3/23

As you can gather, we are in Hiroshima. We put in a good full day in Hiroshima the city, visiting Hiroshima-jo, the local castle (complete with Ben dressing up as a samurai with the assistance of an amused local), a half-day of sleeping in and resting followed by the hiroshima peace memorial museum (a somewhat misleading title), and all the while looking for our next okinomiyaki fix.



Japanese cuisine is not as homogenous as one might think. Each city we visit has its own local speciality. Hiroshima and Osaka each claim to have the supreme okinomiyaki, so we feel it is our duty to take many samples of each style to make an informed opinion. Okinomiyaki is basically a layered dish, somewhat like a pizza in structure. There is a crepe on one side and a scrambled egg crepe on the other, with noodles, cabbage, various seafood bits, and whatever else have you sandwiched between, all cooked down and slathered with a savory dark brown sauce. It sounds (and looks) like a horrible mess, but it is so so tasty and comfortably filling. The appropriate pairing is with whatever mass-produced draught lager is available at the counter. One building in town has 28 individual okinomiyaki counters on four floors! It was so difficult picking out the right places to try. With three delicious data points from Hiroshima, I feel ready to take on the competing style.