Just came back from a 3-day trip in Kamakura City, Kanagawa prefecture!
Here is a simple picture report on what you could find in and away from the touristic landscape of this famous city not far from Tokyo which deserves a good visit!
Note that this is the off-season now and I would advise you to visit it at such a time as crowds can be a real pain in that beautiful corner of Japan!

Tobira Restaurant

Tobira
Kamakura City, Komachi, 1-6-20, Tobira Building, 2F
Tel.: 0467-25-0505
Opening hours: 10:30~19:00
Closed on Mondays or on Tuesdays if Monday is a National Holiday

You will find Tobira on the left just outside kamakura City JR Station.

The boxed lunch as served!

The boxed lunch opened!

Plentiful and yummy!

They also serve a great omuraisu/rice omelet!

A lunch fit for a Westerner’s appetite!

that omelet is a real delicacy, fluffy and light!

You will find this sign in the main street of Kamakura City atop a famous cake shop. See below:

Kamakura is famous all over Japan for its biscuits, especially “Rabbit Half Moon#!

Once you start you’ll never stop eating them!

They also make some exquisite wagashi for vegans!

You will find plenty of shops selling Shonan Craft Beer!

No, you cannot eat clothes sold upstairs, keep to ground level!

All local beers and japanese sake!

Kamakura City is also famous for its sembei/rice crackers!

Hot work, even with temperatures below zero outside!

O Sakana Tei Japanese Restaurant

248-0025 Kamakura City, Shichirigahama, 3-1-9
Tel: 0467-31-9890
Opening Hours: 11:30~15:00, 17:00~22:00
Closed on Thursdays
Cards OK

Kamakura Craft Beer

O Sakana Tei is an old but very traditional Japanese Restaurant serving great sushi at very reasonable prices.
The specialize in local sardine cuisine!

Great craft beer indeed!

The specialty of the house: Deep-fried sardine sandwiched in shiso/perilla leaves!

Sushi plate!

Another sushi plate!

Delicious Japanese soup with sardine surimi balls!

Kamakura sake?

Only in name as it is brewed in Gunma Prefecture for a private label!

Tobicho Japanese Restaurant

251-0036 Fujisawa City, Enoshima, 1-6-7
Tel.: 0466-23-0041
Opened from 11:00 a.m. till evening
Reserve!

This time we managed to have lunch at Tobicho, a place where you will have to join endless queues on week-ends or in peak seasons!

Have a good look at the seafood they also sell outside including local shirasu/sardine whiting!

Like in most Japanese restaurants you can also have a look at a plastic model of the dish you are looking for displayed outside!

A great way to allure customers inside, isn’t it?

Very simple and explicit menus, too!

This is the limited seasonal menu that the Missus chose!

Simple, but beautiful and yummy!

Salmon, octopus and albacore secured on thin slanted slices of cucumber!

My order!

Japanese style crab omelet on a bowl of rice topped with shirasu!

During our visit to a temple in Enoshima Island we found this food store atop the mountain…

What is he cooking?

Paper-thin senbei/crackers made with real fresh octopus!

A very rare treat!

If you have the time do try and visit the natural grottoes at the back of Enoshima Island which have been used by humans since AD 552.
You will even find a dragon hidden inside!

Atop Enoshima you will find a small diner (Japanese-style) with a terrace overlooking the sea called Uomitei/魚見亭.
A great place to enjoy craft beer.

This one is called Shonan Enoshima Beer!

Unfortunately it is brewed in Niigata Prefecture as a private label!

Back in Kamakura City we couldn’t escape from the beautiful sembei/rice crackers!

Ocean Harvest COCOMO Italian and Oyster Bar
248-0016 Kanagawa Prefecture, Kamakura City, Hase, 2-8-8
Tel./fax: 0467-33-4584
12:00-25:00(Last Order-24:00)
■Lunch Time
12:00-15:30(Last Order-15:00)
■Cafe Time
15:30-17:00(Last Order-16:30)
■Dinner Time
17:00-25:00(Last Order-24:00)
Closed on Wednesdays
HOMEPAGE
Credit Cards OK

Along the Shonan Beach there are some restaurants of note and our favourite is Cocomo, an Italian oyster bar!

Local vegetables Banya Cauda!

Succulent grilled oysters!

Their fries is a must!

They also eminently enjoyable pasta!

KOSUZU Soba/Buckwheat Noodles Restaurant
Kamakura City, Komachi, 2-83-4
Tel,: 0467-25-6210
Opening hours: 11:30~18:30
Closed on Mondays

Back in kamakura City, away from the touristic center and along the way to the Tsuruoka Hayata Jingu Shrine stands a very good soba/buckwheat noodles shop we regularly visit, namely KOSUZU!

This is the hot soba the Missus ordered!

For a closer view of a real healthy meal!

For my part I ordered cold soba with all kinds of toppings!

For a closer view!

A pot full of soba soup will be served to accompany the leftovers inside your bowl! Yummy!

Vegans and all must try the exquisite warabi mochi (soft rice cakes)!

Finally along the same street keep ypur eyes open for venerable shops such as this Japanese liquor shop!

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

Kraemer’s Culinary blog by Frank Kraemer in New York,Tokyo Food File by Robbie Swinnerton, Green Tea Club by Satoshi Nihonyanagi in Shizuoka!, Mind Some by Tina in Taiwan, Le Manger by Camille Oger (French), The Indian Tourist, Masala Herb by Helene Dsouza in Goa, India, Mummy I Can Cook! by Shu Han in London, Pierre.Cuisine, Francescannotwrite, My White Kitchen, Foodhoe, Chucks Eats, Things that Fizz & Stuff, Five Euro Food by Charles,Red Shallot Kitchen by Priscilla,With a Glass, Nami | Just One Cookbook, Peach Farm Studio, Clumsyfingers by Xethia, PepperBento, Hapabento, Kitchen Cow, Lunch In A Box, Susan at Arkonlite, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat, Bento Lunch Blog (German), Adventures In Bento, Anna The Red’s Bento Factory, Ohayo Bento,

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!, Beering In Good Mind: All about Craft Beer in kanzai by Nevitt Reagan!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Non gastronomy must-see sites by Shizuoka Residents

HIGHOCTANE/HAIOKU by Nick Itoh in Shizuoka City