sangimi no yado

Let’s eat all the rice and vegetables grown in the village in Asuka Village!

Asuka Village is beautiful with its expansive fields and terraced rice paddies built along the natural terrain.
Asuka Village is located in the Nara Basin, surrounded by the three mountains of Yamato, with a large difference in temperature, and the water of the Asuka River nurtures delicious rice and vegetables.

Rural landscape of Asuka Village

From restaurants serving local cuisine such as “Asuka nabe” made with a lot of vegetables and chicken based on milk, and rice blended with ancient rice such as black rice and red rice, to popular cafes and upscale restaurants, you can enjoy meals using fresh ingredients from Asuka Village and the surrounding area.
Around “Asuka no yado”, there are many locally produced and consumed restaurants and cafes where you can enjoy meals using fresh ingredients from Asuka Village and the surrounding area.
Another feature of “Asuka no yado” is that many of the restaurants and cafes have been renovated from old private homes.
One of the best ways to spend your time in Asuka Village is to visit a variety of old private houses, each with its own unique character and atmosphere.
 
In this article, we will introduce some of the gourmet spots in and around Asuka Village.
Most of them can be reached on foot or by bicycle, so be sure to try some of Asuka’s delicious cuisine when you visit!

Recommended gourmet map in front of Asuka Village

A map summarizing the locations of restaurants in Asuka Village is available.
You can also find information on recommended points of interest, regular holidays, and business hours.
The information is updated as needed, but may be out of date depending on the timing.
Please contact the restaurant before visiting.

Recommended restaurants

for Lunch

La ville Miyako

• Google My Map – 1
  A restaurant serving Western-style cuisine.
  Specializing in low-temperature cooking, the café offers café lunches that focus on locally produced, locally consumed, and additive-free ingredients, such as roast beef bowls, meat doria, and vegetable-filled sandwiches for lunch.
  A wide variety of sweets such as parfaits, cakes, and canelees are also available.

  La ville Miyako Official WEB site

• 

CURRYON

• Google My Map – 5
  A photogenic, locally produced, locally consumed curry store located in the Nara Prefecture Complex of Man’yo Culture.
  All menu items, including curry, pasta, and parfait, are rich in color and have a great impact.
  The entire wall is a window, so you can enjoy your meal while looking out over the garden of the Museum. Admission to the Museum is free.
  CURRYON Instagram account
• 

Mori no Cafe

• Google My Map – 8
  A small house café with white walls in a garden decorated with seasonal flowers.
  Many original blends of herbal teas are available to suit your physical and mental needs.
  The lunch menu offers curry and pizza, as well as a “Healthy one-plate meal” which is made without meat or fish and is filled with rice grown in Asuka Village and vegetables from Nara Prefecture.
  Mori no Cafe Official WEB site
• 

Shirumonoya MoegiIro

• Google My Map – 14
  This store has been participating in the Asuka Village Challenge Shop project “ASUCOME” since 2020.
  “Shirumono-ya MoegiIro” is a store that mainly serves soup.
  The restaurant features dishes with a gentle flavor, such as curry using Japanese soup stock made from bonito, kelp, shiitake mushrooms, and other ingredients and fruit, and a set meal consisting of pork miso soup and three small bowls of vegetables with condensed nutrients.
  Waffles and puddings with seasonal fruits are also available for dessert, as well as Zenzai (sweet bean soup) during the winter season.

  ASUCOME Official site “Shirumonoya MoegiIro”

• 

Restaurant to enjoy seasonal ingredients from Asuka Village

Cocorogohann

• Google My Map – 4
  A café in a renovated old private house located halfway up the slope of the Okadera temple approach.
  The interior is mainly wood, and one-plate lunches using brown rice and vegetables from Asuka Village in abundance and rice-flour doughnuts are popular.
  The cafe also offers a wide variety of desserts using seasonal fruits and drinks such as sodas. Reservations can be made for lunch, boxed lunches, and donuts.
  Parking is available, but the approach to Okadera Temple on the way to the shop is a narrow slope that makes it difficult to pass each other. Please be careful when driving there.

  Cocorogohann Instagram account

• 

Creative French Restaurant Haru

• Google My Map – 3
  A creative French restaurant with a Japanese flavor.
  Japanese essence is found everywhere in the restaurant, such as Ko-Imari plates, indigo-dyed placemats, the use of soy sauce for sauces, and small bowls of simmered dishes, sashimi, rice, and pickles in the middle of each course.
  The restaurant offers only course meals, with dinner courses starting at 6,900 yen.
  Reservations are required for dinner.

