The 10 Best Oyakodon Restaurants You Must Eat in Kyoto, Japan

Oyako-don is a Japanese dish with chicken and egg over rice. Oyako-don in Kyoto are known for the elegant flavor of dashi, Japanese broth often made from kelp and dried bonito shavings. The Kyoto style oyako-don is served with creamy and smooth egg and gently cooked chicken. Many restaurants emphasize a flavor of egg, and you even find a raw egg on top of oyako-don at some places. Also, each restaurant in Kyoto is very particular about dashi. Here are the best tasty oyako-don restaurants in Kyoto you should try!

1. Maruki

photo by alan.chen_e   /   embedded from Instagram

“Maruki” is a soba noodles restaurant that you enter through noren, traditional Japanese fabric dividers usually hung in the doors and windows. Located at the entrance of the Nishiki Market, oyako-don is served with soba noodles at 850 yen. Their chickens are covered under soft and moist egg over rice, and rice is soaked in dashi.

The Japanese pepper sprinkled on egg also adds the spice, and that makes Maruki’s oyako-don simple yet tasty. The well cooked eggs have smooth and pleasant texture. If you are visiting the Nishiki Market, you should try Maruki’s simple flavored oyako-don!

2. Hisago

photo by __pirata   /   embedded from Instagram

Oyako-don at “Hisago” has creamy egg over rice. The delicately cooked egg blends perfectly with free range chicken. The Japanese pepper and leek from Kujo bring out the flavor of oyako-don. This restaurant is so popular among locals and tourist that there is usually a line of people waiting outside the restaurant.

You can enjoy oyako-don to the last bite with the exactly right amount of dashi soaking into rice. If you are looking for an oyako-don restaurant, Hisago is the place to go!

3. Wabiya Korekido Gion Hanamikoji-ten

photo by myouka.f   /   embedded from Instagram

“Wabiya Korekido Gion Hanamikoji-ten” is famous for serving a unique oyako-don. Their oyako-don called “Ishiyaki Oyako-don” that is served in a hot stone bowl with two raw eggs on top. When you eat, mix everything in the bowl, just like Bibimbap, a Korean dish topped with seasoned vegetables, meat, sauce and spice.

This special oyako-don is only available at Wabiya Korekido Gion Hanamikoji-ten. Chicken is cooked over the charcoal, and scorched rice from a hot stone bowl is also enjoyable. You can adjust the state of scorch the way you like. The line of people for this restaurant doesn’t look too bad. If you are in the neighborhood, you should try this unique oyako-don with plenty of eggs!

▽ Related Article

4. Torii

photo by kaazuuuuuki1021   /   embedded from Instagram

The high price settings at restaurants in Kyoto are sometimes criticized as “Kyoto prices”. It’s assumed that is because it’s costly to provide good quality of foods to tourists. Although “Torii”, located near the Hankyu-Kyoto line Omiya station, is in the city of Kyoto where the prices are set fairly high, oyako-don at this restaurant is only 690 yen.

Torii’s oyako-don has a raw egg yolk on top, and this style of oyako-don is rare in Kyoto. You eat an egg yolk and oyako-don together and enjoy the different flavor by eating oyako-don with or without an egg yolk. The perfectly reasoned oyako-don comes with a soup and pickles. It’s not easy to find a restaurant with this reasonable price. You should definitely try Torii when you are in Kyoto!

5. Toriyasu

photo by shinxab   /   embedded from Instagram

“Toriyasu” serves generous quantity of oyako-don with fluffy egg and big chunks of chicken. Toriyasu is also a chicken store, so the quality of chicken is very high. You can have chewy and juicy chicken with egg and rice.

The restaurant provides generous volume of oyako-don, so it’s better to go there when you are hungry! Besides oyako-don, another popular dish is “karaage-don” which is a dish with fried chicken cooked with egg over rice at 780yen. It’s a unique and different type of oyako-don, and you will love it!

