“Okuyama Shokudo” located in Tateoka, Murayama City, Yamagata Prefecture
(It’s not 奥山食堂, it’s オクヤマ食堂♪)

The best thing about this restaurant is that the rice is cooked in an “old-fashioned kamado” and is very tasty.

The owner has trained at Michelin-starred restaurants and in New Zealand!
The menu, which the owner carefully prepares with all his heart and soul, includes about eight different lunch dishes, such as fried chicken set meals, stewed tripe set meals, curry, and tuna rice bowls.

If you’ve ever wanted to try rice cooked in a traditional Japanese stove,
we’ll introduce you to the set meals available at Okuyama Shokudo.

Old-fashioned kamado cooked rice

You can choose from three different amounts of rice: small, normal, or large.

Now is the season for new rice, “Tsuyahime/つや姫”.
(They use rice produced in Yamagata Prefecture, and the type of rice changes depending on the day.)

The rice cooked in the traditional Japanese stove is sweet, fluffy and shiny.You’ll be able to eat the rice by itself!

Delicious fried shrimp from head to tail

On this day, I had the “Big Fried Shrimp Set Meal (1,363 yen + tax)”.

Three large shrimps! Many people may think that shrimps are a bit difficult to eat, but the shrimp are served under the shrimp head. Many people might think that the head of the shrimp might be a bit difficult to eat, but the chopsticks easily fit under the head of the shrimp, making it very easy to eat.

The sauce and tartar sauce are also included, so you can change the flavors and eat it all the way through without getting bored.

And since they are fried crispy and dry, even the head tastes good…!I wish I could have my time back when I was wondering if I should eat the head! And it was so delicious that I couldn’t help but order a second beer!

Even if you don’t usually eat the head, you should definitely try Okuyama Shokudo’s fried shrimp with the head as well!

Other menu

The classic “young chicken karaage set meal / fried chicken set (891 yen + tax)”

“Motsu stew set / Offal stew (809 yen + tax)”

“Crispy chicken nanban set / crispy chicken and tartar sauce　(1,073 yen + tax)”

Limited to 10 meals per day!! “Today’s Maguro don / tuna bowl (1,498 yen)”

Depending on the day, the tuna bowl can be grilled, marinated, etc.!

Looking around the store, there are mountains on the wallpaper… and I was thinking about linking mountains together,
and it really does seem like “mountain” is a keyword, with “Okuyama Mountain”, “Yamagata Mountain” and “Murayama Mountain”!

By the way, if you look closely at the logo on the chopsticks bag… it has a rice bowl motif, a fire in a hearth and waves of seafood, and when you pull it out, it looks like the kanji character for “mountain”!

And in front of me was a mountain of rice!

The main course and the side dishes were also delicious, so I kept eating…

(All the rice in the photo is a large portion…lol)

I also had some alcohol that day, so even though I was full, I still enjoyed the mountain of rice to the very end, adding the sesame salt that was on the table. (I ate too much lol)

Open only at lunchtime

On this day, I came to the restaurant alone around 1:00 pm on a Saturday.
The atmosphere was very nice, and it was easy for a woman to come in alone and sit right at the counter.

When I sat down at the counter, I was overwhelmed by the many bottles of whiskey lined up in front of me…!

I wondered if they open at night as well. The owner, Mr. Okuyama, loves to drink and would like to run a night business someday! He is lining up the bottles in the hopes of opening a night business someday.

Currently, it is only open for lunch.

The only drink for lunch is beer. I would like you to try the Kamado rice, but you can also order individual dishes (200 yen off the set meal price), so How about some drinks from noon?

It opens at 11:00 a.m. and has 7 lot parking right in front of the restaurant, which fills up at lunchtime…

When it is crowded, you write your name and phone number inside the restaurant and wait in your car.

(Waiting time on a busy Saturday was 30 minutes. If you’re alone and choose at the counter, there may be little time to wait.

If you are concerned about waiting time, please make a reservation before visiting.