Toyama local eats富山の地元グルメ

Toyama Black, from the shop that claims to have started it. Taiki has served the jet-black, heavily peppered soy-sauce ramen since 1947, and its sign reads ganso Toyama Black. The soup is very salty, which is the point: locals eat it with a side bowl of rice. Photo: a bowl of Taiki’s ramen.

25 counter seats, about ¥1,000, open 11:00–20:00, closed Wednesdays (the next day when Wednesday is a holiday). Cash only and no reservations. A second branch inside the station’s Toyamarché market is open 10:00–21:30 daily and takes IC cards and QR payments, but not credit cards.

The easiest Toyama Black from the station: take the underground passage to the south side and the shop is in the CiC basement (it moved down from the 4th floor). It is a Toyama Black shop, so the soup is very dark soy. The signature bowl is the Toyama Black ramen with a seasoned egg, ¥870, so confirm the price at the door.

42 seats (6 at the counter), open 11:00–21:45 (last order 21:30) every day, following the CiC building’s closing days. ¥1,000–¥1,999 a head. Credit cards, IC cards and QR payments accepted; no reservations. It is the late option when Taiki has closed at 20:00.

The soba lunch. Stone-ground jūwari (100% buckwheat) soba from five regions, Hokkaido, Fukui, Toyama, Kyushu and Yamagata, plus one rotating monthly, with seasonal vegetable tempura and duck dipping soup. A Tabelog Soba West Hyakumeiten selection in 2025.

Open daily 11:00–15:30, but closed on the 10th, 11th, 20th, 21st, 30th and 31st of every month. 26 seats (a private room for up to 8), about ¥1,000–¥1,999. Credit cards, IC cards and PayPay accepted. No reservations are listed, so go early on a weekend. ☎ 076-432-1505.

The izakaya I would cross town for. A fish-led izakaya opened in 2014, a Tabelog Izakaya West Hyakumeiten selection in 2024, 2025 and 2026, with a sake list to match. The dishes reviewers keep naming are the octopus surimi-age, the sashimi platter and grilled nodoguro. It sells about ¥6,000–¥7,999 a head.

23 seats (10 at the counter, tables and a sunken tatami room). Open 17:00–24:00 daily with irregular closures; no children. Credit cards accepted, no e-money or QR. The phone line is currently shown as closed, with online booking asked for; one diner reports being told to phone around noon for a future date (☎ 076-482-4064).

Its sister Gin Chirori (吟魚のはなれ 吟チロリ, Takaramachi) is the cheaper, smaller version: 3.68 from about 1,060 reviews, listed at ¥3,000–¥3,999, open 17:00–24:00 (last order 23:30), irregular closures, also an Izakaya West Hyakumeiten pick for 2024–2026. It books online and takes credit cards and QR payments.

A second izakaya, a step cheaper than Gingyo and next to the station. Reviewers name the Toyama wagyu tataki, the sashimi platter, firefly squid pickled in soy (hotaruika okizuke) and a shiroebi salad. There are set courses at ¥3,000, ¥4,000 and ¥5,000; the price band is ¥4,000–¥4,999, and a ¥500 service charge applies.

38 seats (8 at the counter, private rooms for up to 12). Monday to Saturday 17:00–24:00 (last order 23:30); closed Sundays and public holidays. Reservations open a month ahead (☎ 050-5571-8522). Credit cards, IC cards and PayPay accepted.

The kaitenzushi to try if you only have one: local fish at belt-sushi prices, a few steps from the ticket gates. Ordering is on a digital menu in several languages, and reviewers name the Toyama three-piece set with nodoguro, the premium nigiri and shiroebi. Listed at ¥2,000–¥3,999 a head. For how belt sushi compares with the counters, see the Toyama sushi guide.

38 seats (18 at the counter), open 11:00–21:00 daily, last order 20:30. No reservations, and a reviewer reports a 30–40 minute wait at peak, so arrive at 11:00 or outside the meal rush; the queue waits indoors. Credit cards, IC cards and QR payments accepted. A second kaitenzushi, Kaiten Toyama Sushi (廻転とやま鮨 富山駅前店), is 3 min on foot from the station on Sakuramachi: Tabelog 3.50, 26 seats, lunch 10:30–14:30 and dinner 17:00–22:00, closed on irregular days.

The shiroebi lunch. A small shop in the station that does white-shrimp bowls: a shiroebi tendon (tempura bowl) is ¥1,690 and the Toyama Special tendon ¥1,890, and the raw shiroebi bowl uses about 90 shrimp. Shiroebi is fished from April to November. The Toyama sushi guide names this shop as the canonical shiroebi lunch.

22 seats (8 at the counter), open 11:00–21:00 daily (last order 20:00), with shorter winter hours and a closure on New Year’s Day. No reservations. Credit cards, IC cards and QR payments accepted.

A sit-down place for Toyama sake and seafood, a step up from the station counters. It lists about 60 Toyama sakes from 17 breweries, with tasting sets, and serves kaisendon, sashimi sets and a shiroebi tendon. A reviewer mentions Himi udon, Himi’s thin hand-stretched noodles, eaten cold as the finishing dish, so ask for it (its menu price was not checked). Photo: a tray of cold Himi udon.

