11 Popular Restaurants to Stop By for Saitama’s Diverse Gourmet Scene

Unagi Kohinata is a specialty eel restaurant serving Kanto-style eel, gently steamed and grilled, at reasonable prices.
The restaurant carefully selects thick, high-quality eel that is 1.5 times larger than usual, with the natural umami of eel and rich fat.
Its unaju, grilled eel over rice, is made with a special sauce developed jointly with a long-established soy sauce brewery.
The eel pairs perfectly with white rice, creating a dish that is light yet offers both sweetness and a hint of spice.

Founded in 1981, Unagi Ryori Senmonten Kawasho is an eel specialty restaurant that pursues both tradition and innovation.
One of its distinctive features is that you can enjoy Kansai-style kabayaki inspired by the owner’s training in Kansai, as well as a Kanto-style grilling method passed down from Sendai.
A popular menu item is the Kin no Unadon, featuring eel wrapped in rich, fluffy, creamy egg.
The restaurant also offers a wide variety of original dishes.

A renowned restaurant that has specialized in eel since its founding in 1807. Its carefully grilled eel, prepared one fillet at a time just as it always has been, is highly praised.
The unaju, made with a secret sauce passed down through generations since the restaurant’s founding, pairs fluffy, fragrant grilled eel with rice soaked in the savory sauce.
It also offers a wide variety of à la carte dishes to enjoy with drinks.

A long-established eel restaurant operating since 1832 in Matsuecho, Kawagoe, an area that still retains the atmosphere of Little Edo.
Using a secret sauce passed down exclusively from one generation to the next, the restaurant carefully grills domestic eel over binchotan charcoal, one fillet at a time.
Its kabayaki is prepared by steaming the raw eel first without making shirayaki, then brushing it with sauce and grilling it, creating a flavor that balances a soft texture with savory aroma.
In addition to its signature unaju and shirayaki, the restaurant offers a full selection of à la carte dishes, including hitsumabushi for a fun change in how you enjoy eel and deep-fried loach that pairs well with drinks.

This Japanese restaurant serves Fukaya specialties such as Niboto and Fukaya green onions. Committed to handmade quality, it prepares everything in-house, from sauces and soups to seasonings.
You can enjoy many dishes made with local vegetables, something unique to vegetable-rich Fukaya City.
Fukaya’s specialty Niboto features wide, thick noodles in a soy sauce-based broth with a rich, thickened texture, making it a dish that lets you savor the bounty of Fukaya.

Run by two brothers, Honteuchi Udon Shoji is a place where you can enjoy authentic handmade Musashino udon. Its grayish udon made with whole wheat flour is a distinctive feature.
The flavor of its authentic handmade udon is enhanced by a soy sauce-flavored dipping broth made with bonito stock.
Coated in the dipping broth, the firm and chewy udon is known for being deeply satisfying.

Located in Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture, Myoto Udon is a handmade udon restaurant affiliated with the Kazo Handmade Udon Association.
It uses 100% Ayahikari flour produced in Kazo. The noodles are praised for their smooth texture and pleasantly chewy bite.
The specialty is Nikujiru Udon Mori, a bowl packed with the rich flavors of meat, green onions, and dashi.

A long-established udon restaurant founded in 1891, it has served handmade udon made with traditional methods since the day it opened.
Its appeal lies in handmade noodles made with 100% Hokkaido flour and broth prepared with high-quality bonito flakes from Kagoshima.
The signature menu item is Kounosu Kawahaba Udon.
The noodles are about 8 cm wide and have a chewy texture. The flavor of the broth spreads more deeply with every bite.

Wafu Rakumen Yondaime Hinodeya Hasuda Main Branch carries on the history of Nihon Ryori Saisairaku, which first opened in Hasuda in 1885.
The fourth-generation owner, trained at a traditional Japanese restaurant in Ginza, serves creative Japanese-style ramen using refined techniques from Japanese cuisine.
The ramen uses the Gagakuya soup, a purely Japanese-style broth with the pronounced aroma of bonito and scallops.
It pairs exquisitely with the restaurant’s house-made noodles made from domestic wheat flour.

Located in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, Kotobuki Seimen Yoshikawa Kawagoe Branch is known for its soup, made by carefully simmering seasonal ingredients selected from the market under thorough hygiene and temperature control.
The signature dish is Niboshi Soba Shiro Shoyu, made with a blend of four kinds of dried sardines and paired with firm house-made noodles.
It is known for its clean flavor with a gentle hint of dried sardine umami.

A popular tsukemen restaurant where lines are to be expected. Its dipping broth is a rich soup made with pork bones, chicken, and seafood stock from mackerel and bonito.
The house-made noodles are thick and satisfyingly chewy, pairing perfectly with the rich broth.
After finishing the noodles, you can add dashi to the remaining broth and enjoy it as a finishing soup.