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.
Fried oysters are a yoshoku dish, part of the Western-influenced cooking that entered Japan from the late nineteenth century, and Hiroshima adopted them wholesale because the raw material was on its doorstep. In the prefecture they are a winter staple rather than a novelty, sold in oyster restaurants, kaki-goya sheds and ordinary teishoku counters between roughly October and March. The local convention is a coarse panko crust and a very short fry, so the oyster keeps its liquor rather than shrinking into the coating.
Kakibune Kanawa moors on the Motoyasu river in Hiroshima and serves oysters from the family's own rafts, raw downstairs and in courses above.
OrderThe oyster course, built around raft-grown Seto Inland Sea oysters
TipThe kaki-zukushi course on the Seto boat runs 9,000 yen and is worth booking ahead; raw, fried and grilled plates are ordered a la carte at both services.
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