City dining guide

Best restaurants in Asuka

4 guide-listed restaurants — Michelin, Bib Gourmand, Black Pearl, Must-Eat List, World's 50 Best and more. Reference quality signals; never ranked by commission, no in-app checkout.

Michelin-starred 2

Da terra

★ Michelin¥¥¥Italian

A peaceful, traditional rural house surrounded by farmland is home to this restaurant. The shop is an advertisement for the good earth of Asuka, ‘the place where Japan began’, and its bounty. Main ingredients consist of produce cultivated by the chef’s family. One item, a brightly colourful salad, is named “Daichi Kara”, “From the Land”. Wheat is turned into pasta, rice into risotto. Set menus are a journey through the seasons, calculated to inspire gratitude to nature as one proceeds through the meal.

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Sushi Kawashima

★ Michelin¥¥¥Sushi

Sushi Kawashima pursues its own way in the sushi world, a route that crosses paths with the food culture of Nara. Sashimi is dressed with hishio, a koji-mould and salt-water mixture said to be the origin of soy sauce. Snacks are served with preserved so, a condensed-milk product enjoyed in ancient Japan. Yamato tachibana pepper is a seasoning made from an ancient citrus fruit. Sushi of gizzard shad with persimmon leaf testifies to the chef’s lively imagination. Nigirizushi is formed without wasabi, to bring out the flavours of the topping and sushi rice. Persimmon-leaf tea is a relaxing treat

Bib Gourmand 1

Tori Yamaguchi

Bib Gourmand¥¥Yakitori

The chef fell in love with the delicious taste and texture of locally raised Nara chicken and pours his heart and soul into its preparation. To ensure his guests experience the full spectrum of flavours, his skewers feature a wide range of cuts, from the familiar to the rare. Seasoning is carefully chosen: salt or dipping sauce for some, sake or chicken fat for others. Chicken tenderloin, for example, is ingeniously showered with Yamato tachibana pepper, a condiment made from an ancient citrus fruit. Items served to wrap up the meal are prepared with the same attention to detail: yakitori on r

Other guide picks 1

AUBERGE de SENVIE

¥¥¥French

An auberge perched high on a tranquil plateau. The name is a mashup of ‘sens’ and ‘vie’, ‘sense’ and ‘life’, intended to convey the bounty of Nara’s land and the richness of its culture. Beautifully presented, modern cooking crystallises ideas born of dialogue with the food producers, potters and woodworkers of Nara who work with the restaurant. Sensibility thriving amidst the refreshing, lush natural beauty of the Yamato plain.

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