Rice dishes
Gyohan
Gyohan — flaked grilled fish and rice topped with a bone-based broth
Flaked grilled white fish, egg crepe, and shrimp are arranged over rice, then doused in a broth made from the fish's own bones—a dish from Takehara, a town once wealthy on salt production. Nearly lost, it was reconstructed decades later from an old newspaper clipping after salt farming ended.
- Origin: Hiroshima Takehara
- About 640 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Grilled, flaked white fish laid over rice with shredded egg, mitsuba, shiitake, shrimp, nori, and bamboo shoot, finished with a broth drawn from the fish's own bones. It's said to have been a favorite of Takehara's hamadanna, the wealthy owners of the town's salt fields, served as a dish for entertaining guests — an elaborate, colorful dish built for hosting.
How it's made
A whole white fish is grilled and flaked. Egg, mitsuba, shiitake, shrimp, nori, and bamboo shoot are each prepped and arranged over rice with the fish. A broth is drawn from the fish bones, lightly seasoned with light soy sauce, mirin, sake, and salt, and poured on just before eating.
Why it took this shape
Takehara was reclaimed from shallow sea in the Edo period and built its wealth on salt fields for some three centuries, and this dish is said to have been the hamadanna's favored choice for entertaining and festivals. It nearly vanished when the salt fields closed in 1960, until a 1979 newspaper clipping documenting the dish was rediscovered and a local group reconstructed it in 2008, returning it to area restaurants.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- Station food and ekiben (station bento)Where and when to find ekiben (station bento) before it sells out, etiquette for eating on board, how standing soba and udon stalls work, and where to find souvenirs sold inside the station.
- Soraben and airport diningA guide to what soraben means and how it differs from ekiben, whether to buy before or after security, etiquette for eating on board, airport restaurants, and things to check before buying food souvenirs to take home.
Dishes in the same style
- Aburafu DonDeep-fried wheat gluten, shaped into a log, is simmered in a sweet-savory broth and set with egg over rice, katsudon-style — a Tome City bowl said to trace to a tofu shop's shelf-stable gluten product, later turned into a bowl dish by a local innkeeper.
- Aburi-zushiNigiri with just its surface flash-seared by torch or hot iron. Unlike Edomae's shigoto curing for keeping, the searing here is done purely for the change in aroma and fat it brings — a relatively recent way of eating sushi.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Hiroshima
- Anago MeshiConger eel, grilled kabayaki-style, is sliced and layered over rice cooked in dashi—a dish from Miyajima. It uses "Seto anago," prized for the fat that fast currents help build into the fish, and is said to have begun in 1901 as a bento sold at Miyajimaguchi station.
- AzumaSardine-like mamakari, cured in vinegar, is pressed onto seasoned okara instead of vinegared rice in this coastal sushi. It is said to have begun as a way to stretch scarce rice by substituting the cheap, plentiful soy pulp, and was served at festivals and New Year's gatherings.
- Bishu NabeChicken, gizzard, and pork are simmered with nothing more than salt, pepper, and sake in this hot pot from Saijo, one of Japan's noted brewing towns. It is said to have begun as a simple meal cooked by sake brewers between batches, seasoned lightly so as not to dull their palate for tasting.
- EbamakiRice is tossed with Hiroshima-na pickle, bonito flakes, and sesame, then rolled in toasted nori—a roll from Hiroshima's Eba district, long known for seaweed cultivation. The ends are sometimes tucked shut so it can be eaten one-handed while rowing, a food born for nori fishermen working on the water.
- Fuchu-yakiA Fuchu, Hiroshima take on okonomiyaki that swaps sliced pork belly for ground beef or pork worked right into the batter, so the meat's flavor is said to come through evenly in every bite.
- GansuFish paste coated in panko and fried, a Kure, Hiroshima specialty. Said to have been devised in the postwar 1940s as a way to use leftover fish paste from kamaboko production, an unusual pairing of fried fish cake and cutlet-style crumb.