Where to eat the local specialties in Hiroshima

Discover Japanese culinary specialties from theHiroshima region.

Hiroshimayaki, the local specialty

This must-try dish, a local specialty, is called okonomiyaki. Often described as a very thick cabbage pancake, it's prepared and cooked before your very eyes and can be adapted as you wish (with strips of pork, cuttlefish, potatoes, eggs, cheese, seaweed, etc.).

Hiroshima is THE place to try the Hiroshimayaki variant, which adds a portion of noodles to the usual ingredients. There's an entire building where you can sample its infinite variations, from restaurant to restaurant and from floor to floor: the Okonomimura (a word derived from the combination of the dish okonomiyaki and mura, meaning "village").

Oysters

Hiroshima is an oyster-producing region, and every year the "oyster season" is eagerly awaited just after New Year's Eve, between January and February.

The mollusks are so popular in this region that Miyajima dedicates a festival to them! Every second weekend in February, oyster lovers gather early for the chance to taste them. And with good reason: participating restaurateurs only produce a fixed number of oyster dishes, so when they're all sold out, it's all over!

Two restaurants specializing in this delicious seafood offer you the chance to rediscover them with an original cuisine to which the Western palate is not accustomed. First, Kanawa, a gourmet restaurant, takes you on a barge moored to the banks of the Motoyasu River for an enchanting parade of dishes, each more delicate than the last, introducing your taste buds to new flavors.

As for Kaki-tei, simpler and more economical, it opens its doors to you for a convivial lunch or dinner overlooking the Kyôbashigawa.

Sake from the town of Saijo

The town of Saijo has long been renowned for the quality of its sake: it's even designated as one of Japan's three main sake lands! A tradition of brewing and an ideal geographical location explain the excellence of this local know-how.

Another specialty of the Hiroshima region that includes Saijo sake is bishu nabe. Nabe is a Japanese dish similar to our pot-au-feu. While it's usually cooked with dashi broth, soy sauce and mirin, bishu nabe is spiced up with salt, pepper and...Saijo sake!

Read: Nabemono, Japanese fondues

Other ingredients include chicken, pork and seasonal vegetables. This emblematic dish of the city of Saijo originated in sake breweries; it was originally a quick and easy dish for brewers to cook, then gradually became more popular.

Bars, izakaya and cafés

As well as coffees, teas and cocktails, J-Café offers waffles, pancakes and paninis to night owls strolling through the City of Peace. They can also sample Café Lotus's gourmet cakes, the perfect accompaniment to evenings hosted by visiting DJs. For Nawanai and its raw or grilled sardines, follow the red lantern marking the entrance to this discreet basement izakaya.

Address book

• A French break

The Beaux Raisins restaurant, run by a French enthusiast, is a veritable enclave of French gastronomy in the heart of Hiroshima. The well-stocked, inexpensive menu invites you to rest your taste buds from their gustatory adventures with the familiar charms of many tasty dishes: roasts, vegetable soups, gratins, apple tarts, freshly baked breads...

• Tofu revisited

For gourmets curious to experiment with new flavors and lovers of the subtlety of tofu, the Tôshô restaurant is the ideal address.

• Between organic and panoramic

For those who prefer the conviviality of a buffet to the refined ambience of Tôshô, No No Budou opens its terrace, on the seventh floor of the Pacela shopping center, to treat you to organic dishes and juices from all over the world.

On the eleventh floor of the Yale Yale A-kan shopping center, a panoramic restaurant invites you to relax and take in the city of Hiroshima with an invigorating menu.

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