Located in the beautiful Park Hyatt hotel in the Kiyomizu-dera district of Kyoto, Yasaka overlooks the iconic Yasaka pagoda, also known as the HΕkan-ji Temple. The Park Hyatt seamlessly blends in with the natural surroundings. Built into a hillside, the bar and restaurant command the best view of the pagoda in all of Kyoto. Yasaka is a French-influenced teppanyaki restaurant, and I believe the perfect combination for this experience with the pagoda framed with a prescenium of glass and steel.
A peek into the dining room.
Pre-dinner drinks at the bar.
We chatted with the bar staff, learning of their impressive selection of local Japanese spirits, especially the KI NO BI Kyoto Dry Gin, which features a unique blend of Japanese botanicals like yuzu, hinoki wood, and gyokuro tea, and is made using a base spirit of rice and water from the Fushimi region.Β This became my favorite for gin & tonics.
A sampling of the menus presented for the evening.
Yasaka is such a culinary treasure. I have dined there twice on my trips to Kyoto and constantly crave the Yaska pancake. Next time, I hope to stay at the Park Hyatt.
