34 editor picks in Hiroshima.
34 mid-range places in Hiroshima, editor-picked. the comfortable everyday-good restaurants in Hiroshima, with real cooking and no surprise on the bill. All Hiroshima food.
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.
OrderSoba niku-tama, the layered pork, cabbage and noodle okonomiyaki
TipThe counter seats fill before 12:00 on weekends, so arrive at opening or plan a late lunch after 14:00 instead.
The Hatchobori flagship of Mitchan Sohonten is the Hiroshima okonomiyaki counter most locals still send first-time visitors to, a brand trading since 1950.
OrderSoba niku-tama, with grilled oysters alongside at the evening teppan service
TipEvening service adds teppanyaki plates of oysters, horumon and koune that the lunch menu does not carry.
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.
OrderSoba niku-tama at 1,150 yen, the only order most regulars ever place
TipCooking takes 20 to 30 minutes per griddle cake, so this is a sit-down dinner rather than a quick stop.
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.
OrderVegetables, pork and egg with soba, plus jalapenos on top
TipThe counter is small, opens only in the evening from 16:30 and shuts all weekend, so plan a weeknight visit.
Lopez sits well outside the Hiroshima okonomiyaki tourist circuit in Kusunoki-cho, and it closes all weekend, which keeps the counter firmly local.
OrderVegetables, pork, egg and soba with jalapenos on top
TipThe shop opens at 16:30 on weekdays and shuts Saturday and Sunday, so it never appears on a weekend itinerary.
Lopez charges 730 yen for a griddle cake of vegetables, pork and egg in Hiroshima, or 880 yen with soba added, and the jalapenos cost nothing extra.
OrderJalapeno okonomiyaki
TipCentral and South American plates share the board with the okonomiyaki, and the whole menu stays under 1,000 yen.
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.
OrderThe standard soba okonomiyaki, or one of the plant-based versions
TipVegan and vegetarian okonomiyaki both sit on the board, cooked in vegetable oil and listed on the English menu.
Hiroshima Andersen is the Hondori bakery in a converted bank building that introduced Danish baking to Japan and still anchors the covered arcade.
TipThe bakery market, delicatessen, wine counter and chocolate counter all sit on the ground floor under one roof.
RAKU BEER lines up 15 taps of Japanese craft in a 17-seat Mikawa-cho room, pulling kegs from small breweries nationwide, English menu on the counter.
TipTake one of the five counter seats facing the taps; weekend pours start at 13:00 and the room goes dark on Tuesdays.
Hiroshima Andersen occupies a converted bank on Hondori, a bakery market and Danish-style cafe that gave the whole city its habit of eating bread.
TipThe ground-floor bakery market runs to 19:30; the upstairs restaurant keeps different hours and posts closures online.
Okonomimura stacks more than twenty okonomiyaki counters over three floors in Shintenchi, the block Hiroshima's postwar griddle stalls moved into in 1965.
OrderHiroshima okonomiyaki
TipEvery floor is a corridor of griddle counters; pick a stall with locals at it rather than the one nearest the lift.
Nagataya keeps its lunch okonomiyaki near the A-Bomb Dome at around 1,000 yen, which is fair going for a counter standing this close to the Peace Park.
OrderHiroshima okonomiyaki
TipLunch runs cheaper than dinner here, and the kitchen closes for the day at 20:00 rather than running late.
Hiroshima Andersen runs a bakery market and cafe inside a converted Hondori bank, which makes it the easiest bread-led brunch in the whole city centre.
OrderA Danish pastry and coffee from the ground-floor market
TipThe bakery market opens at 10:00; the upstairs restaurant keeps separate hours and posts closures on its own channels.
Kitchen Minot is a two-table Hatchobori kitchen in Hiroshima where the menu changes constantly between European plates and Japanese small dishes.
OrderWhatever is chalked up that night, plus the squid fritters
TipThere are only two tables and a counter that wraps the kitchen, so call ahead or come at 18:00 when the door opens.
Hiroshima Neighborly Brewing brews a short walk from Peace Memorial Park and pours the results across the bar at its own charcoal-grill brewpub in Otemachi.
TipThe brewpub sits alongside the tanks, so you can see the kit from the table while the charcoal grill runs.
The Ujina kaki-goya is Hiroshima's waterfront oyster hut, a shed on Minato Park where you grill your own shells between October and the start of May.
OrderGrilled oysters
TipThe site becomes a barbecue garden from mid-May, so the oyster hut only exists in the colder half of the year.
Kitchen Minot serves until midnight from a two-table Hatchobori room in Hiroshima, working from a menu that changes from one week to the next one.
OrderWhatever the chef has chalked up, plus the yuzu-kosho
TipThe room is tiny and closed on Sundays; arriving before 22:00 is the only way to be sure of a seat.
