Best Sushi in Kyoto 🍣 | Gion Mametora [祇をん 豆寅]

Today marks the first day of Sydney's stage one of restriction eases, where cafes and restaurants can allow customers of up to 10 people to dine-in. What better way to celebrate this moment than to share another restaurant I recommend when visiting Japan. While I was in Kyoto my friends and I went out early to rent our kimono for the day before walking around Gion Hanamikoji Dori to find our next meal. Hanamikoji Dori is a popular spot for tourists and locals as this is where tea houses and restaurants are lined up and you might even catch a glimpse of Maikos or Geisha's heading off to her next appointment. 

We stopped at a restaurant called Gion Mametora (祇をん 豆寅) where they offer course meals for lunch and dinner and the prices are a little on the expensive side, yet quite reasonable for a five course menu, especially for the quality they serve up. As soon as we stepped foot into the restaurant, the staff were incredibly friendly and asked if we had a reservation or not before showing us to our table. The atmosphere of the restaurant was comfortable and spacious with traditional tatami mats laid out.

Mametora serves kaiseki ryori, an elegant course menu based on what's in season, however their speciality is their mame sushi, a smaller and rounder sushi compared to the original bite-sized sushi. The reason behind this is so geiko's and maiko's could also eat the sushi in one bite without opening their mouths too wide resulting in smudging their elegant makeup. Also each sushi piece is to be eaten 'as-is' so no say sauce is necessary as they have already been seasoned. 

So of course, we ordered the mame sushi set at 4200 yen (ex.tax), where we started with our entree with a refreshing three piece, including a yam seaweed dish, yomogi tofu and green beans in sesame sauce. We decided to get umeshu to go with our meal. Next up we were served their refreshing daikon miso soup which was light and refreshing on the palette. Following the refreshing soup we had some freshly fried tempura yam and some sort flower vegetable which were absolutely delicious! 

Then, our main meal was up next and all the seasonal mame sushi were came in a wooden box which resembled a jewellery box where all the mame sushi were lined up like cute little jewels. The presentation was just stunning and we just took a moment to appreciate all the work right in front of us. There was shrimp, sea bream, shallot, squid (ika), freshwater eel (unagi), inari sushi, scallop (hotate), some kind of flower petal/vegetable, konbu jelly, engawa (possibly), salmon and mackarel (saba). The flower petal/vegetable one had the most interesting texture and taste, it was crunchy and refreshing with a slight sour-bitterness to it. Overall, I couldn't decide which piece was my favourite as they were all fantastic and unique!

Last of all, we finished the meal with dessert. We got a sakura-mochi as we went during early Spring. The mochi was filled with red bean and wrapped in a sakura tree leaf. At this point I was already super full but I couldn't let this beautiful baby go to waste so I ate the whole thing. After this meal we made sure to walk around heaps to work off the meal! 

I would highly recommend dining at Mametora for lunch or dinner as offer fresh, authentic, seasonal Kyoto delicacies plus you'll be sure to be left feeling satisfied. Their mame sushi course is available during both lunch and dinner, however, if you're on a slightly tighter budget I'd recommend going during lunch time as the prices are much more cheaper in comparison to their evening course meals. Plus they also have some English speaking staff and it is a non-smoking restaurant too.