Most cities in Japan boast exquisite and marvelous food, and many of them are rightly vaunted for it. Hiroshima doesn\u2019t have the same kind of culinary reputation of the likes of Tokyo and Osaka, but it\u2019s definitely up-and-coming when it comes to restaurants and street food kiosks serving up diverse, exciting, and delicious cuisine. Here are some dishes to look out for.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the best-known food of Hiroshima is its take on okonomiyaki. Of course, this Japanese-style pizza or omelet is more commonly connected with Osaka, but many people cite the Hiroshima okonomiyaki (sometimes known as Hiro-yaki) as the most popular. The dish is cooked on a griddle and contains masses of cabbage, bacon, and soba noodles sandwiched between layers of fried batter. Various toppings include Japanese mayonnaise, cheese, okonomiyaki sauce, eggs, and dried bonito flakes. A great place to find it is in Hiroshima\u2019s Okonomimura<\/a> \u2013 okonomiyaki village \u2013 where there are four floors of equally great restaurants from which to choose.<\/p>\n With a history reaching back to the 16th century, Hiroshima prefecture\u2019s oyster farming is responsible for 60-70% of Japan\u2019s haul, so it\u2019s no surprise that \u2018kaki\u2019 is so popular here. Oysters fished in Hiroshima are large and plump, and are sold internationally as well as across Japan, with the springtime seeing large oyster festivals held in Tokyo and Nagoya. While in the west we expect our oyster to come raw, preferably on the half-shell and served with champagne, the Japanese take a far more prosaic \u2013 though extensive \u2013 attitude to shellfish. Kaki-fry (deep-fried) and kaki-don<\/a> (baked and served on a bowl of rice) are the most likely way to find them.<\/p>\n If anyone were to ask you if you \u2018like Hiroshima men\u2019, they would probably be talking about Tsukemen. Possibly best described as \u2018ramen\u2019s strange cousin\u2019, Tsukemen\u2019s noodles are served cold in a dish separate from the broth with the intention of dipping before eating. The broth itself is served on an increasingly spicy scale chosen by the customer from one to five. Beware, the stronger tones can be quite overpowering if you take too many noodles at one time (be sensible and go for just two or three). Other ingredients can include pork, eggs, cucumber, and cabbage.<\/p>\n If noodles are your thing, it\u2019s worth a trip out to Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture. Here, you will find Onomichi Ramen, sometimes called Hiroshima Ramen. Similar to the soy sauce or \u2018shoyu\u2019 ramen found elsewhere in the country, there are perhaps two things that set the Onomichi style apart. One is the extra helpings of glutenous fat known as \u2018seabura<\/a>\u2019 that, while sounding a little unappetizing, actually enhance the flavor quite dramatically. The other is the heat at which it is served \u2013 warning, it\u2019s scalding! The lack of steam coming from your cup can be deceiving. This is because the seabura oil is retaining the core heat. Proceed with caution. If you don\u2019t burn your tongue, you will likely find these delicious.<\/p>\n Aside from oysters, the other local seafood delicacy worth trying in Hiroshima is anago, or salt water eel. Not as well-known nationally as unagi (river eel), anago is found in the seas around Miyajima Island, where you can also source the likes of crab, shrimp, and small fish. You can eat this conger eel in a variety of ways, but well worth checking out is anago meshi. This is grilled eel topped with a sweet, sticky sauce and served on a bed of rice. Local legend has it that tucking into anago will help you cope with the heat in the midst of summer.<\/p>\n If anyone you know has visited the Itsukushima shrine on Hiroshima\u2019s Miyajima Island, there is a good chance that they will have given you a souvenir of Momiji manju. Manju, small cakes made of boiled dough pastry, are found all over Japan. They are usually filled with red bean paste or flavored with Japanese green tea. The Momiji manju of Miyajima are different in that they are shaped like a maple leaf, as well as having distinct maple flavors. Created in the early 1900s to celebrate a local maple leaf viewing spot, they now come in many flavors including chocolate, custard, and cheese.<\/p>\n \n Main photo: flickr.com “Okonomiyaki – Hiroshima Style”<\/a> by j<\/a>librarianidol<\/a>\u00a0(CC BY-SA 2.0)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most cities in Japan boast exquisite and marvelous food, and many of them are rightly vaunted for it. Hiroshim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,49],"tags":[95,210,52,144],"class_list":["post-3283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-and-dining","category-hiroshima-2","tag-food","tag-hiroshima-dining","tag-hiroshima-prefecture-2","tag-japanese-food"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3283"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49425,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions\/49425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Oysters<\/h2>\n
Tsukemen<\/h2>\n
Onomichi Ramen<\/h2>\n
Anago Meshi<\/h2>\n
Momiji Manju<\/h2>\n