Porta Dining

On the north side of the station the underground shopping mall, Porta has a good range of cheap dining opportunities which range from Japanese food, to cafes, sandwich shops and a fast food outlet selling burgers and fries. If you are in a hurry or don’t want to spend too much money, this is the place to go.

Most of the restaurants are concentrated on the western side of the mall in a section called “Porta Dining”. However, there is also a Starbucks Coffee shop on the central plaza, and on the eastern side of the mall you can find four dining options: Subway sandwich bar, Inoda Coffee, Lotteria for fast food, and Tsukiji Gindaco (an octopus dumpling shop).

Starbucks Coffee

Porta has two branches of Starbucks Coffee, one on the central plaza and one in the far south west corner of the mall. Both branches have the same reliably friendly service, with a wide selection of coffees brewed up from Arabica beans. Sandwiches, cakes, and pastries are also available.

 Open: 7:30 – 22:00
 Starbucks (Plaza) Tel: 075-343-2377
 Starbucks (West) Tel: 075-353-5531

DashiChazuke-En

Chazuke is a super simple dish of rice with various toppings, such as scallions, pickles, seaweed and fish over which is poured green tea, and for extra flavor a little dashi or fish stock. In the traditional Japanese home, this is a typical but tasty way to use up your leftovers. DashiChazuke-En has taken this original homely recipe to produce a variety of first rate and healthy fast food options.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:40)
 Tel: 075-708-6396

Korean Kitchen Shijan

Traditional Korean home style cooking with the spiciness level ever so slightly modified to suit delicate Japanese taste buds.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00
 Tel: 075-343-3260

Kyoazuki

Hot steaming bowls of ramen (Chinese style wheat noodles) flavored with chicken stock and vegetables are the main item on offer here, but you can also order “kobonchan”, Kyoazuki’s own brand of sweet syrupy dango dumplings.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-5070

Tonkatsu KYK

Carefully selected cuts of juicy pork, breaded and deep fried and served up with rice, miso soup and shredded cabbage. This shop’s special tonkatsu sauce is made according to a secret recipe. Extra servings of rice, cabbage and soup are free.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-3265

Okonomiyaki Machiya

Okonomiyaki are flour and egg based savory pancakes stuffed with grated yam, cabbage and other ingredients of your choice. This shop also serves “modan yaki” a variant form that is fried up on a bed of noodles. There is also an open kitchen so you can watch the cooks prepare your food, and fry it up in front of you.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-3077

Ajisaiya

This restaurant specializes in obanzai, the traditional side dishes of Kyoto home cooking. These dishes, of mixed vegetables, seafood and soups in various combinations use fresh local ingredients and are highly nutritious.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-342-1114

Tea House Lipton

Lipton’s famous teas are served up here with a delicious range of cakes and pastries. At the sales booth you can also buy tea, tarts and baked sweets to take away.

 Open: 8:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-3901

Marumo Kitchen

Marumo Kitchen serves donburi, bowls of rice topped with toppings of simmered meat, or fish, or vegetables. This shop has 20 varieties from which to choose.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-746-5696

Shisen Sankan

This restaurant specializes in Sichuan Cuisine, one of the four great cooking styles of China, which is characterized by its bold and spicy flavors. Their specialty is “mapo tofu”, which is a hot pot of tofu and minced meat in a peppery sauce. Other popular dishes, are shrimp in chilli sauce, sweet and sour pork, and Sichuan noodles.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-3262

Kineya

Kineya serves thick wheat udon noodles. There are many regional styles of udon, but Kineya’s handmade noodles are Sanuki udon which originate on the island of Shikoku. They are thick with flat edges and a little more al dente than other varieties. You can watch a noodle making demonstration at the front of the shop.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-2562

Ramen Kanjindo Kumagoro

This shop is notable for its yuzu kiri ramen. These are ramen noodles, served up in chicken soup, but with a citrus twist, as yuzu fruit is kneaded into the mix during the noodle making process. Also on the menu are tonkotsu ramen (noodles in pork broth), tsukemen (cold noodles with a dipping soup), and kaisen donburi (a bowl of rice with a seafood topping). Expect large helpings.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-3199

Grill Capital Toyotei

The first Toyotei restaurant opened in Kyoto 1897 and the company prides itself on its history of introducing Western style dishes to Japan. Now the Toyotei company has a number of branches in Kyoto and Osaka serving up hamburger steaks, Japanese style curry, pizza, and all manner of Western style hor d’oeuvres and desserts.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:15)
 Tel: 075-343-3222

