Himawari Shokudo 2: Italian in trending Toyama

Among this year’s 10 selected Destination Restaurants, Himawari Shokudo 2 was honored as the representative Destination Restaurant of the Year 2025. Owner-chef Hozumi Tanaka creates original Italian cuisine at this restaurant in Toyama, the capital of Toyama Prefecture. Along with Osaka, the location of this year’s World Expo, Toyama was one of the Japanese cities included in the New York Times’ “52 Places to Go in 2025,” published in January. In one sense, this seems to be a show of support for the area, which, like Ishikawa Prefecture, suffered damage in the Noto earthquake of Jan. 1, 2024. But the main reason was that Toyama offers cultural inspiration and excellent cuisine, minus the crowds seen in places like Kyoto, where overtourism has become a problem. In addition to the Toyama Glass Art Museum (designed by architect Kengo Kuma), which incorporates a public library, the article recommends casual eating and drinking spots in Toyama including a French bistro, an izakaya and a jazz bar.

At the same time, Toyama Prefecture has seen a steady increase in fine-dining establishments that attract visitors from outside the prefecture and even from overseas — most notably, Cuisine régionale L’évo, which in 2021 was selected as the first-ever Destination Restaurant of the Year. Opened in 2024, Himawari Shokudo 2 is another fine-dining restaurant serving an omakase course menu, at ¥18,000 ($120), including tax. Its predecessor, Himawari Shokudo, was launched in 2013 as the kind of easygoing Italian restaurant that posts its a la carte menu on a blackboard. As with Himawari Shokudo 2, it is common among regional fine-dining establishments to start out with relatively low prices and raise them as the restaurant steadily gains a following, but the background circumstances differ from restaurant to restaurant.

While training in Tokyo, Tanaka was invited by an acquaintance to work as a chef in Toyama, his hometown. He returned there in 2012 to take the job but was laid off six months later. After that he worked part time and saved money, and in 2013 he opened Himawari Shokudo. Initially, the price per customer was ¥6,000 to ¥8,000, including drinks. Eventually Tanaka also offered a course menu for ¥12,000, but he felt a certain discomfort with the course structure.

Tanaka said: “With a la carte it’s more easygoing, since you simply serve the dishes that customers order. An omakase course requires creation. I didn’t think that was something I was capable of. But when I relocated the restaurant and started Himawari Shokudo 2, I had to borrow more money and reduce the number of seats to eight, so I had no choice but to serve a course menu for ¥18,000. And when I set about creating a menu, I was surprised at how many ideas I came up with.”

Indeed, the course menu abounds in delightful ideas. While the appetizer crepe made from mountain yam and dried bonito and topped with a firefly squid is reminiscent of Japanese cuisine, there is also an original take on Middle Eastern falafel (chickpea fritters). Needless to say, these dishes are the products of Tanaka’s talent, and at the same time there is probably a significant influence from “team Toyama,” a group that formed spontaneously through collaboration among chefs in the prefecture. Tanaka said, “For around 10 years, I’d often gotten together after work with chefs working in Toyama Prefecture. The group consists mainly of chefs at fine-dining restaurants, including Eiji Taniguchi — this was before he opened L’évo. The types of cuisine were all different — French, Italian, Japanese and so on. Occasionally we’d have a sort of workshop — for instance, we brought pates and tasted and compared them. It was really stimulating.” If the “team Toyama” circle expands through Tanaka’s efforts, Toyama Prefecture’s standing as a “place to go” will surely continue to rise.

2025年を代表する1店「The Destination Restaurant of the Year 2025」には、富山市でオーナーシェフ・田中穂積が、独自のイタリア料理を提供する『ひまわり食堂2』が輝いた。

東京で修業していた田中は2012年故郷にUターンし、2013年に単品で料理を出すカジュアルな『ひまわり食堂』をオープン。2023年に移転して『ひまわり食堂2』を始める際、¥18,000コースを始めた。鰹節を使った日本料理のような前菜やファラフェルをアレンジしたアラブ風の一品が登場するなど、コースには楽しいアイデアが満載。そこには本人の才能もさることながら、県内で活躍する料理人の連携による影響も多分にあるだろう。田中は「The Destination Restaurant of the Year 2021」に選ばれた『レヴォ』オーナーシェフ、谷口英司をはじめ、フレンチ、イタリアン、日本料理など、ジャンルを超えた県内の料理人たちと10年前から開いていた勉強会に参加することで、たくさんの刺激を受けたという。田中の活躍により、“チーム富山”の輪が広がれば、富山県はますます“行くべき場所”になっていくだろう。

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