kyo chabana

Kyo Chabana is a chain of okonomiyaki and teppanyaki restaurants in the Kyoto and Osaka areas.

I've wanted to try them since I saw a segment on a television show. Their most popular item is an okonomiyaki topped with fresh tomato.

We got a chance to try them at the Hankyu Department restaurant floor. This department store just went through a major renovation and after 3 years, is finally open.

Needless to say, there are tons of people all wanting to check the store out.

In front of most of the restaurants on this floor, there are "fast pass" machines which you can load onto your phone and I think they e-mail you when your table is ready.

We got there before the dinner rush, so were seated quite quickly.

The okonomiyaki comes to your table, then an okonomiyaki sauce topped with mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and chiffonade shiso (perilla) is poured over. The heat from the grill pan, melts the cheese and it is oozy gooey goodness.

The flavor kinda reminded me of western barbecue sauce.

Another item we tried was their avocado yakisoba.

Instead of yakisoba noodles, which I think are egg based, they use soba noodles (buckwheat). The sauce is a combination of yamaimo (chinese yam), shoyu and some wasabi. Then it is topped with avocado & shrimp.

Both items were different and really delicious.

Our only gripe was the serving size, really small. The okonomiyaki was only about a 4-inch round, which isn't very much.

For those 2 items, a glass of wine and a beer, we paid 3560 yen.

We tried it and liked it but dunno that we would go back.

Kyo Chabana
Hankyu Department Store 12F
Phone: 06.6313.1505