What to eat in Amanohashidate: crab, yellowtail and the sea

The Tango region of northern Kyoto is described by the prefecture as home to some of the best gourmet food in Japan, with crab, oysters, yellowtail and other seafood, plus wild game from the mountains.⁴ Northern Kyoto has long been famous for its fish, and the port city of Miyazu is credited with a seabed rich in nutrients and minerals thanks to the springs that flow into the bay.⁵

Rice and vegetables matter as well: the prefecture's food feature says rice is still one of Tango's most prized agricultural products.⁶ You do not need a special trip to taste the region. A simple meal at a village restaurant near the water is enough.

Seasonality is the organizing idea. Winter belongs to crab and yellowtail. Summer brings Tango torigai shellfish, which the prefecture lists as a seasonal delicacy in Miyazu alongside Matsuba crab in winter.⁷ Spring and autumn lean on vegetables and local rice. Decide your month first, and the menu mostly decides itself. If your dates fall between seasons, ask the restaurant what came in that morning, since a local menu changes with the catch.

Ine's restaurants use locally harvested fish and vegetables.¹⁸ The prefecture singles out yellowtail shabu-shabu as a local delicacy, a hot pot in which thin slices of the fish are swished through broth, and says the freshest, fattiest yellowtail is caught in winter.² If you travel in January or February, make that your Ine lunch. Ine is a town of about 1,800 people, and the choice of tables is modest.¹⁹

Many of the boathouses have become cafes, restaurants and inns, so you can eat in a building that once stored fishing boats.²⁰ The ground floor of a funaya can be used to cook, hang fish or squid to dry, and hang laundry, a reminder that this is a working fishing village.²¹ Eating here connects the plate to the water in a very direct way.

On the day tour sold on this site, Ine gets 1.5 hours. A recent reviewer noted that most Ine shops were closed on a Wednesday, and another thanked the guide for helping them find the food places they were looking for. Both remarks point the same way: decide where you will eat before you arrive, and ask your guide early.

Sake and fish are paired in Tango. Iio Jozo, founded in 1893 near Kunda Bay east of Miyazu, brews its own sake as the base of its rice vinegar, using local water and rice.¹⁶ The vinegar is sold at the brewery, in Miyazu supermarkets and at roadside stations, which makes it an easy souvenir to carry home.

If you want to make your own food, the Amanohashidate Activity Center offers fishing, sea kayaking and smoked seafood product making, with instructors on site and no advance reservation needed.²⁴ That is a direct route to a smoky local treat made by your own hand. Ask about opening days before you go.

For a splurge, the Tango Kuro-matsu restaurant train serves a meal while it follows the coast. The prefecture's column says it runs on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, is reservation only, and puts the lunch course at 14,000 yen per person, leaving Amanohashidate Station at 1:05 PM.^8,9 The railway's own page lists a breakfast course from 6,500 yen, a lunch course from 14,500 yen and a sweets course from 5,000 yen, so check the current price.¹⁵