Residential Nishi-ku, where the okonomiyaki counters and ramen rooms serve neighbours rather than visitors and mostly close at the weekend.
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.
Signature: Jalapeno okonomiyaki, Chili Rio Grande
Order: Vegetables, pork and egg with soba, plus jalapenos on top
Tip: The counter is small, opens only in the evening from 16:30 and shuts all weekend, so plan a weeknight visit.
Tsubame Ramen works a small Higashi-Kanon room in western Hiroshima, a neighbourhood chuka soba counter rather than a stop on any visitor circuit.
Signature: Chuka soba
Order: Chuka soba, the shop's soy-and-pork standard
Tip: Service runs unbroken from 11:30 to 22:00 on every day except Sunday, which is the one day the shutters stay down.
MOUNT COFFEE roasts daily in a beans-only shop on the Takasu shopping street, turning over single origins from Brazil to Kenya as harvests shift.
Tip: For a cup of the roast rather than a bag, find the MOUNT COFFEE Stand inside the Grumpy bike shop or the branch counter in ekie at Hiroshima Station.
Sources from: Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya
How they serve: Whole bean retail
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.
Try: Jalapeno okonomiyaki
Tip: Central and South American plates share the board with the okonomiyaki, and the whole menu stays under 1,000 yen.
Tsubame Ramen feeds western Hiroshima a cheap soy-and-pork chuka soba from a small Higashi-Kanon room a few minutes from the Tenmacho tram stop.
Try: Chuka soba
Tip: The shop runs straight through from 11:30 to 22:00 every day except Sunday, when the shutters stay down.