Kitchen Minot in Hiroshima runs an unfixed menu between European plates and Japanese small dishes, from two tables and a counter that wraps the kitchen.
OrderThe squid fritters, if they are on that night
TipThemed curry and savoury pie evenings run on alternating months, announced only to people already in the room.
Reichan has griddled okonomiyaki since 1957 and now works the ekie concourse at Hiroshima Station, open from late morning until the last trains.
OrderIka kyodai, grilled squid and squid tempura on one griddle cake
TipSitting in ekie just outside the ticket gates, this is the one okonomiyaki counter that still works for a 21:00 shinkansen connection.
Reichan is the veteran okonomiyaki counter inside ekie at Hiroshima Station, running from late morning through to the last shinkansen crowd of the day.
OrderSoba okonomiyaki, 790 yen with noodles
TipSquid and prawn toppings are the house extras here; the plain soba version is the fastest plate off the griddle.
Helen works as a Komachi cafe in Hiroshima until 18:00, serving cheese terrines and espresso drinks before the room turns into a whisky bar at night.
TipCome before 18:00 for the dessert and coffee menu; after that the room switches to Japanese whisky and cocktails.
Helen turns from a Komachi cafe into a Hiroshima whisky bar at 18:00, stocking Yamazaki, Hakushu and Hibiki beside its espresso cocktails and charcuterie.
TipThe same room serves cheese terrines and lattes until 18:00, so an early visit costs a fraction of the evening tab.
Sessions Brewery brews in 100 to 150 litre batches at Tokaichimachi and serves them in its own Hiroshima beer hall with house tacos and smoked snacks.
TipThe brewery leans on local flavours with the Oyster City Stout and the Hiroshima Lemon Ale, both worth asking after by name.
Hiroshima Kita Beer brews with well water in the Asakita hills, working local lemons and hassaku into the tanks, and pours at a bar beside the station.
TipThe bar runs 12 rotating taps from across the Chugoku region on the second floor of the Hiroshima JP Building; last orders land at 22:30.
Ekimae Hiroba gathers more than a dozen okonomiyaki cooks on the sixth floor of the Full Focus building, three minutes' walk from Hiroshima Station.
OrderHiroshima okonomiyaki
TipCounters here run from 11:00 to 23:00 every day of the year, far wider than most okonomiyaki hours elsewhere in the city.
Reichan starts its Hiroshima soba okonomiyaki at 790 yen inside ekie, which is fair going for a counter built into the Hiroshima Station complex itself.
OrderSoba okonomiyaki
TipSquid and prawn toppings push the bill up quickly; the plain soba version is the budget order here.
Bar Neo works the fourth floor of a Nagarekawa building in Hiroshima until 03:00, with house fruit syrups, a darts board and a karaoke corner in the back.
TipFriday and Saturday service runs to 04:00, which makes this one of the later doors in the Nagarekawa grid.
KeMBY's is Hiroshima Micro Brewing Company's American-style pub in Otemachi, pouring the house range and guest taps beside burgers and smoked meats.
TipDoors open at 17:00 daily and the room sits a few blocks from Peace Memorial Park, so it works as the post-museum stop.
Bar Neo pours until 03:00 on most nights and until 04:00 at weekends, from a fourth-floor Nagarekawa room in the middle of central Hiroshima.
OrderA seasonal cocktail built on the house fruit syrup
TipDarts and karaoke share the floor, so this is a loud last stop rather than a quiet nightcap.
American Pub Ace runs until 05:00 on Yagenbori in Hiroshima, an American-style room with burgers, hot dogs, darts, billiards and a poker table at the back.
TipKitchen orders stop at 04:00 even though the bar keeps pouring, so eat before the last hour.
80s Bar Kayokyoku Hit Studio plays requests from about 3,000 singles and LPs in Nagarekawa, a Hiroshima room built entirely around Showa-era pop music.
TipGroups of twenty or more can take the whole room, and the bar closes on Sundays outside public holidays.
American Pub Ace runs to 05:00 on Yagenbori in Hiroshima with burgers, hot dogs, darts and billiards for the tail end of a long night in Nagarekawa.
OrderA burger and a bottled beer before the 04:00 kitchen close
TipSundays and public holidays close at 02:00 instead, which catches people out at the end of a long weekend.
Bambino spreads over two floors in Mikawa-cho, a Hiroshima dining bar with a griddle turning out ketchup omurice into the small hours every day of the week.
TipFood orders stop at 04:00 and drinks at 04:30, and the venue never closes for a regular rest day.
Bambino keeps a griddle running to a 04:00 kitchen close in Mikawa-cho, the Hiroshima dining bar to fall into once the Nagarekawa doors start closing.
OrderKetchup omurice off the teppan at three in the morning
TipFood orders stop at 04:00 and drinks at 04:30, and the venue keeps no regular closing day.
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