10 Great Restaurants in Hiroshima

If you want to eat okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, don’t miss Okonimiomura. This is an entire building of okonomiyaki stalls, a village of sorts, with more than 20 popular shops standing side by side.

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is characterised by its generous taste with fried egg and springy noodles. Enjoy it fresh, cooked an iron plate right in front of you. In addition to okonomiyaki, some shops offer local dishes such as oyster teppanyaki and grilled squid.

Okonomiyaki NAGATA-YA is a popular restaurant near the Atomic Bomb Dome that always has a long line of people queuing outside. Its old-fashioned looks only add to its charm, and you should expect long lines or get to the restaurant just after it opens to avoid the queues.

NAGATA-YA's okonomiyaki is cooked by carefully baking well-selected ingredients and is served with plenty of fresh green onions from Kagawa. The unique sauce made by the Otafuku Sauce company especially for NAGATA-YA has a slightly sweet taste.

Yakigaki no Hayashi, located on a shopping street called Miyajima Omotesando Shotengai, is famous as the birthplace of yakigaki (shell-cooked oysters), a delicacy of Miyajima. The fresh and juicy taste of excellent, carefully grilled 3-year-old Jigozen-kaki oysters has kept customers coming back.

In addition to yakigaki, you can enjoy a variety of oyster dishes, including fresh raw oysters and deep-fried oysters. Especially recommended is the Kaki Sankei-Teishoku, a set meal that includes all of the restaurant’s popular menu items: shell-grilled/raw oysters, deep-fried oysters, and oyster rice.

Located in the city centre, Hassei is a restaurant with a friendly atmosphere, where you can eat your fill of dishes such as okonomiyaki and oysters sautéed with butter at a reasonable price. The most popular item on the menu is Hassei-yaki, a hearty dish filled with meat, eggs, rice cakes, cheese, fried squid and soba or udon noodles.

The restaurant has a relaxed atmosphere with one of the walls covered with autographs of famous people who have eaten here, including musicians and guests from overseas. If you sit at the counter, you can enjoy freshly-cooked okonomiyaki that has been grilled on the iron plate just in front of you.

Umameshi Sakaba Ekohiiki is a Japanese-style pub that serves delicacies of Hiroshima, a prefecture facing the Seto Inland Sea overflowing with sunlight, including Kusatsu Kaki, the highest-quality brand-name oysters. It's about a 2-minute walk from the Atomic Bomb Dome, so you can stop by after sightseeing.

Seafood dishes are mainly served at night, but at lunchtime you can enjoy excellent oysters at a reasonable price. An especially popular menu is the very filling kaki furai teishoku (a set menu with deep-fried oysters).

Akisaryo is a high-class Japanese cuisine restaurant with a luxurious atmosphere, where you can enjoy authentic Japanese dishes in which experience and skill shine through. It’s known as one of the best settings for hospitality in Hiroshima, having welcomed former U.S. President Barack Obama and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy during their visits to Hiroshima.

There’s authentic kaiseki (Japanese course meal) cuisine, which changes on a monthly basis, but alternatively you can order your favourite dishes such as fresh sashimi and Seto sushi a la carte.

Kakibune Kanawa (kakibune means “oyster boat”) is a well-established restaurant serving Hiroshima oysters located on the bank of the Motoyasu River, where you can enjoy exquisite oysters and beautiful scenery. Kanawa has 2 floors: the luxurious Wakyu ground floor and the more casual Seto floor upstairs.

Try the Kaki-no-Kuikiri Course, which allows you to enjoy plenty of firm and fresh oysters cultivated in clean seawater with a high salt concentration. It’s a full course meal where you can appreciate the traditional tastes that have been enjoyed for about 150 years, including shell-grilled oysters, oyster gratin, deep-fried oysters, and dote nabe kakimeshi (cooked rice in an earthenware pot with oysters).

Ishimatu Sandaime is a Japanese restaurant focused on local ingredients where you can sip good sake at a solid wood counter or at a sunken kotatsu table. It’s a popular place thanks in part to its listing in the Michelin Guide. You can enjoy a luxurious experience with fresh seafood and rare local sake or Japanese wine.

Authentic Japanese cuisine is served here at a relatively reasonable price. In particular, the owner has put together an excellent lineup of sake, so this is the place to be if you're into sake.

At Okonomiyaki Mitsu you can enjoy okonomiyaki with draft beer in hand. Located between Honkawa-cho Station and Tokaichi-machi Station on the Hiroshima Electric Railway, the restaurant has a down-to-earth atmosphere, red sign and shop curtain, giving it a warm local vibe.

The most popular dish on the menu is nikutama soba (okonomiyaki with meat, egg, and fried noodles). Fried noodles in okonomiyaki are cooked through and to achieve a delicious crispy texture. There’s also a variety of side dishes such as teppan-yaki (dishes grilled on an iron plate).

Kisetsu Ryori Nakashima (the name means "Seasonal Cuisine Nakashima") is known as being the only 3 Michelin-starred restaurant in Hiroshima. It's a popular restaurant and you’ll need to reserve in advance, preferably early.

You can enjoy the delicate taste of seasonal ingredients brilliantly arranged in unique vessels at a counter made from a solid piece of Yoshino cypress wood. They serve full-course dinners, but feel free to let them know any food allergy you may have or other preferences when making your reservation.