16 of our 26 Japan listings are in Tokyo, and we already have a Tokyo guide. This one covers the other ten: Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Nagoya, Niigata, Karuizawa and two addresses in Mie Prefecture. Everything below comes from each restaurant's own record in our directory. Check opening hours with the restaurant before you travel.
Osaka: northern Spain and a west wind
DukkAh is in Nishitenma, Kita-ku. The name comes from dukkah, a spice-and-nut mix of cumin, coriander, nuts and sesame, which the restaurant uses as a metaphor for Spanish cooking as a mix of cultures. The kitchen focuses on Galicia, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarra and the northern Mediterranean. Its record says it appears in the Michelin Guide as a Spanish restaurant with a Bib Gourmand. Owner-chef Eiichi Matsumoto can talk diners through the main dishes and the concept.
El Poniente in Kitahama, Chuo-ku, cooks dishes from different Spanish regions. Poniente is the Spanish name for the wind from the west. The dining room has photographs of Spanish landscapes, a venencia (the long-handled cup used to pour sherry from the cask) and hanging ham legs.
Kyoto: two small Spanish rooms in Nakagyo-ku
El Bogavante 346 opened in 2008, which its record places just after the Spanish food boom in Japan. The cooking uses Spanish techniques, sometimes on Japanese ingredients. The owner-chef's recipes come from culinary school in Barcelona, work in Spanish restaurants and trips to Spain.
Bodega El Lagar is run by a married couple with more than 20 years in Spanish cooking. A lagar is the place where grapes were pressed. The menu covers several Spanish regions, and the couple opened it to get more people in Kyoto interested in Spanish food and wine.
Yokohama and Nagoya: an old address and a paella kitchen
Casa de Fujimori in Aioicho, Naka-ku, opened in 1970. Only three restaurants here give an opening year (1970, 2008, 2012), and this is the earliest. Its logo is a nod to Sancho Panza, Don Quixote's squire, and the cooking is described as purely Spanish.
In Nagoya, El Jardin in Higashisakura, Higashi-ku, is run by chef-owner Keisuke Mutsuura, who trained in restaurant kitchens around Spain. The restaurant names paella and caldoso (a soupier rice) made with seafood, and it has developed a "Golden Paella Kit". If the difference between dry and brothy rice is new to you, our post on Spanish rice dishes beyond paella covers it.
Niigata and Karuizawa: a station bar and a resort-town kitchen
Vidrio Cocolo Niigata is on the first floor of the CoCoLo West building at Niigata Station. Its team says they have travelled to Spain many times and have won awards at competitions held there. Vidrio also has five Tokyo branches in our directory, including one in Kichijoji, Musashino City, in western Tokyo. Those count among our Tokyo listings, not the ten in this guide.
Restaurante Estella in Nakakaruizawa, Karuizawa, opened in 2012. Karuizawa is a resort area about an hour from Tokyo by Shinkansen. Owner-chef Sato worked at Restaurante Cabo Mayor in Madrid and learned from Javier Sierra, Carlos Valenti, Miguel Jiménez and Pedro Larumbe. The kitchen combines imported Spanish ingredients with local produce.
Mie Prefecture: two San Sebastián connections
Izurun is the main restaurant on the top floor of Hotel VISON in Taki-cho. It takes its cue from the food culture of San Sebastián and uses ingredients from Mie Prefecture and from Spain.
Rias by Kokotxa is in Hamajima-cho, Shima, in the Ise-Shima area. It describes its cooking as New Basque cuisine inspired by Daniel López, a San Sebastián chef, and built on local seafood. Its chefs travel between Japan and Spain. For background on the food these two places draw on, see Basque food explained.
Planning around these addresses
- Kansai trip: DukkAh and El Poniente in Osaka, El Bogavante 346 and Bodega El Lagar in Kyoto.
- Day out from Tokyo: Casa de Fujimori in Yokohama, or Estella in Karuizawa by Shinkansen.
- Ise-Shima: Izurun and Rias by Kokotxa are both in Mie Prefecture, so they fit a regional trip.
- El Jardin and Bodega El Lagar don't list a price range with us, so check with them directly.
