For 14 years, Hibariya was a popular takeout store specializing in boxed lunches and side dishes in Aoyama, Tokyo. The store was hit hard by Corona, which reduced the number of people working in the office district that had been its main customers, and regrettably closed its doors in November 2020. In March 2021, such a restaurant will reopen in Kyoto. I am from Osaka, so I wanted to return to the Kansai region, which I am familiar with. I chose Kyoto because I wanted to experience Kyoto's culture," says owner Yuko OZEKI.

Yuko and her husband cook mainly Asian cuisine. Yuko says with a smile, "In Tokyo, we started out making Japanese food, but the number of Asian dishes increased in response to customer requests. The menu includes such dishes as gapao rice, soy milk rice with tanzan, and Thai-style green curry. The rice is made from brown rice purchased from a contract farmer in Yamagata, and it is a healthy dish with plenty of vegetables.

This time, the restaurant is not a take-out restaurant, but a cooking restaurant with a spacious counter and other facilities. The restaurant was purposely chosen to be located in the center of the city of Kyoto in the hope that it would be a restaurant that Kyoto residents, not tourists, would use on a daily basis. The restaurant is also planning to open at night, and will be useful as a place to enjoy international a la carte dishes and alcoholic beverages.

Yuko OZEKI, Owner
After running a take-out specialty restaurant [Hibariya] in Aoyama, Tokyo with her husband for 14 years, she moved to Kyoto and opened [Aoyama Hibariya] in March 2021.