Ipponsugi Kawashima

※ After sustaining extensive damage during the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, Ipponsugi Kawashima is currently closed for repairs, and is not currently taking reservations. Please check back for updates. ——— Halfway up Ishikawa Prefecture’s Noto Peninsula lies Nanao City. Famed for the Notojima Aquarium, Notojima Bridge and Ganmon Sea Cave, this coastal city also draws flocks of travelers looking for a taste of kaiseki restaurant Ipponsugi Kawashima. Listed as one of The Japan Times’ top Destination Restaurants 2024 and the former holder of a Michelin star, Ipponsugi Kawashima is a kaiseki restaurant that is said to capture the essence of the historic Ipponsugi Street, which used to be one of the most bustling streets in the city, flush with merchants and travelers disembarking from Nanao Port. Ipponsugi Kawashima makes its home in an almost 100-year-old fountain pen shop designated a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan. Accordingly, Chef Kawashima Tohru — one of the most decorated chefs of the past decade — features some of the finest ingredients obtainable from the Nanao locality and other production areas in the Noto Peninsula, from hamo pike conger and massive rock oysters to even local corn. Of course, there is a key exception. Using skills he learned from his time training in the Kansai region, including some of the finest restaurants in Kyoto and Osaka, Chef Kawashima carefully makes his dashi stock with aged kelp from Rishiri Island in northern Hokkaido — as well as bonito flakes from Makurazaki in Kagoshima Prefecture. The result is a clear, golden stock that is said to rival Kyoto’s most historic restaurants in authenticity and delicacy of flavor.