We go to Hagi (Yamaguchi-ken)・萩 quite a lot. You might be considering going and are wondering what to eat, especially if you are vegetarian*. I’m here to impart my words of wisdom. This is the cafe and coffee places etc. edition.
*When I say vegetarian, I mean no visible meat or fish – I don’t check whether fish stock etc is used because, well, it’s Japan.
A lovely little cafe near a little, lush waterway. Very peaceful and relaxing with a view out onto a Japanese garden. They also have a little area upstairs for displays and selling little crafty items.
This is the cake set plate (although I have forgotten what it’s actually called, sorry!). You get a coffee or a tea with a selection of homemade sweets.
If you don’t go for lunch here (which I do recommend), you need to at least go and have coffee and cake. We tried the chai tea and the hot and iced coffees and they were all really good. For the sweet-toothed they have a chocolate cake (which is like a ganache texture), a matcha cake which is the same texture as the chocolate, a cassata and cheesecake. They have others but that’s what we tried and they were all amazing, no weak ones.
やまざき屋 – Yamazaki-ya
A place that does teppan dishes as well as kakigoori. It’s reasonably priced and the natsu-mikan flavour is a good bet. It feels very old-school Japanese if you know what I mean.
みやげ処 村田 – Miyagisho Murata (not 100% on the romanasation)
They do ice cream and juice with a natsu-mikan theme, also coffee and souvenirs.
ビレッジ – Village
A jazz place predominately. The coffee is good and authentic. They do snacks as well but we didn’t eat here. Owners very friendly and I think that they can speak English.
長州 – Nagasu/Choushuu(?) I’d go with the former, but not sure.
The lady who was working here (the owner?) was very friendly. We had a natsu-mikan juice and natsu-mikan soft cream. Loads of other things on the menu.
My husband likes to clench his fists when he’s relaxing. 
If you haven’t already guessed, Hagi is famous for it’s natsu-mikan. You should try it if you venture that way and to be quite honest, it’ll be hard to avoid!
There are lots of other little cafes that I would love to try and I will endeavour to add to the list as I do so. As a side note, I’m only adding places that I like, so I have been to some other places but they just didn’t do it for me.
Any must go places? Leave me a comment and I’ll check them out next time.
Emily