Shuminomise Hakushika

Established in 1953. “Hakushika” has been watching over the city of Kagoshima for nearly 70 years. The cozy interior of the restaurant has a relaxing atmosphere even if it’s your first visit. They mainly choose seasonal ingredients from Kagoshima, and you can enjoy the delights of Kagoshima, such as wild local fish, black beef from Kagoshima, roppaku black pork, and native chicken to your heart’s content. Enjoy a menu that changes with the seasons, such as bitter melon and local sweet fish in summer, barreled sake and sailfish in autumn.

Carrying on the deliciousness and spirit from the establishment

Mr. Hiroaki Kawabe, the restaurant manager who has protected the restaurant in Tenmonkan since the establishment as the third-generation owner of the well-established Japanese cuisine restaurant “Shuminomise Hakushika,” founded in 1953. “One thing that hasn’t changed since the past is to incorporate seasonal ingredients into our cooking. We choose the best ingredients from all over Japan, considering tastes of the season as the most important point.”

CEO Hiroaki Kawabe / Born in Kagoshima city in 1971. After graduation from a cooking technical school in Fukuoka, he returned to Kagoshima with an experience of training at a famous hotel and a popular izakaya in Fukuoka at the time. He then took office as the CEO in 2011.

The restaurant with the name “Hakushika,” which is a brand of sake, is very particular about alcohol, too. It is not about the brands of sake and shochu, Mr. Kawabe selects the ones that he finds to be truly delicious.

“Miso oden,” a specialty of the restaurant which has the breath of stylish culture

“It seems that in the period when my great aunt Noe Kawabe was running the restaurant, having alcohol outside home was so special that customers came to the restaurant in a suit. Back then, the dish that was enjoyed with alcohol in many restaurants was miso oden. Now only a few restaurants serve it, but we offer it all year round as one of the important food cultures of Kagoshima.”

Ingredient selection and cooking that they spare no efforts for

You can see his passion in each detail, for example buying local fish by carefully selecting it in a fish market every morning, having frequent meetings with suppliers to purchase best seasonal ingredients from meat to vegetables. “Seasonings such as vinegared miso and ponzu used at the restaurant are of course handmade. It may be the pursuit of deliciousness that can only be achieved by the only one restaurant policy.”

As a comforting restaurant in a travel destination

“All employees working here are always conscious about offering foods and services that we would be satisfied with as customers. Not only our behavior, but also every serving on a plate should be done with the utmost care. It’s an accumulation of small things, but we would be very happy if it makes a relaxing space for customers at least a little.”