Oyajino

Oyajino has been in the same alley behind Hanamikoji for more than fifty years. The alley is stone-paved and quiet, the building is an old wooden house, and the door does not tell you much. Inside is a counter of twelve high chairs, comfortable ones, and behind a sliding door a tatami room that takes twelve more. Two women run it. One stands at the counter. Along the top of it, in large ceramic bowls, is what she cooked that afternoon.

That is the whole system. You look at the bowls and say which. Beef shigure-ni, simmered dark with ginger, is the one the house is known for. A macaroni salad, which sounds like nothing and is why half the regulars come. Octopus simmered until it gives. An omelette folded around beef tendon. A pumpkin dish, a yuba dish, the fish they bought that morning done in Saikyo miso or steamed over Kyoto vegetables. Everything tastes first of dashi and then of itself; sugar is used lightly. A few things are cooked to order from the back: a fillet katsu, a large ebi fry, seiro-steamed pork belly. They make their own funazushi, the fermented carp that most Kyoto restaurants do not bother with, and a kasujiru to finish, and the rice comes with pickles.

The drinks list is shochu first, with a selection deep enough that people mention it, then sake, beer, highballs, and a few bottles of wine. A full evening with drinks comes to ¥6,000 to ¥9,000 a head.

The room is mostly regulars and the tone is Kyoto counter-dry. Nobody will make a fuss of you. The woman at the counter will tell you what is good tonight, in Japanese, put it in front of you, and get on with the next person. First-timers sometimes find the door intimidating. Reviews from people who went in anyway all say the same thing afterwards.

What to order

• Three obanzai from the bowls to start. Let her choose.

• Beef shigure-ni: the house dish. Ginger, soy, long simmering.

• Macaroni salad: the regulars' order. Do not skip it because it sounds ordinary.

• Simmered octopus (tako no nitsuke).

• Tendon omelette (suji-iri omelette).

• Ebi fry or hire-katsu: large, hot, from the back kitchen.

• Seiro-steamed pork belly with Kyoto vegetables.

• Funazushi, homemade, if you know what you are asking for.

• Kasujiru with rice to finish.

• Shochu: ask what she is pouring.