5 Best Restaurants in The Japan Alps and the North Chubu Coast, Japan

This restaurant is famous for its vegetarian shojin ryori (temple food), which it serves up in a 200-year-old building south of the Higashiyama temple area. Set menus change with the seasons and aren't always fully vegetarian; they can include salt-grilled river fish, crispy tempura, handmade soba noodles, or tofu chilled in ice-cold Takayama water. The 12th-generation owner, the English-speaking Sumitake-san, can explain what all the dishes are. You need to book in advance and might want to dress up a bit.

This stately building just outside the gates of Zenko-ji combines a bar, lounge, café, and fantastic Italian restaurant. The rather formal modern dining room offers prix-fixe or à la carte options featuring high-quality local ingredients, while the bar and lounge serve up light meals in stately surroundings and the café is a little more relaxed. There is no formal dress code, but the restaurant is something you'll feel like dressing smartly for.

As the seasons change, so do the menu options at this kaiseki ryori–focused showplace in the Kanazawa Tokyu Hotel. In spring your meal may include hotaru-ika (firefly squid) and iidako (baby octopus) no larger than your thumbnail, in fall expect matsutake mushrooms to make an appearance. Dinner courses can be very expensive, though the the cheapest menus are much more reasonable. The prices are similar at the far more atmospheric main branch-cum-traditional inn by the Sai-gawa River (the Tokyu surroundings are smart, yet a little sterile), although getting a reservation there is far harder.

Seasonal delights like pungent Matsutake mushrooms are packed into the take-out bento (box lunches; from ¥2,000) and more indulgent eat-in courses at this traditional eatery, which has an open-air terrace and a glass-walled interior. A few blocks southwest of Zenko-ji, it's attached to the sake factory and warehouses of the famous distiller Yoshinoya. From 9 to 5 you can tour for free, ending with a sampling of fresh sake.

On the south bank of the Sai-gawa River close to the Sakura-bashi Bridge, this Michelin two-star restaurant serves Kaga specialties. Dinner in a private room overlooking the garden is a splurge but worth it. In traditional Japanese style, the meal finishes with rice, pickles, and soup; in autumn the broth is clear, with herbs and a shrimp dumpling. If you want to experience the food without the high price of dinner, lunch sets start at half the cost of dinner. It's a fancy place, so you'll want to dress up a bit, and you'll need a reservation at least three days ahead.