Curry & Tempura Koisus: Viral curry in Kyoto
Japanese curry was on our list of foods to eat during our honeymoon in Japan. We ended up eating it in Kyoto and the spot actually turned out to be a viral spot on social media, but we had no idea at the time 😳. We simply googled curry around us and chose one with good ratings.
Curry & Tempura Koisus is a small Japanese restaurant in the quiet neighbourhood streets of the Gion area. We arrived before 11am (opening time) and there was no wait, although a line formed pretty shortly after. Here is how our experience went.
Curry & tempura koisus
3 Chome-292 Miyagawasuji, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0801, Japan
The vibe
The format of the restaurant features bar seating so we sat in a row alongside other customers for the first order of the day. The servers were each assigned to 1 or 2 groups and stood behind the bar.
Those waiting for the second order could come and wait inside with bench seating along the wall. It was a very orderly dining process.
Food review
Prices have been converted from yen to CAD and rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity.
Spicy curry with assorted tempura ($24)
We were looking for a light breakfast so we actually shared this curry set meal. We could also choose the amount of rice (small, medium, large) and we opted for the medium.
The spice curry came in a very interesting presentation – a flat wooden bowl that resembles the one you cook traditional rice in. Once opening the lid, we are greeted by this fun visual. The rice sits in the middle like a bridge or road and has different types of pickled veggies decorated on top.
The curries are split into two flavours – a lighter colour with minced meat, and a darker colour with beans (vegan).
It was interesting to eat it this way and we strategized so the two different flavours didn’t end up mixing together in the end. Out of the two, I did prefer the darker curry even though it was a vegan one. I felt it tasted nuttier and more savoury. The lighter one tasted more like what I would expect from a Japanese curry (sweeter) but it had very little meat.
The tempura was fried really well – light and fluffy and crispy. They recommended for us to dip it in matcha powder, which was new to us. Interesting flavour combination but I don’t think I would eat it with matcha again 😅.
Lastly, they also recommended for us to pour the soup stock in the kettle and mix it up with the leftover curry to make a curry soup. This also was kind of just ok to me as I felt it mostly just diluted the curry flavours, which already was not that strong to begin with.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
We had a nice early lunch at Curry Kiosus, but I don’t believe it’s worth the hype.
The food was good and I think $24 for a curry set meal in Canada would be considered so cheap, but in Japan you can find a lot of options for lower than that and with more meat.
This spot boasts about their curry using 20 different spices but again, I didn’t think it had that power punch I was expecting. The presentation and set up was fun but overall, I think it may be more for tourists. I would not wait more than 10 mins to eat here.
Sincerely, Loewe