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Kyoto: Landmark Chinese Restaurant Maintains Traditional Design of Vories' Building As Well As Taste
KYOTO — A Western-style building with a remarkable exterior stands at the western side of Shijo Ohashi Bridge over the Kamo River in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto.
Tohkasaikan Honten is a long-established Chinese restaurant serving Beijing-style cuisine. The restaurant is famous for its delicious dishes as well as having one of the oldest elevators in Japan, making its building a Kyoto landmark.
The exterior of the entrance is adorned with sculpted sheep reliefs with elaborate horns, open-mouthed fish and stone pillars with traditional Japanese patterns. Gazing up at them, I was overwhelmed by their detail and diversity.
Based on a 'Spanish Baroque' style, influenced by both Christianity and Islam, the decorations also adopt Buddhist and traditional Japanese designs.
'I believe our restaurant was able to fit in well in Kyoto thanks to the city's receptiveness to diversity,' said Shuchu U, 54, manager of the restaurant.
The building was designed by William Merrell Vories (1880-1964). The U.S. architect designed various buildings in Japan, including schools, churches and residences, but a restaurant is rare.
Vories was asked by Western-style cuisine restaurant Yaomasa to design a building in 1924, completing it two years later. But the Western cuisine industry later took a hit due to World War II and U's grandfather, Eizen, took over, having been friends with the in December 1945, Tohkasaikan has five stories and a basement floor. It has also been used as a venue for events like weddings and as a setting for a novel. The exterior and interior, as well as the flavors of the restaurant's dishes, are etched in the hearts of many Kyoto residents.
In his childhood, U's grandfather told him, 'This is an important building, so we have to protect it.' However, maintenance is difficult. The exterior walls, floors and windows are prone to damage, air-conditioners need to be replaced and restrooms need to be repaired.
The family always struggled with how to allow customers to enjoy their meals comfortably while preserving the original atmosphere. U's father, Junsei, who passed five years ago, instructed him to 'make sure you preserve the original appearance when you refurbish the building.'
He has repeatedly conducted renovations but said he 'never loses sight of the basics,' even restoring the original lighting from the time of the restaurant's opening.
'If I understand why it looks the way it does, I can always go back to the basics and preserve tradition,' said U. 'The same can be said for cooking.'
The renowned restaurant suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they had fewer customers, making it difficult to stay open. Then, long-time regulars showed their support, saying, 'Let's protect Tohkasaikan.'
'I felt strongly that our restaurant is being protected like a treasure by the people of Kyoto and being kept alive thanks to them,' U said. 'I believe my mission is to preserve this place.'
Travel back in time with manual elevator
The elevator in the Tohkasaikan Honten building was made in the United States in 1924, making it one of the oldest existing elevators in Japan. It has an old-fashioned collapsible gate and requires an operator to manually control it with a lever.
The elevator's car has doors on the right and left sides. On the fourth floor, people use the right door, and on other floors, they use the left one. As it is two years older than the building itself, the elevator is thought to have been designed by Vories himself. 'Vories may have designed it together with the building and ordered it to be made by sending blueprints to the United States,' U the elevator door is a semicircular dial, with hands like those of a clock to indicate floor numbers. To balance traditional design with safety, regular inspections and updating major components such as the motor and brakes, which are placed in hard-to-see places, are essential.
It goes up and down smoothly, and when the door opens with a creak, it evokes the feeling of standing in an old movie, like a time machine.
Popular Beijing-style cuisine
Tohkasaikan is known for Beijing-style cuisine. Beijing cuisine is rooted in Shandong cuisine, one of the four major styles of Chinese cooking. The dishes feature rare ingredients from various regions, including dried shark fin, abalone and sea cucumber, and are characterized for their elegant, nutritious salty menus are priced between ¥6,600 and ¥27,500 per person plus service fees. Some include high-end delicacies like Peking duck, simmered shark fin and bird's nest soup.
Among the a la carte dishes, spring rolls made with thinly fried egg with fried pork and vegetables, are popular. The price is ¥2,200 per plate.
TohkasaikanHonten main restaurant at Shijo Ohashi Bridge is a short walk from Hankyu Kyoto-Kawaramachi Station or Keihan Gion-Shijo Station. Opening hours are 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays, and 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekends. Closed one day a week irregularly.
