This ryotei began life as a restaurant and ryokan in Kyotango. With the rustic beauty of the Tango countryside and the refinement of Kyoto as its themes, Kodaiji Wakuden is opening a new era in ryotei culture. Crab, a speciality of the restaurant’s birthplace, is cooked in a sunken hearth, a hole strikingly carved in the middle of tatami seating. Also remarkable is the tradition of this establishment, the flagship of the Wakuden group of restaurants, of appointing carefully selected young chefs to run it, to invite the fresh breeze of new ideas, guided by a philosophy of constant innovation.