Thick toast spread with almond butter is the standard morning-set item in cafés across Himeji and the Banshū region, and almond butter is sold locally as a regional product.
Why it's unique
Almond toast is a regional café custom of Himeji and Banshū rather than one shop's dish. Its origin is undocumented and no source names a first shop, so none is claimed here.
What you get is the local morning service: you pay for the drink and the toast, salad or egg come with it, and the almond butter varies from café to café, with sliced or crushed almonds, kinako, black sesame or matcha.
Before you go
Order it as part of the morning service: in Banshū cafés you pay for the drink and toast, salad or egg come with it. Versions differ a lot (sliced almonds on top, crushed almonds, kinako, black sesame or matcha almond butter), so locals have favourites.
Sabō Tairiku Honten near the castle is described as the first café to open in post-war Himeji (TANOSU gives 1946 in one piece and 1947 in another). The newer Anmondō near Ōtemae Park is a dedicated almond-butter café, and the Shinkansen-gate café inside Himeji Station serves it too if you are short of time.
