Tempura Matsu

Starting out as a tempura shop, this Arashiyama restaurant has recently developed into full-blown kappo under the menu expansion led by the son of the original owner, Toshio Matsuno. Matsuno-san learned his trade under the tutelage of his father, as well as in kitchens run by Grant Achatz and Alain Ducasse. The menu he devised after taking over the family business features innovative new additions alongside the tempura specialities perfected his father. Dinner at Tempura Matsu might include such dishes as oyster tempura, prawn and lotus root tempura, shrimp with radish and prawn soup, outstandingly soft sea bream, and octopus made uncharacteristically tender through a complex cooking process. If you take the trip up to Arashiyama to visit its wealth of Zen temples, be sure to book yourself a seat at Kyoto’s best-kept culinary secret.