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

This shop specializes in fu, or wheat gluten. Its adjacent restaurant offers kaiseki-like lunch sets that change monthly but are centered on the wheat gluten and in-season vegetables like shiitake mushrooms. Lunch is served from 11:30 to 2; after that, coffee, tea and sweets are served until 6.

A terrific brewery and log-cabin-style restaurant is five minutes by taxi from Matsunami Station (on the Noto Line). It's operated by two beer masters from Eastern Europe in conjunction with an association that helps people with disabilities.

In business for more than half a century, this small restaurant in Aikawa specializes in seafood, with excellent sashimi and simmered dishes, but also a local favorite called ikagoro; squid (innards and all) mixed with sliced onions, mushrooms, and miso paste, before being sauteed. If you are staying without a meal plan at the Hotel Mancho or Hotel Oosado, both just down the coast from Aikawa, this is a good value option for a local dinner.

The tiled bar and wooden tables are as inviting as the staff of this family-friendly restaurant a few blocks north of Karuizawa Station. The menu is centered on rotisserie chicken, served alongside healthy salads and other dishes using local, seasonal produce. To go with that is a solid selection of wines and local craft beers, as well as soft drinks such as honey and yuzu soda.

You might be surprised to find a funky Balinese eatery alongside the Sai-gawa River, but the nasi goreng, satay and other familiar dishes all taste like the real deal. From Kata-machi Scramble (the area's central intersection), turn right just before Sai-gawa Bridge, and follow the narrow lane along the river.

At this place in the renowned Kenroku Garden, excellent fish and vegetable dishes have been carefully prepared for nearly one hundred years. The prices are still reasonable, and the garden views from the tatami are an added bonus.

Two blocks before the Chitose-bashi Bridge, this Japanese version of a traditional British pub serves fish-and-chips and pizza along with local Matsumoto beer and rotating craft brews from elsewhere. It's close to Parco department store, between the station and castle.

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.

A short drive from the ferry terminal in Ogi, this three-story building has a fish shop on the ground level and a casual seafood restaurant upstairs serving superfresh seasonal fish. The restaurant owners sometimes take unscheduled days off, so call in advance to make sure they're open.

This bustling izakaya across the street from the annex of Hotel Iidaya on the station's east side serves up izakaya staples plus regional specialties like basashi (raw horse meat), sansoku-yaki (a kind of fried chicken) and rabbit (usagi means “rabbit”). There's no English menu, so keep an eye out for what others are eating and point to whatever looks good. At lunch, it turns into a ramen joint. It's easy to spot because of the rabbit design on the noren curtain over the door.

With a retro vibe, Yume-ya specializes in old-style yakitori (skewered, grilled meat and vegetables). Cozy up to the narrow counter for food and drinks, or sit outside during the warmer months. Little English is spoken by the staff, but the cooks are happy to explain the menu with exaggerated gestures. If it's full, just down the street is a second branch that specializes in a different kind of skewer, kushiage, deep-fried skewers of meat, seafood, vegetables, and even cheese.