If kaiseki is Kyoto's formal, occasion-driven cuisine, obanzai is its everyday counterpart — home-style cooking rooted in frugality and seasonal vegetables, historically the food of Kyoto's merchant-class households rather than its aristocracy or temples.
What defines it
Obanzai centres on simply prepared, dashi-based seasonal dishes — simmered vegetables, small pickled sides, tofu preparations — built around a waste-conscious philosophy of using a whole vegetable rather than only its choicest part. It shares kaiseki's emphasis on seasonality and kyō-yasai vegetables, but without the formal course structure or presentation.
How it differs from kaiseki
Where kaiseki is a deliberate, sequenced dining event, obanzai is closer to how Kyoto households actually cooked and ate day to day — several small dishes served together rather than in sequence, less visually elaborate, and historically built around what was cheap, seasonal and otherwise going to waste rather than what was impressive.
Where to try it
A number of casual obanzai restaurants around the city serve a rotating selection of small dishes, often displayed so you can point to what looks good rather than ordering from a fixed menu — a genuinely approachable way to sample a wide range of Kyoto home cooking in one sitting without committing to a formal kaiseki dinner.