A look back at Destination Restaurants 2025 (Part 1) – Gastronomic tourism born of chefs’ collaborations

Launched by The Japan Times in 2021, Destination Restaurants lists outstanding restaurants in Japan, chosen with international diners in mind. Having completed our coverage of the 10 restaurants selected in 2025, the fifth year of Destination Restaurants, we now present Part 1 of a two-part report on the year’s culinary currents.

Ten establishments out of several hundred throughout Japan are selected as each year’s Destination Restaurants, and one becomes the representative Destination Restaurant of the Year. Himawari Shokudo 2, the Destination Restaurant of the Year for 2025, was the second Toyama Prefecture restaurant to receive the top honor, after Cuisine régionale L’évo in 2021. Additionally, that prefecture’s Oryouri Fujii and Ebitei-Bekkan were selected in 2023 and 2024. These are not mere coincidences.

In selecting each year’s restaurants, we have found strong collaboration among chefs in certain regions even amid increasing competition. By discovering and sharing information about excellent producers — not only of ingredients, but also of tableware and the like — and organizing culinary workshops and other activities, these chefs continue to develop their talents and grow their businesses. Not surprisingly, areas that are activating cuisine-centered regional revitalization under the guidance of chefs have seen remarkable progress in the quality of their restaurants. Toyama Prefecture could be considered the prime example of this phenomenon.

Ibaraki Prefecture, home to the 2025 Destination Restaurant Nonna Nietta, is another area where collaboration among chefs has been gaining attention of late. Transcending cuisine styles such as Japanese, French and Chinese, these chefs engage in activities including information exchange and workshops about local producers and techniques. In addition, hotels and restaurants in the prefecture have held events featuring dishes based on recipes handed down by the Tokugawa clan, which governed the region in the Edo Period. This succession of programs is bringing about a major shift in consciousness among chefs and transforming Ibaraki into a prefecture with a robust gastronomic scene.

If a particular prefecture has a number of good restaurants, gastronomy tourism becomes feasible. This suggests a potential for creating new and highly attractive tourism resources even in locations lacking historic sites or places of scenic beauty. Regional restaurants have been making great strides in areas where chefs strengthen their collaborative efforts, and this trend is sure to continue.

ジャパンタイムズ主催の日本発信のレストランセレクション「Destination Restaurants」の今年2025年の傾向を2回に分けてリポートする。今回はその前編。

毎年審査で全国各地のレストランから上位10軒を絞り込むが、特定の地域の店が競り合うことが増えている。そのような地域ではシェフ同士、そしてシェフと生産者たちとの強い連携が見られるのだ。

今年を代表する１軒オブ・ザ・イヤー2025に輝いた『ひまわり食堂2』をはじめ、これまでに何店もリストインする店を輩出してきた富山県や、今年選出された『ノンナ・ニェッタ』がある茨城県は、近年、シェフたちの連携が注目されるエリアだ。

一県に何軒もよいレストランがあれば、地域内でのガストロノミー・ツーリズムが可能になる。それは名勝や史跡がない場所にも、新たな、そして非常に魅力的な観光資源を作ることができるという可能性をも示唆する。今後もシェフが連携を強める地域のレストランが躍進する流れは、止まらないだろう。

この記事の日本語記事を見る