Cold, straight, medium-thick noodles served with boiled cabbage, cucumber and spring onion, dipped into a chilled soy and seafood-stock sauce loaded with chilli and sesame.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Hiroshima tsukemen is a postwar city invention and differs from the hot, thick dipping noodles found elsewhere in Japan: here both the noodles and the sauce are served cold, and the vegetables are part of the dish rather than a garnish. Bakudanya, trading from Shintenchi, is the shop most credited with carrying the style beyond the prefecture, and its graded heat scale, running from no chilli to a level few finish, is now imitated across the city. Cold noodles suit the humid Seto Inland Sea summer, which is why the dish peaks between June and September.
Common allergens: Gluten, Sesame, Soy
Tip from the editors. Rinse the noodles until they squeak. Any residual starch warms the sauce and the dish stops being a cold one.
Bakudanya sells Hiroshima tsukemen for under 1,000 yen in Shintenchi: cold noodles with cabbage, cucumber and a chilli dipping sauce you grade yourself.
Try: Hiroshima tsukemen
Tip: Heat runs on a numbered scale, and asking for a lower number costs nothing and keeps the sauce readable.
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