12 of the best local food spots around Ise Shrine and Okage Yokocho

Oharaimachi is the cobblestone street that leads from Uji Bridge to Sarutahiko Shrine and is lined with around 100 stores. It is said that about 5.5 million people visit Naiku every year, most of whom pass through Oharaimachi.

The middle section of this street is called Okage Yokocho and is home to around 50 stores. It is filled with traditional buildings, some of which have been relocated and others reconstructed to create an Edo era-like townscape.

In Okage Yokocho, you will find many restaurants, street food vendors, and souvenir shops where you can enjoy shopping and savoring local specialties. There is ample parking available, making it convenient for shoppers with cars.

Website: https://okageyokocho.com/

[Access] 15 minutes by taxi from Iseshi station or five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange.

Ise’s most well-known dessert is Akafuku, a pounded rice cake covered with smooth, sweet bean paste. You can purchase this local specialty at the teahouse named after the treat at the entrance of Okage Yokocho.

Akafuku has been sought after by Ise Shrine worshippers for more than 300 years. This confection’s unique shape symbolizes the beautiful scenery of the Isuzu River, which flows through Ise Shrine. The three-ridge pattern in the bean paste represents the stream while the mochi beneath the paste represents pebbles lying on the riverbed. This iconic shape has remained the same ever since Akafuku was invented.

Akafuku is made using domestically sourced glutinous rice, most of which comes from Hokkaido. This rice provides softness and retains its texture over time. The refined sweetness of the silky bean paste comes from high-quality red beans, which are also from Hokkaido.

At the teahouse in Okage Yokocho, you can buy boxed Akafuku to take home or you can enjoy them fresh. The rice cakes are made by confectionery chefs with more than three years of experience.

Depending on the time of year, you can also enjoy seasonal limited sweets here. In summer, the teahouse offers Akafukugoori (matcha shaved ice) that has mochi and sweet bean paste. In winter, they offer Akafukuzenzai (warm, sweet bean soup) that’s topped with two toasted rice cakes.

[Access] Five minutes’ drive from the Ise Interchange or eight minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Akafuku Main Shop

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Butasute is located near the south entrance of Okage Yokocho and is a branch of a wagyu restaurant that was founded in 1909. Butasute means “discarded pork”, with the name inspired by the founder’s preference for beef over pork when he first started the business.

Butasute offers high-quality Ise beef and customers line up in front of this restaurant on weekends. At the store front, you can order signature Butasute croquettes, deep-fried beef skewers, and minced cutlets for takeout. Butasute croquettes are made using Japanese black beef, with a scrumptious combination of succulent beef filling and crispy breadcrumbs.

The restaurant’s menu also includes other beef dishes such as beef donburi (available for takeout as well), beef hotpot with original soy sauce broth, sukiyaki and grilled beef.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or nine minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Butasute

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Dangoro Chaya teahouse is located in the middle of Okage Yokocho and is ideal if you need a quick break, with food ordered using a ticket vending machine. Their menu includes tempura soba with seasonal deep-fried vegetables and shrimp, Matsuzaka beef soba, and Matsuzaka beef skewers.

The freshly grilled beef skewers are seasoned with salt and pepper alone to bring out the meat’s original taste. The tender and juicy flavor is ideally accompanied by a glass of beer.

This place also offers seasonal Akafuku sweets, such as Akafukugoori shaved ice and Akafukuzenzai sweet bean soup. Additionally, Dangoro Chaya is known for its delectable shaved ice with homemade syrup.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or nine minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Dangorochaya

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Tucked away in one of Okage Yokocho’s alleyways, Fruit Labo is a fresh juice stand. It uses only the finest seasonal fruits, which are carefully selected by the store manager. In order to retain maximal nutrients from the fruits, slow juicers are used instead of metal blade juicers.

You can choose any fruit you like from the store showcase (which usually includes orange, kiwi, and melon) and every glass is squeezed to order. In addition to wholesome fruit juices, you can also order mixed juices made with eight different types of fruits, as well as seasonal smoothies, fruit-topped shaved ice, and minestrone soup. During your visit to Ise Shrine, be sure to take a quick break to taste these healthy drinks.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or eight minutes’ walk from the Ise city Naiku B2 car park.

Fruit Labo

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One of the most sought-after delicacies in the area is Ise udon, a snowy white, flour-based soft noodle. The origins of Ise udon date back to the Edo era when local udon shops were patronized by Ise Shrine pilgrims who sometimes took several days to reach the area.

Fukusuke replicates the authentic Ise udon recipe from the Edo era and is known for its tender, thick noodles served with a deep-brown dashi sauce. Its udon noodles are made in-house by highly trained udon chefs using flour from Mie. The dashi sauce is cooked with tamari and carefully chosen sea products, such as bonito flakes and kombu kelp. When served with the smooth, tender udon, it makes for a scrumptious combination.

At Fukusuke, you can also add extra toppings, such as Matsuzaka beef, tempura, and mekabu seaweed.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or eight minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Fukusuke

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Hidden in one of the small streets of Okage Yokocho, you’ll find the Ebimaru fisherman’s restaurant. It prides itself on offering a fresh selection of local seafood, such as Ise ebi (Japanese spiny lobster) and abalones, both of which are kept live in fish tanks. Upon receiving an order, the seafood is removed from the tanks and prepared into sashimi platters and grilled dishes.

