Saitama does not have the culinary reputation of Osaka or Kyoto, but for visitors who dig beneath the surface, it offers some remarkably distinctive food experiences — the kind that cannot be replicated anywhere else in Japan. Kawagoe’s sweet potato culture stretches back three centuries. Musashino udon, thick and chewy and served in pork-bone broth, represents one of the Kanto region’s most underappreciated regional noodle traditions. And in the mountains of Chichibu, a small distillery has produced what many whisky critics regard as the finest Japanese single malt outside the major established brands. None of these require advance planning, and all are accessible on day trips from Tokyo.

Kawagoe Sweet Potato

Saitama’s most famous food product has an unlikely origin: in the Edo period, sweet potatoes were among the few crops that could be reliably transported to the city along the road from Kawagoe. The region around Kawagoe became one of the primary suppliers of sweet potato to the Edo populace, and the crop became so associated with the town that it embedded itself permanently in the local food identity.

Today, the best place to experience Kawagoe’s sweet potato culture is Kashiya Yokocho — a narrow alley of traditional candy and sweet shops running off the main storehouse street. Most shops have been operating for decades, and some for over a century. The alley is covered by a long wooden awning, and on weekday mornings the smell of roasting sweet potato and sesame drifts through the passage.

What to Buy

The most interesting purchases are those that transform the sweet potato into something unexpected. Imo-yokan is a firm, sliceable sweet potato jelly — subtle and not excessively sweet, eaten at room temperature. Dried sweet potato strips (hoshi-imo) have a chewy, concentrated sweetness and travel well. Sweet potato chips are sold in small paper bags, lightly salted or with variations including matcha and black sesame. Several shops also sell imo-shochu, a distilled spirit made from sweet potato that tastes notably different from the grain-based spirits most visitors are familiar with. For something more immediate, sweet potato soft cream is sold from small stalls — a pale golden cone with an earthy, natural sweetness.

Most Kashiya Yokocho shops open at 10:00 am and close by 5:00 pm. The alley can become congested on weekend afternoons; weekday mornings are the most relaxed time to browse.

Musashino Udon

Musashino udon is one of those regional noodle styles that most international visitors never encounter because it is rarely represented in central Tokyo. The noodles are thicker and flatter than standard udon — pale ivory, with a dense, chewy texture that comes from high-gluten wheat and a firm kneading technique. The broth is built on pork rather than seafood dashi, producing a rich, fatty soup with a savory depth that pairs well with the heavy noodles. Traditional serving includes several slices of braised pork and a scattering of spring onion.

The classic setting for Musashino udon is a farmhouse restaurant: a converted agricultural building on the Musashino plateau west of Saitama city. The area around Kawajima and Higashimatsuyama, accessible by train from Omiya or Ikebukuro, holds several of these restaurants. They often have the feel of private homes that have added a few extra tables — walls lined with farming implements, low wooden furniture, and paper screens.

Expect to pay ¥800 to ¥1,200 for a full bowl. Many farmhouse restaurants close on weekdays or keep irregular hours; calling ahead or checking operating days before visiting is advisable. The noodles are typically made fresh each morning, and several restaurants will stop serving once the day’s noodles are sold out.

Chichibu Distillery and Ichiro’s Malt

The Chichibu Distillery, founded in 2008 by Ichiro Akuto in the mountains above Chichibu city, occupies a position in the world whisky community that is extraordinary for a facility its size. The distillery produces a relatively small volume of spirit each year, but its releases — marketed under the Ichiro’s Malt brand — have won top rankings at international competitions and attracted the attention of collectors worldwide. The playing-card series, in which bottles featured individual playing card designs, became one of the most sought-after Japanese whisky collections of the 2010s and now commands significant sums at auction.

Tours of the distillery are available by advance booking only and cost ¥5,000 or more per person, depending on the option selected. The standard tour includes a walk through the production facility — a compact, beautifully maintained building with copper pot stills — followed by a tasting session. The limited allocation of bottles available at the distillery shop often sells out quickly; visitors who want to purchase should inquire at the time of booking about what will be available on their tour date.

For those unable to secure a tour reservation, several bars and restaurants in Chichibu city stock Ichiro’s Malt expressions, typically at a premium. The whisky has a character that is distinctly Japanese — lighter and more floral than Scotch, with a complexity that rewards slow sipping.

Booking: Reservations must be made through the distillery’s official website well in advance, particularly for weekend dates. The distillery is located in Chichibu city, a short taxi ride or 30-minute walk from Seibu Chichibu Station.

Omiya Unagi Eel

Unagi — freshwater eel, grilled over charcoal and lacquered with a sweet soy-based tare sauce — is one of Japan’s great luxury foods, and the area around Omiya has a strong tradition of unagi restaurants going back to the Edo period. The proximity of wetland regions and rivers to the north and east of Omiya historically made eel a locally abundant ingredient.

The classic preparation is kabayaki: eel fillets split, grilled on skewers over charcoal, brushed repeatedly with tare, then served over steamed rice in a lacquered box. A full unagi set lunch at a traditional Omiya restaurant typically costs ¥2,500 to ¥4,000. Several well-established restaurants are concentrated in the streets between Omiya Station and Hikawa Shrine, making it convenient to combine an eel lunch with a visit to the shrine’s two-kilometer zelkova tree avenue.

The best unagi restaurants in Japan tend to operate at lunch rather than dinner, and some close once their daily allocation of eel is used. Arriving between 11:30 am and noon gives you the best selection.

Nagatoro River Snacks

The riverside town of Nagatoro, where flat-bottomed boats navigate the gorge on the Arakawa River, has a lively street of small shops and stalls aimed at visitors returning from boat rides. The specialty here is ayu — sweetfish, a delicate river fish grilled whole on a skewer over charcoal, which is sold by street vendors during the summer season (June through October). Ayu has a clean, almost herbal flavor with a slight bitterness that makes it unlike any other fish commonly encountered in Japanese cuisine.

Alongside the ayu stalls, the Nagatoro waterfront also sells miso dango (grilled rice dumplings with sweet miso glaze), river-region pickles, and locally grown fruit and vegetables in season. The informal, slightly old-fashioned atmosphere of this riverside snack strip is a good counterweight to the more polished shopping experience of Kawagoe.

Practical Tips

Seasonal food calendar:

  • Spring (April–May): Fresh wild mountain vegetables (sansai) at restaurants in Chichibu; shibazakura festival food stalls at Hitsujiyama
  • Summer (June–October): Ayu sweetfish at Nagatoro; unagi at its richest season
  • Autumn (September–November): New sweet potato harvest in Kawagoe; chestnut sweets appear in Chichibu
  • Winter (December–February): Chichibu Night Festival food stalls (early December); hot pot udon at farmhouse restaurants

General tips:

Many farmhouse udon restaurants near Kawajima and Higashimatsuyama are closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The Chichibu Distillery tour should be booked a minimum of two to four weeks in advance for weekend dates. Kashiya Yokocho in Kawagoe operates year-round but is most atmospheric on dry weekday mornings before the tourist groups arrive. Most unagi restaurants in Omiya accept walk-in diners for lunch but may have queues on weekends.