42 seats, open 11:00–21:30 (last order 21:00), with a break from 14:30 to 16:00 on weekdays only. Closing days follow the market building. About ¥1,300 at lunch and ¥3,000–¥3,999 at dinner. Online reservations; credit cards, IC cards and QR payments accepted.

Not a restaurant, but the thing I tell everyone to buy on the way out. Masuzushi is trout pressed on rice under bamboo leaves, an 18th-century preservation method, and the station is the easiest place to buy it. Minamotono (源) is the canonical maker, and it keeps for about 24 hours. More on the Toyama sushi guide.

The yakitori counter worth a train ride. The best-rated yakitori in the prefecture on Tabelog (3.74 from 70 reviews) and a Yakitori West Hyakumeiten selection three years running. It moved to Takaoka from Tonami, so older listings show the wrong address. An omakase of about ten skewers and a chicken soup: reviewers name gizzard, wing, liver, negima, fried tofu and quail.

16 seats, ¥10,000–¥14,999. Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 18:00–22:00; closed Thursday and Sunday. Under-18s are not admitted. Reserve through its own website (it takes bookings 12:00–17:00); credit cards only, no e-money or QR. ☎ 050-8881-4976. Takaoka’s other tables are on the Michelin and fine dining page.

A counter-only canteen at the working port, and the top-ranked shokudo in the Takaoka area on Tabelog. Reviewers order the ebi-ebi tendon, a two-prawn tempura bowl at about ¥1,600, and the shiroebi tendon; a marinated-fish makanai zuke-don and a set meal are ¥750.

Open 07:30–14:30 Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday, and 06:00–14:30 on Sundays; closed Wednesdays. Cash only and no reservations; Check hours before you go. ☎ 0766-54-0310. From Takaoka Station the Manyōsen tram takes about 45 min to Higashi-Shinminato, the same stop as the market below.

The one-stop seafood hall at the port: fishmongers and restaurants selling red snow crab (September to mid-May) and shiroebi, with sushi and udon counters inside (including Kittokito-tei, Minato-zushi and Umi-ya). The bowl to order is the Kōhaku-don, half red-crab meat and half shiroebi sashimi, ¥3,800, and the fishmonger Uoshin sells boiled crab. The crab auction, the sailing ship and the canal boat are on the Shinminato page.

Open daily 09:00–17:00 (hours vary by shop and season), closed 1–3 January only. Credit cards, IC cards and QR payments accepted. 470 parking spaces, and a direct Toyama Buri-Kani bus runs from Toyama Station from 2 October 2026 to 31 March 2027.

The soba lunch of the Tonami plain. A Bib Gourmand listing in the Michelin Guide Hokuriku 2021 and a Tabelog Soba West Hyakumeiten pick in 2024 and 2025, rated 3.73 from nearly 300 reviews, at ¥1,000–¥1,999 a head. The shop offers kake and seiro; reviewers also mention duck, grated radish and prawn tempura.

32 seats. Tuesday to Sunday 11:30–14:30 (last food order 14:00), closed Mondays and the day after a public holiday; October 2026 closures are posted for the 5th, 8th, 13th, 19th and 26th, and it can close early when the soba runs out. No credit cards or e-money, PayPay accepted. Reservations are taken for weekday lunch only. ☎ 0763-33-2770. Pair it with Tonami or Inami.

Where I would eat breakfast or an early lunch. The canteen is run by an old fish wholesaler, serves fish landed that day and opens early: its lunch menu starts at 06:30. It has about 84 seats, mostly tables, and reviewers name the Himi hama-don, a bowl of fish landed that morning. The photograph is buri-daikon, yellowtail simmered with radish. In winter, order buri; see Himi and Amaharashi.

Listed hours are 06:30–15:00 on weekdays and 06:30–15:30 at weekends, closed 1–3 January (from an undated listing). Opening days may follow the port’s market calendar, so check before you go.

A Bib Gourmand ramen shop in the Michelin Guide Hokuriku 2021 and a Tabelog Ramen West Hyakumeiten pick every year from 2018 to 2025. The bowl reviewers name is the Himi-caught niboshi ramen, and there is a white-shoyu one too. It is under ¥1,000.

18 seats (8 at the counter), open Tuesday to Friday 11:30–13:50, and on weekends also 07:00–08:30; closed Mondays. It takes TableCheck reservations at ¥390 a person, non-refundable, otherwise you queue. Credit cards are not accepted; PayPay is. ☎ 0766-72-0104.

Kaizuya makes Himi udon, the thin, chewy local noodle, and runs this restaurant on its own premises, so the noodles are the maker’s own. The menu on its site is short: zaru udon ¥750 (cold, on a tray), kake udon ¥680 (hot), and kamaage ¥810, noodles lifted straight from the pot, on weekdays only. Add tempura if you are hungry: kakiage zaru ¥1,170, prawn tempura zaru ¥1,630. Masu sushi is ¥450 at weekends and holidays, in limited numbers. Prices include tax and can change with the season.

Open 11:00–15:00, closed Thursdays. Year-round, so it works in any month. ☎ 0766-92-7878.