The restaurant is located on the first floor of a hotel operated by JR Kyushu's Via Inn Hotel Group, and of course, it serves as the hotel's dining restaurant. It is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It opened in the summer of 2019 and seemed to be a restaurant that also caters to people coming from outside, unlike other Via Inn hotels. The breakfast at Via Inn Kyoto costs 1760 yen, which I thought was a bit expensive. However, it is a genuine live kitchen buffet featuring high-quality ingredients from Kyoto. It is definitely a breakfast that tourists cannot resist. It is of such a high level that I think it could even rank in the "hotels with delicious breakfast" list on a certain travel website. I mean, they even serve hand-rolled sushi in the morning! Considering the price of the buffet and the amount of food you can eat, I decided to make it a combined breakfast and lunch since I arrived just in time at 9:30. Even though it was close to closing time, the ingredients were still well-stocked, and there were chefs working at the live kitchen, so I felt that it was a well-managed restaurant. With all this in mind, the pricing below 2000 yen offers a great deal of value.

I visited the restaurant in July 2019 for breakfast. It is located on the first floor of Hotel Via Inn Kyoto, near Kyoto Station. They offer buffet style meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I enjoyed the variety of dishes available, including Kyushu specialties. The restaurant had a nice selection of vegetables, Western and Japanese dishes, served in beautiful dishes. However, the layout of the restaurant made it a bit difficult to navigate and access the food. Overall, I recommend this restaurant to both hotel guests and non-guests.

During my trip to Kyoto, I decided to visit the recently opened "Hotel Vian Kyoto Station Hachijo-guchi" operated by JR West Japan Group, even though I was not staying there. I chose to have the "Morning Buffet for 1800 yen" at "Shokusai Kenbi Nonobudou Vian Kyoto Station Hachijo-guchi" which is open to both guests and non-guests. The restaurant had a chic feel, and I enjoyed a variety of dishes including nikujaga, scrambled eggs, tempura, sushi, salads, and more. The entertainment aspect of having chefs cook in front of guests and preparing dishes upon order added to the overall experience. The restaurant was bustling with customers, and I had a great time enjoying a delicious breakfast with a Kyoto flair.

The lunch buffet at the travel tour's restaurant was delicious with a variety of dishes.

I used it for breakfast during my stay. You can see the congestion status on the TV in the room. It was actually crowded, but the shop was surprisingly spacious, with plenty of seats. I felt a little nervous about the crowded buffet area, worried about accidentally dirtying someone's clothes. Here is what I ate: ・Salad, pickles, escabeche ・Chawanmushi (savory egg custard) ・Herbal curry with multigrain rice, onsen tamago (soft-boiled egg) ・Chawanmushi ・Kyoto-style motsunabe (tripe hot pot) ・Meat sauce penne - tender ・Tempura - vegetables were shishito peppers and sweet potatoes, chicken tempura with regular salt, yuzu salt, matcha salt, shichimi pepper salt. The chicken tempura was freshly fried and tender and delicious. ・Homemade white sausage - a sausage that goes well with a Japanese breakfast. ・Meatballs ・Dried daikon radish with yuzu flavor ・Kinpira burdock root ・Nishime (simmered vegetables) ・Atsuage tofu mapo tofu style with yuzu flavor - a refined mapo tofu with a hint of yuzu ・Whole tofu - a fun system to break a water balloon. There were various sauces, but I chose sesame sauce ・Kuusai (green vegetable) green juice - easy to drink ・Daichi's potage soup - probably carrot ・Original shiratama zenzai (sweet red bean soup with mochi) - the shiratama was soft, and the sweet red bean part was not too sweet, so it was easy to eat! ・Matcha warabi mochi - also not too sweet, easy to eat ・Soy milk warabi mochi ・Pineapple ・Kyoto-style miso soup with kujo negi (green onion) - slightly sweet ・Ochazuke with shiso and hijiki ・Chicken tempura with matcha salt ・Yuzu daikon, pickled turnip, miso pickles After dessert, I suddenly went back to the rice dishes. There were many obanzai and other menus, and I couldn't eat everything. There were some dishes I wanted to repeat, but I ended up feeling full. It was fun to have mainly Japanese food, with many Kyoto-style dishes. I'm glad I chose a plan with breakfast included!

I stayed at the Via Inn Hotel, a 2-minute walk from Kyoto Station's Hachijo Exit. I booked a plan with breakfast included based on the reviews, and I'm glad I did. Even if you're not staying at the hotel, you can still have breakfast there for a price. The staff, dressed in white kimono, greeted me with a smile and the atmosphere felt very Kyoto-esque. The restaurant is quite spacious and offers a buffet-style breakfast. The quality is high, with a variety of Kyoto dishes and pickles to choose from. Everything was delicious and there was no feeling of something missing, unlike typical business hotel breakfasts. I will definitely choose the breakfast-included plan again next time!

Breakfast: The breakfast options at this restaurant are delicious and satisfying. The portions are generous and the service is excellent. I highly recommend trying the breakfast dishes here.