Where to eat in Kanazawa金沢のレストラン

The hardest table in the city and the top-rated restaurant in Ishikawa on Tabelog (4.70 from 490 reviews, Tabelog Award Gold every year from 2021 to 2026). Kaiseki at a counter of 8 seats, no children, and a dinner that starts at 18:00 in matsutake season.

Lunch and dinner Monday to Friday, lunch only on Saturday (11:30–14:00 and 17:00–20:00). The price band is ¥40,000–¥49,999 plus 10% service. Closed Sundays and on irregular days. Cards, no e-money. Book: online or ☎ 076-255-1446, reservation only.

Soba kaiseki: a course of small dishes with the soba served mid-meal and a plain mori-soba to finish; reviewers mention karasumi soba and soba sushi. It is the cheapest serious lunch in this quarter, with lunch courses at ¥9,900, ¥14,300 and ¥18,700 (Tabelog 3.95 from 214 reviews).

8 seats, no private room. Monday to Saturday, lunch at 12:00 and dinner at 18:30; closed Sundays and the first Monday of the month. 7% service, children from 10. Book: Tabelog or TableCheck, or ☎ 076-252-8008. A table not taken within 30 minutes of the booking may be cancelled.

Edomae sushi at an 8-seat counter, one star in 2021, Sushi West Hyakumeiten in 2021 and 2025 and Tabelog Award Bronze in 2026 (4.03 from 299 reviews). Dinner only, in two sittings: 17:00 or 18:00, and 19:30 or 20:30. The price band is ¥30,000–¥39,999 and the omakase is ¥35,000, with no service charge.

Closed Sundays and on irregular days. Cards, no e-money. Children may sit if they eat the same course. Book: online or ☎ 076-256-1218.

A small kaiseki house that takes only four parties at a time, in tatami and table rooms, with a menu that changes monthly. The two price bands are ¥3,000–¥3,999 and ¥8,000–¥9,999, without saying which is lunch, and reviewers average ¥10,000–¥19,999 (Tabelog 3.83 from 135 reviews), so ask when you book.

Lunch from 11:30 (last entry 13:30) and dinner from 17:30 (last entry 20:30); on Sundays there is also a 07:00–09:00 breakfast for three parties. Closed Wednesdays, 8% service. Book: online or ☎ 076-220-6131; the month’s bookings open on the 1st at 10:00.

The tea stop after lunch: a room for kaga-bōcha, the mild roasted-stem tea, with sweets to match. Open 12:00–17:00 (last order 16:30), closed Mondays and Tuesdays (Wednesday if Monday is a holiday). ☎ 076-251-0108.

For the gold-leaf soft serve, Hakuichi’s Higashiyama shop sold it for ¥891 in 2024; no eating while walking in the district, so finish it at the shop. More on Higashi Chaya and the gold-leaf crafts.

The kaisendon counter that opens at 7:00: 10 counter seats, a Tokusen Hokuriku-don at ¥2,500 and a Mini Kanazawa-don at ¥1,200. It shuts when the fish runs out, usually by 15:00, and takes no cards.

Closed Tuesdays (Wednesday if Monday is a holiday) on the market’s page of 14 October 2026; some older guides say Thursday, so check before a Tuesday or Thursday plan. Queues build from about 11:00. ☎ 076-222-2621.

The sit-down option when the counters are full: 80 seats, seafood bowls (the most popular dish), sashimi, grilled and simmered fish. A boat-platter course with drinks is ¥6,300 and Tabelog puts reviewers at ¥3,000–¥3,999 (3.47 from 466 reviews).

Open 10:30–15:00 and 17:00–22:00 (Sunday evening to 20:00), closed only on 1–4 January. Cards and QR payments, no e-money. ☎ 076-221-5377.

Kanazawa curry: a black, thick sauce, a heap of shredded cabbage, a steel oval plate and a fork instead of a spoon. Champion is the original, and the order is the L-katsu (pork cutlet) curry, shown here. Take the Mini; our Kanazawa food guide says it is plenty. About ¥800–¥1,500.

Open 11:00–20:00, no regular closing day (the market’s page). ☎ 076-255-2353.

Modern Spanish cooking and the one two-star here that is neither Japanese nor French. Single sitting at 12:00 or 18:00 (arrive from 11:30 or 17:30), one course for everyone at ¥30,000, rising to ¥33,000 from 1 November, plus 10% service. 14 seats, parties up to six. Tabelog Award Silver every year from 2022 to 2026 (4.45 from 555 reviews), Spanish Hyakumeiten 2024 and 2026.

Closed on about six days a month, mostly Mondays. Cards, no e-money. Book: online or ☎ 076-225-8681.

A sushi counter with private rooms for two or six, at ¥15,000–¥19,999 a head (Tabelog 3.97 from 307 reviews). Lunch 12:00–14:00 and dinner 18:00–22:00, but no Friday lunch; closed Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Cards, no e-money. Book: online or ☎ 076-255-2768.

The izakaya for fish and sake: dishes at market price, with sashimi, crab, fugu, nodoguro and firefly squid named by reviewers, and no cocktails or chuhai. About 6 counter seats plus a tatami area; the dinner price band is ¥20,000–¥29,999 (Tabelog 3.85 from 156 reviews).

18:00–23:00 (last order 21:00), closed Sundays and public holidays. Single-person bookings are not accepted. Cards and e-money. ☎ 076-221-5190.

