Issaku（一昨）

I have been to a lot of Japanese restaurants around Japan. I switched over to a tourist visa after finishing a stint as an English teacher on the JET program and ate my way from Hokkaido to Kagoshima. I am pretty sure that I never tried any of the dishes that I had at Issaku….

Tenjin Boumarushin （天神房丸新）

Tenjin Boumarushin is a handmade soba restaurant located on the second floor of a cement building in Tenmonkan. If you’re a soba lover, like me, you’ll notice that soba places are becoming increasingly harder to find in the midst of the ramen boom. This shop is much more expensive than the chain restaurant Sobachaya Fukiagean and has far…

Cafe 369

I have walked by Cafe 369 on so many occasions and finally gave into the signboards that advertising an all-too-enticing homemade soft serve ice cream. I will admit that I was pretty disappointed by the portion of ice cream I got for 350 JPY + tax, but I guess it ended up being just the…

Ajimori （あぢもり）

I have been trying to go Ajimori (technically, it’s supposed to be “Adimori” in English, but that doesn’t make sense to me) for a while now and finally got in without a reservation last night. This restaurant is open from 11:30am-2:30pm for lunch and from 5:30pm-9:30pm for dinner which means that you can only actually…

Japanese Cuisine Rakusui (割烹 楽水)

If you’re looking for somewhere to take a special someone who adores Japanese food and an intimate dining experience, Rakusui is absolutely the place to go. Located in Shiroyama Hotel on the top of Mt. Shiroyama, this may have been one of the first places you visited when you first arrived in Kagoshima, and where you…

Goya Soup Curry（スープカレー専門店、薩摩剛家）

If you’re in the mood for a slightly different take on your typical thick Japanese curry, aside from going to a Nepalese or Sri Lankan curry restaurant (can’t say I’ve encountered any Indian curry places), Goya curry is an excellent alternative. Of the four shops located around Kagoshima, I have visited the one in Tenmonkan and…