Destination Restaurants List by The Japan Times

02/11/2023

Restaurant preserves Toyama’s craft culture

#御料理ふじ居 #ふじ居 #富山 #藤井寛徳

Iwase, home of the restaurant Oryouri Fujii, is a beautiful district in Toyama on the Sea of Japan coast, just a 20-minute...

22/09/2023

Awards that tell the world about Japan’s regional restaurants
#サステナブル

The Destination Restaurants 2023 award ceremony, hosted by The Japan Times, was held on June 21 at The Tender House, a restaurant in...

30/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: 6six | 6（シス）

Hiroyuki Kosugi is chef-owner at Six, a restaurant on the small island of Kouri, 2 kilometers by bridge from Okinawa’s main island. Guests enjoy views of the blue ocean as they dine on about 25 courses. Kosugi riffs creatively on French cooking, often incorporating local specialties such as shimadofu, Okinawa’s “island tofu.”

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-010/

#シス #小杉浩之

29/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: Tsukumo

This Japanese restaurant is located in Nara, the eighth-century capital of Japan and home to many historic shrines and temples. Owner Masato Nishihara trained at Kyoto Kitcho Arashiyama and worked at Japanese restaurants in New York and London before opening Tsukumo in 2015. His interpretations of the food culture of Nara and Japan more broadly are attracting attention.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-09/

#白 #西原理人

28/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: Oryouri Fujii | 御料理　ふじ居

The historic streets of Iwasebunkamachi recall days of old, when the Kitamaebune shipping route brought thriving trade to the area. Oryouri Fujii opened in 2011 as part of a town revitalization project led by local sake brewery Masudashuzo. Chef-owner Hironori Fujii brings out the best in ingredients from Toyama, drawing diners from across Japan and beyond.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-08/

#御料理ふじ居 #藤井寛徳

27/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: Tokiwazushi | 鮨 登喜和

Perched on the Niigata Plain, where winters are snowy and the rice is renowned, the city of Shibata abounds in tourist attractions such as Shibata Castle and local hot springs. As the third generation in his family to lead Tokiwazushi, which opened in 1954, Kousuke Kobayashi cooks local rice in spring water before seasoning it and pairing with seasonal seafood, taking sushi in new directions.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-07/

#登喜和鮨 #小林宏輔

26/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: Restaurant Naz

This restaurant opened in 2020 at a resort in the summer vacation destination of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, just an hour from Tokyo by shinkansen. Ever since, it has been hard to get a reservation. Chef Natsuki Suzuki trained in Italy before working at Noma and Kadeau in Denmark. He puts the fermentation skills he learned there to use in bringing new flavors to local ingredients.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-06/

#レストランナズ #鈴木夏暉

25/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: Terroir Ai to Ibukuro | Terroir愛と胃袋

This restaurant gets its name—which means “Love and the Stomach”—from the saying that “love comes through the stomach.” Located in the old post town of Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture, which is surrounded by five famous mountains, the restaurant occupies a remodeled traditional house. Chef-owner Shinsaku Suzuki holds a hunting license and creates menus with a playful spirit. Children are welcome.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-05/

#鈴木信作

24/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: Otowa Restaurant | Otowa Restaurant

This French restaurant in Utsunomiya, a Tochigi Prefecture city famous for its gyoza, is a family affair run by chef-owner Kazunori Otowa and his sons Hajime and Sou. They serve elegant, contemporary French cuisine using products from Tochigi such as Datedori, a chicken brand that Kazunori helped develop.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-04/

#オトワレストラン #音羽和紀

23/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: Restaurant Pas Mal | レストラン パマル

This is the sole authentic French restaurant in the city of Yamagata, which sits to the west of the Ou Mountains. Chef-owner Yusuke Murayama, who is from the city, charms guests with his diverse repertoire of dishes, from French classics built around sauces to ambitious creations like a French version of taro root stew, a local specialty.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-02/

#レストランパマル #村山優輔

22/06/2023

Destination Restaurants List 2023: Casa del Cibo | カーサ・デル・チーボ

Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture, where this restaurant is located, is home to one of Japan’s top fishing ports and during the Edo Period was the castle town of the domain of Hachinohe. Chef-owner Ryouhei Ikemi uses both French and Italian techniques to make brilliant use not only of local seafood but also of many other Aomori products, such as farm-raised boar, a rarity in Japan.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-01/