Kanazawa oden is not the convenience-store kind: kurumafu (wheel-shaped wheat gluten) soaking up the broth, the red-edged fish-cake roll, daikon and egg. Akadama is on the Katamachi scramble, with 75 seats over two floors, oden from ¥130 a piece and a typical bill of about ¥3,000. From 6 November to 29 December counters add kani-men, the female crab’s shell packed with meat and roe; I could not confirm Akadama’s own start date, so ask before you sit.

Tuesday to Friday 16:00–22:00, Saturday from 15:00, Sunday and holidays 15:00–21:00 (last order 30 minutes before closing). Closed Mondays. It may be cash only, so pay in cash.

Edomae-style sushi in a house of 17 seats, 9 at the counter and 8 on tatami, at ¥20,000–¥29,999 a head. It holds a Tabelog Award every year from 2017 to 2026, Sushi West Hyakumeiten in 2021, 2022 and 2025, and a score of 4.05 from 614 reviews. Children are allowed, and new guests can book up to two months ahead.

Lunch 12:00–14:00 and dinner 17:00–22:00 (last entry 19:30), Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday; closed Wednesdays, Sundays and public holidays. Cards, no e-money. Book: ☎ 076-231-7447 or online.

Counter tempura, fried piece by piece for 9 seats: a two-star in 2021, Tempura Hyakumeiten in 2022, 2023 and 2025 and Tabelog Award Bronze 2026 (4.11 from 216 reviews). The two price bands are ¥10,000–¥14,999 and ¥15,000–¥19,999, and prices rose in June, so ask what the course costs now. 5% service.

Lunch 12:00–14:00 and dinner 18:00–20:00; closed Wednesdays and Sundays. Cards, no e-money. Book online: the phone line was not taking reservations when I checked (☎ 076-223-0023).

The only three-star restaurant in Hokuriku in the 2021 edition and the first in the region. Kaiseki at a counter, dinner only, Monday to Saturday 18:00–21:30 (last order 20:30), closed Sundays. Parties of two or more only. The price band is ¥15,000–¥19,999, but reviewers report more, so ask when you book (3.97 from 55 reviews; Tabelog Award Bronze 2025 and 2026, Hyakumeiten 2023 and 2025).

It takes no cards and no e-money, so bring cash. Book: online or ☎ 076-224-0118; the restaurant moved to Saiwai-chō from Uroko-chō.

Yakitori as an omakase: about 16 dishes ending in rice, ¥15,500, built on Date chicken grilled over charcoal with Kaga lotus-root tsukune and house-made fried tofu. 8 seats round an L-shaped counter, two sittings at 17:00 and 20:15. Opened in December 2020; Tabelog Award Bronze 2025 and 2026 and Yakitori West Hyakumeiten 2023–2025 (4.28 from 156 reviews).

Closed Sundays and on irregular days. Cards, no e-money. Book: online or ☎ 076-220-7011.

The cheaper kaiseki here: dinner is in the ¥8,000–¥9,999 band, though reviewers put it higher, and it ranks fifth among Kanazawa Japanese restaurants on Tabelog (3.87 from only 37 reviews, so the score may move). Private rooms are available.

Monday to Saturday 17:30–22:00, closed Sundays. Cards (JCB, Amex, Diners), no e-money. Book: online or ☎ 076-209-1707.

A sushi counter four minutes from the platforms, and the lunch is the easy way in: Monday, Tuesday and Friday to Sunday 11:00–16:30, closed Wednesdays and Thursdays (no dinner hours are given). 18 seats: 10 at the counter, a table for four and two for two. Tabelog 4.29 from 782 reviews, Award Bronze 2022–2026 and Silver 2018–2021, Sushi West Hyakumeiten 2021, 2022 and 2025.

The price band is ¥10,000–¥14,999, but diners report ¥20,000–¥39,999, so ask. Cards, no e-money. Book: online or ☎ 076-231-1001 (not answered on Wednesdays or Thursdays). It moved here from Ikeda-machi.

A Kaga ryōri restaurant, reportedly open since 1962, whose lunch kaiseki carries jibuni, the duck stew simmered with sudare-fu and vegetables and eaten with wasabi. 80 seats including private rooms. No prices are posted, so ask when you book.

Lunch 11:30–14:30 (last order 13:45) and dinner 17:00–22:00 (last order 21:00); closed on irregular days. ☎ 076-231-5121.

The oden shop inside the station, founded in 1953, with a light dashi. It is the oden you can eat before a train. Photo: the kitchen counter at Kuroyuri (Wikimedia Commons, November 2024).

Hours are given as both 11:00–22:00 and 09:30–22:00, but there is no closing day. ☎ 076-260-3722.

A 14-seat izakaya (6 at the counter, two tables for four) where the sashimi platter is the dish reviewers name, with grilled silver cod and fried chicken beside it. Price band ¥8,000–¥9,999, Tabelog 3.64 from 260 reviews; the listing was last edited in 2024.

Monday to Saturday 18:00–22:00, closed Sundays, cash only. Online booking is suggested; ☎ 076-221-7822.

A sake-led izakaya with about 400 labels on the list, 50 sunken-kotatsu seats and a sashimi platter bought straight from a related fish company. Price band ¥6,000–¥7,999, Tabelog 3.72 from 559 reviews.

15:00–23:00 (last food order 22:00) Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays except some holidays. Cards, no e-money. Book: online.

The sweets stop on the way to the platform: kurumafu French toast at about ¥1,380, from the Kaga wheat-gluten maker Fumuroya. Closing time is given as anywhere from 19:00 to 21:00, so check before you rely on it for the last train. Photo: the kurumafu French toast at Fumuroya Café (Wikimedia Commons).