  Creative French Restaurant Haru Official Web site

• 

OkuAsuka Sarara

• Google My Map – 11
  An old private house cafe in the Kayanomori district of Oku-Asuka.
  It serves food that you can see the makers of, and food from the hometown, with a focus on locally grown vegetables and wild plants.
  Reservations are required for the healthy “Sarara-zen” meal, which includes a blend of white rice and “black rice,” known as ancient rice, handmade konnyaku, and vegetable dishes.
  On foot, it takes about one hour to get there. There will be more driving on the way, but there are many places to see and enjoy a deeper Asuka Village.

  OkuAsuka Sarara Official Web site

• 

Poca Frere

• Google My Map – 2
  Cafe-restaurant using seasonal vegetables from Asuka Village.
  The dishes have a gentle yet deep flavor that makes the most of the ingredients. The lunch menu features “One Plate Lunch with Ancient Rice Rice” with a choice of meat, fish, hamburger steak, or curry as the main dish.
  A kids’ plate for children is also available, and desserts such as pound cake are also popular.

  Poca Frere Instagram account

• 

Asuka Village’s special dessert

Cafe Kotodama

• Google My Map – 3
  This old private house café was renovated from a former sake brewery built less than 200 years ago.
  The “Kotodama Lunch meal” using fresh vegetables and ingredients from Asuka Village that are purchased every morning is popular, but the desserts using plenty of seasonal fruits that can be ordered from 2:00 p.m. onward are noteworthy.
  The restaurant offers fruit-filled desserts such as seasonal fruit parfaits, pancake plates, and padpinsu, a Korean-style shaved ice.
  Reservations are available for lunch only. Since the restaurant is very crowded on weekends and holidays and there is a long waiting time, it is recommended to write your name on the waiting board in between sightseeing.

  Cafe Kotodama Official Web site

• 

Coffee shop Sanpo

• Google My Map – 2
  An old private house cafe with a glass studio.
  Carefully selected high quality coffee beans are roasted in house. You can enjoy coffee carefully brewed by hand drip.
  The lunch menu includes Hainan Chicken Rice and Chicken Curry Rice. The restaurant also offers light meals such as croque-monsieur and cakes including chiffon cakes.
  The restaurant has a large window overlooking the garden, and the terrace seats look very comfortable on sunny days.
  Coffee shop Sanpo Instagram account
• 

Matsuyama Cafe

• Google My Map – 7
  Self-renovated cafe by the owner, a native of Asuka Village.
  It used to be an 80-year-old wooden warehouse.
  The café offers lunch plates filled with local vegetables and a dessert menu including cakes, muffins, and affogados.
  The restaurant has created a stylish and relaxing space that is also very photogenic.
  Parking is available, so if you are from “Asuka no yado”, you can go out by bicycle or car, or take the bus and walk from the front of the station.

  Matsuyama Cafe Official Web site

• 

Asuka-YumeHanbaisyo (Farmer’s Market)

• Google My Map – 3
  Located in front of Kintetsu Asuka Station, this direct sales shop for agricultural products sells fresh vegetables, fruits, and rice produced by farmers in Asuka Village.
  Here, “Asuka Ruby(Nara’s brand strawberry) soft serve ice cream” is sold in one corner of the store.
  The soft serve ice cream has a refreshing flavor with the fresh sourness of strawberries. The cream fills the bottom of the cone.

  Asuka-YumeHanbaisyo Official Web site

• 

Notes on Dinner

Restaurants in Asuka Village do not operate at night.

In Asuka Village, most stores close after 5:00 p.m., and bus service is extremely limited or nonexistent.
Restaurants, in particular, close at the end of lunch time and at 5:00 p.m.
If you plan to have dinner at a restaurant in Asuka Village, please be sure to inquire in advance whether the restaurant will be open for dinner and make a reservation.
It may be difficult to respond to inquiries on the day of the event, so we recommend making reservations as early as possible.
 
While many restaurants in the neighboring city of Kashihara are open late at night, public transportation in Asuka Village almost never operates after 6:00 p.m.
There is very little lighting in the village, and it is very dangerous to ride a bicycle after sunset.
If you do not have access to your own car, please take a cab.
 
We have prepared a map of restaurants that are open for dinner and restaurants recommended for dinner.
The list is not limited to Asuka Village, but also includes restaurants in neighboring cities. Please use it as a reference for your dining experience.
 

Bicycle rental at the inn

• Cycling is recommended for touring around Asuka Village.
  One of the reasons for this is that parking lots at restaurants are small and cramped.
  We have rental bicycles available for use by any visitor to Asuka no yado, but only one bicycle is available.
  We recommend that you rent a bicycle from one of the many locations in the village.
  We hope you enjoy cycling in Asuka Village!
  Asuka Rental Cycling Official Web site
• 

Related Articles

“Asuka no yado” as known by photo and map.