#カーサデルチーボ #池見良平

21/06/2023

The Top Destination Restaurant of the 2023 List: Hagi | HAGIフランス料理店

Throughout the 12 hard years since the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, the chef and owner of Hagi, Harutomo Hagi, has led the way in collaborating with local producers to show the world the excellence of Fukushima’s food. Today, his approach to cooking and work focuses toward collaborating with producers for high-quality ingredients.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-03/

#ハギ #萩春朋

20/06/2023

2023 Destination Restaurant of the year: Hagi | HAGIフランス料理店

Throughout the 12 hard years since the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, the chef and owner of Hagi, Harutomo Hagi, has led the way in collaborating with local producers to show the world the excellence of Fukushima’s food. Today, his approach to cooking and work focuses toward collaborating with producers for high-quality ingredients.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2023-03/

#ハギ #萩春朋

29/05/2023

Villa del nido ヴィッラ デル ニード : Italian restaurant blossoms in lush, rugged setting

Takafumi Yoshida, the owner-chef of Villa del Nido, was born and raised on the Shimabara peninsula. A job at a restaurant in the city of Fukuoka set him on the path toward cooking, and at 26, he traveled to Italy. After training in the Piedmont region for a year, he returned to Fukuoka and took a job at a seaside cafe. It was there that he found his direction as a chef.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-10/

#ヴィッラデルニード #吉田貴文

28/05/2023

Hiroshima restaurant AKAI subtracts distractions
Behind the eight-seat counter of Akai, Hiroshima-born chef and owner Kenji Akai brings his skills to bear. Following an apprenticeship at two well-known restaurants in France, he won the grand prix in 2017’s RED U-35, a competition for chefs under age 35. For both lunch and dinner, an omakase menu is the only option.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-09/

#赤井顕治

27/05/2023

Chakaiseki Onjaku | 茶懐石温石 : Fishmonger and chef collaborate on kaiseki cuisine
Sasue Maeda Fish Shop located in Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, receives orders from famous chefs throughout Japan but also supplies fish to several local chefs. Daigo Sugiyama, proprietor of Chakaiseki Onjaku, is one of them.
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The list was curated by , and Yoshiki Tsuji.
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https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-07/
#茶懐石温石 #杉山乃互

26/05/2023

L’Atelier de Noto | ラトリエ ドゥ ノト: French restaurant, producers forge Noto future

Facing the Sea of Japan on the Noto Peninsula in northern Ishikawa Prefecture, Wajima is a city known for its lacquerware and morning market. It is here that L’Atelier de Noto has established itself. Owner Toshiya Ikehata is a French chef who sharpened his skills at well-known restaurants in Osaka and France.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-06/

#ラトリエドゥノト #池端隼也

25/05/2023

里山十帖 - created by 自遊人 | Satoyama Jujo’s cooking is shaped by the Niigata mountains and history

“Our main dish is white rice steamed in clay pots,” chef Keiko Kuwakino said proudly. The water used to wash and cook the rice is Osawa spring water. At dinner, guests are served a taste of the rice the moment it is removed from the heat, still al dente. It is then allowed to sit with the lid on, softening, developing sweetness and forming a fragrant crust on the bottom.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-05/

#里山十帖 #桑木野恵子

24/05/2023

Kamakura Kitajima | 鎌倉北じま forges a new culinary tradition in Kamakura.

Kamakura Kitajima occupies a renovated old house with a sukiya teahouse-style interior, featuring a counter facing earthen walls decorated with flowers grown in the front garden by owner Yasunori Kitajima. Kitajima sharpened his skills as a chef during 16 years at the prestigious Japanese restaurant group Wakuden, absorbing the Japanese aesthetic in Kyoto.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-04/

#鎌倉北じま #北じま #北嶋靖憲

23/05/2023

Don Bravo, the Italian restaurant that innovates in suburban Tokyo.
Chef-owner Masakazu Taira learned his skills at some of Italy’s most prestigious restaurants. Using superior ingredients and techniques, he cooks every pizza with the utmost care, winning over the hearts and minds of his guests, cementing Don Bravo as a gourmet destination.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-03/