Ebimaru also serves tekone zushi, a traditional cuisine from Mie’s southeastern coastal area, Shima. Tekone zushi originates from a rice dish featuring thinly sliced bonito sashimi that was made by fishermen on their boats. You can enjoy Ebimaru’s original take on this local dish with a variety of freshly caught fish, including tuna.

Additionally, the restaurant serves fresh Ise ebi (sashimi and grill), horyo meshi donburi (with an abundant selection of sashimi), kaiko tendon seafood tempura donburi, and ryooshi jiru fisherman soup (cooked with the heads of shrimp and crab).

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or nine minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Okage Yokocho Ebimaru

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Founded in 1974, Yokocho Soba Shoseiko is known as the first restaurant in Japan to serve ramen with Matsuzaka beef bone broth. Combined with other Japanese ingredients like kombu, the broth is cooked for four days to extract the best flavor.

The soup goes well with the restaurant’s custom-made noodles, which feature Japanese flour and are cooked in a vacuum to bring out a chewy, glossy, and refined taste and texture. The thinly sliced, prosciutto-style chashu pork takes more than one week to be prepared, including four days of marination in a special sauce, before being baked in the oven.

This iconic chashu recipe was developed after more than 20 years of trial and error. The ramen is simple yet provides a rich aftertaste, which is the result of hard work and the investment of time.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or eight minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Yokocho Soba Shoseiko

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Sushikyu is located near the main entrance of Okage Yokocho and is a long-standing restaurant that started operations in the Edo era. Except for a temporary closure during the Greater East Asia War, the restaurant has been receiving customers from all across the country ever since.

Its most popular dish is tekone zushi, which features marinated bonito sashimi on top of sushi rice. Mie has one of the largest hauls of bonito in Japan and tekone zushi has long been made by fishermen here. Today, it is known as a popular party dish that can feed a large number of guests.

Sushikyu’s tekone zushi uses local koshihikari rice for the sushi and thickly sliced bonito sashimi that has been marinated in a salty-sweet soy sauce. The result is a very filling offering. Additionally, you can find hitsumabushi (Nagoya-style grilled eel) here too.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or eight minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Sushi-kyu

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Noasobidata occupies a two-story building with large windows overlooking the Isuzu River, making it the perfect place to enjoy lunch or tea with a view. It offers a range of local dishes that make abundant use of seasonal ingredients. Although these ingredients are often simple, you can certainly appreciate how carefully each dish is prepared. For example, the rice is cooked in donabe pots over a wood-burning stove, instead of a regular electric rice cooker.

The most popular set menus here include Ichiju issai (a bowl of soup, rice and one side dish) and Ichiju sansai (a bowl of soup, rice, meat or fish, and two side dishes). On a sunny day, you can order their freshly made onigiri or bento box to takeaway and enjoy beside the Isuzu River.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or three minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Noasobidana

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Tofu-ya serves a range of dishes featuring fresh tofu and domestically sourced anago (conger eel). This restaurant is also located along the Isuzu River, so you can take in the beautiful views while dining.

Using high-quality Japanese soy beans and nigari (also known as bittern), Tofu-ya’s chefs make the tofu by hand each day. In fact, the momen tofu (firm tofu) from this restaurant won an award in the Tokai and Hokuriku bloc of the national tofu competition.

To enjoy the restaurant’s simple yet richly flavored tofu, order yudofu-zen (hot tofu, rice and side dishes) or yosedofu-zen (extra-soft, fresh tofu, rice, and side dishes). If you want to taste unagi’s less fatty counterpart, anago, order anago shiotendon zen (salted-eel tempura) or anago tenju zen (anago tempura).

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or five minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Tofuya

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Yokocho Yaki No Mise offers a perfect break when you get tired from walking around Ise Shrine. Located in the middle of Okage Yokocho, this sweet shop has sold dome-shaped sweet pancakes known as panju since the Meiji era.

Using flour from Mie in its dough, this street snack is crispy on the outside and stuffed with a smooth, sweet bean paste made from Hokkaido azuki beans. The green seaweed powder sprinkled on the top adds a depth of flavor to the mix.

There are various fillings available, including mildly sweet potato paste and perfectly-balanced sweet and bitter matcha paste. You can try other sweet delicacies here too, including rich vanilla soft serve ice cream made with fresh Hokkaido milk and lemonade with Japanese honey and marmalade from Mie.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or eight minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Yokochoyaki no Mise

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Isuzugawa Café is a popular spot with good coffee and sweet offerings. Thanks to its great location beside the clear waters of the Isuzu River, almost all of its seats offer a pleasant view, making your coffee break extra special.

Isuzugawa Café serves a well-extracted, smooth coffee with very little acidity. The perfect cup of nel drip coffee is achieved using freshly roasted, high-quality beans. Blend Coffee 48 (named after the method of using freshly roasted beans within 48 hours) is a popular order, with the option for either a dark or light roast.

If you have a sweet tooth, you can pair your coffee with a dessert, such as delicious cheesecake.

[Access] Five minutes by car from the Ise Interchange or nine minutes’ walk from the Ise City Naiku B2 car park.

Isuzugawa Café

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