Eating at Gion Gyuzen

This is a restaurant recommendation if you ever go to Kyoto, Japan. When many people think of eating out in Japan, they usually think of sushi or ramen. There's more to Japan than sushi or ramen, and it would be a shame if you didn't get to experience that. I'm going to introduce a restaurant called Gion Gyuzen, an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu and sukiyaki restaurant.

You'll see this sign when walking on the sidewalk. Gion Gyuzen is perfect for late night eating.

Gion Gyuzen is on Gion-machi in the Higashiyama Ward of Kyoto, Japan. If you go down Shijo Dori until you hit Nishiromon Shrine and turn left, it's right there. They're open everyday, from 5 pm-11 pm. The building Gion Gyuzen is in is a shared unit. Take the elevator to the 4th floor. You'll see the entrance to the restaurant right when you come out of the elevator.

The entrance. There wasn't a long wait on the weekday. No reservation needed.

There may be some kind a wait to be seated as this is a popular restaurant. I discovered this restaurant in spring of 2014, when my husband and I went on a guided tour in Japan for a week for our honeymoon. On the tour they would have places reserved for dinner. While in Kyoto during the tour, our guide reserved a table for us at Gion Gyuzen. At that time we ate shabu-shabu which was delicious. It was serviced with vegetables and sauces for dipping. For those of you who may not know, shabu-shabu is boiling slices of meat in water. "Shabu-shabu" is the swooshing sound it makes in the boiling water. Everyone on the tour really enjoyed the meal.

Sliced beef can be boiled in either shabu-shabu style at the top or sukiyaki style at the bottom.

The meat and veggies are cooking!

My husband and I went again in November since we liked it last time. This time we did the shabu-shabu- and sukiyaki. We never did sukiyaki before, and it was amazing! It cost us about $80 USD for a two hour all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu and sukiyaki meal. If you ever want to know if something is all-you-can-eat, look for the word "tabehodai" or 食べ放題. Sukiyaki is boiling meat and vegetables in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin. My husband and I took full advantage of it and ate 8 plates of beef. We kept on pressing this button on the table that would bring our waiter to the table. It was so good (we recommend the sukiyaki).

The outside menu. They also have crab and pork on the menu.

Now, just because it's all-you-can-eat doesn't mean you should eat until you get sick. There is always a limit, and it's called your stomach. It's a two hour eating session so you have a bunch of time, there's no need to rush. And the waiter that's helping you will let you know when your time will be running out. Keep at a good pace and you'll enjoy your meal. Eat like a pig and you'll feel very sick by the end of it. And once you're done eating you go pay for your meal at the register by the entrance.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Thank you for reading! I really like food, so if you like food too you should definitely give this place a try. It may be a bit pricey but it's well worth it, and you can always down grade the type of beef you have to make the meal a bit cheaper.

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