Toyouke Chaya

Toyouke Chaya is very close to the torii gates of Kitano Tenmangu. Toyouke Chaya is a tofu restaurant which only serves lunch, and which began operating in 1992. The restaurant’s starting point was the wish of the owner of the tofu shop Toyoukeya Yamamoto to serve excellent tofu and yuba (tofu skin). There is often a line in front of this restaurant, and up until recently the line consisted mainly of locals and Japanese tourists, but recently they’re getting more and more guests from overseas too. As the restaurant is run by a tofu shop, they know everything there is to know about tofu and yuba. Because of this, their tofu meal sets and rice bowls are just the thing for those of you who want to eat tofu when traveling to Kyoto. They have menu items which let you enjoy tofu to the fullest, like their simple yudofu (boiled tofu), yuba-rice bowls with mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley) and ginger, and even tofu yogurt for dessert. Yudofu in Kyoto may have an expensive image, but here at Toyouke Chaya you can enjoy yudofu at very reasonable prices. During the plum blossom season and on the 25th of every month when the Tenjin-san flea market is held there are even more people than usual lining up for Toyouke Chaya, but I would still like to recommend this restaurant to all of our readers.