Toba Food Tour Review: What to Eat & Expect
By Cruz-Martin Pablo
French Intern in Toba
As a fishing village, Toba’s gastronomy is centered around seafood. The city’s specialty is fresh and grilled seafood, especially seashells. This is directly tied to the ama culture, the diving women who for centuries have been fishing seashells such as abalones, sea urchins, oysters, horned turban shells, or even clams.
I had the opportunity to go to numerous restaurants serving these particular shellfishes, all of them guaranteed to be locally fished and freshly served. You can find several of these restaurants on the 3rd floor of the Toba Ichibangai shopping center in front of the train station. Of course, there are also several sushi restaurants proposing regular sushi and sashimi of different varieties, like the Tasuke restaurant nearby as well.
You may also be able to enjoy Ise lobster, a famous variety prepared all around the Ise Bay, and Ise udon, originating from the city of Ise near Toba.
I enjoyed other Japanese specialties as well, such as seafood tempura, curry, or even pork cutlets in restaurants like Fukutsugi, serving large meal sets of curry and fried food.
There are also cafés and more traditional tea shops proposing a cozy atmosphere to relax in in the afternoon, such as Akafuku, which proposes traditional Japanese sweets like mochi and tea, or Musea for people preferring coffee.
Other restaurants in Toba, like Bun, propose numerous kaisendon and fresh fish bowls like the tekonezushi that I tried, a traditional dish of Toba’s region composed of seasoned rice, seafood items such as sashimi, and other ingredients like thinly cut omelet.
Lastly, if you’d like to enjoy a unique dining experience, I recommend the Yakatabune Okita, a restaurant inside a boat where you can experience an authentic Japanese dinner while admiring Toba’s landscapes.
