Kawara Soba (Shimonoseki City – mainly Kawatana Onsen)

Kawara (tile) soba is a well-known dish of Yamaguchi prefecture around the Kawatana Onsen (hot springs) in Toyoura-cho in Shimonoseki City. It is said that the idea for the dish came from meat cooked on hot tiles by soldiers who laid siege to the Kumamoto castle during the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877.

Now a well-known dish throughout Japan, the aromatic green tea soba noodles are served on a heated tile with beef and strips of omelet topped with a unique bonito flavored sauce and a mixture of grated horse radish and chili.

Iwakuni Sushi (Iwakuni City – mainly the Kintaikyou area)

At first glance Iwakuni sushi looks like a typical dish of vinegar rice topped with variety of ingredients, but its four to five layers are prepared and served all at once. The dish is unique in its dynamic presentation coupled with a variety of flaked raw fish including mackerel mixed with freshly steamed rice.
Iwakuni’s flavorsome Iwakuni sushi is unsurpassed.

Tenshin Pike (Hofu City)

Suo strait is number one in Japan for the amount of pike caught in the area. A flavor associated with summer, pike from the Suo strait is shipped around the Kansai region and enjoys a very high reputation.
In the main production region of Hofu, restaurants participate in “pike school” try and find new ways of cooking with pike for people to enjoy.

Suo-oshima Mandarin Hot Pot (Suo-oshima-cho)

A local delicacy coupling fresh seafood with Satsuma mandarins from Suo-oshima island which produces 80% of Yamaguchi’s mandarins.
In this hot pot you can enjoy roasted mandarins and minced local fish seasoned with mandarin pepper.

Bari Soba (Yamaguchi City)

Bari (crunchy) soba is a dish of fried, thick Chinese-style noodles topped with a variety of vegetables including chunks of cabbage, bamboo, shiitake mushrooms and cloud ear mushrooms all covered in a thick, chicken-based soup. The soup softens the noodles and the dish is usually eaten with either vinegar or vinegar soy sauce.

The dish was created using Taiwanese noodles as a base after WWII and is said to have originated from the restaurant “Shuraiken” in Yamaguchi City. The name is said to come from the “bari bari” sound of the fried noodles crunching together or the crunching sound they make when eaten.

Hofu Raw Egg on Rice (Hofu City)

Hanamoyu, an historical drama broadcast in 2015, focused on the life of Fumi, a younger sister of historical figure Yoshida Shoin. Although there is little recorded about Fumi herself, in documents about her husband Motohiko Katori and their lifestyle at the time, there is a section on things they enjoyed. In this section “egg on rice” is mentioned - a meal most reminiscent of the period they lived in (1800s).
11 restaurants in Hofu city offer their own uniquely original versions of egg on rice.

Nagato Yakitori (Nagato City)

Nagato’s yakitori are made up of different cuts of chicken, pork ribs and vegetables, making this “skewer dish” uniquely different from yakitori in other areas.

Yakitori houses in Nagato City provide garlic powder, cayenne pepper and seven spice chili powder to season the skewers to your liking in a style original to Nagato!
(Some stores also offer yuzu lime pepper made from one of Nagato city’s specialties – the yuzu lime.)

In Nagato there is also onion between the chunks of meat on the skewer instead of the usual shallot, and the dish is served up with plenty of cabbage!
Local yakitori restaurants also offer a range of fresh sashimi, dried seafood and other items. The perfect cure for anything!