Gion Duck Rice🦆🍚
Gion Duck Rice is a restaurant that specializes in duck rice, and it's a new outlet of Gion Duck Noodles. Both restaurants are located near Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto. Gion Duck Noodles is tucked away in a small alley, while Gion Duck Rice is situated in the basement of an old building, making it quite hard to find.
These two restaurants gained popularity mainly because their menu designs are very cute, represented entirely with emojis. For instance, the classic duck rice is depicted with an image of a duck alongside a bowl of white rice (the business card also features these two emojis). If you add toppings like sea urchin or salmon roe, corresponding emojis are added as well, which is very amusing and cute, and has made them quite famous on social media!
On the noon of December 30th, I walked past Gion Duck Noodles and saw a long queue, but surprisingly, when we arrived at Gion Duck Rice, there was only one group ahead of us. Therefore, we only waited about 10 minutes before being seated.
The staff's English is very fluent. While waiting on the outdoor chairs, the staff came out to introduce the menu and take orders.
We both ordered the basic duck rice for ¥2475.
The white rice comes in three sizes (large, medium, small), and we both chose medium. After finishing, we felt just about full; if you have a bigger appetite, you might want to order the large size, but the portion of duck meat doesn’t increase, making it feel a bit empty in the end since you might just be left with rice.
You can choose between duck leg meat or duck breast meat. Duck leg meat is softer and richer in fat, while duck breast meat is chewier, and both are quite tasty depending on personal preference.
When the food was served, it was a pleasant surprise: the duck rice came in a small wooden tub (very reminiscent of eel rice servings), and lifting the lid revealed a beautifully presented duck egg yolk in the center. The entire dish was visually appealing. Breaking the yolk and mixing it with the rice before enjoying it alongside the duck meat was quite delightful!
The restaurant creatively serves black pepper and yuzu pepper in test tubes, allowing you to add them to the duck rice to suit your taste. Personally, I loved the yuzu pepper, but another spice with a lemongrass flavor wasn’t as appealing to me.
They also provided shredded seaweed, pickled kelp, and some tasteless colorful beans (?). Eating the seaweed shreds together with the duck rice was also enjoyable.
Notably, the soup preparation is quite creative. Using a measuring cup and filter paper design, customers can pour the soup over the bonito flakes in the filter paper, turning it into bonito soup! The staff specifically advised to only use it when drinking, or else the soup might get cold easily, but I found that even drinking it immediately, it was just warm.
Overall, the taste of the meals was good, but not stunning. It’s worth trying at least once! A minor disappointment was that the dishes weren't hot enough, both the rice and the soup were served lukewarm.