A treasure-trove of food! Gourmet highlights to savor in Goto in Nagasaki Prefecture!

With freshly caught seafood, brand meats such as Goto beef (the so-called phantom wagyu), and alcohol made with carefully selected ingredients, the islands offer lots of gourmet dishes! This article introduces gourmet food that you should definitely try if you come to Goto, and our recommended souvenirs.

The fresh fish are an absolute must!
Seasonal seafood: spring
Seasonal seafood: summer
Seasonal seafood: fall
Seasonal seafood: winter
Seafood menu
Savor three big brands of meat in Goto
Goto-raised meat menu
Seasonings to bring out the flavor of a dish
Alcohol made on Goto: Shochu, wine, and craft gin
Goto udon: one of Japan’s three great udons
Recommended souvenirs
Cafés and restaurants in Goto City

The fresh fish are an absolute must!

You can eat delicious, fresh seafood all year round in Goto. Here, we introduce seasonal seafood for the four seasons.

Seasonal seafood: spring

Spiny lobster

Goto’s spiny lobsters are lean-bodied and praised for their richness and sweetness. Indulge in a taste of freshly caught spiny lobster, served sliced in its original form. We also recommend it cooked in its shell, or in miso soup filled with umami flavor.
Sea urchin

Eat murasaki uni sea urchin, characterized by strong sweetness and a rich flavor, or the so-called phantom sea urchin, aka uni, which rarely appears in markets. Fresh sea urchins are seasonal for a short time, from May to June. They’re worth a try during this period.
Oval squid

Oval squid is also known as a topping for high-class sushi. It is of course delicious as sashimi, but is also excellent fried or as tempura! Don’t miss out on the dried, salted version, which concentrates the flavor.

Seasonal seafood: summer

Chicken grunt

Chicken grunt, which is always included in sashimi combination platters, has a certain amount of fat, and the larger it is, the tastier it is. Enjoy their fresh, unspoiled flavor. Apart from eating these as sashimi, we recommend them boiled in soy sauce or grilled with salt.
Redbanded grouper

As its name suggests, the redbanded grouper is characterized by its beautiful red color, and is known as a high-quality fish. Its transparent, light white meat is great for sashimi, but it is also delicious boiled in soy sauce, or in broth for hot-pots and miso soup.

Seasonal seafood: fall

Slender sprat

This fish is colloquially known as a “kibinago” in Goto, and is a familiar sight in a variety of menus, with dishes including sashimi, tempura, dried fish, and iriyaki hotpot. Its tender meat with transparent fat is eaten as sashimi with ponzu, vinegared miso, and ginger soy sauce, a unique pleasure of the local area! It’s highly nutritious as tempura and dried fish, as you can savor the entire fish from head to tail, with plenty of calcium. Goto’s local iriyaki is a soy-sauce based hotpot dish, made with slender sprats and plenty of vegetables, and soup made from the delicious broth is also superb.

Seasonal seafood: winter

Longtooth grouper

When it comes to winter specials, don't miss out on the longtooth grouper, well known as a high-quality fish. Its milky white, shining sashimi is tender and sweet, with a fatty and melt-in-the-mouth flavor. This fish especially gains fat in the fall, when its season starts, and winter. We recommend eating this in aranabe hotpot.
Japanese amberjack

Goto’s natural Japanese amberjack, which have fought stormy seas, will certainly fill you up! You can enjoy this fish all year round, but it’s in the winter season, when the fish gain fat and harder bodies, that they are at their most delicious. We recommend them as sashimi, with melt-in-the-mouth tastiness, but also with their fat simmered with daikon or cooked as teriyaki.
Pacific bluefin tuna

The Pacific bluefin tuna is said to be the best of all the tuna fish. Pacific bluefin tuna that has grown up in the fast ocean currents around the islands has a harder body and plenty of fat, giving it a superb taste. You can only enjoy these freshly caught and at reasonable prices in their production area! Feast on the belly of freshly caught tuna.

Seafood menu

Kaisen-don

If you can't decide which fish to eat, why not first try a kaisen-don with lots of different fish? You can enjoy this with soy sauce from Goto, or with each store’s own tare sauce.
Fresh sea urchin kamameshi

The delicious taste of island rice! Sea urchin kamameshi, with an incredible sea scent when cooked, is also a popular choice. This luxurious dish is filled with the rich flavor of the sea urchins.
Onisaba sushi

Onisaba sushi is named after the symbol of Fukue Island, Mt. Onidake. It uses lightly marinated mackerel, and is characterized by an almost raw texture. This filling dish brings out the true flavor of the mackerel.

