Senmonten Southern Higashiyama

This hole-in-the-wall shop in Gion sells only two things: gyoza (Chinese friend dumplings) and beer. The gyoza are the best in town.

The name of this shop — Senmonten — means specialty shop in Japanese (okay, they write it with different characters just to be difficult), and they certainly are specialists: they serve only fried gyoza and frosty mugs of draught beer. Okay, maybe the owners can be convinced to sell you the odd glass of Chinese spirits, but basically it’s a dumpling and brew joint, and that seems to keep the regulars plenty happy.

The gyoza are prepared according to some secret Chinese process — they’re perfectly crispy on the outside and the scallion-flavored pork inside is juicy and delightful. Best of all, they’re bite size, so you can just pop them one at a time into your mouth. You order them in pallets of 20 and it’s easy to put down 40 or more at a sitting (there’s a sign on the wall listing the record number consumed at a single sitting — it was about 150 last time we checked).

For more Kyoto gyoza choices, see our Best Gyoza in Kyoto page.

English address:
Higashi-gawa, Hanamikoji Shimbashi kudaru, Higashiyama-ku

Japanese address::
東山区花見小路新橋下ル東側

Opening hours:
6pm-2am
Closed Sunday, national holidays, Obon and new year holidays

Price:
Cheap

Non-smoking area: No

Nearest Transport:
7min walk from Gion Shijo Station, Keihan line

Telephone: 532-0820

Website: Official Website (Japanese)

Customer Reviews:Read customer reviews of Senmonten on TripAdvisor

Near To Here:
Senmonten is located in Kyoto’s Southern Higashiyama district. See our complete list of things to do in Southern Higashiyama, including places to eat, nightlife and places to stay.

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