Kyo-ryori Manshige

Manshige serves up a style of Kyo-ryori, or Kyoto cuisine that originated in the Nishijin area and the main branch of this restaurant can still be found there. Expect a range of delicately prepared and beautifully presented seasonal dishes of tofu, vegetables and seafood which despite their sophistication are quite reasonably priced.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00
 Tel: 075-343-3920

Ginza Hageten

This store serves tempura, seasonal vegetables and seafood, deep fried in sesame oil and served up hot, direct to your table.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-3018

Conana

Japanese style pasta dishes here served in an original dashi style soup stock. Popular items are the soy milk carbonara followed up with pancakes for dessert.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:00)
 Tel: 075-746-5135

Yomenya Goemon

This is a spaghetti specialty shop, with an enormous range of choices available on the seasonal menu. Both Western and Japanese styles of spaghetti are on offer, but all are boiled up in a huge iron pot and eaten with chopsticks! Incidentally, the shop is named after legendary 16th century outlaw Ishikawa Goemon, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, and was rewarded for his crimes by being boiled alive in a large iron pot!

 Tel: 075-746-5950
 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:00)

Doutor Coffee Shop

If you are in a hurry this casual café is good for reasonably priced coffee, sandwiches and pastries.

 Open: 8:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-6625
Separate smoking & non-smoking sections

Monte Romano

This restaurant boasts a chef who studied for years in Italy and who now serves up pasta, pizza and hearty grill food that is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the tongue.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:15)
 Tel: 075-353-7260

Soup Stock Tokyo

A huge range of soups, potages, chowders and curries are available on this ever changing seasonal menu.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-708-2253

Fujiya

Fujiya sells a long established brand of buckwheat soba noodles. Enjoy them on their own, or have them as part of a course menu with tempura and other side dishes.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-2641

Kushi Café BonBonYa

A relaxed eatery where you can enjoy kushikatsu, skewered and seasoned grilled meat and vegetables. Other dishes such as seafood on rice, udon noodles, and omu-rice (an omelette with fried rice and ketchup).

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-344-3647

Tagoto

Tagoto offers a mixed menu of soba noodles, sushi, tempura and other Kyoto style cuisine. The 28th of each month is “Tagoto Soba Day” when extra servings of soba are free.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:30)
 Tel: 075-343-3921

Men IroIro Itsudemo Oyatsu

The name of the shop literally means “various kinds of noodles, and anytime snacks”and that pretty much sums the place up. The noodles on offer are thick wheat udon but served in an Italian pasta style. The snacks are of the sweet dessert variety.

 Open: 11:00 to 22:00
 Tel: 075-746-5182
Smoking

Wired Café

Wired Café menu features taco-rice, an Okinawan variant on Mexico cuisine that features ground beef on a bed of rice with salad, cheese and salsa. Also on the menu are various pasta dishes, desserts, soft drinks and stronger beverages. Access points for tablet PCs and Wi-Fi are available.

 Open: 11:00 – 22:00 (Last orders: 21:00/21:30)
 Tel: 075-353-5606

Subway

Made-to-order sandwiches with a range of tasty and healthy options from which to choose. From the bread, to the fillings, to the dressing you choose what you want and the eager Subway staff prepare it before your eyes.

 Open: 7:30 – 21:00
 Tel: 075-342-5210
Separate smoking & non-smoking sections

Inoda Coffee

Inoda Coffee is a well known chain of coffee shops in Kyoto where they opened their first branch in 1947. This is a great place to relax in an old style Japanese kissa or coffee shop, and enjoy their original blend of filter coffee. Light meals are also available among which, the hearty beef cutlet sandwich and lemon pie are most popular.

 Open Sunday – Thursday: 8:00 – 20:00
 Friday and Saturday: 8:00 – 21:00
 Tel: 075-343-2380

Lotteria

Lotteria is a chain of fast food restaurants serving burgers and fries. Their menu has some seasonal variation, but the cheeseburger and shrimp burger are reliable favorites.

 Open: 7:30 to 21:00
 Tel: 075-353-1039

Tsukiji Gindaco

Crispy battered dumplings with a soft interior filled with tender diced octopus, green onion, tempura crumbs, and red pickled ginger. This is what you expect when you order the famous Japanese snack food tako-yaki, and this is what you get at Tsukiji Gindaco.

 Tel: 075-353-5856
 Open: 10:00 – 21:00

Article and original photos by Michael Lambe. All rights reserved.