients and dashi from the parent kitchen followed by an extensive izakaya style menu where you can choose freely from over fifty dishes. This time round, we had a last minute booking on Tableall, which features an omakase style full degustation for 24,000 JPY per person.

Omakase style means no menu and challenges in translation also means a pretty bare bones description for us. This is what we could gather as we progressed through the meal:

• Ikura on Rice

• Dagger Tooth Pike Conger with Matsutake

• Miso Yakiniku

• Bonito with Daikon and Mustard with Ponzo Sauce

• Fried Tofu and Chinese Cabbage Soup

• Chicken Wing

• Pork belly in Broth

• Amadai Karaage

• Oden

• Kani Cream Croquette

• Saba Sushi

• Kurumi Walnut Mochi

Diners can expect a extremely clean and well executed flavour profile. Although these dishes are not what you say particularly exotic and can be found in alot of izakayas, the quality of the produce as well as the execution was immaculate. Like I mentioned up the top, there is an option to do the traditional 4 course, which the rest of the restaurant had. From what we saw, those were definitely not the courses that stood out from the full degustation. The intention is for you to choose your own add ons after but we saw some people leaving after their set course, which really was a pity. This probably contributed to the polarising reviews on google maps.

Like most izakayas and restaurants in Japan, it is common to leave the sake pairing to the team. We learnt a little about sake this trip and was keen to have unpasteurised as well as seasonal sakes that are typically exclusive to Japan due to cold chain shipping challenges and let's say the team was up to the challenge. In fact, our neighbouring diners ended up going with some of our choices. We had some exceptional sake pairings, with each pour priced at 1500 JPY.

What were our stand outs for the night? We really enjoyed the Bonito with Ponzu, Amadai Kaarage, Chicken Wing as well as the Saba Sushi. These are must tries here. The Kurumi Walnut Mochi (pictured below) which we ended our meal with was also a stand out.

Random topic: For those who love little gifts, the team at Nominokoji Yamagishi gave us some of their stickers at the end of the dinner. I love my stickers, and so I thought it very apt to include this here.

Kurumi Walnut Mochi

Booking

We booked via Tableall which for us was fuss free. Although you do pay a steep reservation fee, it is no fuss and easy. We just showed up with our meal already paid.

Accessibility

The restaurant is very convenient and sits around a 5 min walk from Kyoto City Hall Station. If you are using google maps, just remember to confirm the address. The listed restaurant goes under the name Yamagishi.

The Damage

The meal itself was 24000 JPY per pax with sake at 1500 JPY per glass.

Would We Recommend?

Yes! But only the Omakase menu which we had. We had a really exquisite Izakaya style meal and was absolutely stuffed by the end of the meal. Whilst it should not be discussed with Tominokoji Yamagishi in the same sentence, Nominokoji Yamagishi sits in a sweet spot for those who value culinary excellence and exquisite seasonal produce. It is on the pricey end, but still a dinner which we really appreciated and enjoyed. I don't think you can get a better quality Izakaya style meal anywhere else. Yes, I did just say that.