Fukui Bouyourou Aoyama

The menu at this crab specialty store is a gastronomic love letter to the Hokuriku region, which lies on the northern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island. There, in the Mikuni Bay, is where the very best crabs in Japan hail from — the same bay where the kitchens of the Imperial Palace have sourced theirs from for centuries. The original Bouyourou was established there over 200 years ago, beginning as a warehouse. In later years, it was converted into a restaurant and traditional inn, which fast became a site of pilgrimage for serious seafood connoisseurs across the country. Nowadays one needn’t travel so far to sample their premium Echizen snow crabs; this outlet lies right in the heart of Aoyama, Tokyo. At the entrance to the restaurant you’ll find tanks filled with the exact same crabs served at the original store, which are shipped over directly. The interior of the store likewise imports its design cues from the historic shipping culture of Hokuriku. They offer a plethora of ways to enjoy this delicacy: grilled with miso paste, boiled, sliced into melt-in-the-mouth sashimi, and even in sukiyaki and shabu-shabu hotpots. These can be supplemented with a bounty of other offerings sourced from the region, including premium Wakasa wagyu beef, and handmade Echizen oroshi soba noodles.