 
You May Also Like:

→The Best 12 Shopping Malls You Must Visit in Kyoto, Japan

6. Torisanwa

photo by namine_t   /   embedded from Instagram

“Torisanwa” is conveniently located on the first basement floor at the Isetan department store. The restaurant has a special menu called “broiled Nagoya cochin oyako-don” at 1,059yen. Nagoya cochin is a famous domestic breed chicken from Nagoya, Aichi. Torisanwa’s oyako-don served with chewy and juicy Nagoya cochin and fluffy egg is a must-eat dish.

This restaurant also provides regular oyako-don for those who are not big fan of chewy Nagoya cochin. This oyako-don is also flavorful and tasty. You can access the restaurant directly from Kyoto station. Enjoy the meal at Torisanwa!

7. Hachikian Kyoto Takashimaya-ten

photo by narinomiyatomohito   /   embedded from Instagram

The locally well known “Hachikian Kyoto Takashimaya-ten” is located in the Takashimaya department store in Kyoto. The main restaurant is famous for nabe dish, a Japanese hot-pot dish, but there is no nabe at this branch restaurant. At Hachikian Kyoto Takashimaya-ten, the main menu is oyako-don.

Besides oyako-don, they serve curry and rice, kamo namba that is duck, green onion, and soba served in a hot soup, etc. About 80 percent of customers order oyako-don, and “oyako-don and small size kamo namba combo” is also popular.

Their oyako-don’s egg is cooked over easy and chicken is juicy. There is also a raw egg yolk on top. Enjoy the famous oyako-don at Hachikian Kyoto Takashimaya-ten while shopping at the Kyoto Takashimaya department store!

8. Nishijin Toriiwaro

photo by sixd162001   /   embedded from Instagram

“Nishijin Toriiwaro” is a hideaway restaurant specializes in chicken dishes. Like a long established sophisticated restaurant, there is noren at the machiya building, traditional merchant’s houses. This restaurant uses chicken broth cooked with well water. All the dishes are tasty and delicious, but oyako-don is especially popular among them.

The slightly colored fluffy egg is a perfect match to slow cooked chicken. A raw quail egg on the top brings out a mellow flavor of oyako-don. This delicately prepared oyako-don is definitely worth checking out!

9. Kawamichiya-shiten Kawakyu

photo by utsintoculianimam   /   embedded from Instagram

In Kyoto, many restaurants are located in machiya style building. “Kawamichiya-shiten Kawakyu”, a soba restaurant in Karasuma, is also one of them. Entering through the quaint noren, you are surrounded by the atmosphere of a good-old soba restaurant.

Oyako-don is different from other restaurants and is a popular dish at this restaurant. A soupy egg covers rice, and sweet, thick, and creamy egg adhere to rice.

If you are hungry, combo meals, such as oyako-don with small size soba noodles or oyako-don with small size udon noodles which is noodles made of wheat flour will satisfy you. The restaurant is popular among locals and tourist. Enjoy this unique oyako-don under the traditional atmosphere.

10. Gonbei

photo by mighty_   /   embedded from Instagram

“Gonbei” is located in “Gion”, one of the popular destinations in Kyoto. Gonbei is a udon restaurant, but their tasty oyako-don is also well known to locals. The price of oyako-don is 1,500yen which is slightly higher than other places. However, it must be worth it since there are always people waiting in line to get in every day.

The characteristic of oyako-don is its elegant flavor from dashi which is made of dried bonito from Usa city in Kochi prefecture and kelp from Rausu-cho in Hokkaido. Once you eat the famous fluffy and moist oyako-don with Japanese pepper, you will know why there is always a long line of people here. You must try the famous oyako-don at Gonbei and see it yourself!

Let’s eat delicious oyako-don in Kyoto!

Kyoto is always an attractive destination for tourists. You can visit traditional old town, shrines, and temples. Or you can try to be a maiko, an apprentice geisha, by wearing kimono and walking around the city. In this good-old Kyoto, try delicious oyako-don that you can only taste in Kyoto and find your favorite restaurant!