I visited Tenryuji several times during my visits to Kyoto, and on my final visit I decided to have lunch at Shigetsu, the Zen restaurant on the temple grounds. Zen cuisine is highly prescribed; each meal must include five tastes (salty, sweet, sour, bitter, spicy), five colors (red, white, black, green, and yellow), and five cooking methods (frying, boiling, preparation... More

We visited Tenruji on a rainy spring day. Our Japanese exchange student from 21 years ago took us there and made reservation for lunch. The sesame tofu is so decadent out of this world. The young bamboo shoot was so tender and delicious. Our bitter taste of the meal is rapeseed with creamy horseradish sauce. Even the daikon condiments are... More

Had a lovely shojin ryori (Buddhist cuisine) meal at this restaurant located in Tenryuji Temple. The set meals was very well presented the the surroundings were tranquil. Great meal!

I never was especially interested in tofu, but I figured that if I was going to get a good idea what it was about, it would be in Japan. We saw Shigetsu listed in our tour book, so we wandered in for a late lunch. The place was essentially deserted. We got the fixed price lunch; I don't think that... More

This is the little restaurant on the grounds of Tenryuji, the major temple complex in Arashiyama in the far west of the city. We were strolling the area taking in the highlights; wife and I had stayed at Ryokan Benkei about 15 years previously and hadn't gotten enough of the neighborhood, so we were visiting the bamboo forest, the Okochi-Sanso... More