Hokuriku food guide北陸の食

A set of local-fish nigiri with a rulebook: fish from Toyama Bay, rice from Toyama. The official set costs ¥2,700–¥5,500, with a longer Ikkon set (five pieces, sashimi and 180 ml of Toyama sake) at ¥5,500–¥7,700. Pictured: gasuebi, a Toyama Bay shrimp, at a Himi sushi shop. For ¥20,000 counters, see the eleven omakase counters I checked; for the set, the Toyama sushi guide.

Small, translucent, sweet shrimp that Toyama Bay gives in quantity almost nowhere else. Fished from April to November. The easy lunch is shiroebi tempura bowl (about ¥1,690) at Shiroebi-tei in the Toyamarché market inside Toyama Station, open 11:00–21:00. Retailers report poor catches since the January 2024 earthquake, so ask what is on.

Winter yellowtail from November to February, fattest in December and January. Himi's certified kan-buri is the benchmark, and the fish council declares its start and end each year (usually mid to late November to about 20 January; the 2026–27 dates are announced in November). Order buri-shabu, paper-thin slices swished in broth, or a full kan-buri kaiseki (multi-course dinner) at a Himi inn. Pictured: a buri sashimi set at the Himi fish-market canteen. Himi and Amaharashi.

Masuzushi is salt-cured trout pressed on vinegared rice in a bamboo-leaf-lined round mould and cut like a cake. It keeps about 24 hours, so it is the Shinkansen lunch out of Toyama; Minamotono and Masuzushiya Takeura are the makers to know. Kombujime is white fish (hirame or suzuki) pressed between kelp, a legacy of the Kitamae-bune ships that carried Hokkaido kombu down this coast. Ask a counter for a piece.

Soy-dark ramen, heavily peppered and salty, made for labourers rebuilding the city after the war and eaten with a side bowl of rice. Taiki (1947) is the birthplace and still family-run; Menya Iroha made it famous when it won the Tokyo Ramen Show Grand Prix in 2009.

Thin, hand-stretched udon from Himi. Eat it in Himi, or ask for it as the closing dish at Toyama Hakobune in the Toyamarché market, which also lists about 60 Toyama sakes from 17 breweries. For the rest of the prefecture's menu, see what to eat in Toyama and the firefly squid guide.

Not the convenience-store kind. Kanazawa counters simmer kurumafu (wheel-shaped wheat gluten that soaks up the broth), the red-edged fish-cake roll aka-maki, daikon and egg. From 6 November to 29 December they add kani-men: the shell of the female kōbako crab packed with its meat and roe. Akadama Honten (金澤おでん赤玉本店) in Katamachi has served oden since 1927 and is closed Mondays; confirm kani-men with any counter before you sit down. Pictured: oden at Ōmichō Market.

The crown of Kaga cooking: duck or chicken dusted in flour and simmered in soy, mirin and dashi with sudare-fu wheat gluten, Kaga renkon (lotus root) and seasonal greens, with wasabi at the table. Kanazawa holds 15 designated Kaga yasai, heirloom vegetables, and this is where they turn up. Ōmichō Shokudō has served duck jibuni since 1930.

Founded in 1721 under the Maeda clan: 170+ shops, 40+ restaurants, kaisendon (seafood rice bowls) from about ¥3,000. Counters such as Iki-iki-tei open at 7:00, so come before 9:00. Many shops close on Wednesdays and the whole market closes 1–4 January. Eating while walking is not allowed; use the shop tables. Pictured: sandfish (hatahata) on an Ōmichō stall. Kanazawa food guide.

Vanilla soft serve under a full sheet of gold leaf, an idea Hakuichi (箔一) launched in 2015. The leaf has no flavour; the photograph is the point. Eat it in front of the shop, as eating while walking is not allowed in Higashi Chaya. Kanazawa makes almost all of Japan's gold leaf: see gold leaf and crafts.

The male snow crab with a yellow tag. The top grade, Kiwami, is 1.3 kg or more with a shell of 14.5 cm or wider. Fukui has presented Echizen-gani to the Imperial household for over 90 years, and Mikuni is the best-known port. Eat it as a ryokan kaiseki: sashimi, grilled, boiled, then rice porridge in the shell. See snow crab season and crab ryokan with prices. Pictured: boiled Echizen crab.

The small female crab, landed for about two months and cheaper than the male; the roe is the prize. It turns up boiled at the table and as seiko-gani sushi in bento. Pictured: a seiko-gani sushi bento sold in Fukui city. In season the Mikuni Port canteen serves a seiko-gani soup set, so ask at the market (see below).

Oroshi soba is thick noodles under grated daikon, bonito flakes and spring onion, with dashi poured over. Sauce katsudon is a pork cutlet dipped in a sweet Worcester-style sauce on rice, with no egg. Many Fukui restaurants sell the two as one set, as in the photo. Yoroppa-ken Sōhonten (ヨーロッパ軒総本店) opened in Tokyo in 1913, moved to Fukui after the 1923 earthquake and is the sauce katsudon the city is known for; it is 10–15 minutes' walk from Fukui Station, and its closed days are not consistently published, so check before you go.

For a thousand years Wakasa fed Kyoto with mackerel. Eat it as hama-yaki saba grilled on a skewer, as saba-zushi, or as heshiko, mackerel cured six to twelve months in rice bran; heshiko ochazuke (¥600 at Hinodeya Heshiko-jaya) is the easy start. Fugu runs October to March and snow crab November to March. Wakasa food guide.

