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The local specialty in Nikko is a soybean-based concoction known as yuba (tofu skin); dozens of restaurants in Nikko serve it in a variety of dishes you might not have believed possible for so prosaic an ingredient. Other local favorites are soba (buckwheat) and udon (wheat-flour) noodles—both inexpensive, filling, and tasty options for lunch.
Three things about Kamakura make it a good place to dine. It's on the ocean (properly speaking, on Sagami Bay), which means that fresh seafood is everywhere; it's a major tourist stop; and it has long been a prestigious place to live among Japan's worldly and well-to-do (many successful writers, artists, and intellectuals call Kamakura home). On a day trip from Tokyo, you can feel confident picking a place for lunch almost at random.
Yokohama, as befits a city of more than 3 million people, lacks little in the way of food: from quick-fix lunch counters to elegant dining rooms, you'll find almost every imaginable cuisine. Your best bet is Chinatown—Japan's largest Chinese community—with more than 100 restaurants representing every regional style. If you fancy Italian, Indian, or even Scandinavian, this international port is still guaranteed to provide an eminently satisfying meal.
Traditional kaiseki ryori and pretty bento boxes are served at this restaurant on Route 21, near the entrance to Jochi-ji Temple. While the full kaiseki courses can get expensive, the lunchtime kaiseki taster sets are a very affordable way to try this refined culinary style. Most seating is at tables, but private tatami mat rooms are also available.
This establishment, in an elegant old Japanese house, serves the best Chinese food in the city. The dining-room windows look out on a small, restful garden. Make sure you plan for a stop here on your way to or from the Great Buddha at Kotoku-in.
In contrast to many of the meat-heavy choices in Chinatown, this Cantonese restaurant specializes in fresh, flavorful seafood dishes. Menu highlights include the shrimp-shiso spring rolls, steamed Sakhalin surf clams with garlic, and a rotating selection of fresh fish caught that day. Not to be outdone by the seafood, the sweet-and-sour ribs are a treat. Don't be surprised if there's a line outside.
Chinese food can be hit-or-miss in Japan, but not at Kaseiro. This elegant restaurant, with red carpets and gold-toned walls, is the best of its kind in the city, serving authentic Beijing cuisine, including, of course, Peking duck and shark-fin soup. The consistently delicious dishes, combined with the fact that both the owner and chef are from Beijing, make this restaurant a well-known favorite.
Not far from the east entrance to Rinno-ji Temple, Meiji-no-Yakata is in an elegant 19th-century Western-style stone house, originally built as a summer retreat for an American diplomat. The food, too, is Western-style, with house specialties that include fresh rainbow trout from Lake Chuzenji, roast lamb with green pepper sauce, and melt-in-your-mouth Tochigi beef steak. The menu also includes more affordable options such as the rice omelet (omuraisu). High ceilings, hardwood floors, and an air of informality make this a very pleasant place to dine.
The hallmarks of this restaurant—in business since 1973—are ishiyaki steak, which is grilled on a hot stone, and shabu-shabu—thin slices of beef cooked in boiling water at your table and dipped in one of several sauces (sesame, vinegar, or soy). Fresh vegetables, noodles, and tofu are also dipped into the seasoned broth for a filling yet healthful meal.
The area of Motomachi is known as the wealthy, posh part of Yokohama, so restaurants here tend to be exclusive and expensive, with service and quality justifying the price. This restaurant in an old-style Japanese house—complete with a Japanese garden and five private tatami rooms—serves dinners that are more akin to a banquet, with dishes that (depending on the season) could include traditional Japanese delicacies such as sashimi, shiitake mushrooms, and chicken in white sauce; deep-fried burdock; or broiled sea bream.
