Yi Pan Cai Tanaka

“If you saw it overseas, you wouldn’t walk down it,” laughs Chef Tanaka Shinpei, of the alley in front of his restaurant. “It kind of looks like you’d see people playing mahjong in the back.” Cramped and cluttered, the alley is a stark contrast to the warm, inviting interior of Yi Pan Cai Tanaka, a dim sum restaurant in Kyoto’s Sakyo Ward. It was opened by Chef Tanaka in 2020, and it received its first Michelin Bib Gourmand just three years later. So Chef Tanaka isn’t worried that the location would turn people off — the restaurant draws plenty of customers as it is, and even Michelin inspectors. If anything, the obscurity of the location adds its own sort of charm, which is emblematic of Chef Tanaka’s laid-back personality. Equally emblematic of his personality is the eclecticism of the food. Having spent 20 years in the kitchen of a Cantonese restaurant, Chef Tanaka now applies his own playful touches to the dim sum he has mastered. His most famous dish is an alternative take on the popular Japanese-Chinese dish of ebi-mayo, fried shrimp in mayonnaise dressing; Chef Tanaka wraps a mixture of shrimp and hamo pike conger paste in vermicelli-like strands of kadaif noodle, then deep-fries it, resulting in a delightfully crunchy texture. Chef Tanaka also infuses his mayonnaise with plenty of lemon juice, cutting through the oil with a sharp citrus tang. It’s a popular lunch spot, but it really comes to life at night, when office workers and hungry partygoers alike crowd the counter and table seats. Michelin Guide: 2023 - Bib Gourmand