7 of the best restaurants in Niigata, Japan’s rising food destination

Niigata is known for Japan’s best koshihikari rice and sake, but it offers much more. We run the rule over 7 of the best places to eat there

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A dish at Uozen in Sanjo city, in Japan’s Niigata prefecture, where chef Kazuhiro Inoue takes a hands-on approach to sourcing ingredients, including cultivating his own vegetables and hunting game in the mountains. Photo: Uozen

Published: 7:15am, 30 Oct 2024Updated: 7:46am, 30 Oct 2024

Japan’s Niigata prefecture may be less than 90 minutes away from Tokyo via bullet train, but the area, known for producing Japan’s best koshihikari rice and sake, rarely appears on people’s radar as a food destination.

This is slowly changing.

Michelin released a special edition of its guide for Niigata in 2020. And in September 2022, the prefecture established the Niigata Gastronomy awards, with its inaugural edition – launched in 2023 – featuring 160 prizewinners.

The chief judge for the awards, Tokyo-based Takanori Nakamura, is a native of Kanagawa prefecture, but has visited Niigata more than 100 times while on assignment.

A dish at Sanaburi at the Satoyama Jujo luxury ecolodge in Minami-uonuma, where chef Keiko Kuwakino’s menu celebrates the region’s 72 micro seasons. Photo: Sanaburi

Over a multi-course kaiseki dinner focusing on fresh fish at Shunsaikaiseki Taku, in Niigata’s northernmost city of Murakami, Nakamura and I savoured nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch), amadai (tilefish), ara (saw-edged perch), sawara (Japanese Spanish mackerel) and kamasu (barracuda) sourced from the nearby waters.

Prepared by chef-owner Kawasaki Takumi, the meal dazzled with its simple brilliance.