When the weather gets chilly, you want to eat food that will warm you up, right? Japan has many reasonably priced local gourmet restaurants that are loved by locals.

In this article, we will introduce you to some delicious local gourmet foods that you will want to try in winter. We will also introduce some casual, easy-to-eat B-grade gourmet foods, so please read to the end.

Recommended local B-grade gourmet food for winter

From here, we will introduce some local gourmet foods that are perfect for chilly winter days.

Genghis Khan Hokkaido

One of Hokkaido's local dishes. It is a hot pot dish in which lamb, mutton, and other mutton meats are eaten with vegetables. In a slightly unusual shaped pot with a mountain-like rise in the middle, the vegetables are placed around the edge and the meat is placed on the mountain, and then cooked.

There are no set rules for the vegetables that can be used, but onions, bean sprouts, bell peppers, cabbage, etc. are commonly used, and it is customary to finish it off with noodles.

Kiritanpo hotpot Akita Prefecture

This is a local Akita dish made by boiling "tanpo," mashed rice skewered and grilled in chicken stock, together with vegetables. After adding chicken and burdock, the ingredients are boiled, then seasoned with soy sauce, sake, salt, etc., and finished by adding chopped tanpo (kiritanpo), green onions, and parsley.

The soup is full of the delicious chicken bone flavor and seeps into the ingredients.

Cold cod soup Yamagata Prefecture

"Kandarajiru" is a local dish from the Shonai region of Yamagata Prefecture. Cod, which is in season during the cold season, is called "kandara" and is made using the whole cod, including the shell, liver, and milt.

Add miso, simmer, and finish by sprinkling on plenty of fragrant rock nori seaweed for a cup of soup that allows you to taste the winter bounty of the Sea of Japan.

Japanese parsley hotpot Miyagi Prefecture

Natori City in Miyagi Prefecture is famous for its seri nabe, which uses the whole plant, including the root. The crunchy texture and refreshing flavor are part of the appeal of seri nabe.

It is recommended not to overcook it, but to cook it until it still has a bit of texture. Make a stock using chicken bones, season with sake, mirin, light soy sauce, etc., add plenty of tofu and Japanese parsley, and it's complete. You can enjoy it twice by adding rice to the remaining soup to make porridge.

Monkfish soup Fukushima Prefecture

Dobushiru is a miso-flavored fisherman's hotpot made with plenty of monkfish liver. It is said to have originated as a dish that fishermen ate on their boats during the winter. It does not use precious water, and is made by boiling chopped monkfish together with daikon radish, Chinese cabbage, green onions, etc., and adding miso to finish it off.

It is slightly different from monkfish hotpot, which is seasoned with soy sauce, and is characterized by its rich, full-bodied flavor.

Gunma Prefecture

It is a noodle dish in which wide wheat flour noodles are simmered together with vegetables and mushrooms. The noodle dough is wrapped around a cotton swab and cut into it with a knife, hence the name "okkirikomi." There are no set rules for the thickness of the noodles, ingredients, or flavor, and the wide noodles are simmered without boiling. You can also add seasonal ingredients to enjoy it.

Katsuura Tantanmen Chiba Prefecture

Katsuura's tantanmen is a popular dish for female divers and fishermen to warm up their cold bodies after work. It features a soy sauce-flavored soup with plenty of flavorful chili oil, chopped onions, and minced meat.

Depending on the restaurant, you can enjoy a wide variety of unique flavors, such as garlic, chives, green onions, or miso flavoring.

Miso Potatoes Saitama Prefecture

Miso potatoes are a local B-class gourmet dish that represents Chichibu in Saitama Prefecture. They are made by deep-frying boiled potatoes and topping them with a sweet miso sauce.

Miso potatoes have long been eaten in Chichibu during breaks in farm work or when you feel a bit hungry. The fluffy potatoes mixed with sweet and spicy miso create a nostalgic taste that you will never tire of.

Sado Yellowtail Pork Cutlet Bowl Niigata Prefecture

The Sado Wild Yellowtail Katsudon is made using ingredients from Sado. It is a dish created with the desire to let you enjoy the taste of wild yellowtail that is landed all year round.

The crispy battered yellowtail cutlet and the specially made flying fish dashi soy sauce are a perfect match. The menu also includes soups, fruits, and side dishes made with certified rice from Sado City and locally produced ingredients, making it the epitome of local gourmet food.

Volga rice Fukui

Volga rice has been eaten in Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture for over 30 years. There are various theories about the origin of the name and the dish, but it is a popular dish with both adults and children, consisting of ketchup rice or pilaf topped with an egg to create an omelet-rice style dish, and crispy pork cutlet topped with rich demi-glace or tomato sauce.

It is also a local B-class gourmet dish, with each restaurant having its own unique way of making it.

Modern Yaki Osaka Prefecture

Modern-style okonomiyaki is made by putting yakisoba noodles inside okonomiyaki and frying it. It's a dish that lets you enjoy both the fluffy Osaka-style okonomiyaki and the chewy yakisoba noodles.

It is slightly different from Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, which has layers of dough, ingredients, and noodles, and is characterized by the fact that yakisoba is placed on top of the okonomiyaki before being cooked.

Himeji Oden Hyogo Prefecture

Himeji is home to a rich, sweet and spicy oden called Kanto-daki, as well as a light Kansai-style oden.

Himeji oden is characterized by the fact that it is eaten with ginger soy sauce, which can be prepared in a variety of ways, such as by adding grated ginger and mirin to dark soy sauce, or by adding sake and bringing to a boil.