#ドンブラボー #平雅一

22/05/2023

Dewaya | 出羽屋 : Pure flavors of local northern cooking

Dewaya was established in 1918 as an inn serving ascetics traveling to the Three Mountains of Dewa, which are objects of veneration for followers of Shugendo and other mountain-worshipping religions. Haruki Sato is the fourth generation to carry on the family business, learning his trade at a high-end Japanese restaurant in Tokyo and elsewhere before returning home to Nishikawa in 2013.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-02/

#山菜料理出羽屋 #佐藤治樹

21/05/2023

Yoichi Sagra | 余市SAGRA , the Italian restaurant in the Hokkaido wine capital of Yoichi.
Located beside a field of wine grapes, Yoichi Sagra is an Italian-style inn with three guestrooms. Chef-owner Hiroto Murai shapes his cuisine around wines from Yoichi and other parts of Hokkaido. The prix fixe dinner includes about 10 innovative courses, many of which make use of the region’s traditional food-preserving techniques.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-01/

#村井啓人

20/05/2023

Villa AiDA pushes boundaries with cuisine rooted in place.

Vegetables comprise 80 percent of the ingredients used by Villa AiDa’s owner-chef, Kanji Kobayashi, which he and his wife, Yumi Kobayashi, grow nearly all themselves. Trained in Italy, Kobayashi marries his experience in Italian cuisine with the local produce of Wakayama.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/2022-08/

#小林寛司

19/05/2023

This time, let us look back and celebrate the restaurants and chefs of the 2022 list!
Villa AiDA in Wakayama Prefecture was selected as The Destination Restaurant of the year 2022.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/

18/05/2023

Etat Desprit Ryukyu offers innovative, modern Okinawan cuisine rooted in local foods and flavors.

Chef Yasuhiro Tomari sources the ingredients for his elaborate, dinners from his home island of Miyako, as well as neighboring Irabu where État d’esprit is located. Drawing on his background in French cuisine, he has developed a unique approach to fine dining that he likes to call modern Ryukyu gastronomy.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/10/

#渡真利泰洋

17/05/2023

At pesceco, a young chef makes waves with his creative hometown cuisine.

Apart from the few years he spent at cooking school in Osaka, chef Takahiro Inoue has lived and worked in the Shimabara area almost all his life. Now in his mid-30s, he has built up a network of suppliers among local fishermen and organic farmers working the fertile foothills of Mount Unzen, the volcanic peak that provides a dramatic backdrop to the city.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/09/

#井上稔浩

16/05/2023

Nihonryori Yukimoto | 柚木元 offers kaiseki cuisine with confidence from the mountain and river.

When Takayuki Hagiwara opened his new restaurant right across the road from where his father made his name as a chef, he was determined to stick with tradition. Rather than changing to the increasingly popular kappō format, with counter seating and an open kitchen, he kept with the layout that he feels works best: serving guests in individual private rooms.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/08/

#日本料理柚木元 #萩原貴幸

15/05/2023

At Mekumi | すし処めくみ, master sushi chef sets rigorous standards that are all his own.

Chef Takayoshi Yamaguchi opened Mekumi in 2002 in the outskirts of Kanazawa. Initially he followed the Tokyo style of sushi known as edomae, which he learned while training in the capital. But over the years he has developed an approach all his own, reflecting his rigorous devotion to quality.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/07/

#すし処めくみ
#山口尚享

14/05/2023

Kataori’s | 片折 hyperseasonal regional cuisine makes for the ultimate dining destination.

Chef Takuya Kataori searches out the finest ingredients. Rather than relying on middlemen, he drives out early each morning to the fishing ports on the Noto Peninsula north of Kanazawa or to his hometown, Himi, in neighboring Toyama Prefecture, where he rigorously selects the pick of the catch directly from the fishermen, even before it has been auctioned.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/jp/restaurant/06/

#片折 #片折卓矢

13/05/2023

Creative, sophisticated, and local, Restaurant UOZEN offers regional bounty on the plate.

When chef Kazuhiro Inoue and his wife, Mariko, decided that they’d had enough of running a restaurant in metropolitan Tokyo, they decamped to rural Niigata. There, Inoue completely restructured his cuisine, basing it entirely around local ingredients. These include fish and other seafood from the coastal waters of the Japan Sea, produce from the bountiful plains and game meats from the forested uplands. Even the salt, butter and spices come from within the prefecture.

https://authentic-japan-selection.japantimes.com/restaurant/05/

#井上和洋