Korian

Should You Book Korian?

Getting a table at Korian takes planning, but it is not the hardest reservation in the Kansai region. The restaurant operates on a reservation-only basis with seatings at 12:00 and 17:00, and with just 8 seats total, availability moves quickly after award announcements. The effort is worth it: Korian has held Tabelog Silver for 2024 and 2025, earned Bronze again in 2026, and twice made the Tabelog Japanese Cuisine WEST Top 100 list. A 4.36 Tabelog score across 36 Google reviews (4.7) places it among the most consistently rated kaiseki-style tables in Shiga Prefecture. Book at least 3 to 4 weeks ahead for weekday sessions; weekend slots, particularly Friday and Saturday evenings, go faster.

What Korian Is

Korian is a reservation-only kaiseki and funazushi restaurant in Makinocho Kaizu on the northern shore of Lake Biwa, operating out of a converted house with counter seating for 6, table seating for 2 to 6, and a private room for groups of 4 to 8. The setting directly overlooks Lake Biwa, and the menu is built around what the lake and surrounding Shiga countryside produce. The kitchen's signature focus is funazushi kaiseki: fermented carp sushi native to this region, woven through a multi-course format that tracks the lake's seasonal rhythms. This is not the place for a quick meal. Both the lunch and dinner sessions are short in their service windows (lunch 11:30 to 13:00, dinner 17:00 to 18:30), which means the format is tight and intentional. If you come in cherry blossom season or during the autumn colour period, the view across the lake becomes part of the meal in a way that is genuinely hard to replicate indoors anywhere else in Japan.

The price bracket is JPY 15,000 to JPY 19,999 at listed rates, though reviewer-reported spending runs JPY 20,000 to JPY 29,999, which reflects sake pairings or the kitchen's fuller expressions. For kaiseki at this award level in a dedicated rural setting, that range is fair. Compare it to [RyuGin](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/ryugin) in Tokyo, which charges considerably more for similar kaiseki technique without the regional ingredient specificity or the lake setting. If you are already travelling the Kyoto-Osaka corridor and considering a detour north to Shiga, Korian justifies the trip on the strength of its funazushi programme alone.

For returning visitors, the question is when to come back rather than whether to return. Spring (March to May) and autumn (October to November) bring the most pronounced seasonal shifts in the menu alongside the most photogenic lake conditions. If you visited in summer, a winter return will show you a markedly different set of preparations: lake fish behave differently across seasons, and funazushi itself is a product of long fermentation tied to annual production cycles. The restaurant's regional cuisine classification is not decorative — the menu at Korian cannot be replicated anywhere outside this particular watershed.

Practical Details

Reservations: Reservation only; call +81-740-28-1010 or book via korian.jp. Closed Tuesdays and the first and third Wednesdays of each month — confirm current closure days before booking, as these can shift. Budget: JPY 15,000–19,999 listed; plan for JPY 20,000–29,999 with drinks. Payment: Credit cards accepted (VISA, JCB, AMEX, Diners); no electronic money or QR code payments. Seating: 8 seats total , counter (6), table (2–6), private room (4–8). Parking: Available. Smoking: Non-smoking throughout. Accommodation: One overnight group per day can be accommodated , useful if you are arriving from outside Shiga and want to make a full stay of it. Access: Approximately 1,336 metres from Makino Station on the JR Kosei Line.

Ratings at a Glance

• Tabelog Score: 4.36
• Google: 4.7 (36 reviews)
• Tabelog Award: Silver 2024, Silver 2025, Bronze 2026
• Tabelog Japanese Cuisine WEST Top 100: 2023, 2025

How It Compares

See the full comparison below.

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