Kattoppo: a photo-worthy island delicacy

Kattoppo is a fish served upside down on a plate. This is a local dish unique to Goto, in which meat and a mixture of miso, ginger, and green onion are stuffed in the stomach of a boxfish which is then cooked. Enjoy its appearance and taste, and add it to the tales from your island journey.

Savor three big brands of meat in Goto

Don’t miss the deeply flavorful brand meats, raised on the grasslands with sea breezes and a climate of abundant nature!

Goto beef

You can only eat high-class Wagyu beef at reasonable prices in its production area! We recommend steaks that let you savor the flavor of the meat, and grilled meat with juices that leak out in your mouth.
Goto pork

Tender and mellow, Goto pork boasts the true taste of pork without odor. The red meat is tender and the fat is especially characterized by its sweetness.
Locally raised chicken (Shima sazanami)

This chicken’s appeal is the depth of flavor that unfurls the more you chew. Enjoy an abundant menu of dishes, including chicken hotpot, sashimi with wonderful texture and sweetness, and charcoal-grilled chicken with a superlative feel.

Goto-raised meat menu

Goto pork katsudon

Goto pork, characterized by its sweet fat and tender meat, becomes concentrated in flavor when cooked, and overflows with juice.
Goto butadon

The rice goes well with the pork, slow-cooked in soy sauce-based sweet-and-salty sauce using ago (flying fish) dashi.

Seasonings to bring out the flavor of a dish

Natural salt

The salt produced from Goto’s seawater is mineral-rich with a faint sweetness. Add it to a dish or use it as an ingredient, and it will bring out the flavor of your meal.
Fish sauce

Fish sauce, known as a natural seasoning, is similar to soy sauce, with a rich taste and concentrated fish flavor. Enjoy as sashimi soy sauce or seasoning.
Ago-dashi

In Goto, flying fish are known as “ago,” so dashi stock made with flying fish is known as ago-dashi. This is the main stock used in the Kyushu region, and it goes very well with Goto udon!

Alcohol made on Goto: Shochu, wine, and craft gin

Shochu

Goto Retto Shuzo, the islands’ only shochu distillery, uses only sweet potatoes, rice, and barley from Goto as ingredients; try comparing their carefully made Goto shochus.
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Wine

The Goto Winery, the only island winery in Nagasaki Prefecture, produces wines that go well with seafood. They offer an excellent selection, with reds, whites, and sparkling rose.
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Gin

Goto Tsubaki Distillery is the first to specialize in craft gin on the islands. Their GOTOGIN the origin, distilled from botanicals such as the islands’ native camellias and natural waters, is popular in Japan and overseas.
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Shochu, wine, and gin made in Goto

Goto udon: one of Japan’s three great udons

Goto udon

Goto udon has a long history in Goto— it is said to have been passed on by the envoys to Tang China over a thousand years ago. Camellia oil, a specialty product, is mixed into the dough, which is characterized by its elasticity, glossiness, and firmness even after time has passed. In Goto, it is often eaten as “jigokudaki”— the udon is cooked in a stove on a rolling boil, and eaten using an udon scooping stick. This is a dish that you should definitely try.

Goto: Camellia islands

The Goto islands are known as Japan’s leading camellia islands. The camellia oil made from the islands’ native camellias is essential in making Goto udon. In addition to being used for food, it is also processed for cosmetics to enrich the hair and skin.

Recommended souvenirs

Kankoro mochi

Kankoro mochi is a local confection that has been passed down for many years in Goto, made by mixing sweet potato and glutinous rice. In Goto, dried sweet potatoes are known as “kankoro.” The people of the islands start making these rice cakes in December as a preserved food for the winter. We recommend eating them thinly sliced and toasted.
Onisaba sushi

Onisaba sushi is named after the symbol of Fukue Island, Mt. Onidake. It uses lightly marinated mackerel, and is characterized by an almost raw texture. This filling dish brings out the true flavor of the mackerel.
Age-kamaboko

Age-kamaboko (deep-fried fish cake) uses fresh fish, and is very popular as a snack with a great fish flavor to enjoy with a drink! You can also enjoy its texture with the wonderful combination of kombu and fish in specialty Goto maki, in which kombu is covered with horse mackerel paste. It is equally tasty as it is or lightly cooked.