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.
Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima grew out of issen yoshoku, a prewar snack of batter and spring onion sold to children. After 1945 it became reconstruction food, cooked on sheet-metal griddles at stalls in the bombed centre of the city. Ise Mitsuo, who traded as Mitchan, is credited with fixing the modern shape: the layered build, the dedicated sauce and the addition of noodles under the egg. Stalls from the Nishi-Shintenchi square were moved into a single building in 1965, and that building became Okonomimura. The city now counts okonomiyaki shops in the high hundreds.
5 editor picks for Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, ranked by editorial score. All Hiroshima signature dishes · Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki across every city.
Mitchan Sohonten Hatchobori ★ 4.7
hatchobori · 6-7 Hatchobori, Naka-ku, 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.
Yagenbori Hassho ★ 4.6
yagenbori · 10-6 Yagenbori, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
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.
Lopez ★ 4.6
nishi-ku · 1-7-13 Kusunoki-cho, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima
Lopez in Hiroshima is run by a Guatemalan okonomiyaki cook in Kusunoki-cho, and the jalapenos on the griddle are the reason people cross town.
Nagataya ★ 4.5
otemachi · 1-7-19 Otemachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Nagataya griddles Hiroshima okonomiyaki two blocks from the A-Bomb Dome, and is one of the few counters in the city with plant-based versions.
Reichan ★ 4.2
ekimae · 1-2 Matsubara-cho, Minami-ku, Hiroshima
Reichan has griddled okonomiyaki since 1957 and now works the ekie concourse at Hiroshima Station, open from late morning until the last trains.