Layered okonomiyaki, oyster rafts and cold chilli noodles.
Hiroshima eats with a griddle and a shell. The okonomiyaki here is layered, never mixed: a crepe-thin batter, a mound of cabbage steamed down under pork belly, a nest of fried soba, an egg pressed flat on top, all under sweet brown sauce. The city counts its okonomiyaki shops in the high hundreds, and two buildings, Okonomimura in Shintenchi and Ekimae Hiroba beside the station, gather the counters under one roof. The other half of the story is the water. Hiroshima Bay farms the majority of Japan's oysters on hanging rafts, and between October and March they are eaten raw, grilled in the shell at waterfront sheds, steamed in a can, and crumbed in coarse panko. Beyond those two, the city has its own noodles: cold tsukemen with a graded chilli sauce, broth-free tantanmen stirred thirty times before the first mouthful, and a restrained soy bowl locals still call chuka soba. Add conger eel from Miyajima, lemons from the Setouchi islands and soft-water sake from Saijo, and the prefecture feeds itself almost entirely from its own doorstep.
Every restaurant, cafe, market and bar we cover in Hiroshima, pinned. Click a pin for the page.
The plates that define eating in Hiroshima.
A thin crepe batter, a mountain of shredded cabbage, pork belly, a nest of fried soba and an egg, all layered rather than mixed and pressed on a teppan under sweet brown sauce.
Where: Mitchan Sohonten Hatchobori, Yagenbori Hassho, Nagataya, Lopez, Reichan
Deep-cupped Seto Inland Sea oysters, farmed on hanging rafts and eaten raw, grilled in the shell, steamed in a can or deep-fried in panko between roughly October and March.
Where: Kakibune Kanawa, Kaki Goya Fukuromachi Umihei Shoten, Milky Tetsuo no Kaki Goya Ujina
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: Bakudanya Honten
Hiroshima's broth-free dan dan noodles: flat wheat noodles under chilli oil, Sichuan pepper, minced pork and spring onion, stirred hard at the table before the first mouthful.
Where: Musashibo
Grilled saltwater conger eel laid over rice that has been cooked in stock made from the eel bones, a Miyajima dish sold at the ferry crossing since the early twentieth century.
A restrained soy and pork-bone bowl with thin straight noodles, chashu, spring onion and bean sprouts, still called chuka soba here rather than ramen.
Where: Chukasoba Youki Eba Honten, Tsubame Ramen, Rai Rai Tei
Hiroshima oysters crumbed in panko and deep-fried until the coating cracks and the oyster inside is still barely set, served with shredded cabbage and tartare sauce.
Where: Kakibune Kanawa, Kaki Goya Fukuromachi Umihei Shoten
A maple-leaf-shaped castella sponge filled with sweet red bean paste, baked in iron moulds on Miyajima and sold hot from the shop fronts along Omotesando.
Thin-skinned island lemons from the Seto Inland Sea, used across Hiroshima in ale, sours, sauces, cakes and the citrus salt served beside grilled oysters and beef.
Where: Sessions Brewery and Beer Hall
Soft-water sake from the seven breweries of Saijo in Higashihiroshima, lighter and rounder than the firm sake of Nada, and the reason Hiroshima counts as one of Japan's three great brewing towns.
A soy bowl from the Hiroshima port town of Onomichi, built on chicken and small-fish stock and finished with cubes of pork back fat that float on the surface.
A handful of the places we send friends to when they are in Hiroshima.
Mitchan Sohonten in Hiroshima layers cabbage, pork and crisped soba on the teppan at its Hatchobori flagship, the shop whose founder set the postwar template.
Signature: Soba niku-tama, Udon niku-tama, Grilled oysters
Yagenbori Hassho is the Hiroshima okonomiyaki counter that works slowly, resting the cabbage under pork belly for 20 to 30 minutes before the soba lands.
Signature: Soba niku-tama, Teppanyaki ox tongue
Kakibune Kanawa moors on the Motoyasu river in Hiroshima and serves oysters from the family's own rafts, raw downstairs and in courses above.
Signature: Oyster course, Fried oysters, Grilled oysters
Kaki Goya Fukuromachi Umihei Shoten keeps Hiroshima's fisherman-hut oyster format running indoors all year, one kilo of shells steamed in a can.
Signature: Can-steamed oysters, Fried oysters, Oyster hot pot
Yakiniku Furusato in Hiroshima is a butcher first and a grill second, cutting Sakakiyama beef to order behind the counter in the Danbara district.
Signature: Sakakiyama beef lean cuts, Yaki-suki, Seared beef sushi
Sensui gathers kaiseki, teppanyaki and a sushi counter on one floor of the Hilton in Hiroshima, with private rooms for the seasonal courses.
Signature: Kaiseki course, Teppanyaki, Sushi counter
The covered arcade and the streets between it and Peace Memorial Park: bakeries, coffee roasters, okonomiyaki counters and the oyster boat on the river.
Best for: Okonomiyaki, Oysters, Coffee, Bakeries
Also: hondori, fukuromachi, kamiyacho, nakajima-cho
Hiroshima's department-store district, where the okonomiyaki flagship, the small counter kitchens and the office lunch trade all sit within a few blocks.
Best for: Okonomiyaki, Small plates, Lunch
The drinking grid: several thousand bars, izakaya and okonomiyaki counters packed into a few blocks that only really wake up after 19:00.
Best for: Bars, Tsukemen, Late night
Also: yagenbori, shintenchi
An okonomiyaki floor of its own, a station food hall and the ramen shops around Enkobashi, all within a few minutes of the shinkansen gates.
Best for: Okonomiyaki, Ramen, Bento
The southwest riverside wards, home to the 1958 chuka soba counter, a brewery beer hall and the book cafe that keeps its own calendar.
Best for: Chuka soba, Craft beer, Cafes
Also: dohashi
Southern Minami-ku, from the Danbara backstreets down the Ujina tram line to the port: local ramen counters, a butcher's yakiniku grill and the winter oyster hut.
Best for: Ramen, Yakiniku, Oysters
Peak food season: October to March for oysters, June to September for cold tsukemen. Okonomiyaki is year-round.
Local dining hours: Lunch 11:30-14:00, dinner 17:30-21:00. Nagarekawa bars run past 03:00.
Tipping: No tipping anywhere in Japan. Some izakaya add a small otoshi seat charge instead.
Hiroshima's signature dishes include Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, Hiroshima oysters (kaki), Hiroshima tsukemen, Shirunashi tantanmen, Anago-meshi. See our signature dishes chapter for where to eat each.
TableJourney editors map Hiroshima by district. Hondori and Otemachi, Hatchobori and Tatemachi, Nagarekawa and Yagenbori, Hiroshima Station and Ekimae are among the strongest for food, each with its own guide.
Editor picks in Hiroshima include Sensui, Kakibune Kanawa, Steak and Seafood Boston, plus the full fine dining chapter on TableJourney.
TableJourney covers 5 editor-picked food tours in Hiroshima, with what each shows you and how much to budget.
TableJourney's Hiroshima dietary chapter covers vegan, vegetarian venues, each editor-picked with what to order and how to ask.