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Eating in Shikoku can be a surprisingly cosmopolitan experience. Matsuyama offers the widest variety of cuisines, everything from French to Indian. Takamatsu is another foodie haven, with many bistros, cafés, and izakaya pubs in and around the shopping arcades. Kochi and Tokushima have fewer foreign restaurants, but small Japanese eateries here serve local specialties. In the main cities some restaurants stay open late, but in smaller towns most places close by 8 pm.
In an old warehouse facing the waterfront, Cantina serves Mediterranean food with a Japanese twist. The tuna and cod roe pasta in cream sauce is good, as are the seafood paella and the prosciutto and mozzarella salad. Stop by for lunch, or grab a seat on the outdoor patio and watch the sun go down. Credit cards are accepted after 6 pm.
You'll find good Mexican fare alongside Japanese favorites at this second-floor establishment on Kitahama Alley. The friendly owner will happily take a break from playing jazz records, mixing fancy cocktails, and pouring beer and seasonal sake to supply delightfully quirky travel advice.
The chefs at this chic little bistro transform standard Japanese ingredients into extraordinary cuisine. Antique tables and plush chairs create a sedate setting for delicious lunch plates and excellent handmade pastries. Don't worry about the Japanese-only menu—just order the daily lunch set or the best-looking dessert from the glass display case.
Specializing in fish from the Seto Inland Sea, this intimate sushi restaurant is the place to mingle with food-loving locals or enjoy an intimate dinner for two. The ingredients are top-quality, and everyone here wants to make sure you enjoy your experience. Sit at the long counter and order à la carte, or dine upstairs on a prix-fixe meal in a quiet booth. There's no English menu, but some people on staff speak English. Sushi Kappo Komatsu can be hard to spot, but look for the bamboo screens and miniature rock garden out front. Reservations are recommended for the prix-fixe dinners.
Find your favorite fish in the pool at Tenkatsu, and it will be on your plate a few minutes later. You can sit close to the action at the big black countertop, or dine on tatami with sunken horigotatsu tables. The interior design here hardly overwhelms, but the food more than makes up for it. Plastic displays and picture menus help you choose your non-fish dishes, or you could opt for a plush course (but going a la carte is much cheaper if you aren't ready for a big meal). Nabe hot pots in autumn and winter are house favorites, but they also serve local specialties like honetsukidori grilled chicken thigh.
The simmering energy of a cantina thrives in this three-story izakaya, where tanks full of eels and fish wait to be selected for your plate, and the chefs do a dazzling job preparing them. The other Japanese fare is also top-notch. An evening here is especially lively if you get a counter seat in front of the chefs. You will find Uo Ichiba Komatsu in a street shooting off the Marugame-machi arcade.
Locals take fierce pride in Kagawa's culinary specialty, sanuki-udon noodles, traveling distances that defy common sense to sample the ones served at this restored riverside house at the base of Shikoku Mura. Stop here for lunch and enjoy the rustic waterwheel. If you're with a party of three or more, choose the family-size noodle barrel for the most bang for your slurping buck. Or to elevate simple slurping to something more decadent, opt for noodles with a topping of shrimp tempura. Either way, you'll eat well for less than ¥1,000.
In Hyogo-machi, the northern part of Takamatsu's warren of arcades, Yoridorimidori is one of those places locals tell you to go to try Takamatsu soul food. It doesn't disappoint. The specialty is honetsukidori, garlicy chicken thigh grilled on the bone. Staff suggest trying both types, the young chicken and the mature chicken, the first of which is superbly tender under its crispy skin, the latter firmer but more flavorful. Also on the menu is a selection of izakaya staples, plus sake and beer to wash it all down with. It's worth getting there early or having your hotel book a table, as it fills up quickly.
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