Toba, Mie — Dining Guide
One to fifteen minutes on foot from Kintetsu Nakanogo Station. Set-meal counters, yakiniku grills, even a proper tea room. Seventeen restaurants and five cafés, twenty-two in all.
Restaurants
A set-meal restaurant one minute away, yakiniku, a long-established Ise udon shop, a place that serves nothing but sardines. There is more within walking distance than you would expect.
Not on the station forecourt but tucked a little further in. One woman runs the whole place, and it is as unfussy as a set-meal restaurant gets. Lunch is the draw, with fried chicken and rolled omelette changing by the day. Of everywhere on this page, it is the closest to the inn.
Open for dinner as well as lunch. The seafood rice bowl made with the local catch is the signature dish, though my own favourite is their katsudon. A calm dining room with plenty of local regulars.
An izakaya that opens in the evening. A quiet room where fresh local seafood comes alongside the drinks.
A yakiniku grill with a good local reputation. Generous plates, no ceremony.
The owner will tell you he is confident about his meat, and he has reason to be. From juicy beef tongue to premium loin, nothing here misses. Booking is recommended.
In the same row as the yakiniku restaurant above, opening at 17:00 and serving only at night. Two favourites: the horumon ramen made with Matsusaka beef offal, and a prawn-miso ramen with a broth you will want to finish. A good second stop on the way back from the grill.
Lunch, of course, but they are open in the evening too. Carefully made set meals built on local produce, cooked so the ingredients speak for themselves. Locals rate it highly.
An evening-only izakaya, well loved by its regulars. A place to take your time over the food and the sake.
Known for enormous fried prawns and thick-cut sashimi. One of the best-known restaurants in Toba, busy with visitors and locals alike.
A homely, easygoing izakaya at everyday prices. Locals drink here, and nobody stands on ceremony.
A long-standing local favourite, known for generous set meals and old-fashioned parfaits. Come hungry.
Open until 17:00. It is run in the rough-and-ready way a country uncle might run it, which is exactly why I am fond of it. It is also the closest place to Mikimoto Pearl Island, so it suits a stop on the way back.
More than fifty years of Ise udon. The dough rests overnight before it is cut by hand, and the tamari-based broth has been handed down through the family. The set with tekone-zushi is the popular order.
The owner trained at a long-established ryotei in Ise and makes everything by hand, from dried fish to karasumi. The signature dish is a seafood bowl of local fish.
The sister restaurant to Tenbinya. Its speciality is gangan-yaki, oysters steamed in sake inside a metal drum. Flash-freezing means you can eat them all year, not only in season.
Fish landed at Toba port, grilled robata-style. The menu runs to some 180 items, from seafood bowls to the ama divers' kamameshi and Ise udon. More or less anything you might want.
Sardines arrive from Toshijima and are prepared while still lively. Around fifty dishes, from sashimi to vinegar-cured. Unusual, certainly, but the cooking stands up on its own. Worth the walk.
Cafe & Tea
Coffee looking out at the sea, or English tea. Somewhere to break up a walk.
A quiet café on the south side of the station, open from midday until late, with a long list of pasta dishes.
Inside the Ise-wan Ferry terminal at Toba port. Coffee and light meals with the sea in front of you. It opens at 7:40, early enough for breakfast before a boat.
One of the most popular cafés in Toba. House-roasted coffee, naturally, but the lunch menu is substantial too, with a proper spice curry and a roast beef bowl. The range of goods on the shelves makes it feel closer to a general store than a café.
A British-style tea room pouring Taylors of Harrogate, holder of a royal warrant, alongside scones and bakes made the proper way. It sits in a converted old house, and the seats fill up soon after opening.
On the ground floor of Kintetsu Toba Station. Easy to drop into while waiting for a train, or if you walk out as far as the station.