Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake mainly associated with Hiroshima and the Kansai area.
While you can get Okonomiyaki at any number of restaurants in Hiroshima, the mecca is the vertical village called Okonomi-mura in central Hiroshima that houses 24 Okonomiyaki restaurants all cooking the dish in their own special way.
Shinchan, Hiroshima, Japan
I visited Beer Komachi on my first visit to Kyoto a couple of years ago. I checked the reviews to see if 1) it was still in business, and 2) if the craft beer bar still had good reviews, which it did, so decided to make a second visit.
Beer Komachi, Kyoto, Japan
I’d been waiting for my first yakitori, aka barbecue meat on a stick, meal since I’d landed in Japan.
A quick perusal of the usual review websites lead me back towards the area I’d eaten a couple of nights before.
Yakitori Akiyoshi, Kyoto, Japan
After a morning exploring the temple area to the east of Kyoto, I started walking through the Gion area looking for lunch.
Using Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google I noticed a quite well reviewed ramen restaurant not too far from where I was so decided to give it a try.
Musoshin Gion, Kyoto, Japan
In the morning I’d jumped on a Shinkansen and then a local train to get to Hikone to explore the castle and surrounding area.
It was a hard slog given the temperature and number of steps it took to get upto the castle, but it was worth it.
As I wandered back towards the station to return to Kyoto I was looking out for somewhere to eat but nothing stuck out so I decided to wait until I returned to Kyoto to have lunch.
I chose to take the slower local train back to Kyoto as I was just looking for air conditioning by this stage!
The major train stations in Japan are little cities – full of shopping and places to eat. So I knew I’d get something good.
Spicy Masala, Kyoto, Japan