Here’s a quick round-up of restaurants in Maebashi. I hope to post more reviews of my favorite places in the future, but I wanted to share these for now. I live near Maebashi station, so a lot of the restaurants I visit are near there. Leave a comment if you found somewhere tasty that you want to share.
* means highly recommended by me
*Mashimo: my favorite restaurant in Maebashi, delicious Italian food, especially handmade pasta, Mama-san and Papa-san are very friendly
recommendations: try the carbonara or popeye (fresh spinach, seasonal), gelato and sorbet, dinner set (add salad, garlic toast, dessert, and coffee or tea to your dinner for 800 yen; you can upgrade garlic toast to panini for a bit more)
location: head east on route 50, turn left just after the big bridge, it’s on the left after about 500 meters
*JanJan: perhaps Maebashi’s best ramen (miso ramen)
recommendations: I like kakuni, Alex likes JanJan Special Ramen or SpicyJan
location: Chiyoda-machi 3-6-12, downtown
*Shunmi (also known as Riverside Soba): handmade soba and great tempura (vegetable selection changes seasonally), bright and sunny, lunch only, nonsmoking!
recommendations: lunch set (zaru-soba with tempura, soba-dango, and hot tea or coffee), ju-wari soba, maitake tempura, and kurumi-miso sauce soba
location: Maebashi, Bunkyou-chou 4-13-21
*Yukiya: handmade soba and tempura, very tasty, traditional atmosphere (tatami dining area with floor seating), can be smoky at times
recommendations: kamo-jiru soba, tempura soba
location: Maebashi, Mitsumata-machi 3-29-1
*Aburiyatei: our local izakaya, friendly proprietors and good food
recommendations: pari-pari tori-kawa salad, tebasaki (grilled chicken wings), jumbo korokke, sashimi, hokke yaki-sakana
they have a new menu from summer 2010
location: Maebashi, Minami-chou, 3-29-8
*Tori Komachi: charcoal-grilled yakitori
recommendations: tebasaki nikomi, chicken half, yaki onigiri, jidori tsukune, hampen-cheese, mochi-cheese, liver
location: across the street from Aburiyatei
(the place next door has great wings too, but I wasn’t too impressed with the rest)
*Noguchiya: summertime kakigori shop, very popular with MJ students for afterschool snacks, open until 6:00
location: east of Maejo
*Jumonjiya: kakigori shop north off of Route 17 near JMS, I love the pineapple kakigori with ice cream
*Uoshin: friendly sushi bar
recommendations: tamago sushi, chawan mushi, karei-furai (fried flatfish)
location: Maebashi, Hirose-chou 1-23-1
*Agora: izakaya with very tasty chicken wings and international-fusion style dishes, 3500 course meal with 2 hour nomihodai
recommendations: the chicken wings are crispy, sweet, and spicy
location: Chiyoda-machi 5-19-4, along the river
Yuki Sushi: my neighborhood sushi bar, never crowded at dinner
recommendations: nigiri ichi-nin-mae (one person nigiri set, only 1000 yen)
location: Maebashi, Minami-chou 3-58-1 out of business
Ramen shop south of the station: tonkotsu ramen, quick and easy, often has a line; just across the street from the south exit of Maebashi Station
Nishiki Sushi: Good sushi, a little heavy on the wasabi, popular with MJ teachers, collect 40 waribashi wrappers for a prize
location: Maebashi, Ishikura-machi 1-13-5
Allegre: Spanish restaurant just behind the kencho
recommendations: paella
Ninnikuya: the garlic restaurant, most of the dishes are made with a heavy dose of garlic
Marisa: pasta restaurant with all-you-can-eat salad bar and desserts
Kazan Ramen: the ramen here comes in a hot stone bowl so you can pour in your soup and watch the hot broth sputter and steam
location: it’s a chain, the closest one to me is Odomo-machi 1-5-7, near the NHK building
Okonomiyaki 