Kanazawa Winter Hot Pot Stay at Kenrokutei Oyado – Shop the Market, Eat Together in Warmth

Winter in Kanazawa is not only about visiting famous sights. It’s about eating well. The reason is simple: winter is when the Sea of Japan is at its best. Snow and cold water make the seafood firm and rich in flavour. Local crab, fatty yellowtail, cod, sweet prawns – this is the season when they’re at their peak. And in Kanazawa, you don’t just order these in a restaurant. You can buy them yourself at the market and enjoy them that same evening in a private, relaxed way. This is a winter experience we offer: shop for seafood at Omicho Market, then gather around a hot pot back at your accommodation.

First, a word about “nabe”. Nabe (often translated as “hot pot”) is a style of winter meal in Japan. A single pot of simmering broth sits in the middle of the table. Fresh ingredients – seafood, vegetables, tofu – are cooked in the pot, then shared. Everyone serves themselves into small bowls as they eat. In Japanese homes, it’s common to say “Let’s have nabe tonight” when the weather turns cold. It’s less about formal dining and more about being together around warmth, talking, and eating slowly. In the Hokuriku region, where Kanazawa is located, winter nabe often features the best of the sea: crab, yellowtail, cod, sweet prawns. Add daikon radish, spring onion, mushrooms and tofu and you get something that warms you all the way through.

You can buy all of this yourself. The place to go is Omicho Market, right in the centre of Kanazawa. Omicho has long been known locally as the “kitchen of the city”. It’s a proper working market: people come here to buy ingredients for dinner, not just souvenirs. In winter you’ll see piles of crab, thick cuts of yellowtail, cod and cod milt, trays of sweet prawns. It’s essentially the morning’s sea, still on display.

Visitors are welcome to buy. You can simply point to what you want and, if you say you’re planning to use it in hot pot, many stalls will cut and prepare it for you. Cod can be chopped into pieces with the bone in, which gives excellent flavour to the broth. Yellowtail can be sliced thinly so you can briefly dip it in the hot broth, the way locals eat it. Crab can sometimes be partially cracked so it’s easier to pick out the meat at the table. You don’t need to over-buy. For two to three adults, a small selection of seafood plus a few vegetables is already enough for a full evening.

From there, the experience moves from the market back to where you’re staying. This is the key point. Instead of taking your ingredients to a restaurant, you bring them back to the accommodation. We prepare the set-up so you can enjoy nabe comfortably in your own space. We provide an electric hob or IH cooker, the pot itself, a base stock for the soup, bowls and chopsticks, ladles and tongs, dipping sauces such as ponzu, and basic condiments. In other words, you bring the ingredients from Omicho Market; we provide the place, the tools and the warmth.

This isn’t “Please cook for yourself” in a difficult, stressful sense. You don’t need to fillet fish or create complex flavours. Nabe is very straightforward. You heat the broth, add the seafood and vegetables, and let them cook at the table. Yellowtail only needs a brief dip to become tender and rich. Cod becomes soft and delicate in the broth. Crab should be heated gently so the meat stays sweet. We can explain the basics – heat level, order of ingredients, how to tell when something is ready – so you can relax and enjoy it.

There are a few clear advantages to doing dinner this way in winter. The most practical one: you don’t have to go back out into the cold at night. Winter evenings in Hokuriku can be windy and sharp. Eating in means no late-night walking in freezing air. It’s also easier for families with children or for groups travelling with older relatives. Another point: there’s no time limit. You aren’t watching the clock for last orders. You can simply sit, talk, and keep eating at your own pace while the steam rises from the pot. Outside the window is a dark, quiet Kanazawa winter night. Inside, the table becomes the centre of the trip.

There’s one more pleasure people sometimes miss: the end of the meal. After you’ve eaten most of the seafood and vegetables, the broth in the pot is full of flavour. In Japan, it’s common to add rice and a beaten egg to that broth and simmer it briefly. This turns it into a simple rice porridge, known as zosui. You can enjoy this “finishing bowl” late at night, or even save it for breakfast the next morning. Waking up on a cold morning in Kanazawa and starting the day with a steaming bowl of broth and rice is a very local kind of comfort. It’s not something you get from a café or a guided tour. It feels like staying, not just visiting.

Here’s how it works in practice:

1. Go to Omicho Market and buy the seafood and vegetables you’d like to eat. The ingredients are your choice and your responsibility.
2. Check in.
3. Use the nabe set we provide – electric hob, pot, base stock, tableware, condiments – and enjoy hot pot in your room.

Because we prepare the equipment, we ask that you let us know in advance if you’d like to have nabe. Please tell us your group size and roughly what time you plan to eat. If someone in your group cannot eat shellfish, prefers not to have crab, or would rather keep it mostly vegetables and tofu, let us know before you arrive so we can advise.

Winter in Kanazawa can be many things: gardens in the snow, traditional streets, quiet evenings. But for many visitors, the strongest memory is not outdoors at all. It’s sitting around a pot of local seafood, steam rising, while the cold stays outside. This is not a show prepared for tourists. This is how people in Japan actually spend winter evenings: gathered at the table, sharing one pot. If you want to feel what winter in Hokuriku really tastes like, this is the way to do it.

Kenrokutei Oyado

Kenrokutei Oyado is a private, one-group-per-day machiya stay located within walking distance of Kenrokuen Garden. We provide an electric hob, pot, tableware and everything you need for a hot pot dinner, so you can bring fresh seafood from Omicho Market and enjoy your own winter nabe together in comfort. The house can host up to 10 guests and includes a garden-view bath in a fully private space. Make this your base for experiencing Kanazawa through its winter dining table. You can make a reservation via the Airbnb link below.