Top 10 Must Visit Restaurants and Foodies Spots in Ehime!

Due to its location facing the Seto Inland Sea, Ehime has lots of quality food such as fresh seafood and vegetables. That is probably why there are many local specialties in Ehime. Tai Meshi (rice cooked with sea bream), Jako Ten (fried fish cake), local beers, Mitsuhama Yaki (Ehime’s savory pancake), and Imabari Ramen. All of them are nationally famous in Japan. Visiting once is not enough to try them all. Ehime is the place that makes people feel like visiting many times just to eat their delicious local food.

Tai Meshi Senmon Tai-ya

When you go to Ehime, the first thing you must eat is Tai Meshi (rice cooked with sea bream). “Tai Meshi Senmon Tai-ya” is a famous Tai Meshi specialty restaurant that serves only “Tai Meshi Zen (set meal)”. The portside location allows it to have a nice atmosphere with its traditional Japanese style house. Inside the house, there is a comfortable tatami room, which is like a ryokan inn.

Sea bream they use is wildey caught from the local waters. They serve only 30 sets a day, so you should book in advance. When the set comes, the fish of Tai Meshi is already flaked off and topped on rice, and it tastes amazing! Also, delicious side dishes cooked with local ingredients, including sea bream sashimi, soup, Jako Ten (fried fish cake), fresh hijiki (seaweed), and pickled veggies, come with the rice. It is certainly a big meal. Enjoy their wonderful food.

Hozumi-tei

There is another great place to eat Tai Meshi in Uwajima City. Its name is “Hozumi-tei” located walkably close to Uwajima Station. The house of this long standing restaurant is built in traditional Japanese style and looks like ryokan inn at a riverside. When it is getting dark in the evening, the house creates a really nice atmosphere with lights of the town and the sound of the streaming water. This place is a great casual restaurant to enjoy tasty local food of Uwajima. Their various local specialities include: Tai Meshi, Jako Ten, Tai Sōmen (sōmen noodles with soy sauce simmered sea bream), Tachiuo Tachimaki (grilled ribbon fish wrapped on a bamboo stick), and Satsuma Meshi (rice with dashi soup made of mashed grilled fish, seared barley miso, and other ingredients).

Uwajima’s Tai Meshi has a big difference from others; the sea bream is not cooked with rice, but sea bream sashimi and a raw egg yolk are topped on plain rice. Pour special dashi soy sauce when you eat it. It is like a luxurious version of Japanese soul food, Tamagokake gohan (rice with raw egg). Their Tai Meshi gives you a great taste of sea bream. It is highly recommended.

Futami Seaside Park

This seaside park with a really beautiful beach is designated as one of “Japan’s 100 Best Sunset Spots”. Perfect place for dating. Next to the park, there is a fun place called “Michi no Eki Futami (roadside station)”.

At this roadside station, there is a food booth of their local specialty, Jako Ten. You will not want to miss that. It is a fried fish cake made of several mashed fishes from the local waters. In Ehime, people simply call it tempura. Heart-shaped Jako Ten, “Love Jako Ten” is available, too. It feels so good to eat it while watching the fantastic sunset view of the Seto Inland Sea.

Tako Meshi Mihara

If you want to try Tako Meshi (rice cooked with octopus), you should visit “Tako Meshi Mihara”. Its brown big house is a raised floor building with a large wooden floored space with tatami rugs. From their big windows, nice breeze comes in. It is almost like a beach house.

“Tako Meshi Mihara” is an octopus specialty restaurant, and their best specialty is, of course, “Tako Meshi”. It is a rice dish cooked with octopus chunks, and thin sliced burdock and carrot. Tastes excellent and makes people happy with its rich umami flavor and nice texture of octopus.Their other specialties include: fried octopus with a good balance of saltiness, “Tako Ten”, sliced octopus with a sweetened vinegar, “Tako Su”, and octopus sashimi with a nice texture “Tako no Sashimi”.

Kyōdo Ryōri Goshiki Honten

“Goshiki Honten” is a Matsuyama’s local specialty restaurant that is located next to Central Post Office in Matsuyama City’s business area close to Ōkaidō Station. It is a 380 years old long standing restaurant with a traditional Japanese appearance. As previously mentioned, their specialties are Matsuyama’s local food including Tai Meshi. One of their specialties, Tai Somen is really popular among the locals. It looks really dynamic with the somen noodles topped with a whole simmered sea bream. Each dish they serve, including Jako Ten, tastes really nice!

