[Katsunori Taresawa / Customer]

"It was delicious."

'Take-Noko' puts a buggy twist on everyday favorites, like tofu pudding and risotto

It caters towards a growing interest in entomophagy, the practice of eating insects

[Michiko Miura / Take-Noko manager]

"These days, people aren't too familiar with eating insects, so with this restaurant we wanted to create a place where they could eat them freely and in a casual way."

Japan has a rich culinary history of insect eating

A study found that 55 types of insects were eaten during the Taisho era, between 1912 and 1926

The practice then gained popularity amid food shortages during and after WWII

[Michiko Miura / Take-Noko manager]

"In Japan, there's a tradition of eating insects like grasshoppers, but recently there have been advances in rearing things like crickets and mealworms for food, so the possibilities of using insects as ingredients are really growing."