8 recommended cafes in popular areas of Kanazawa
Kanazawa, with its old streets and historical landmarks, is a town where the more you walk around, the more you will discover. It is useful to keep cafes near Kanazawa's representative tourist attractions, such as "Omimachi Market," "Kanazawa Castle Park," and"Kenrokuen Garden," to take a break between strolls. From cafes to sweet shops, we will introduce 8 cafes with unique menus.
1Kanbayashi Kanazawa Chaho
Japanese tea brewed by tea professionals and Japanese sweets.
This Japanese tea specialty store was established in Kanazawa in 1949 as a branch of the long-established Kanbayashi Shunsho Honten in Uji, Matsumoto, Kyoto, which has been in business for 450 years. We offer a wide variety of teas, including carefully selected matcha, sencha, gyokuro, Kaga-bocha, and Japanese black tea, all of which are unique to Kanazawa. About eight years ago, we opened a corner of the store as a coffee shop space, hoping that customers can enjoy tea at their leisure. Visitors can enjoy a rich time with specially selected matcha and Kaga-bocha teas and seasonal Japanese sweets from the long-established Japanese confectionery in Kanazawa, Yoshi Hashi Sweets Shop.
Choose your favorite tea while tasting
The sweet and aromatic roasted aroma of Kaga-bocha tea fills the air inside the store, raising expectations of a delicious tea experience. There are four types of hojicha alone, so if you have time to spare, we recommend tasting them. Each has a different taste, color, and aroma, so you can compare them and choose the tea that best suits your taste. The signature product is "Kyoka," a Kaga stick tea made from the stems of the sweetest and most fragrant first-grade tea. Named after Izumi Kyoka, Kanazawa's great writer, the tea is beautiful to the eye, even down to the length of the stems, making it a perfect souvenir.
- Kanbayashi Kanazawa Chaho
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1-7 Shimo-Shinmachi, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture MAP
5 minutes drive from JR Kanazawa Station
Take a bus from JR Kanazawa Station, get off at "Hashiba-cho" and walk 5 minutes.
9:30-17:30 (L.O. 17:00)
3rd Sunday of the month
076-231-0390
Free of charge (2 cars)
2Mamezara Chaya (Mamezara Tea House)
Enjoy a luxurious meal with a selection of Kanazawa's specialties
It opened in the "Tsurunomaru Resting Pavilion" in Kanazawa Castle Park, which was completed in 2017. It also serves as an antenna shop for Kanazawa, and inside the store you can taste Kanazawa's famous sweets and products. The "Himezara Gozen," a Wajima lacquered dish lined with cute bean dishes, is a great way to enjoy a little bit of Kanazawa's specialties. The menu changes every month or two, and includes such delicacies as sasabushi from Shiba Sushi, fufu-yaki soup from Kaga Fu Fu-Muroya, fresh sweets from Hashizume, and rice-flour rolls from Maple House. You can also choose from Kanazawa coffee from Dart Coffee or Kaga stick tea from Kobayashi Shop.
Dine in elegance at a special table overlooking the famous landmarks in Kanazawa Castle
Passing through the Ishikawa Gate of Kanazawa Castle and keeping the plaza on your right, you will see the Tsurunomaru Resting Pavilion. The Mamezara Tea House inside the pavilion overlooks Hashizume-mon Gate and Gojyuken Nagaya, two of the castle's most famous landmarks, and is a popular viewing spot. Inside the comfortable restaurant made of fragrant Noto hiba (cypress), there are "garden view seats" like a porch and bench-type seats overlooking the "Gojyuken row houses," so there are various ways to spend your time depending on where you sit. The restaurant also offers a wide variety of take-out menu items such as gold leaf soft serve, making it a convenient spot to stop by when strolling around Kanazawa Castle Park orKenrokuen Garden.
- Mamezara Chaya
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- Kanazawa Castle Park, 1-1 Marunouchi, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture MAP
- Approximately 8 minutes from JR Kanazawa Station by car
- Take a bus from JR Kanazawa Station, get off at "Kenrokuen-koshita/Kanazawa Castle" and walk 5 min.
