Nikko Restaurants

This cosy restaurant, nestled in the main street not far from the station, provides more than just inexpensive and heartening home-made dishes. The great attraction of this restuarant are its walls and ceiling - a mosaic of momentos from all its previous diners. Photos, business cards, drawings, tickets, money and many other treasures form the quilted curtain that drapes the family run restaurant and provides the customers with a spectacular visual accompaniment to their meal, as well as a great talking point. One can (and may wish to) spend hours examining the paraphernalia left by those who have gone before. The best part is you can leave you own souvenir (if you can find the space) for others to enjoy!

(ENGLISH MENU & VEGETARIAN DISHES AVAILABLE)

Favorite Dish: You can't go past the yakisoba! And if it weren't such a decent serving, you could order another given its cheap price. Also caters for VEGETARIANS.

This is a Japanese snack that you can find in many places throughout Japan. It is konnyaku, a kind of vegetable that is made in a jelly form. Miso (bean paste) is added on top as sauce. I think it was around 300 yen or so for 3 sticks.

I saw many many elegant shops or cafe along Nikko's main shopping street specializing in this sweet bean jelly called yokan.

They were all beautifully wrapped and there are actually corners in these shops that people can sit down at their leisure and savour yokan with tea.

The flavor of azuki beans is quite predominant, and the yokan does come with other varieties with chestnut or persimmon fillings.

People with a sweet tooth will really dig it.

And they make great gifts. ^_^

Yuba is a specialty of Nikko. It is made of soy milk and is very nutritious. The soybean smell is quite nice too, abit nutty.

Yuba was first used as part of the vegetarian diet of the temples in Nikko. Now it is being enjoyed by all.

Most restaurants in Nikko will definitely have this. It comes in many variety of dishes. You can even eat it with ramen, eat it raw or eat it fried.

I personally like it fried. :)

WHEN MY PARENTS VISITED, THEY WOULDN`T HEED MY WARNINGS, AND WE TRIED THIS RESTAURANT AGAIN. THEY WERE JUST AS RUDE AND OVERCHARGED AGAIN. WE PAID FOR TWICE AS MANY DRINKS AS WE ORDERED, AND THE WAITER KEPT CHANGING THE PRICES IN FRONT OF US. NEVER GO HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The food was alright, but the service was horrible. I had the distinct impression that they were very anti-gaijin. The waiter was RUDE and it was obvious that they didn`t want our business, and they will not get it! I advise everyone against going there (see picture of the plastic food window for specifics) It is easy to pick out as it is the only one I`ve see with floating forks and pizza slices!

Meiji no Yakata is housed in a former colonial setting with a stone exterior and a European interior. The staff is extremely polite and the menu is written in English and Japanese. It is located near the main shrine in Nikko.

Favorite Dish: The Beef Stew is absolutely delicious and is served with puff pastry on top. We also ate cheesecake and pumpkin pudding for desert. These were also excellent.