What the heck is oboro tofu, and why can you eat so much of it without feeling sick?
Just seeing or hearing the words “all-you-can-eat” can make your heart beat faster. The freedom to eat to your heart’s content makes for an exciting dining experience, but the only downside is it’s usually limited to certain types of food like yakiniku (grilled meat), sweets, and Western-style buffets, with traditional Japanese foods, apart from sushi, being hard to find.
In Kyoto, however, you’ll find a rather unusual type of all-you-can-eat meal at a restaurant called Kyotofu Fujino. Kyoto is famous for tofu, and that’s what this restaurant specialises in, but here you can eat as much tofu as you like, with unlimited refills of their carefully crafted specialty dish.
▼ Kyotofu Fujino is located on the 11th floor of JR Kyoto Isetan, which is directly connected to JR Kyoto Station, making it a convenient stop for travellers.
We arrived at Kyoto Station to visit the restaurant at around 5 p.m. on a weekend evening, and as we made our way there, we wondered if we might be too early for dinner. However, when we registered for a seat at the ticket machine, there were already 16 other groups waiting!
In some cases, the wait time here can be over 90 minutes, and although the restaurant closes at 10 p.m., they often stop accepting customers at 6:30 p.m. due to the amount of people who reserve their spot at the machine. A restaurant with this level of popularity is a hallmark of high quality and good value for money, so you’ll want to get in early to eat here.
The machine ticketing system allows you to leave the store while you wait as alerts are sent to customers’ smartphones, but we stood outside and waited… for an hour and 40 minutes.
▼ It felt great to finally take a seat after such a long wait.
There are a variety of Kyoto-style set meals to choose from, such as the “Fun Meal” (3,960 yen [US$25.15]), the “Kyoto Hot Tofu Meal” (6,490 yen), and the “Tofu and Yuba Meal” (6,600 yen).
▼ We ordered the simple yet elegant “Fun Meal“.
The first thing to arrive at the table were the appetisers: yuba sashimi (fresh, raw tofu skin that’s served without cooking) and sesame tofu.
Both appetisers were absolutely delicious, with condiments like wasabi and yuzu adding a beautifully delicate contrast in flavour. Soon after, we were treated to the main star of the show – oboro tofu.
Oboro Tofu are curds of super soft, melt-in-the mouth silken tofu. Considered a delicacy in the dining world, oboro tofu has a creamy, addictive texture similar to purin (pudding), and retains the natural sweetness of soybeans. Often eaten with simple condiments to enhance its inherent flavour, here at Fujino it’s served with a wide variety of seasonings such as soy sauce, coarse salt, chilli peppers, bonito flakes, ground sesame seeds, and salted kelp.
First, you should try the tofu as it is, without any seasonings, to get a sense of the delicate flavour. You can really taste the richness of the soybeans in Fujino’s oboro tofu, proving why the restaurant is so popular with diners.
Then you can start varying the flavour with the seasonings, starting with the simplest through to the strongest. The oboro tofu with a sprinkling of salt was to die for.
With as many free refills of oboro tofu as you like, you don’t have to worry if, like us, you finish it all after just trying the salt seasoning. Staff are always quick to ask if you’d like refills, so you won’t have to feel self-conscious about requesting more at any time throughout the meal.
▼ As a high-protein, low-fat food that’s highly digestible, oboro tofu is easy on the stomach, allowing you to eat quite a lot of it without feeling uncomfortable.
The combination of oboro tofu with salted kelp and bonito flakes is another taste sensation. In fact, if we closed our eyes, we’d say it’s similar to eating white rice with a tasty topping, which shows just how flavourful this simple dish can be.
The meal is accompanied by tofu dengaku (grilled tofu coated with a sweet and savoury miso glaze), yuba (tofu skin), and other soy-based dishes. Many of these dishes can be purchased at the direct sales store in the building so you can enjoy them at home.
There are also small seasonal dishes, and when we visited, we were able to enjoy the autumnal flavours of Persimmon and Konjac Shiraae (mashed tofu salad).
It was great to have so many different tofu dishes at the table, but we found ourselves going back to the oboro tofu time and time again. After trying all the different seasonings, we found our personal favourite.
▼ Chilli pepper!
This chili pepper is truly spicy, even in small amounts, and it has a refreshing citrus fruit flavour. We were surprised by how clean the flavour was, making all other chili peppers we’ve tried seem dull by comparison.
It’s fun to play around with the different combinations to find your favourite pairing, but you’ll want to leave some room at the end for the final dish of rice cooked with fried tofu and sweet potato.
▼ And at the end of the meal, you’ll be served tofu sweets and coffee.
After finishing the meal, we were pleasantly full, and surprised that after eating so much oboro tofu, we didn’t feel uncomfortable in the slightest. In fact, we had a clean palate and the sensation that we’d eaten something healthy, so there was no guilt whatsoever after this all-you-can-eat session.
▼ We left the restaurant feeling refreshed, both physically and mentally. We never thought tofu could be so satisfying.
It was the most tofu we’d ever eaten in one sitting, and after doing it once, we’re keen to do it all again. Compared to all-you-can-eat yakiniku or all-you-can-eat sushi, all-you-can-eat tofu might seem a little lacklustre, but with so many varied cooking methods and condiments to literally spice things up, it’s a fantastic meal that you won’t regret trying on your next trip to Kyoto.
Restaurant information
Kyotofu Fujino Isetan JR Kyoto Store / 京豆富 不二乃 伊勢丹JR京都店
Address: Kyoto-fu, Kyoto-shi, Shimogyo-ku, Higashi Shiokojicho 901 , JR Kyoto Isetan 11F
京都市下京区 東塩小路町901 JR京都伊勢丹11階
Open: 11:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m.
Irregular holidays (following the department store’s holidays)
Website
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Dining and Cooking