- 9:00-17:30 (L.O. 17:15), October 16 to the end of February - 16:30 (L.O. 16:15)
- January 1
- 076-232-1877
- None
3TSUBOMI
Casual dining at a luxurious ryotei (Japanese-style restaurant)
This sweet shop is run by Suginoi Honami, a ryotei restaurant that received two stars in the "Michelin Guide Toyama/Ishikawa. The second-generation owner opened the restaurant 15 years ago, hoping to create a place where people could casually enjoy sweet dishes alone. The domestic honkuzu flour used for kuzukiri is very rare and is made from kuzu root collected deep in the mountains by a master kuzu dugger. For the rich brown sugar used for kuzukiri, brown sugar is ordered from 25 sugar refineries across the country and carefully selected after tasting all the ingredients.
A pure Japanese-style space where the spirit of hospitality shines through
The Kakinokibatake shopping street, where the store is located, is an area where the good old townscape remains, with the Tatsumi water flowing along the stone walls of Kanazawa Castle built in the Edo period. Upon entering the restaurant, you will find a calm Japanese-style space with the stone wall and greenery of the garden in the background. A long table made of a single piece of wood is a special seat that allows you to spend time alone without hesitation. In addition to regular menu items such as kuzukiri and honwarabimochi, the shaved ice "Tsubomi no ices" served with homemade syrup made from fresh fruits are available from May to September every year. During the hot season, enjoy strolling around the area while cooling off with these cool treats.
4CAFE Kan
A popular Japanese-style café inside a long-established Japanese confectionary store
Koshiyama Kanseido, which has been in business for 130 years, opened this Japanese-style café inside its main store. The Japanese sweets proposed by this long-established Japanese confectionery shop are carefully handmade by craftsmen, with everything from red bean paste to jellies and ice cream made in-house.
The culmination of these efforts is the "Jute Box," a gorgeous layered box filled with seasonal Japanese sweets, from Koshiyama's standard wagashi to creative Japanese sweets. The most popular item, "Kaga stick tea and kinako parfait," is made with layers of Kaga stick tea jelly and ice cream, kinako cream, shiratama (white bean curd), and red bean paste, offering the refined taste that only a Japanese confectionery shop can offer.
Take home Kanazawa's famous sweets while enjoying tea
Koshiyama Ganseido operates eight stores in Kanazawa City, offering a variety of Kanazawa-style Japanese and Western sweets, such as Kinjomaki, a famous confectionary made of baked dough filled with red bean paste and folded into a triangle shape, and Kaga Hoshu, a Japanese-style truffle. The main store is the only one that has a café, where you can taste sweets available only at the café in a modern Japanese-style space.
Seasonal menus are also available, such as shaved ice in summer, and zenzai with freshly pounded rice cakes in winter. There is also a wide selection of lattes, including a "green tea latte" with soft-boiled azuki beans and a "kinako latte" with roasted soybean flour. It is a convenient place to have tea and look for souvenirs.
5collabon
Enjoy a cup of coffee with our specialties.
A select store and cafe in a renovated 100-year-old building. The owner, a friendly woman, welcomes you to the store, where you will find works by local artists, funny sundries, and delicious foods from all over Japan.
The cafe offers coffee made mainly from "Nisami Coffee" from Okunoto, "blanket coffee" from Kanazawa, and "Fukayaki Coffee Soniroki" from Hiroshima. The menu also includes such comforting drinks as "Kaga Bocha Au Lait" and "Brown Sugar Nut Milk," and the presentation of the dishes and saucers is also relaxing. The cute acorn financier is a perfect snack.
An old-fashioned house café where you can relax and forget about time
After taking off your shoes and entering the cafe, you will feel as if you have come to a friend's house, where a dining table-like desk and sofa are placed in a space surrounded by bookshelves. The signature dog, a Jack Russell terrier, often comes out to play and take a nap, and the relaxing atmosphere is soothing.
The bookshelves are lined with a wide range of books from art, history, miscellaneous subjects, and picture books, a lineup that makes you want to pick up a book. Whether you are planning a trip or just want to grab a quick cup of coffee and head home, this café is like an oasis where many people stop by again and again during their stay.
6Curio Espresso and Vintage Design
Seattle-style café bustling with people from early in the morning
This Seattle-style cafe is run by a Seattle-born husband and his Ishikawa-born wife. The coffee is brewed in an espresso machine from a blend of beans that were selected and roasted together with Ally caffé, a Kanazawa-based coffee bean specialty store.
