Kyoto Food Experiences

Our guide, Laiana, was absolutely superb. She was personable, knowledgeable and warm. By the end of the tour, we had forgotten that she was a tour guide. It felt like we were exploring the city with a friend who wanted to show us her favorite spots.

Hiro gave us a fabulous food experience in downtown Kyoto and informative walking tour through the Gion district. The restaurants he selected for us were perfect, and met our challenging food restrictions :) He was also a great photographer and knew the perfect locations to take the perfect photo! Thank You, Hiro! You made our time in Kyoto unforgettable! Sincerely, Brian & Kristin

We had a great time exploring the market with Hiro! It was interesting to learn about his "day job" and he took us to several great spots, including the basement of the department store where locals buy their lunches. Only noting that we stopped at one store and were told everything should be fine for our dietary restrictions, but I checked ingredients when I got home and one sauce had beef & pork in it. We should definitely have checked and do not expect Hiro to know every ingredient in all the packaged goods in the market! Just advice to future travelers to translate everything!

We enjoyed our Kyoto food tour with Hiro. In addition to delicious food, Hiro’s local knowledge of Kyoto area, culture, and traditions made our encounter very enriching. But the most memorable experiences were the conversations over dinner. Looking forward to future visits and tours of Kyoto.

A definite highlight of our trip to Japan. From the moment we walked in, Midori-san showed us great hospitality by serving us tea and sweets. She is very friendly and lively, and we felt right at home. She asked about our itinerary and gave us detailed recommendations. This was close to the end of our Japan trip, but I'd strongly recommend booking this near the start so you can benefit most from her suggestions! The cooking class was great and Midori-san was very patient and clear in her instructions. We made vegan onigiri, gyoza and ramen. The onigiri was surprisingly simple to make and we also received printouts of the recipe. After only being back in the US for a few days, I have already made onigiri for lunch. The gyoza and ramen were equally delicious. Make sure to come with an empty stomach! After we finished the food, she even walked us to a nearby supermarket so we could pick up the ingredients to make them at home. Overall, Midori-san went above and beyond to make this a great experience for us. There are of course many things to do in Kyoto, but as a tourist it's rare to be able to have an experience like this where you are welcomed inside a local's home. I strongly recommend this class.

This might easily have been my favorite activity of our Japanese trip! The host was absolutely wonderful, very friendly and easy to talk to. She clearly explained everything we needed to do to cook our meal. The meal was the best food we have had in Japan thus far! I highly recommend!

Very helpful staff, great experience in the heart of scenic matcha country

One of the highlights of our trip. Midori is very well informed and likes to share knowledge about the food and culture. She gives shopping tips not only for food items but also for other hobby-related stuff like knitting or sawing. She even took us to a local supermarket to show what products are available and where to get them. Because Midori prepared the easy stuff in advance the cooking class was able to cover 3 whole recipes with a lot of background info. We should have done the class in the beginning of our trip because of all the good tips. We wish Midori all the best!

We had the most incredible day doing the washi and mochi making with our wonderful guide Yuki. He was so knowledgable about the local area, and it really felt like we were seeing a true representation of life in Ayabe. Learning about the history of washi paper and the steps it takes to make it was fascinating, and then getting the chance to do it ourselves with an expert was really exciting. We can’t wait to receive our finished Washi postcards at our next hotel! The mochi making was also a wonderful experience, with two sweet ladies showing us the way to properly pound the rice and shape it into delicious mochi balls. We even got to eat the mochi we had made, prepared in three traditional methods. We had an absolutely unforgettable day with Yuki in Ayabe, and we can’t wait to come back again.

Hiroshi is a fantastic tour guide. He had a great sense of humour. We had a wonderful meal and he was very open to ordering a dish that we wanted to try out. He took several group pictures at popular tourist sites. It was a treat to have so many pictures of our tour. It was nice to have someone who is local who had detailed knowledge of Kyoto. He was very informative and we learned a lot about the Japanese culture. I would recommend Hiroshi to everyone.

Midori is a great guide with a lot of recommendations for coffee, food, shopping, etc. These recommendations also aren't limited to Kyoto either, so she is a great resource for therest of your Japan trip.

We had an excellent tour with Hiro! I am celiac and he was great with making sure all my food was gluten free. The food was very good and we got to try some interesting things. Highly recommend this tour!