YONEZAWA BEEF The city of Yonezawa is the proud home to one of Japan’s finest cuts of beef, up there alongside popular brands such as Matsusaka, Maesawa and Kobe beef. The beef has incredibly marbled texture, as a result of fattening up the cows with copious amounts of rice straw, and the end result is…

Pear Jelly Yamagata is well known for growing the best cherries in Japan. But it’s not just cherries – the region grows a variety of fruits including grapes and pears. The only problem is given that they’re seasonal it can be difficult to get hold of them! Fortunately, if you come out of season though,…

KARAMISO RAMEN Ryuushanhai had some of the best reviews I’d ever seen for a ramen restaurant, so I as I stood in the queue for 30 minutes, I suspected it was going to be well worth the wait. The interior of the ramen shop was unique, in that customers shared the big red tables with…

TSUKEMEN Tsukemen is a noodle dish consisting of dipping cold noodles in a separate bowl of hot soup. As the soup is pretty hot it gives a nice contrast between hot and cold. In the entrance of Mendouda, one of Yamagata City’s best ramen shops, you’ll be able to choose your meal on the vending…

CHERRY CREPE CHOCOLAT ROLL Yamagata prefecture produces approximately 70% of the country’s production of cherries and when summer arrives, you’ll find it difficult to move anywhere in Yamagata without being surrounded in the presence of cherries. (This isn’t a bad thing either, although the cherries aren’t particularly cheap). Whilst the time frame in which to…

HAYASHI RICE In the heart of Tsuruoka city, next to Tsuruoka park, you’ll find Chidou Museum – one of the regions best preserved samurai estates and a museums of samurai armour and swords. The Museum has it’s very own restaurant serving up local food from around Shonai plain and it was here I tried a…

MUKISOBA Muki Soba is a Sakata local delicacy; Muki means “peeled off” as the skin of round buckwheat is peeled off before they are boiled and although it is called ‘soba’, it is not the standard long noodles. The soup comes full of these small piece of buckwheat, mixed in with fish soup, small pork…

JELLY FISH MOCHI One of the most impressive attractions in the district of Shonai, is the Kamo Aquarium. Who’d have thought the quiet fishing town of Kamo, would be home to one the world’s largest variety of Jellyfish. A few years ago the aquarium was facing bankruptcy, until it decided to focus on Jellyfish, with…

IMONI, in Yamagata Every autumn, particularly between late September and early October, the locals of Yamagata get together and head down to parks dotted throughout the prefecture to hold Imoni parties. It’s a fun custom that I attended every year, during my three years living out in the countryside on Shonai plain, where dozens of…

Jewellery Sushi This is a dish that’s all about presentation – the aptly named ‘jewellery sushi’ comes filled with tuna, salmon, shrimp, fish eggs, fried egg, cucumber, all diced, sliced and chopped onto a bed of rice. The end result is a dish that resembles a shiny treasure trove – and like a treasure trove,…