10 Best Restaurants in Nara, The Kansai Region

Pungent nara-zuke will lure you into this well-known shop and adjoining restaurant. Inside, white-capped prep cooks busily prepare packages of pickles that you can try with cha-gayu (green-tea porridge) or a meal of crispy tempura. The set menus are on display, making ordering simple. This is a good place to escape the crowds on Higashi-muki Dori, the main shopping street. Nara Kintetsu Station and Nara Koen are within a five-minute walk.

Located on a quiet backstreet just a short walk south of Horyu-ji's Great Eastern Gate, this low-key yet stylish café offers delicious lunch sets, including very local specialties such as tatsuta-age (a type of fried chicken) and deep-fried ofu (steamed wheat gluten). The café also has its own woodwork studio and shop, with a number of robot-themed wooden toys on display.

This eatery's kamitsumichi bento box, with a selection of sashimi, fried shrimp, tofu, vegetables, and homemade plum liqueur, is a bargain. Harishin is traditional and quite rustic. You sit in either a large tatami room overlooking a garden or around a large irori (hearth).

At Hiraso you can try kakinoha-zushi, sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves. What's more, you can take it away in a nicely wrapped wooden box for a satisfying lunch in Nara Park. Another featured delicacy is kakisuga, dried persimmon dusted with kudzu (flour made from the East Asian kudzu vine) or arrowroot powder and cooked tempura style. Most set menus include green-tea porridge, which is usually made with mushrooms or seasonal vegetables. Hiraso has tables and chairs, but the tatami alcoves are more intimate.

This small and understatedly cool coffee shop serves the best coffee in town, and it's just a stone's throw from Kintetsu-Nara Station. This is a great place to grab a take-out cup before exploring the nearby sights. Super-friendly baristas speak good English, and there is (limited) window seating if you prefer to drink in.

Hidden down a quiet street just south of Ara-ike in Nara Koen is this intimate restaurant serving exquisitely presented traditional kaiseki meals. Within the faded wooden walls, a common architectural motif in Nara, you can sit at a rustic counter or in one of two serene tatami rooms. Choose from one of the two set meals. Both lunch and dinner here are short and served early (noon–1 for lunch, 6–7:30 for dinner).

Deep in the forest behind Kasuga Taisha, Tsukihitei has the perfect setting for a traditional kaiseki meal. From the walk up a wooded path to the tranquility of your own tatami room, everything here is conducive to experiencing the beautiful presentation and delicate flavors—as Helen Keller did when she dined here in 1948. When reserving a table, enlist the help of a good Japanese speaker to select a set meal for you, and allow yourself to be regaled. The lunch sets cost between ¥10,000 and ¥15,000—not exactly cheap, but cheaper than dinner.

In a little 1920s farmhouse just north of Ara-ike pond in Nara Koen, this delightful restaurant with dark beams and pottery-lined walls serves delicious home-style cooking. Everything is prepared from scratch. The lunch course with fried fish, tofu, and seasonal vegetables is delightful. As there is only one set meal, ordering is no problem.

This cozy little vegan café, tucked away on a side-street a few minutes walk from Nara Koen, offers a wide selection of vegan dishes, from ramen or Japanese curry to bento boxes and burgers. Every dish is made and served with real care and heart by the woman who runs the place, and the warm homely atmosphere, not to mention the delicious food, makes this one of the best vegan restaurants in the entire region. There's an English menu, but opening hours are fairly limited; it's usually closed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Specializing in Japanese sweets and elegant bento-box meals, Yanagi-jaya's secluded tatami rooms and peacful garden transports diners to a bygone age. It can be found among the trees on a street corner, just a short walk east along the path from Kofukuji's Five-Storied Pagoda.