Food is mainly sandwiches. The specialty is the "barbecue pork sandwich" with pork braised in homemade barbecue sauce. The delicious taste is enhanced by the natural yeast bread specially made by a local bakery. Vegetarian and vegan options are also available, and many foreign customers visit the restaurant.
An exotic space where you can feel like you are on a trip
Kanazawa Omotesando," where the store is located, is a shopping street that prospered as the gateway to Kanazawa Higashi Betsuin Temple. It has a history of about 300 years, and has a local atmosphere with a mixture of old and new stores. The light blue espresso machine in the store, which is reminiscent of a coffee shop on a street corner in Seattle, makes you feel like you are in a foreign country as you watch the owner make coffee. The shop also offers a variety of coffees that are rare in Japan, such as "Flat White," a strong café latte with a 50-50 ratio of espresso and milk. Coffee can also be taken out, making it a must-visit for coffee lovers.
- Curio Espresso and Vintage Design
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- 1-13 Yasue-cho, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa MAP
- 11 min. walk from JR Kanazawa Sta.
- Take a bus from JR Kanazawa Station, get off at Musashigatsuji/Omimachi Ichiba and walk 5 minutes.
- 8:00-17:00, Sat.
- Tuesdays
- 076-231-5543
- None
7Bistro Hiramipan
Casual bistro that can be used at any time of the day
From morning to lunch and dinner, the bistro offers different menus depending on the time of day. During morning hours, in addition to the set menu, you can have a light breakfast with your favorite bread and drink.
For lunch, there is a set menu with a choice of main dishes such as quiche, cakesalet, meat dishes, etc., all of which are hearty. The free refill of homemade bread is also a nice touch. In the evening, you can enjoy a la carte dishes in addition to the course menu. Don't miss the "Maiden's Parfait" with roses on top, crème brûlée, and other desserts.
Souvenirs of our famous canelés and freshly baked bread
The retro building was renovated from a Taisho era ironworks. The interior is furnished with antique tables and chairs, and tasteful accessories create a Parisian café atmosphere. As the name suggests, there are always 30 to 40 varieties of freshly baked bread on display, and the long-lasting campagnes and breads are popular as souvenirs.
Locally, the store is also famous for its canelés, which are crispy on the outside and moist on the inside like French toast, making them addictive. Breads are available around noon, so stopping by for lunch is a great way to shop.
- Bistro Hiramipan
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- 1-6-11, Kanazawa Choumachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa MAP
- Approximately 19 minutes on foot from JR Kanazawa Station
- Take a bus from JR Kanazawa Station, get off at "Minamimachi, Oyama Shrine" and walk 5 min.
- 8:00-11:00 (L.O.10:30), 12:00-16:00 (L.O.15:30), 18:00-22:30 (L.O.21:30)
- Mondays (open if Monday is a national holiday, closed the following day)
- 076-221-7831
- Free (1 car)
8Fruit Parlor Murahata
Enjoy a parfait filled with the best seasonal fruits!
The second-floor fruit parlor offers a variety of parfaits made with the best fruit of the season. The classic "Fruit Parfait," with its beautifully artistically cut fruit, includes eight kinds of fruit, including melons and strawberries, with soft-serve ice cream and vanilla ice cream to complement the sweetness of the fruit. In addition, don't miss the 34 seasonal parfait menus that appear throughout the year, including "Amaou" in January, peaches in July, and marrons in November.
A fruit parlor where you should be prepared to wait in line!
During the limited parfait season, such as peach parfait, there is often a long line of customers waiting in line even before the store opens. The bright, open-air store is also very comfortable. In addition to parfaits, there is a wide variety of other items on the menu, with about 15 types of cakes and tarts alone. The somewhat retro "pudding a la mode," "fruit sandwiches" with beautiful cross sections, and fresh juices with high nutritional value are also popular.
At lunch time, "fruit lunch" and "pasta lunch" with assorted fruits, bread, soup, salad, and drink are also available to comfortably fill your stomach.
- Fruit Parlor Murata
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- 2-12 Musashimachi, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan MAP
- Approx. 15 min. walk from JR Kanazawa Station
- Take a bus from JR Kanazawa Station, get off at Musashigatsuji/Omimachi Ichiba and walk about 1 minute.
- 10:00-19:00 (L.O. 18:30), Cuisine-15:00 (L.O.), Lunch 11:30-15:00 (L.O.)
- Closed on weekends and holidays
- 076-224-6800
- Free of charge
