If You Visit Shiga! Best 10 Recommended Local Restaurants

Shiga – a prefecture that has the biggest lake in Japan and is one of the most popular destinations. People from other countries especially seem to enjoy Koga no Sato the most as they can experience culture of Ninja. In this article, I will introduce the best 10 local restaurants. Let’s try out the nice gourmets in Shiga!

Oumi Beef

“Oumi Beef” is one of the 3 highest quality beef brands with the longest history that Shogun and Daimyo had had since 400 years ago. It has kept attracting people with a unique and rich flavour, and a good melt-in-the-mouth feeling.

It is not only beautiful, but looks great if you put it into Sukiyaki or Shabu Shabu, or it’s just perfect for grilling as well. This is a must-try when you have a chance to visit Shiga.

Now, “Oumi Beef Restaurant Tiffany” is a long established restaurant specializing in Oumi Beef for more than 100 years. This is something a butcher owned restaurant can make real. A combination of high quality beef and local and seasonal ingredients is very nice.

For lunch, you can choose from 4 kinds; Beef hunberg steak, minutes steak, beef stew, and assorted fries and it comes with soup and coffee just for 1,400 yen. Why not enjoy the taste of Oumi trying steak, Shabu Shabu, Beef fatty Sushi, Beef fillet, or even combo meal of Oumi Beef?

Noppei Udon Noodles

Noppei Udon is the local dish from Nagahama – Udon noodles with syrupy broth and some stock made from bonito and kelp. A huge Shiitake mushroom, fu, soy milk skin, boiled fish paste, edible clover, and ginger are used as the ingredients. Its broth and ginger will keep your body warm, and this is one of the most traditional dishes in Nagahama!

And if you are keen on trying this one, why not visit this long established restaurant “Momiji Ya”? – established in the first year of Taisho era (1912). Inside the restaurant there’s a traditional atmosphere as it has a hearth and all the autographs from popular people are to be seen as well. This restaurant has kept spreading the local dish of Nagahama to people.

One of the most popular menus at “Momiji Ya” is of course “Noppei Udon Noodles”. Although it’s been out for years, they have been keeping up with food trends in Japan. A combination of syrupy broth that has a long history and home-made noodles is just so nice. The most recommended dish here is “Noppei Gozen”. You will see not only noodles, but also local dishes of Shiga such as red konjac, sashimi of lake fish, and duck are to be enjoyed. What a luxury experience it is!

Oumi Chanpon

One of the best foods in Shiga is “Oumi Chanpon” which is based on the Japanese broth made from bonito flakes and sea kelp. This has been a very popular local gourmet in Shiga. It is great to have Chinese noodles with a plenty of vegetables and pork, but with no seafood – all of them being simmered. Also adding a little bit of vinegar makes its taste slightly different, so you can enjoy different tastes with “Oumi Chanpon”.

The origin of this dish is “Chanpon Tei Souhonke” which was formerly “Menrui Wokabe”. They are proud of home-made noodles, vegetables, and amazing golden broth. What does golden broth mean? – It’s a broth that 7 kinds of local ingredients such as bonito flakes and sea kelp are blended well together in a golden ratio. And high quality local vegetables and home-made noodles are the best combination as well.

Jun Jun

“Jun Jun” is one of the local gourmets in Sukiyaki style which has been so popular in the northern area of the Lake. It used to be something fishermen of Lake Biwa preferred to have with eels while simmering those. The reason they started calling it “Jun Jun” is that they heard the sound “Jun Jun’ when simmering it.

The ingredients could be some lake fish such as Isaza, catfish, carp, and sweetfish etc., and the most popular one is the one with the eels simmered together with spring onions, burdocks, and tofu etc. Taking broth or stock from fish, it makes even lighter taste than Sukiyaki itself with soy sauce, sugar, and sweet cooking wine. Also it would taste better when dipping it into raw eggs, or if you add chilli. Duck or Oumi Beef could be used instead of lake fish, and having Udon noodles at the end of the meal is strongly recommended.

If you are interested in trying “Jun Jun”, visiting “Hisago Sushi” is one of the best options you have as it has 3 amazing principles; “Skills of an Artisan”, “The Power of Ingredients”, and “Professional Hospitality” and that means – they are proud of the ingredients they choose.

Not only Jun Jun, but you can also enjoy other menus such as the traditional Sushi, local cuisine of Oumi Hachiman, or seasonal traditional dish depending on how your are feeling. But Jun Jun at Hisago Sushi, which is extraordinarily popular with natural eels from Lake Biwa, is at 2,500 yen only between June and August. This is something you cannot miss when visiting Shiga!

Suyaki

It’s just a simple dish called “Suyaki” which is just sauteed with lard for food. This menu was invented for broke students. Simply cooked only with spring onions and bean sprouts, you can make its taste different however you like while adding seasoning into the plate.

You will love both crispy and chewy texture of noodles, and the best part is that you can change its flavour however you like as mentioned above!

“Tanino Shokudou” near Minakuchi Castle is one of the best places for Suyaki. Sauce and pepper are placed onto the table for you to change its taste. It is served in a ramen bowl so that it makes it easier to mix it well with some seasoning. Bean sprouts, spring onions, special home-made sauce, and pepper make a perfection! Why not try?

