Everywhere you go in Japan you'll find regional dishes that are unique to the place you're
in.
I'm here in Hiroshima and I'm on the trail of one of Japan's best loved local delicacies.
I'm here for Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki.
Many of us would know Hiroshima from the tragedy of the Second World War, but since
those darkest days in its history, it's grown into a beautiful modern cultural centre.
This is Shaqian Gardens and it's one of my favourite places in Hiroshima.
In many traditional aspects of classical Japanese gardens, Shaqians features mimic
vast natural landscapes of mountain scenery, islands and lakes.
We're coming to the end of winter now and the blossoms are just starting to bloom.
The cherry blossoms in Japan are known all over the world, but if you ask me, these are
even more beautiful, they're plum blossoms and they have various shades from white all
the way through to pink and the fragrance is absolutely incredible.
Plum blossoms bloom a couple of weeks earlier than cherry blossoms and they are of such
cultural significance that the date they bloom is announced on national TV.
But sightseeing is hungry work and just off Hiroshima's main mall, Hondori, is Okonomimura,
where after the war a simple food played a big part in rebuilding the economy and culture
of this city.
This area here was home to dozens of different Okonomiyaki stalls and it's where people
gathered and it's where a sense of community for the new Hiroshima sort of began.
All those stalls have moved into these buildings here and there's plenty of places to get Okonomiyaki
here.
So the place I want to go is a legend of Hiroshima Okonomiyaki.
Yagenbori Husho was one of the best in the city, but the locals just call it Blue Husho
for its signature blue noran curtains that hang above the doorway.
Okonomiyaki is different all over Japan and sometimes called a Japanese pancake or a Japanese
pizza, it's kind of a thick cake, a batter and cabbage and pork and various other things.
But here in Hiroshima it's very different, it's almost a thin crepe filled with vegetables,
bean sprouts, cabbage and then it's got a base of noodles and it's all smothered in
a thick barbequy sauce.
It's an interesting food because the reason it became so popular here is because it was
full of ingredients, full of nutrients that helped a population that wasn't doing so
well kind of had an easy street food that they could make on the side of the road in
a shop at home anywhere really.
Can't wait to give it a try.
The real secret to a good Hiroshima Okonomiyaki is to let it kind of steam the vegetables
rather than frying it, it's cooked on this hot plate that the cap of this crepe that's
over the top of it lets the vegetables fry from the bottom and steam slowly over about
10 or 15 minutes that really brings the sweetness out in the vegetables while also getting rid
of a lot of liquid to intensify the flavour.
When you flip the Okonomiyaki over it starts off about this tall but then over about the
10 minutes that it steams it starts to drop in volume as the liquid gets pushed out.
Okonomiyaki literally means the things that you like fried and that's kind of what this
is, there's a little bit of everything in here, a mix of textures from the slightly
crispy noodles and the bits of crunchy tempura batter to the soft egg and sauce and the silky
steamed vegetables and sweet and salty all at the same time and certainly is that a little
bit of everything you like all fried together.
See by picking up these chopsticks I've exposed myself as an outsider because Katayama-san
just told me the way the locals do it is they just use this little scoop here, you hold
it like that, you cut a little corner of the Okonomiyaki enough to fit in your mouth so
you get all of the vegetables and the crepe and the noodles all together and you just
eat it like that.
Mmm, such an orga-wish you.
Sometimes this type of affordable food in Japan is called B-Q-Gurume or B-Grade Gourme,
let me tell you there is absolutely nothing B-Grade about blue hush all.
