There’s a lot of good food in Nozawa. Sometimes you have to search a bit more for it. Being a ski town full of tourists sometimes I feel like some of the food is a bit geared towards them. There are still plenty of great places though. We normally have lunch up on the slopes in one of the many rest houses. Dinner we usually have in the town. Some of the more popular places you need to make reservations for during the busy season.

Lunches on the slopes are usually curry based or similar.

But sometimes there’s hot cakes. Delicious hot cakes. Just what is needed to warm up from the bitter cold.

For dinner one night we went to a place called Shichirohei Cafe. We had been here in previous years for a drink, but never eaten there. They are a little fusion-y which sometimes worries us, but luckily the food was really delicious.

Another night it started snowing so heavily we had to duck in to the nearest restaurant we could find. It was a cute little place that served curry. We also met Steve’s work friends from Perth in there.

One of our favourite places in Nozawa (and one that we’ve been to on every trip) is a hot pot place. You have to pre book for dinner at least the night before. We always go in there in person and use our best Japanese to make a reservation. We booked the Pork Shabu Shabu this time. I can recommend the Wild boar hotpot also which we have had in the past. Very good indeed. So much food and very reasonably priced. And the owners are super cute and friendly – they were shocked that we had come all the way from our hotel to dine there (it’s only about a 10 minute walk!?!)

Cheese toasties at Haus St Anton are always a favourite snack. Their coffee is good too. Sadly on the one day we really wanted to try their icecream (they have soba flavoured icecream!?!) it wasn’t available due to sickness or a broken icecream machine or something.

Oh and the apples. How can I do a blog post about Nozawa and not mention the apples? Apples are the specialty of this region, and they are absolutely spectacularly delicious and huge. No other apple I have ever eaten can compare, they are just that good. There is an apple shop right in the middle of town where I always buy a bunch for snacking. I wish I had one now!