2 Best Restaurants in Takayama, The Japan Alps and the North Chubu Coast

This restaurant is famous for its vegetarian shojin ryori (temple food), which it serves up in a 200-year-old building south of the Higashiyama temple area. Set menus change with the seasons and aren't always fully vegetarian; they can include salt-grilled river fish, crispy tempura, handmade soba noodles, or tofu chilled in ice-cold Takayama water. The 12th-generation owner, the English-speaking Sumitake-san, can explain what all the dishes are. You need to book in advance and might want to dress up a bit.

This restaurant's recipes have been passed down over several generations—the house specialty is the superb and inexpensive sansai-ryori, as well as more expensive dishes using highly rated Hida beef. Suzuya is in a traditional Hida-style house, and the wood-beamed dining room has an intimate feel. There's an English menu, and the staff is used to serving foreign guests. From the station turn onto Kokubunji-dori and take a right after five blocks. Lunch is served until 2 pm, and dinner begins at 5.