In shortKyoto-trained omakase kappō in a restored pre-war house beside Nittaiji temple. You can book it online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request the table for you.
Price
Lunch ¥10,000, dinner ¥20,000 per person, tax and service included; drinks extra
Hours
Lunch one seating at 12:00 (last order 14:00); dinner 18:00–22:00 (last order 21:00)
Closed
Sundays; Mondays irregular
Seats
26 — a 13-seat counter and three private rooms for two to eight
Payment
Cards accepted (Visa, Master, JCB, Amex, Diners); no service charge on top
Getting there
Kakuozan (Higashiyama Line), exit 1, about 8 minutes on foot; three parking spaces beside the house
Dress code
No dress code
Kyoaji Motoi is what we suggest to travelers who want one proper
Japanese dinner in Nagoya without the lottery. The house opened in
April 2021 in a renovated pre‑war home on a 160-tsubo plot on the
west side of Nittaiji temple, in the quiet residential streets of
Kakuozan. You pass a white noren, cross a seasonal garden, take off
your shoes, and wait in a small Western‑style anteroom until the
counter is ready. The counter itself is a single plank of 300-year‑old
red cedar from Shinshiro in Aichi, thirteen seats long; upstairs and
behind it are three private rooms. The master, Masaki Motoi, was born
in Aichi in 1978 and spent more than ten years in a well‑known Kyoto
kitchen before coming home. Tabelog has given the house its Bronze
award in both 2025 and 2026 and listed it among the Japanese Cuisine
East 100 in 2023 and 2025.
What you eat
One omakase course, about eleven dishes, alternating cold and warm.
A 2023 profile describes most of the fish arriving directly from
Kii‑Nagashima on the Mie coast, and the house’s own line is "the
skill of Kyoto, with a playful hand." A spring visitor’s record ran
from sea bream, squid and tuna sashimi through sesame tofu, whelk,
mugwort wheat‑gluten, karasumi with daikon, baby octopus and
whitebait tempura to cod roe. Prices are simple: ¥10,000 at lunch and
¥20,000 at dinner, tax and service already inside, with sake and wine
on top. Children are not admitted.
The booking reality
The house lists three ways in: the telephone (052‑750‑5942), Ikyu
and OMAKASE. There is no published release day. Ikyu carries a
share of seats — cancellation there is 50 percent from the day before
and 100 percent on the day — and the house says on its own site that
it posts open dates on Instagram. Diners’ accounts are consistent:
the counter is genuinely hard to get, regulars book their next visit
before they leave, and a phone request for a weekday lunch still
finds a seat. The house also makes an unusual and useful admission:
the private rooms, for two to eight guests, are noticeably easier
to secure from about two months out. Lunch is a single 12:00
seating; dinner runs from 18:00 with last orders at 21:00.
The line is Japanese only and the house does not publish when it is
answered, so our desk calls in Japanese, asks first for the counter
and then for a room on your dates, and settles the cancellation terms
with the house directly. Solo seating and a dress code are not
published; we confirm both when we call.
You can book it online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request it for you. Request this table →
Go if you
Travelers with one night in Nagoya between Tokyo and Kyoto who want a
kaiseki‑style dinner in a real house rather than a hotel; couples and
small families, since the rooms take two to eight; and anyone who
prefers a bookable Bronze‑award counter to a famous one they cannot
reach. Kakuozan’s temple approach — and, on the 21st of each month,
the Kōbō-san temple fair — make a good afternoon before dinner.
The house's cancellation charge
From 00:00 JST, 1 day before50%
Same day, with notice100%
Same day, no notice (no-show)100%
Charged by the house, not by us. A plan's own policy takes precedence.
Free release-date alerts: the day before, on the morning of release day (08:00 JST) and about 30 minutes before when the time is known — or a weekly summary if the house opens a little every day.
Kyoaji Motoi: common questions
Can you book Kyoaji Motoi from abroad?
Yes. Phone in Japanese, or a share of seats on Ikyu and OMAKASE; no fixed release day, and private rooms are easier from about two months out. You can book online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request the table for you; our ¥6,000-per-seat fee is charged only if we confirm your table.
Some of these links are referral links: if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Restaurants never pay us to be listed or ranked. Editorial policy
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Facts on this page were checked by our Tokyo desk. You are welcome to quote them with a link:
