Today we're going to try two of Hiroshima's most famous foods- Hiroshima style okonomiyaki
and spicy dipping ramen or tsukemen. First up okonomiyaki!
Oh my gosh the chef has popped the okonomiyaki in front of us and it looks absolutely amazing I'm going to
get into it because I don't want it to get cold and then we'll talk more about
the origins of the dish and what it's made up of
if you can try and get a seat at the counter at an okonomiyaki restaurant so you can see
all the action in front of you and you can eat directly off the main grill
so you're given a spatula and you basically carve up the okonomiyaki
into squares and you eat it with the spatula
oh wow that is so good- so okonomiyaki directly translates to 'as you like it'
'grill'. And it was a dish that was born out of the
war so after the bomb was hit in Hiroshima all the restaurants in the city
were flattened so people became makeshift chefs they put grills out on the side of the
street and created this dish from whatever scraps that they had and it
evolved into basically one of Hiroshima's most beloved dishes or Japan's most
beloved dishes, it's the ultimate comfort food. It's made up of a mixture of cabbage
noodles, bean sprouts and it varies from restaurant to restaurant this one has got
tempura crisps as well, spring onion, pork I've added shrimp and squid to mine and then they
drizzle it with this sticky, sweet, beautiful okonomiyaki
sauce which tastes a bit like sweetened Worcestershire sauce and then I've added
mayo to mine. Oh it is just
Heaven.
There's also a load of cabbage in there as well which makes it
really nice and light, the noodles have a lot of bite oh and that sauce, it is I
cannot tell you it is incredible.
I've gone with a really simple simple version but I did add shrimp and Japanese
rice cake which I think is pretty interesting. Like
how could it not look good although when it's cooking it's really interesting because
it doesn't look that good it's kind of insipid looking it's, not in a bad way
that's a bad word but I don't think in a bad way but it's not very like bursting
with color or anything it's kind of dull looking on the grill once they add that
sweet sauce oh my god it just takes on a life of its own and
then you add the mayonnaise on top and things just just skyrocket in their
beauty
oh wow there's like, I'm covered in it aren't I?
I'm think covered in it there's like chewiness from the rice cake and this really sort
of rice-y edge underneath, the noodles are quite bouncy still so they're really
nice in the mouth, there's freshness but crunch from the cabbage the mayo
coats your mouth and then there's the sweet sauce it's really quite sweet which I think that's
all over my face right now but there's no tissues so I'll stick with it. That is
an incredible dish and it's so fun sitting here at the grill watching it being
prepared and then you just get to dig in with your little spatula this is so fun. I
talk about it being a Hiroshima style okonomiyaki not just because
we're in Hiroshima eating it but because Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is
layered, so they layer the ingredients as they cook it. Okonomyiyaki is also really
really popular in Osaka and there they mix all the ingredients together before
they put it on the grill so that's why it's called Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki.
That was Tekka a neighborhood okonomiyaki restaurant in Hiroshima and it
was fantastic, highly recommended. If you're hungry that's what you should be
eating because I am stuffed. I'm dying. It was amazing though such an experience
and so tasty.
We are going to have a lie-down after that because extreme
levels of fullness but so happy for it not a bad way in such a good way that
was incredible. We're going to go back this work and
we'll pick this up at dinner time.
We're at Bakudanya to try Hiroshima's
famous spicy tsukemen and tsukemen is dipping ramen I have ordered the cold
tsukemen so the dipping sauce is cold, cold noodles, cabbage, spring onion,
cucumber, pork. I've only ever had tsukemen twice so here goes. Ohhh look at that
spicy dipping sauce that's coated the noodles
Hmmm, the sauce is made up of chili oil, sesame oil and I don't know what else that it's
really good and on the menu you can choose the spiciness level, so you can go from one to
a hundred! I've only gone up to twelve and it's pretty perfect for me
This is really good. It's really fresh and really light it's perfect while it being hot
outside to have cold noodles. So good. I ordered the hot version and I have never
had this style of ramen so I'm super excited
So mine has some funghi, some spring onions on top and some
pork, egg and the noodles I'm just going to dive straight in. I think it's bamboo. Bamboo? Oh yea it is too!
Oh yea bamboo, good spotting. I'm going to dive straight in and try the noodles. Is the broth hot as well? Yeah the
broth's hot as well. So this is just noodles and broth. Wow the coating's amazing but
not as clingy as Sheena's was. It's left a finer film on the noodle
The spice is so perfect, I went with spice level 10 so a little bit less than Sheena
the sesame seeds are really strong tasting in that and the sesame oil- such a
strong flavor I guess but it I love that sesame oil flavor. That's amazing that's so different
to a ramen when it's in a broth. That dipping style so they've got this stunning coating
on the noodles. Wow this is like a real revelation what an awesome
awesome dish. But after that first mouthful I've
realised I'm going to get messy so I
found some bibs, I'm gonna pop a bib on for the rest of my eating this evening.
Okay I'm going to try the pork look at it it's a beautiful thin piece of pork
must be pork belly that's been slow cooked because it's pull apart tender. Oh wow
it's almost sweet, it's like eating a lolly, that is beautiful
this is such a cool combo, hey didn't I have two eggs before oh maybe that was the picture
on the menu- I thought I'd lost an egg beautiful egg, this is a very very exciting meal
I love it
it's really tasty, the flavor just builds and builds and the heat in that
build and builds. 12 I think was the perfect amount of spice I can feel it really tingling on
my tongue and I'm loving the fresh, crisp vegetables. It's great! And it's
very lucky you popped that bib on. Thank god! I've worn some sauce too so great
decision. One thing I'm finding with this style I don't know if it's just here if
it's because we're filming a bit so I was a bit slow in starting to eat my hot noodles but
they're all kind of clumping together so when I try to pick some up I
pick them all up and I really have to fight to separate them out but it's probably just
because we're filming for quite long a time so the hot noodles kind of stuck
together. Oh and exciting times I found my second
half of my egg it was hiding under my noodles because the egg in ramen for
me is like it's not ramen without that egg and it is so, so good, look at it, you can just see
it breaking apart from me holding it perfectly cooked
the egg is so special in ramen and these bamboo shoots are really nice they're
really crunchy often I find that bamboo shoots like this can be a bit soft and a bit
flavorless but they've got a really good bit of bite, they're really nice. This is really
good I'm loving it. That was great getting to try two of Hiroshima's most
famous dishes okonomiyaki and tsukemen- spicy style. So much good food here it's
such a cool place to come to eat. There's some amazing history
I wouldn't say amazing but there's so much history here that you have to
come here for- see our last video all about that -but stay a bit longer, eat
some of the food it's incredible. It is very very good
we're hoping that we will be able to tick off some more of Hiroshima's famous dishes
in our upcoming vlogs so remember to subscribe so
you don't miss out. Thank you so much for watching, we'll see you next time we hope
we've inspired you to eat and explore like a traveler, not a tourist. Sayonara
oh wait that ramen or more like traditional soup ramen? Ahhhh. What
do you think? I think I'm gonna have to say a more traditional style ramen so
hot, in a bowl for me, slurping it up- it's
unbeatable. I agree so the more traditional style for me too but I would definitely
have that again and I loved it. Alrighty, sayonara!