KKyoto

KOKU Ramen in Sayko Ward

  • January 21, 2026

Good Morning,

I just want to give a shout out to this restaurant and its amazing owners, and give it some well deserved exposure.

The way my girlfriend and I were treated here was like we were family or old friends. The owners Rii and Yuko are one of a kind.

Some more detail about the experience – we arrived late in Kyoto and found this spot about a half hour before closing…there were no customers at this time but Yuko welcomed us in and Rii the chef came back in from home(!) to cook us the most delicious Ramen I’ve had in Japan. After the meal, because we were staying nearby, they invited us back for breakfast – I learned that Rii has experience working in a Michelin star restaurant and wanted to test a traditional Japanese breakfast offering for us. In short, it was unbelievable.

I say this honestly that I think this restaurant is special and that Rii and Yuko are ahead of the curve on Japanese cuisine (they market as Vegan which I guess is rare in Japan, but they have something for everyone) – they have some delicious fermented homemade sodas, their vegetables are all farm to table and they source their sweets locally, like neighbourhood local.

If you want Michelin level food at the most affordable price you can, I would seek this spot out, I am not exaggerating.

by webesy

5 comments

  1. > they market as Vegan which I guess is rare in Japan, but they have something for everyone

    Heck, say no more! I’m always desperate for new spots that I actually _can_ eat at, so this is a great おすすめ indeed!

  2. I’m always on the lookout for good vegan ramen so I’ll definitely go check it out. To this day I still haven’t had vegan ramen that can compete with the real deal in Japan (I did have great vegan ramen in Paris at Kodawari though).

  4. I’m just going to add a note on here that I’m unsure how a post like this would be construed in a Japan sub…I genuinely had a great time at this restaurant and made this hoping to let people know about them…I understand that this info could be taken as promotion but it’s not, I’m just a reddit user on vacation. Seeing a comment hashtagging ad made me think of this. If this is taboo please let me know and I’ll take this down.

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