12 Best Restaurants in Nagoya, Ise-Shima, and the Kii Peninsula, Japan

The focus of this laid-back eatery near Hisaya Odori Station is craft beer, with 13 taps pouring a frequently changing lineup of well-handled microbrews, mostly from Japan, such as excellent Ise Kadoya brews from Ise. To go with the beer, there's a menu that includes wild boar sausages, lamb and garlic dumplings, and pizza. The only drawback, as with all of Japan's craft pubs, is price: not-quite-pints are typically ¥880.

This fabulous old wooden restaurant specializes in grilled eel (unagi), which fills the restaurant with a mouthwatering, charcoal-grill aroma. Some of the seating is at low tables on raised tatami-mat flooring, though there are also tables and chairs overlooking a small Japanese garden.

This traditional restaurant in a replica warehouse in the Kawasaki area does not open unless there is a delivery of fresh fish, which indicates how seriously the cooks take their food. As well as a wide variety of fresh fish dishes, there are also plenty of meat and izakaya staples on the menu, all served in haphazardly shaped pottery dishes.

Come here for shabu-shabu—thinly sliced beef and vegetables that you boil in broth in the center of your table and then dip into various sauces before eating. The set courses aren't cheap, but the quality makes this restaurant worth a splurge. There are a dozen other branches around Nagoya, including one in Sakae.

In a perfect world, all school and office canteens would be a bit more like this rustic restaurant in La Chic mall in Sakae. For a reasonable set price, you get all you can eat from a generously stocked buffet, which explains why it is always busy and lively.

Peppery tebasaki (deep-fried chicken wings) are the specialty at the main branch of Nagoya's best-known izakaya chain, though you can also order sashimi, fried noodles and other favorites. The prices are affordable, and it always attracts a lively crowd. If it's full, don't worry: staff can direct to one of another half-dozen Yama-chan (as it's familiarly called) nearby. The picture menu makes ordering easy.

Coffee and sweets are on the menu alongside tofu-based lunches at this mellow but popular café about a 10-minute walk southeast of the castle. Try the Tamatebako Kaiseki lunch set, which comes in an attractive lacquerware box and (alongside pickles, vegetable side dishes, and miso soup) features tofu that's been grilled on skewers and accented with a sweet-savory soy-based sauce.

Cormorants strut around the Japanese garden outside this café owned by a family that upholds the 1,300-year-old ukai tradition. It's a block and a half west of Ryokan Sugiyama. The menu reflects that ukai connection, with sweetfish dishes like ayu-zosui, a rice porridge, and ayu-no-narezushi, a kind of reverse sushi with the ayu stuffed full of rice.

If you love beef, make a pilgrimage to Matsusaka, one express train stop north of Ise. Wadakin claims to be the originator of Matsusaka beef's fame; the cattle are raised with loving care on the restaurant's farm out in the countryside. Although dinnertime is extremely expensive, with the priciest courses an eye-watering ¥30,000, lunchtime bentos offer a more affordable way to try the famed Matsusaka.

Misonikomi udon (noodles in a miso-based broth with green onions and mushrooms) dominates the menu at this simple restaurant. A big, steaming bowl of this hearty, cold-chasing specialty is usually filling enough, though you can pay a little extra to top it off with something like a raw egg, or opt for a side dish like yakitori chicken.