Salted bafun sea urchin made in Mikuni from what the ama divers bring up in a single month, 21 July to 20 August. Fukui Prefecture puts output at around 100 kg a year, and it is counted among Japan's three great delicacies. You will not find it on a menu by chance: ask at Mikuni inns and the harbour, and see Mikuni-minato.

Red snow crab landed at Nou, boiled at the stall and eaten at the tables; whole crab from ¥2,000–¥4,000. The yokochō (alley of stalls, かにや横丁) opens 9:00–17:00, but beni-zuwai landed at Nou is under a fishing ban in January and February, when only one shop trades. Peak is October to December. Getting there from Itoigawa is a local train: see Itoigawa food and sake.

Squid-ink noodles with an omelette and a ketchup-mayo lattice, invented at Getsutoku Hanten. Go at 11:00 or after 13:30 to miss the queue. Add shiroebi, nodoguro and monkfish (ankō, in winter) from the coast, and bottles from Itoigawa's five breweries. Itoigawa food and sake.

Kanzuri is chilli paste laid on the winter snow, then aged in cedar barrels for three years; use it on monkfish hotpot, ramen or grilled mochi. Sasa sushi is bamboo-leaf pressed sushi, and Shokudō New Misa invented the area's miso ramen (about ¥1,100, queue at lunch). Myōkō food and sake.

Hegi soba is buckwheat noodles bound with funori seaweed and served in shallow wooden hegi trays; Nagaoka and Uonuma are the heartland. More in the Niigata guide. Niigata is usually credited with more sake breweries than any other prefecture, about 90. Pictured: hegi soba in Nagaoka.

Nagano is where the Shinkansen line starts. Togakushi serves soba in horseshoe bundles (bocchi-mori), counted among Japan's three great soba, and Obuse adds chestnut sweets and sake 25 minutes from Nagano by the Nagaden line.

A large fish market and food hall, about 30 shops: live crab, shiroebi in season, fresh yellowtail, kaisendon, a footbath of sea water and the Tateyama view over the bay. Shops usually open 8:30–18:00 and restaurants from 11:00 (closed 1 January; confirm winter hours). The bus is the Kaetsunō Himi city loop. Himi and Amaharashi.

Toyama's one-stop fresh-seafood market: red snow crab, yellowtail, shiroebi, kaisendon restaurants. A midday auction can be watched from the gallery by registering at the market first; the details and the 0766-84-1233 number are on the snow crab page. Hours are about 9:00–17:00 and vary by season.

Iwase was the Kitamae-bune shipping port. On one short street, within a few doors: Oryōri Fujii 御料理ふじ居 (two stars), Cave Yunoki (one star), sushi GEJO (Michelin Plate) and Piatto Suzuki Cinque (Bib Gourmand), with the Masuda Shuzō brewery on the same street. Book all of them ahead. Toyama City · Toyama sushi counters.

Chef Eiji Taniguchi moved L'évo into the mountains at Toga in 2020 and cooks from his own farm: foraged plants, game and Toyama Bay fish. Two Michelin stars (2021 edition) and three cottages, so it is one of Hokuriku's hardest bookings. Closed Wednesdays and the 1st and 3rd Tuesday. From about ¥62,500 per person with dinner and breakfast. Toyama hotels.

Sixteen suites in restored merchant houses at the port that lands Echizen-gani, in the Michelin hotel selection. Dinner is French cooking with Fukui produce, and crab is on the menu from 6 November, the dates that book out first. Auberge Homachi · Mikuni-minato.

Sea-Auberge Shitsumi is a fishing family's auberge listed in the 2021 Michelin guide; Wakasa Kajitsu serves guji in summer and farmed tiger fugu in winter. See Wakasa food. In Kanazawa, Ryōri Komatsu 料理小松 was the first three-star restaurant in Hokuriku in the same edition, and the Kanazawa food guide covers the sushi counters.

The oldest brewery in Kanazawa. Tours need a reservation (¥3,300; confirm when you book), and the shop has a tasting bar with free tastes to help you pick a bottle. New sake arrives from November. Ishikawa's Noto and Hakusan breweries, such as Sōgen and Tedorigawa, round out the list. Kanazawa experiences.

Makers of Masuizumi 満寿泉, on the same street as the Iwase restaurants above. Toyama's food guides send visitors here for a tasting; confirm opening hours before you ride out. For a flight of Toyama brands in town, Toyama Hakobune in Toyamarché lists about 60 sakes from 17 Toyama breweries, and Toyama Station has sake corners for ¥500–¥1,000 flights.

Kaganoi (加賀の井) is the oldest brewery in Niigata, founded 1650. A tasting is by reservation, two days ahead, and takes about 30 minutes (10:00–17:00, irregular closures). Hisui Ōkoku-kan beside the station sells bottles from all five Itoigawa breweries, with a café and an izakaya. Pictured: Watanabe Sake Brewery, one of the five.

Three small family breweries on Mount Myōkō snow-melt and Niigata Koshihikari rice, with walk-in tastings in their cellar shops. Roadside Station Arai pours all three but needs a car, 25 minutes from Akakura. Myōkō food and sake.

A walk through three small restaurants and bars around Katamachi, led by a local guide, which is how a first-timer gets past the language and the closed doors. Night foodie tour on Klook ↗

Nigiri sushi, jibuni, dashimaki tamago and miso soup in 2h 30m, taught in English and Japanese. The listing says ages 12 and over and about US$124 when checked, with free cancellation 72 hours ahead. Cooking class on Klook ↗