11 Popular Restaurants in Oita for Local Gourmet Food and Exceptional Sweets

This yakiniku restaurant was opened by the first-generation owner, who had run a meat wholesaler for more than 60 years.
The second-generation owner has carried on the flavors, and the restaurant has been loved in Oita for many years. It is known for its commitment to high-quality meat carefully selected by the owner’s expert eye.
Only the highest-quality Oita Wagyu from Oita-produced Bungo beef, Saga beef, and Kuroge Wagyu from Kyushu are used.
The signature menu item is Oita Wagyu short ribs. The rich nakaochi karubi and the melt-in-your-mouth jo karubi are especially proud specialties.

This yakiniku restaurant makes the most of being directly operated by a butcher shop to serve high-quality meat. You can enjoy cuts with both the sweetness of the fat and the rich flavor of lean meat.
Its pride is carefully selected A4 to A5-ranked Kuroge Wagyu. A special fruity and light sauce is one of its defining features.
The signature menu item is the Kuroge Wagyu Premium Misuji. This rare cut, of which only a few hundred grams can be taken from one cow, is tender and richly flavored in the mouth.
The juicy Premium Karubi is also popular.

This restaurant serves three kinds of Yufu Mabushi, created in pursuit of delicious ways to enjoy rice that are unique to Yufuin.
The mabushi dishes, made with Bungo beef, local Yufu chicken, and eel, are served in earthenware pots and come with appetizers, pickles, condiments, and red miso soup.
The most popular of the three is the Bungo Beef Mabushi.
This hearty dish features rice cooked in an earthenware pot and generously topped with charcoal-grilled Bungo beef.
Pour broth over it to enjoy it ochazuke-style and savor the changing flavors.

This restaurant is located at Asahidai, a scenic viewpoint surrounded by the magnificent Kuju Mountain Range, at an elevation of Approx. 900 m.
It is operated by Washizu Farm, which raises Bungo beef, one of Oita Prefecture’s branded ingredients, and offers a wide variety of dishes made with high-quality beef.
In addition to its highly recommended Oita Wagyu steak set meal, the Bungo beef croquette set meal and Bungo beef curry are also excellent.
After your meal, enjoy fruit picking at the attached blueberry farm, open for Approx. one month from early July.

Wafu Ajidokoro Kitaro is located in Nakatsu City, Oita Prefecture, a place associated with the military strategist Kuroda Kanbei.
It is a Japanese restaurant that has expanded its menu by developing standout dishes featuring hamo, which is caught in Nakatsu City, including the creation of hamo katsu-don.
The signature menu item is the Kanbei Gozen. This set meal lets you enjoy egg-bound fried hamo and hamo shumai at the same time.
There is also a wide variety of a la carte dishes, including tekka-don and seafood rice bowls made with fresh seafood caught in the Buzen Sea.

Rest House Usagitei is located in the center of Motosaru Coast.
This restaurant serves dishes made with fresh seafood caught in the waters near Kamae.
As a participating restaurant in the Higashi-Kyushu Ise Ebi Kaido, Ise Ebi Festival, it is also engaged in activities rooted in the local community.
The menu is wide-ranging, from seafood dishes and meat dishes to Western-style cuisine. Among them, the Sea Blessings Rice Bowl Set and the Ryukyu Rice Bowl Set, both made with fresh seafood, are especially popular.

This restaurant operates around the middle of Kyusuikei Gorge, a valley lined with sheer cliffs and surrounded by virgin forest.
The dining area offers a wide variety of simple yet distinctive dishes.
Alongside light bites such as charcoal-grilled yamame trout, carefully grilled one by one over charcoal, and grilled dumplings served with a special yuzu soy sauce, there are also hearty set meals such as Oita’s specialty toriten set meal.
In autumn and winter, the yamakake soba made with natural wild yams is also recommended.

This Chinese restaurant has a history of Approx. 100 years.
Its first head chef, Shiro Miyamoto, was a highly skilled chef who once served as cook to the Emperor.
The toriten recipe uses domestically raised chicken thigh meat sliced flat, marinated in several seasonings, coated in an egg batter, and then deep-fried.
Since the toriten is already seasoned, it can be enjoyed as is without adding anything, though it is also recommended to squeeze Oita’s famous kabosu citrus over it.

Okamotoya Shop is located in the center of Myoban Onsen in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture. It is a shop operated by Okamotoya, a ryokan with a history of 150 years.
Since 1988, it has sold Jigoku Mushi®︎ Pudding and is known as the original.
It uses jigoku mushi, a traditional cooking method in which food is steamed using hot spring steam.
It is characterized by bittersweet caramel and the rich flavor of eggs.
In addition to sweets, there is a selection of light meals such as udon, rice dishes, and sandwiches.

Known as a pioneer among specialty roll cake shops, this popular store still draws long lines more than 20 years after opening.
Its signature item is the P Roll. It uses only four ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs, and fresh cream.
Each one is carefully handmade using extremely simple ingredients.
Its lightly elegant sweetness and fluffy, premium texture are outstanding.

This Japanese and Western confectionery shop is located on Yunotsubo Kaido, Yufuin’s main street lined with restaurants and souvenir shops.
Its specialty is large dorayaki about the size of a palm, and you can watch artisans carefully grilling them by hand through the glass.
The seasonal Mont Blanc dorayaki made with ingredients of the season is said to be especially photogenic on social media.
At the attached café, you can enjoy freshly made dorayaki.
It is best enjoyed with single-origin coffee that pairs well with Japanese sweets.