Sechiyaki Wakayama Prefecture

Sechiyaki is a local delicacy from Gobo City that uses no wheat flour, but is made by mixing yakisoba noodles with eggs, similar to okonomiyaki. The name comes from the word "sechiga", which means "to mess up" in the Gobo dialect.

The combination of the savory sauce, fried noodles, and eggs is so delicious that you'll be hooked once you try it.

San'in Chanpon Tottori Prefecture

San'in Chanpon is a local B-class gourmet dish in Tottori Prefecture. It is a dish that exquisitely matches the thick, curly noodles with a thick sauce containing Chinese cabbage, onions, wood ear mushrooms, pork, eggs, etc.

It has a mild flavor, but adding black pepper and vinegar changes the flavor, and the rich, savory filling is so good you'll find yourself drinking it all up.

Mackerel shabu-shabu Shimane Prefecture

This is a local delicacy that was eaten by fishermen on the Shimane Peninsula.

Dip the mackerel fillets in the warm soy sauce broth. The broth contains soy sauce, sake, and chopped onions, and the onions become sweeter as they are boiled. The onions are wrapped around the mackerel, giving it a great flavor, and when combined with the rich umami of the mackerel, it's so delicious you'll be in agony.

Hinase Kakioko Okayama Prefecture

Hinase Kakioko, a local delicacy from Hinase Town, Bizen City, Okayama Prefecture, is a masterpiece that has been selected as a 100-year food by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Hinase Town is a fishing town on the Seto Inland Sea, and is a region where oyster farming is thriving. It is said that it began when small, bruised oysters were brought to a nearby okonomiyaki restaurant. The plump oysters go perfectly with the rich sauce.

Nabehoru Udon Kagawa Prefecture

This is a B-class gourmet dish from Tadotsu town, made by simmering horumon and udon noodles in a soup made with a secret sauce containing ingredients such as garlic and tamari soy sauce.

Tadotsu, the birthplace of the Shikoku Railway, was home to a railway factory, and it began as a place where people working there started to receive nabehoru udon noodles made with offal.

Sea bream rice Ehime Prefecture

Taimeshi is a local gourmet dish that represents Ehime Prefecture. In Imabari City and Matsuyama City Hojo, a whole sea bream is cooked in a clay pot or kettle, but in Uwajima City, taimeshi is made by marinating sea bream sashimi in a special sauce, sprinkling it with condiments, and placing it on top of rice.

Why not try comparing the different types of taimeshi available across the prefecture?

Nabeyaki Ramen Kochi Prefecture

Nabeyaki ramen has long been loved by locals in Susaki City, Kochi Prefecture. It is made with chicken bone soy sauce flavored soup and topped with chicken meat, spring onions, eggs, chikuwa (fish cake), etc.

It is served in a clay pot so that customers can enjoy it while it is still hot, and is said to be the hottest ramen in Japan, with a rich chicken broth and thin noodles that go perfectly together. You can also enjoy the rich flavor by crumbling the egg.

Mizutaki Fukuoka Prefecture

Mizutaki is a local gourmet dish that is eaten all year round in Fukuoka. It is a hot pot dish made by adding seasonal vegetables to a soup made by simmering chicken with the bones, and serving it with a refreshing ponzu sauce. You can also add spicy momiji oroshi (grated radish), fragrant green onions, ginger, and yuzu as condiments.

Yobuko squid, Saga Prefecture

Yobuko Town in Karatsu City is an area where fresh squid is landed in the Genkai Sea, including the spear squid (April to December), which has translucent flesh and a crunchy texture, the bigfin reef squid (December to March), and the thick, sweet, chewy-textured oval cuttlefish.

Freshly caught squid ikezukuri is very popular locally, so please give it a try.

Nagasaki Prefecture

Guzouni is a local dish that represents Shimabara in Nagasaki Prefecture. It is said to have originated when Amakusa Shiro ate it while he was under siege with Christians during the Shimabara Rebellion that occurred in the early Edo period.

This dish is made by putting a lot of ingredients, such as dashi stock, round rice cakes, chicken, Chinese cabbage, carrots, burdock, and dried shiitake mushrooms, into a clay pot. The umami of the various ingredients permeates the dashi stock, giving it a deep, delicious flavor.

Dagojiru (dumpling soup) Kumamoto Prefecture

It is a soup containing dumplings made from wheat flour and water. "Dago" means "dumplings" in the Kumamoto dialect, and dago soup has been eaten since ancient times during breaks in farm work.

This is a filling local dish made with a stock made from dried shiitake mushrooms and dried sardines, seasoned with barley miso, white miso, and soy sauce, and containing ingredients such as taro, burdock, and carrots.

Island Oden (Okinawa Oden) Okinawa Prefecture

Okinawan oden contains pork trotters, known as "tebichi." The ingredients are simmered in broth made from soki bones (pork ribs with bones) and seasoned simply with salt.

Sausages are an essential ingredient, and bok choy and lettuce are dipped in the oden broth before eating. Mustard is used as a condiment, giving the oden a slightly different flavor than that of Honshu.

summary

This time, we introduced some delicious local B-class gourmet foods that you'll want to try in the winter. Did you know any of these local foods?

Local cuisine with a strong regional flavor can also be a great way to learn about the local seasonal ingredients. Be sure to try looking for local B-grade gourmet restaurants when you travel.

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