Burisho, Kyoto: THE yellowtail specialty restaurant

Opened in 2022, Burisho (魚師匠) has been gaining attention as Kyoto’s only yellowtail specialty restaurant / the master of yellowtail fare. Yellowtail in Japanese is “buri (鰤 / ブリ).” Thus Burisho (buri master). They are proud to serve “ice-cold tempreture-aged yellowtail (氷熟ブリ)” from Kagoshima which has Japan’s top aquaculture production of yellowtail.

Inside Burisho.

Burisho is a modern Japanese restaurant optimized for local Japanese diners. English covers of classic Japanese pop songs seemed to indicate what it takes to be luxurious. Burisho’s menu shows a Japanese classic comfort food repertoire and the expertise for yellowtail.

Yellowtail sashimi. 900 yen ($6.90). Clockwise from the left: “OUT COAT (アウトコート),” “IN COAT(インコート),” and “PREMIUM TORO(大トロ).” The first two were pleasantly fishy and chewy. The PREMIUM TORO was less fishy but richer. It was marvelous.

Green beans with soboro-style ground yellowtail meat. 380 yen ($2.90). It may not be Burisho’s star but it was phenomenal.

Namafu gluten cake(生麩) with yellowtail meat. 450 yen ($3.50). Kyoto’s classic dish with Burisho’s twist. It tasted like kamaboko fish cake as a whole. It was good.

Yellowtail tempura with mustard sauce. 850 yen ($6.50). It wasn’t as marvelous as the sashimi. Tangy mustard sauce with aonori seaweed flakes(青のり) and beni shoga pickles (紅生姜) was a bit avand-garde to me. The combination flashbacked to okonomiyaki pancake (お好み焼き) which was supposed to be a different restaurant. It was a good reminder of how good their sashimi was anyway.

Burisho’s dishes were great as long as they stayed in the pocket of Japanese comfort food. For yellowtail lovers, it’s the one.