Hiroshima Street Food Guide on Miyajima
Created and Produced by John Daub
ONLY in JAPAN
Welcome to Miyajima in Hiroshima prefecture
This lovely island is famous for that ー
The Red Torii
the shrine
the beautiful island
the deer
but there’s a lot more to Miyajima than just those things
in fact, this place is a street food paradise!
and we’ve come here to eat
so I hope you’re hungry
we’re going to be eating a lot.
Hiroshima is located in Japan’s Chuugoku region
in the very west of Honshu island.
It’s Japan’s 9th biggest city after Sapporo
and the prefecture is also home to Itsukushima,
also known as Miyajima
which is where we will be chowing down on a lot of street food.
Nearly everything on the island is located on the northern end.
]The Inlet Sea surrounding is stunningly beautiful.
The Grand Torii Gate greets all ferries arriving
nearly every 15 minutes during the day.
And so do the deer, as approachable as the ones on Nara.
Who knows ー you may even make a friend or two here.
I’m training this deer to go like this
and then I give it some food
She’s moving her head!
The deer is so smart!
It’s not recommended to feed the deer,
but I can highly recommend feeding yourself
along the central market street.
It’s stocked with so many treats from seafood to sweets!
Now this is street food!
HIROSHIMA OYSTERS
SHELLS WIDE OPEN
Hiroshima is famous for having some of the best oysters in Japan.
The prefecture produces 60-70% of the countries oysters
so yeah, it’s a big deal here.
On the street side, you can find them raw, grilled or deep-fried.
So I got these oysters
Yaki Gaki
These are fried oysters
Kaki Furai (Fry)
So we’re going to give Hiroshima’s best
here on Miyajima a try
One word. Massive!
This one oyster was bigger than any I’ve ever tried before.
Look how big that things is!
Fresh caught, grilled with a little ponzu (soy citrus sauce)
and you’re in heaven.
Great thing about coming alone
you don’t have to share.
Oh yeah!
Now the golden brown kaki furai
Oh yeah.
Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside
A little bit oily but
The taste is perfect
Perfectly cooked on the inside
We’re just getting warmed up!
This is Miyajima’s MOMIJI, a leaf shaped cake
filled with either custard or red bean paste.
They’re quite famous all over Japan!
Yeah, they even have their own kitkat flavor!
A few shops including this one have taken the Momiji to whole other level.
They make the momiji cakes fresh in shop.
You can watch the process through the shop window.
These have custard inside.
You could eat it like this but ー come on!
You know everything tastes better when deep fried.
They’re battered up and tossed in the fryer until crispy.
Like leaves floating on golden pond.
Wow!
So this is a deep fried momiji
It smells really sweet. It’s pretty much
just custard wrapped around in cake
made into a leaf shape
and then battered and deep fried.
How does it taste?
Woah!
It’s so oily but ー so good!
Just, the custard
is oozing out of it
the cake around it ー
is so … it’s not soaked too much in oil
just the right amount
Total gold for a pallet
What do you do with this?
Across the street is this place serving up another deep fried street food.
This is Miyajima NIGIRI TEN
These roasted fish cakes have so many toppings!
Miyajima Nigiri-ten
It's a fish cake
but this one has pieces of asparagus and
it’s wrapped in bacon
which is just crazy and
you can see the fish cake makes
it really elastic
Miyajima is famous for Nigiri-ten,
which is like Chikuwa ー but oh so different.
They’re first roasted or steamed then deep-fried like here.
Mmm!
So this is ...
it’s been deep fried and a little oily but not too much
And you can see on the inside
the fish cake here
it’s really rubbery and
if you like mochi, you’re going to love this!
Down the street was a place steaming hot.
They’re steamed buns, Miyajima style.
The sign caught my attention right away.
It always makes you smile.
This is an ANAGOMAN
and if you don’t know what anago is
it’s a conger eel
it looks like a little snake in the sea
and they put it into a steamed bun
Usually steamed buns in Japan are filled with pork or beef
but here, it’s anago which makes it unique.
This is so good.
But the anago
is so tender, it’s so soft
It’s got that same kind of meaty taste as
a pork bun but
it’s more sophisticated
ー and it’s nice!
An incredible day eating on Hiroshima’s Miyajima Island
Hiroshima is also famous for Okonomiyaki,
Japanese pancake cooked on a tabletop gril
loaded with all sorts of goodies
and topped with a savory salty sweet soy sauce.
Check out the episode Hiroshima Okonomiyaki Lunch Experiment
for the full recipe!
I’ll even make one for you!
There’s a camping spot.
It’s about a 30-40 minute walk from here
If you’re interested in seeing more of Miyajima,
don’t miss my live stream walk through
on the ONLY in JAPAN GO! Channel
filmed when I made this episode.
We’ll go from the beach past the shrine
down the shopping street.
The ONLY in JAPAN GO channel is all live streams
on locations so you’ll get a taste of the next episode right away.
There’s a feast for the eyes
Wow.
So beautiful
Yeah, I’ll walk it.
I’ve been eating a lot so I think it’s good to get some exercise
and this island is perfect for that
Wooooo!
Oh, there’s a sign that says don’t yell.
Of course there is!
Beautiful day.
There’s some momiji
Ususally you can see them making
the momiji in a big open window
Oh, this is nice, okay —
One quick walk through
and then
this is where I am at the entrance
one quick walk through and then I’m off
ONLY in JAPAN GO. This is like the concept
You know, walk around and just find interesting stuff
You can see they’re making the momiji here
and they do it live
they do it right in front of you
so that’s how you know they’re always fresh
Subscribe to both channels
and never miss an experience that’s ONLY in JAPAN!
Next time, we’ll head to Fukuoka for some amazing Tonkotsu Ramen.
From the riverside yatai stands to the city’s best ramen shops,
we’ll go on a ramen binge
that’ll make you wish for big bowl right now.
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Mata ne~