A la carte Japanese dining in Kyoto

I have been trying to arrange some nice upscale dinners in Kyoto as it is one of the few places where my ambitious itinerary will allow for it. In other places I will either be on a train in the evening or have planned some interesting entertainment in the evening (Tokyo, Osaka) or I will be in an area where perhaps you wouldn't expect to find great upscale options (Okayama, Naoshima, Teshima/ Inujima) I could be wrong though. I know that Kyoto has a lot to offer when it comes to food, however, when it comes to fancy places most of them seem to be kaiseki set course dinners which I am not that interested in for a variety of reasons. I really like food and really like some Japanese food, but there are some Japanese foods that I find unappealing because I have a western palate. I have eaten at some really excellent Western set course meals (13 courses) and they were some of the best meals I have ever had, but it is a lot of food even when the dishes individually are small. It also takes a lot of time and I am not particularly interested in sitting/ eating for 3 hours. I have been extensively searching for contemporary Japanese restaurants in Kyoto that offer "a la carte" dining, but it seems that the only places that serve "a la carte" are Western restaurants like French or Italian. I may choose something like that, but since I am in Japan I think it is better to sample Japanese food as supposed to Western and am looking for something that is more than just the standard ramen/ tonkatsu/ yakitori/ sushi spot. Can you recommend any contemporary Japanese restaurants that offer "a la carte" options?

On a side note I know that there are many questions about dining etiquette/ eating while walking already on the forum, but I wanted to ask a couple quick questions. I know it is impolite to not eat while walking and I also plan on carrying a reusable shopping bag to collect any trash I accumulate throughout the day. What I want to know is if you pick up street food where is it appropriate to eat it? I saw a photo of a stall in Kurashiki that said in English "You can't eat in front of store. Do not eat in front of other stores" or something along those lines. As well if I pick up something in a Konbini for example onigiri or some snack like chips/ candy is it acceptable to eat it in public (say on a street outside of a temple) as long as I am not walking? For example lets say I have visited Kiyomizudera and plan to walk to Heien Jingu but I am a little hungry so I stop on a street or maybe find a bench and eat my onigiri. Please advise I don't want to be the "dumb American".

I think you are doing your searching wrong. There are a ton of Japanese restaurants in Kyoto that allow a la carte and kaiseki is actually the harder one to find. Tabelog allow you to filter by restaurant type and should be pretty easy - you could go tempura, sushi, or something else. Next week when I am back the person I'm travelling with has booked somewhere pretty expensive that is certainly neither kaiseki or a set menu.

Thanks for your response, I will keep researching. To clarify it isn’t that I am not seeing expensive restaurants that serve non kaiseki meals, it is that these tend to be restaurants that specialize in a specific cuisine ‘Sushi’ for example. That is fine I am thinking about trying Gina Onedera Kyoto. However, what I am not really seeing is Japanese menus that have similar structures to Western menus. For example a western menu might have a selection of 4 appetizers 4 main courses and 3 desserts. The main courses vary to suit a diners preference for example there is typically a steak dish, a fish, dish, a chicken dish etc. For Westerners this works well because we often dine with people that have different tastes. If one person is feeling like fish they can order the fish while their partner orders the steak for example. It seems like if you go to a sushi restaurant you will be eating sushi. I could be wrong I will continue searching.

If you’re serious about “upscale,” and a la carte, look for high-end izakayas (not chains) or possibly kappo places. One problem with these is that the better ones are often not particularly foreigner friendly. And if they’re good they generally require reservations. But there are so many izakayas in Kyoto that you should be able to find something that suits your needs. There are some really good western-style (you-fuu) izakayas as well as mainstream Japanese (wa-fuu) ones.

You are a bit overthinking... What we oftenly do, is when walking around near our hotel, we notice restaurants nearby, read their menus, even have asked if we can enter for quick look. And if all is fine, then we just (on spot) book a table for next day.

I sometimes do this too. Sometimes you end up finding really good restaurants that way by luck. However, this won’t work well for me on this trip for two reasons.

One: Since I am traveling very far I am doing really detailed planning that I probably wouldn’t do for other trips so that I can fit in a lot of stuff. As such it is best to have reservations where possible and/or find a restaurant that is near wherever I am at a given point of day. For example, finished touring Arashiyama in the evening and want to find somewhere in the area to eat before returning to hotel. Although a lot of the restaurants in the area here seem to be very touristy so maybe it is better to find something in central Kyoto.

Two: I am looking for a memorable experience. I do plan on having some meals from Konbini or an ekiben on a train or as you suggest a random restaurant that I pass that looks good, but I don’t expect these to be “memorable” and by that I mean in a few years I don’t think I will look back on the Famichiki I got and wish I could be eating that even though at the time it might be delicious and the perfect thing I was looking for. As an example of what I am looking for: There is a restaurant that I don’t even want to mention the name, because it is incredibly popular and requires making a reservation two months in advance. When the reservations become available they are taken up within minutes. I will describe it this way as a hint Pizza Kaiseki.