Savor Aichi’s Rich Food Culture! 11 Popular Restaurants to Enjoy Local Gourmet Specialties

yoake is a Japanese café restaurant located in the Nagono area of Nishi Ward, a little away from the bustle.
It is on the first floor of Nagono Campus, a renovated former elementary school building. The space blends Japanese style with a modern feel.
The menu changes between breakfast and lunch hours. Breakfast centers on toast, and the shop’s signature item is the “Nagoya Specialty! Ogura Toast.”

Natural Yeast Shokupan Specialty Shop Tsubame Pan & Milk Amagasaka Main Store is located Approx. 1 minute on foot from Meitetsu Seto Line Amagasaka Station.
Its shokupan is made with 100% wheat from Biei, Hokkaido, and is known for bringing out the wheat’s natural flavor and sweetness.
The attached café serves café menu items made with its signature house-made bread.
Its “Nagoya Ogura Toast,” made with carefully selected ingredients from Japan, is especially popular.

Nadai Tonkatsu Yachiyo Ajisei is a long-established Western-style restaurant and tonkatsu shop founded in 1962.
In 2019, it was selected for the Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand.
The tonkatsu is breaded and fried only after an order is placed, resulting in a crispy, fragrant outside and a juicy inside.
Its “miso katsu” sauce, made with local Shippo miso in a secret blend, offers a rich flavor.

Kitchen Nagoya Chuo-dori is located in the Umamon-dori area inside Nagoya Station.
It is a miso katsu specialty restaurant serving Nagoya soul food such as miso katsu and fried chicken wings.
The locally sourced Aichi pork it uses is tender and flavorful, with sweet fat and deep umami.
Its house-made sauce, concentrated with the flavor of beef tendon and the sweetness of onions, brings out the full deliciousness of the freshly fried cutlet.

Founded in 1947, this is a famous restaurant for Nagoya’s signature miso katsu. The tonkatsu is made with pork from southern Kyushu, known for its tenderness and natural sweetness.
You can enjoy the cutlet generously covered with a sauce made from naturally brewed Aichi bean miso aged for a year and a half. Its signature item is the “Waraji Tonkatsu,” measuring Approx. 22 cm.
Popular dishes also include the “Premium Rib Teppan Tonkatsu Set Meal,” featuring piping hot miso katsu served on an iron plate.

Dondonan Shikatsu Store is a udon chain operated by Washoku Men-dokoro Sagami. Customers choose everything themselves, from ordering to cooking style to toppings.
The menu centers on noodles such as kishimen, udon, and soba, along with rice bowls.
There is also a wide selection of Nagoya-style local specialties, including miso udon, miso katsu rice bowl, and dote rice bowl.

Kishimen Saryo Ishikon is run by Aji no Takumi Ishikon, a long-established kombu shop with more than 100 years of history.
It is a restaurant where you can enjoy kishimen (kishi-men) made with exceptional attention to broth.
The menu centers on kishimen, served as a set with seasonal rice, the dish of the day, and Hokkaido tororo kombu.
The popular “Nagoya Cochin Oyako Tsukimi” is especially recommended for its rich Nagoya Cochin flavor.

A kishimen specialty restaurant opened through a collaboration between two of Nagoya’s leading udon shops, Udonya Tamon and Teuchi Udon Takasago.
Its signature menu items are the refreshing “Tamon,” flavored with sudachi citrus, and “Takasago,” topped with fried tofu and wakame seaweed.
Both let you enjoy the chewy texture of house-made kishimen made with Aichi-grown Kinuakari wheat.

A casual spot where you can enjoy Nagoya’s famous kishimen right on the concourse of Nagoya Station.
It uses kishimen made by Yoshida Mengyo, a long-established noodle maker founded in 1890, known for its soft yet chewy texture.
The key to the flavor is its rich house-made soup, combining broth from dried bonito and mackerel with tamari soy sauce.
The noodles and soup come together for a flavor that is both rich and refreshing.

Yakitori Watanabe is a reservation-only yakitori kappo restaurant in Higashi Ward, Nagoya City.
Centered on Nagoya Cochin, one of Japan’s three major jidori chicken breeds, it offers course meals incorporating seasonal local ingredients.
The “Nagoya Cochin Course” is especially popular.
It begins with appetizers such as kelp-cured chicken and chicken wasabi, followed by carefully grilled skewers over Kishu binchotan charcoal.
You can fully enjoy the firm texture and rich umami unique to Cochin chicken.

Torikai Sohonke Meieki West Exit Store serves dishes made with Aichi’s prized branded chicken, Nagoya Cochin.
This chicken specialty restaurant lets you enjoy exceptionally fresh Nagoya Cochin dishes in an izakaya-style setting.
Its signature menu item is fried chicken wings. Seasoned with sauce, pepper, and other spices for a mildly spicy finish, they let you enjoy the firm texture and juicy meat of Nagoya Cochin.