Tabelog ratingOryori Kifune (御料理 貴船) is a small kaiseki restaurant in a Taisho-era house beside the Asano River in Kanazawa. A Kyoto-trained chef cooks a seasonal multi-course menu that changes on the 15th of each month. He builds it around Kanazawa seafood and adds French and Chinese touches, such as abalone and zucchini in a liver sauce served with rusk. Courses are staged on themed trays, for instance a hassun (seasonal platter) designed as summer fireworks, and live ayu (sweetfish) are shown at the table before they are grilled. The restaurant was selected for the Tabelog 100 Japanese cuisine WEST list in 2021.
Most reviewers describe course after course without a weak dish. The clay-pot rice, made with eel, crab or Noto beef, comes up again and again, and leftovers are packed for you to take home. Winter brings crab, including kobako (female snow crab). Diners also single out the Noto beef sukiyaki and the clear soups. Guests mention generous portions, beautiful Kutani porcelain and a warm, attentive okami (hostess).
Several diners felt the staff hovered and cleared plates before they had finished. Seasoning is light, voices carry between the partitioned rooms, and the restrooms are old. One reviewer at a group event lunch was seated at shared tables and found the food ordinary.
Meals are served as set courses, and prices for individual dishes are not documented. The listing gives a typical spend of ¥3,000–3,999 at lunch and ¥8,000–9,999 at dinner, but reviewers report paying more. Reviewers paid ¥5,500 for a lunch course in 2020, ¥8,000 or ¥12,000 for dinner courses in 2023, and about ¥12,500 for dinner in 2026. One 2020 dinner came to about ¥15,000 including drinks. An 8% service charge is added.
Reviewers consider it good value. They repeatedly say that cooking with eel, crab, nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch) and shirako (cod milt) would cost two to three times as much in Tokyo or Kyoto.
- Booking: reservation only, by phone on 076-220-6131. Walk-ins are refused, and an English sign at the door says so. Bookings for the following month open at 10:00 on the 1st, and reviewers report booking about six months ahead.
- Group size: only four groups per sitting. Solo diners may not be accepted. Groups of six or more should contact the restaurant.
- Getting there: about 2 minutes' walk from the Hikoso Ryokuchi stop on the Kanazawa Flat Bus Konohana route, or 3–5 minutes from the Owari-cho stop on the Hokuriku Railway bus. The restaurant is 1,257 m from Hokutetsu Kanazawa Station.
- Payment: credit cards (VISA, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX) are accepted in the evening only, so bring cash for lunch and breakfast. An 8% service charge applies.
- Seating: two tatami rooms upstairs (for up to six and up to four guests) and table seating on the ground floor. Private rooms are available for 4, 6 or 8 guests.
- Smoking: permitted in the rooms. Check with the restaurant for current rules.
- Parking: two spaces, to be confirmed when booking. Reviewers advise coming on foot or by taxi.
- Breakfast: Sundays only, for three groups.
- Tip: courses are large, so arrive hungry.
