Traditional Kyoto cuisine in a relaxed setting at a reasonable price

Matsukume has lovingly handed down its traditional Japanese cuisine through generations since it was founded in the Edo era. When it first started, its bread and butter was primarily catering to kimono shops. Today, Matsukume offers relaxed lunches and kaiseki at its ozashiki (traditional Japanese mat seats). The kitchen is currently headed by Mr. Nakamura, the owner/chef, who efficiently prepares the dishes and who has cultivated a discerning eye for fish and learned how to maintain relationships with wholesale brokers from his father, the previous owner/chef. Even now, he purchases almost all of his ingredients, including fish, vegetables, and delicacies directly from the market. The reason why he never fails to visit the market three times a week is that it is only there that he can secure stable quantities of Ebi-imo (shrimp-shaped taro) in the winter, bamboo shoots in the spring, and Zuiki (stalks of the taro plant) in the summer. Matsukume offers a combination of reassuring flavors typical of Kyoto that soothes the soul, such as Saikyo-yaki (Saikyo Miso-marinated grilled fish) of Spanish mackerel, Moroko-no-kanroni (candied and simmered small river fishes), and Nabana-no-kobujime (kelp-cured rapeseed plant). The evening kaiseki is from \4,950 and the lunch mini-kaiseki is from \1,300.