Tokoname is a southern town in Aichi, located on the western coast of the Chita peninsula.
It’s known as a ceramic town.
It has been on my list for some time, and finally the weather cooperated yesterday so we decided to go.
I grew up in Aichi but never visited Tokoname, and I was excited.
It takes only 30 minutes by the Meitetsu express train from Nagoya Station to get to Tokoname.
We got there a little before noon, and we were ready for lunch.
I had done a little research beforehand, and we headed straight to the restaurant that I had selected.
Like so many other restaurants/cafes in this town, this one was housed in a renovated old building.
They did a good job.
It’s functional, but they left the charming character.
They serve two lunch sets.
Neither is vegan.
One is the sushi set; they use fish freshly caught locally, serve it over sushi rice, and fish it off with a lot of Shiso chiffonade.
The sushi set includes soup, braised beans and vegetables, roasted seaweed sheet (locally made), green tea, and a dessert.
The other choice is the Hayashi rice set: rice with rich dark stew; salad, water, green tea, and a dessert.
Everything was delicious.
I really liked their using local ingredients and locally created ceramics.
Looking at beautifully prepared food served in one-of-the-kind plates and bowls was so enjoyable.
Look at this chopstick rest!
Attention to detail was amazing.
For the dessert we could choose either a Japanese sweets or a Western sweets, and we both requested the Japanese one.
We assumed that we would get the same thing, so we were pleasantly surprised when these lovely pieces were presented.
Their cafe (sweets) menu was tempting, and I almost thought about stopping by later again for a snack.
After lunch, we started following the Pottery Footpath to explore the town.
It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.
The town looked great, and we had to stop at every corner because we wanted to take pictures.
Everything was so photogenic.
At one point, it was getting hot, and my husband stopped for a mango soft-serve (we didn’t ask, but probably not vegan).
I was hoping to find some dishes, as I do need a couple of soup bowls and dessert plates.
There were a few shops that were selling the style of dishes I like (modern, simple), but many shops’ focus seemed to be more traditional type of ceramics.
I didn’t buy any dishes, but I still enjoyed looking at all the shops.
If you are interested in more modern style dishes, check out ni:no (the photo above) and MADOYAMA (the top photo).
Their ceramic history is witnessed everywhere.
This kiln was built in 1958 and used to make bottles for Shochu (Japanese distilled spirit) and jars for pickles.
When I did my research in advance, I didn’t find any vegan restaurants.
But during our walk we saw this sign, advertising the vegan plate.
Looks like it’s served at Imawo (cafe/shop) (Japanese).
