Enoshima Koya is our absolute favourite restaurant in Enoshima, and we love it because of how much it embraces its love for local seafood. Enoshima Koya serves up various unique dishes that you won't find anywhere else, infusing modern techniques and layered flavours that make each bowl a deeply satisfying meal. There's a clear love for food and local seafood that you can feel from the dishes that you get from a family-run stall as opposed to a large chain. Each of their ingredients is also specially sourced in order to highlight the local flavours and produce of different farmers across Japan, and Enoshima Koya makes it a point on their menu to introduce the ingredients and the farms that they come from.
We love both of Enoshima Koya's main lunch items, the Makanai Don and the Horohoro Don. The Makanai Don is recommended for those who enjoy raw seafood, as you can taste the original natural flavour of the fish that has been further aged and brought out by the miso marination. The Horohoro Don is recommended for those who enjoy complex flavours, as the smokiness of the fish meat brings the dish to a whole different level. As you dig into the bowl, you can feel the smoked fragrance permeating throughout the fish meat.
In addition to just eating the dish as-is, Enoshima Koya introduces various ways for you to augment and experience the dish in different ways. In addition to the base bowl, you are also provided with garlic chips, fresh wasabi (山葵), and daikon oroshi (大根下ろし, Grated raddish) that can each be added to the bowl at different points to change the taste. A large piece of nori (のり, Seaweed) is also provided on the side that you can tear and wrap up some of the rice and fish meat as a sort of DIY sushi (寿司). Best of all is the dashi (出汁) that is provided to you midway through the meal. By pouring the dashi into the Makanai Don or Horohoro Don, it completely changes up the dish, turning it into a chazuke (茶漬け) and allowing you to enjoy the hearty richness of a hot soup and seafood.
Apart from these main dishes, there's also a wide array of side dishes that you can try out. Depending on the season, the Deep-Fried Local Fish Katsu (本日の地魚フライ, Honjitsu no Jizakana Furai) might be a good way to try out some of the local fish. We also recommend getting the Shirasu (しらす, Whitebait) Kakiage (かき揚げ, Mixed vegetable tempura) to enjoy the sweetness of the local vegetables complemented by the shirasu. If you've not tried tamagoyaki (卵焼き, Sweetened rolled omelette) before, you can also try out this classic Japanese izakaya (居酒屋, Japanese pub) dish.
The interior of Enoshima Koya is also beautiful, with both an indoor, and outdoor terrace section available. The indoor section has a modern izakaya (居酒屋, Japanese pub) feel to it with beautiful dark wood furniture and a bar counter, while the outdoor section features wooden board flooring and overlooks the bridge to Enoshima.
There's just so much to recommend about Enoshima Koya including its food, atmosphere, and even price, and that's why to us, Enoshima Koya is Enoshima's Best Restaurant and the one you must visit if you're in the area. That being said, the queues are quite long during peak hours, so you should factor in the wait, or come a bit before or after lunch hours in order to skip the queue.
