3 Best Restaurants in Shikoku, Japan

Specializing in fish from the Seto Inland Sea, this sushi restaurant is the place to mingle with food-loving locals or to enjoy an intimate dinner for two, but bring cash because they take only the JCB credit card. 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.

Grab a seat at the wooden counter for sumptuous sushi and prime views of the chefs at work. Not much English is spoken here, but folks are friendly and helpful; to order, just point to what looks good or splurge on the ¥10,000 omakase course; the chefs will serve whatever they believe is the best from the market that day.

Meals here range from simple lunchtime bento boxes to the lavish fish platters that are a Kochi specialty. The staff will recommend the local favorite katsuo (skipjack tuna)—in Japanese it's sasuga Kochi, "just as you'd expect in Kochi"—but consider the shabu-shabu meat and vegetable combinations, which your servers will teach you to cook on a special table in your private tatami room. Be careful with seating; the first floor is a bland cafeteria, so indicate that you want an upstairs room instead.