Kyoto is an inland city. You can imagine that when modern refrigeration was unknown dealing with seafood safely in an area far from the sea was extremely difficult. As a result, chefs in Kyoto developed their own approach to sushi, using mostly fish with longer shelf-life and/or marinated to make it last longer. This style is called Kyozushi.
I tried this kind of traditional sushi at Izuju, one of the most popular sushi restaurants in located in Gion district. The restaurant faces the entrance to the Yasaka Shrine.
The visit
I arrived at the restaurant quite early and at that time there was no line. In fact, I was the first customer of the day.
The door is easy to miss…
Inside they have a small dining room with wooden furniture.
I had one of their hako sets (the deluxe one), a sort of checkered sushi composition. It included prawns (cooked), omelette, anago (sweet sea-water eel), and sea bream. The dish was both pleasant for the eye and the palate.
Then I had a combo dish with some of their other traditional dishes: mackerel (saba), hamo and a grilled sweetfish called ayu.
They have signs everywhere explaining how to properly eat these dishes. No soy sauce and wasabi are required since the fish on the sushi is already marinated. Also, the mackerel sushi comes with a piece of kelp to protect the fish flavor and the kelp must be removed! The flavor of the mackerel is quite strong; honestly there is not much of it to taste…
Hamo is a typical Kansai fish, a type of eel called pike conger and it is usually found from summer to autumn. It is a rich flavor.
Finally, the ayu grilled in salt is a simple dish very popular in the summer.
All the sushi was great, even if the flavors were more muted than traditional Edo style sushi.
Miso soup.
Green tea.
Most of the dishes are also available for purchase as take-out. Among tourists and locals this seems a pretty big part of their business.
The check
The total was 5,103 yen (around 45 USD) for a meal that could have satisfied two people. Some of the traditional dishes such as hamo and mackerel sushi are quite expensive, but I guess they require long preparation.
While I prefer the raw flavors of Edo style sushi, this was a very interesting and satisfying culinary experience. If you are in Kyoto, be aware of their special style of sushi.
Where in Kyoto:
292-1 Gionmachi, Kitagawa, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Address in Japanese: 京都府京都市東山区祇園町北側292-1
Pro-tip: in Gion there are a lot of dessert places. After sushi, have a Japanese style dessert.