Japan — Ranked by Occasion

Best Restaurants
in Beppu

Kyushu's geothermal capital. Eight 'hells' steam round-the-clock through the city, jigoku-mushi cuisine cooks food directly in the volcanic vents, and Bungo wagyu and toriten anchor the dinner scene.

5Restaurants Listed
7Occasions Covered

All Restaurants in Beppu

Every table ranked, verdicts written, occasions assigned. Use the occasion filter above to narrow by your dining purpose.

$ under $40  ·  $$ $40–$80  ·  $$$ $80–$150  ·  $$$$ $150+ per person

Jigoku-Mushi Kobo Kannawa restaurant
1
Team Dinner
Jigoku-Mushi Kobo Kannawa
Jigoku-Mushi (Hell-Steam Cooking)$$
The Kannawa-district steam-cooking workshop where you steam your own ingredients in volcanic vents. Beppu's most theatrical dining experience, ¥1,800 a ba
9Food
9Ambience
9Value
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Toyotsune Honten restaurant
2
Team Dinner
Toyotsune Honten
Toriten (Chicken Tempura)$$
The 1956 Beppu institution that invented toriten chicken-tempura. Oita's signature dish, three minutes from the harbour, and the city's most-visited singl
8Food
8Ambience
8Value
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Bungo Yamaichi restaurant
3
Impress Clients
Bungo Yamaichi
Bungo Wagyu Kaiseki$$$$
The downtown kaiseki ryotei built around Bungo-gyu. Oita's premium black wagyu, raised in the Yufu mountain valleys, served as the centred protein in seas
8Food
8Ambience
8Value
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Kappo Tomonaga restaurant
4
Close a Deal
Kappo Tomonaga
Seasonal Kaiseki / Bungo Bay Seafood$$$
The Kannawa-area counter kaiseki room working with same-day Bungo Bay fish. Eight seats, a chef who trained in Osaka, the city's best mid-priced seasonal-
9Food
9Ambience
9Value
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Fugu-Matsu restaurant
5
Impress Clients
Fugu-Matsu
Fugu (Pufferfish) Specialist$$$$
The Beppu Bay fugu specialist working with Bungo-suido pufferfish. Sashimi, hot-pot, fried, the city's clearest cold-weather fine-dining set-piece.
8Food
8Ambience
8Value
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Jigoku-Mushi Kobo Kannawa

Jigoku-Mushi (Hell-Steam Cooking) · $$
Team Dinner
The Kannawa-district steam-cooking workshop where you steam your own ingredients in volcanic vents. Beppu's most theatrical dining experience, ¥1,800 a basket.
Food 8.7 Ambience 9.2 Value 9.4
Toyotsune Honten restaurant Beppu
#2 in Beppu

Toyotsune Honten

Toriten (Chicken Tempura) · $$
First Date
The 1956 Beppu institution that invented toriten chicken-tempura. Oita's signature dish, three minutes from the harbour, and the city's most-visited single restaurant.
Food 9.0 Ambience 8.4 Value 9.4
Bungo Yamaichi restaurant Beppu
#3 in Beppu

Bungo Yamaichi

Bungo Wagyu Kaiseki · $$$$
Proposal
The downtown kaiseki ryotei built around Bungo-gyu. Oita's premium black wagyu, raised in the Yufu mountain valleys, served as the centred protein in seasonal courses.
Food 9.3 Ambience 9.4 Value 8.7
Kappo Tomonaga restaurant Beppu
#4 in Beppu

Kappo Tomonaga

Seasonal Kaiseki / Bungo Bay Seafood · $$$
Birthday
The Kannawa-area counter kaiseki room working with same-day Bungo Bay fish. Eight seats, a chef who trained in Osaka, the city's best mid-priced seasonal-kaiseki experience.
Food 9.1 Ambience 8.8 Value 9.2
Fugu-Matsu restaurant Beppu
#5 in Beppu

Fugu-Matsu

Fugu (Pufferfish) Specialist · $$$$
Impress Clients
The Beppu Bay fugu specialist working with Bungo-suido pufferfish. Sashimi, hot-pot, fried, the city's clearest cold-weather fine-dining set-piece.
Food 9.4 Ambience 9.0 Value 8.7

Best for First Date in Beppu

  • Jigoku-Mushi Kobo Kannawa. The Kannawa-district steam-cooking workshop where you steam your own ingredients in volcanic vents. Beppu's most theatrical dining experience, ¥1,800 a basket.
  • Toyotsune Honten. The 1956 Beppu institution that invented toriten chicken-tempura. Oita's signature dish, three minutes from the harbour, and the city's most-visited single restaurant.
  • Bungo Yamaichi. The downtown kaiseki ryotei built around Bungo-gyu. Oita's premium black wagyu, raised in the Yufu mountain valleys, served as the centred protein in seasonal courses.

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Best for Business Dinner in Beppu

  • Bungo Yamaichi. The downtown kaiseki ryotei built around Bungo-gyu. Oita's premium black wagyu, raised in the Yufu mountain valleys, served as the centred protein in seasonal courses.
  • Kappo Tomonaga. The Kannawa-area counter kaiseki room working with same-day Bungo Bay fish. Eight seats, a chef who trained in Osaka, the city's best mid-priced seasonal-kaiseki experience.
  • Fugu-Matsu. The Beppu Bay fugu specialist working with Bungo-suido pufferfish. Sashimi, hot-pot, fried, the city's clearest cold-weather fine-dining set-piece.

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Dining in Beppu

Beppu cooks with the volcano. The Oita-prefecture port. Population 115,000, half an hour east of Oita City and ninety minutes from Fukuoka. Sits on a geothermal field that produces more hot-spring water by volume than any other city in the world. The eight 'jigoku' (hells). Vivid colour-saturated thermal pools dotted across the Kannawa onsen district. Are the city's tourist set-piece, but they're also the basis of the city's distinctive cuisine: jigoku-mushi, the steam-cooking method where food is placed in bamboo baskets directly over volcanic vents and steamed in the natural ninety-degree geothermal vapour.

The dining map runs across two zones. The Kannawa onsen district to the north holds the jigoku-mushi cooking centres (the Jigoku-Mushi Kobo Kannawa is the most-visited; the Hyotan and Kamado onsens have smaller versions) and a handful of older ryotei that use thermal-steam in their kaiseki menus. The central downtown area near Beppu Station holds the formal dining rooms. The iconic Toyotsune (the founder of toriten chicken-tempura), several Bungo-gyu wagyu specialists, and the better seafood restaurants working with same-day Bungo Bay catch.

Reservations matter at the Bungo-gyu kaiseki rooms (a week ahead) and at the better fish restaurants on weekends. Jigoku-mushi cooking centres take walk-ins by definition (you cook your own ingredients in the steam baskets) and English signage is universal at all the tourist-facing addresses. Tipping is not done.

Pair the food with Oita's local sake. The prefecture's brewing tradition is smaller than Yamaguchi's or Hyogo's but the better restaurants pour Nishi-no-Seki, Saiki, or the locally famous Yatsushika. The proper Beppu dinner ends with a soak in one of the eight hells (most close at sunset, but the smaller Kannawa local-resident bathhouses run until 11pm). Eat, bathe, sleep in a ryokan, repeat.

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