Japan: Why everyone loves the Instagram Famous Chef @ Kichi Kichi

When I first came across the viral videos on Facebook & Instagram of a Japanese Chef in a red beret making epic omurices, I knew I had to visit him at Kichi Kichi in Kyoto. If you haven’t seen Chef Motokichi Yukimura cutting his infamous omlette yet, where have you been?! I’m kidding and you can definitely find these videos by looking up Kichi Kichi’s geotag on Instagram.

I’m a keener when it comes to making reservations for vacation plans and for Kichi Kichi I set up a calendar reminder for 4 weeks from the day we were scheduled to arrive in Kyoto. 4 weeks is the earliest you can make reservations online in advance – 3:00PM Japan Time; GMT+9 to be exact lol. The restaurant is quite small and only seats roughly 10 people at a time. Each dinner service is 1 hour. It seemed that reservations were quickly snatched up and so on the day of, I randomly decided to check 1 hour before the indicated time and reservation spots were actually opened! I was able to secure a 6:00PM dinner spot with a few spots remaining.

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What is an omurice?

Omurice is an example of Western influences on Japanese cuisine and consists of fried rice covered by an omelette. Depending on how it’s served, sometimes there is ketchup on top of the omelette. (And if Terrace House is any reflection of reality, sometimes there are cute messages written to loved ones!)

What makes Kichi Kichi so special?

I too, asked myself this question before I visited the restaurant. After our short 1 hour dining experience here, it became very obvious to me why everyone can’t get enough of him and here are 4 reasons why:

  1. This guy knows how to put on a great show. From the second you sit down and even after you’ve paid your bill, this guy is all smiles. They say Japanese people are always so friendly and this statement holds true with possibly every Japanese person we’ve encountered during our trip. Chef Kichi knows how to get a crowd going and engages the customers by chanting certain things in Japanese when he’s cooking. I personally think Chef Kichi has a strong Instagram game when he changes up the “cutting of the omlette” onto the plate so everyone gets a different Instagram Video to share for the world!

2. No one can make an omurice like he does. Despite the fact that there are various people online attempting to do what he does, he’s always going to be the that Chef wearing the red beret making epic omurices. I’ve seen Chef Kichi make countless numbers of omurices onlines and even serving omurices to all 12 seats in the restaurant, all within the hour.

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3. The rest of his menu is just as good, or even better, then his omurice. In addition to the omurice, we also ordered the ox tongue stew & the casseroled chicken leg with cream sauce. The ox tongue dish is so tender & soft. The chicken casserole chicken leg was cooked so perfectly. The chicken skin was a perfect crisp and the cream sauce paired so well with the protein.

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4. He’s very active on Instagram and I like how he shares photos of himself with other guests! To me, it shows a genuine appreciation and connection to patrons that are probably coming to visit him from afar. I love how Japanese people go from 0 to 100 for everything and so we decided to show up at his restaurant with matching red berets with the chef and he shared this photo of us on his Instagram page!

That’s it from me guys! Hope you guys find this post helpful & be sure to leave a comment if you have any questions or tips you want to add as well! If you’re heading to Japan, feel free to also check out my other Travel Japan Posts Here

Written by Grace Yeung
Edited by Eden Yeung

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