Takashima Tonchan Yaki

A taste of mother’s home cooking – “Takashima Tonchan Yaki”. Takashima Tonchan Yaki is a B-grade dish to fry your favourite vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, or onions with the special sauce made from soy sauce and garlic and is so popular for camping. Seasoned chicken originally came from “Ajitsuke Kashiwa” of “Torinaka”. When you put Udon noodles at the end, Takashima Tonchan Yaki becomes like a fried noodles.

If you want to try Tonchan Yaki, this place is the best! Kawabata, a watercourse, running around the village in the Harie area with the scenery of the waterside. And this “Kabata Kan” was opened as part of town planning.

“Hime Gozen” which is a daily lunch limited 20 a aday, “Kisetsu Gozen” that you can enjoy seasonal ingredients are recommended too. This is the place where you must visit once you are in Takashima, Shiga prefecture!

Oyako Don

“Oyako Don”, one of the most popular local gourmets in Nagahama, is a bowl with chewy chicken, and soft boild eggs. Putting raw eggs on top of that makes it taste even better. You will find a new culinary sensation – rice is absorbing the stock well enough with chickin and half boiled eggs on top.

When it comes to Oyako Don, “Torikita” is one of the most recommended restaurants which was established 90 years ago. You can feel its long history with a huge wooden sign and the exteior. Oyako Don is the most popular menu here as it is even said that “When you want to have the best Oyako Don, try Torikita” and “When you visit Torikita, try Oyako Don”. There’re always people lining up in front of the restaurant.

Oyako Don here is simmered well enough in stock and half boiled eggs are to cover the chicken, and egg yolk is put on top as a topping. With a kind taste of stock, Oyako Don you can try at Torikita is a must-try in Nagahama.

Yaki Saba Soumen

Yakisaba Soumen is a local dish with a long history in Shiga prefecture. Simmering a grilled mackerel with Soumen that its stock is soaked, Yakisaba Soumen is what you might want to serve when you treat someone. In this area, there has been the custom called “Satsuki Mimai” that a family sends a grilled mackerel to a daughter who married a farmer and cooking a mackerel with Soumen naturally became a taste of home cooking.

Sweet and salty simmered mackerel with its flesh flaked away from the bone and simple noodles of Soumen are surprisingly the best combination. This is what you can experience only in the northern area of the lake in Shiga.

Along Hokkoku Kaido that links Nakasen Do and Hokurikuro, being called “Kurokabe Square”, there are many town houses with the walls covered in mud and stucco. So, one of the best places for Yakisaba Soumen along this street, is “Yokarou”. A town house built 200 years ago is used as a restaurant and it enables you to try this local gourmet while feeling the long history of the northern area of the lake.

You will be attracted by its thick Yakisaba and Soumen which sucked the sweet and salty stock, and this is what you must try once you are in Shiga. Besides, Oumi Beef and red konjac are to be tasted with Yakisaba Soumen in a set meal – Gozen.

Taga Soba

The feeling going down your throat and the smell of this dish – “Taga Soba” are quite unique. Soba used for this menu is organically grown in Taga town and is accredited as “Eat Eco Shiga” that safety and quality are to be guaranteed. Taga Soba, made with pure water taken at the bottom of Mt.Suzuka, tastes somewhat sweet and has a natural taste of ingredients.

The original Soba made with a home grown buckwheat flour can be found at “Soba/Sake Kinko An” – with a Japanese modern atmosphere. What Kinko An is particular about is “freshly made”, “freshly ground”, and “freshly boiled”.

“Awase Gozen” that Taga Soba and Oumi Beef are to be cooked together in a Sukiyaki style is one of the most popular menus among the tourists as you can taste 2 dishes at once. Other than that, the fish caught in Lake Biwa, grilled locally grown vegetables, duck loins, and Japanese omelette are other recommended dishes here. Enjoy their proud menus with sake!

Kamo Nabe

Kamonabe, once chosen for the best 100 local dishes in rural areas, is a local dish with mallard that comes flying to Lake Biwa in winter and some vegetables such as tofu and spring onions simmering together. Its meat is so chewy and has some sweetness in it, and tastes well with spring onions. Also, it goes well with dry sake. Rare meat of mallard is the best way to try.

If you are interested in trying Kamonabe, why not visit “Sumimoto” with a sign of an adorable fox? It is a long established restaurant which was opened 120 years ago and mainly offers the menus with eels, ducks from Lake Biwa, or Oumi Beef. Their cooking method has been used since the times that they didn’t even have a refregerator or freezer, and they only choose natural ingredients and vegetables growing in their gardens.

Kamonabe from “Sumimoto” is a stew cooked with spring onions, garland chrysanthemum, tofu, and yuba in an earthenware pot. The liver is the best to have grilled, and the loin boiled with a shabu shabu style. Enjoy the original sake “Kamo ha Ze” as well!

Eating Up All Delicious Foods In Shiga!

How was the article? We have explored the unique local gourmets in Shiga that you cannot forget when travelling in Shiga. Everything looks just amazing. Not only foods, but Shiga has some historical places to visit such as Lake Biwa and Enryaku Temple etc. Why not come and enjoy fully in Shiga? There are a lot of gourmets you can satisfy yourself!