They also serve delicious drink, “Mikan Beer”. It is a beer cocktail mixed with mikan (Japanese orange) juice. The good balance of beer and mikan would make you addicted! Tastes so good.

Dōgo Bakushu-kan

Dōgo Onsen of Ehime is Japan’s oldest popular onsen town. After taking a bath at the greatest onsen, Matsuyama’s delicious local beer would make you feel really good. Dōgo Bakushu-kan is a beer restaurant located in front of Dōgo Onsen Honkan. Inside the house, there is a counter seating, table seating, and tatami space with a comfortable ambience. Their specialty is local beer, but they also serve Ehime’s local cuisine such as “Senzanki (fried chicken)” and “Jako Ten”. They go really well with beer!

Their beer is produced at a brewery in Dōgo. They serve it in a beer mug, pitcher, or a simple glass. Their unique beer varieties include: “Sōseki Beer”, “Madonna Beer”, “Botchan Beer” whose name derived from a novel of the famous Japanese author, Natsume Sōseki. It would be fun to compare. Enjoy them with Ehime’s local dishes!

Hakurakuten Imabari Honten

“Hakurakuten” is a long standing Japanese-Chinese cuisine restaurant. Their set meals are good value for money, which come with kara-age fried chicken, ramen noodles, or pan fried dumplings, etc. They also serve a la carte. Among many delicious dishes, their specialty is “Yaki Buta Tamago Meshi (rice topped with roast pork slices and fried eggs)”. It is Imabari’s very best staple local dish loved by the locals.

The sunny side up eggs and the roast pork slices on rice make a great harmony with their special sweet sauce. This dish was originally made for people who worked at Hakurakuten, but now it has become the most popular dish among customers. So the taste is guaranteed. Stir the soft-cooked eggs, pork, and rice with the sauce altogether. Tastes incredibly good. It is a simple dish, but makes you addicted. Worth to eat.

Hi no De

“Hi no De” is a Mitsuhama Yaki (okonomiyaki: savory pancake) specialty restaurant. It is said that Mitsuhama’s local specialty, Mitsuhama Yaki is the origin of the famous Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. It is a nice casual place, located really close to the sea, and always packed with the local customers. The house is small with a counter seating only for five people. So, you should book in advance.

Mitsuhamayaki really looks like Hiroshima’s okonomiyaki, but the ingredients are a bit different. It has beef, pan fried noodles seasoned with sauce, chikuwa (tube-shaped fish cake) slices, and shredded cabbage. Probably it has less cabbage than that of Hiroshima style. Tastes really nice with the sweetness of the beef and a little spicy sauce. It would be nice with beer, too. You should try once.

Menya Takeyoshi

Imabari Ramen is one of the Imabari’s iconic local foods, which is created by Imabari people. “Menya Takeyoshi” is a very popular ramen shop for its soy sauce soup base ramen noodles. The soy sauce used for the soup is produced in Imabari.

Their best recommended ramen is the special “Imabari Ramen” served only on Thursdays. The rich tasty soup looks beautiful with the golden color, and tastes the flavor of iriko (dried small fish). Its medium thin wavy noodles have a nice chewy texture and catch the delicious soup really well. Also, their “Tsuke Men” is really nice. Its soup is a little spicy hot but tastes excellent, and not too heavy. It goes really well with the straight noodles. This is the best place to eat Ehime’s ramen.

Kiri no Mori Kashi Kōbō

“Kiri no Mori Daifuku” is a Japanese confectionery sold at Kiri no Mori Kashi Kōbō located in Shingu-cho. It is also well known as one of Ehime’s local food. This daifuku (round rice cake with azuki bean jam inside) is made with luxurious matcha green tea powder produced in Shingū, and has whipped cream wrapped in azuki bean jam. The flavor of the tea goes well with the cream, and you will understand the reason of its popularity by just one bite. They don’t do mass production, so up to three packs are available for one person.

Other than the daifuku, various Japanese confectioneries, western style sweets, and even knick knacks are available. Of course, they have delicious Shingū tea leaves, and other various types of tea leaves, such as Jō-cha (high class tea), Genmai-cha (brown rice tea), Hōji-cha (roasted green tea), and easy tea bags. Tea tasting is on offer, so you can find one you like. It is a nice place to visit when you travel to Ehime.

Tour around and eat the delicious local food in Ehime!

The characteristic of fantastic Ehime’s local food is its wide range of variety from rice dishes, ramen noodles, and savory cuisines to sweet stuffs. Each has a historical- cultural background, so it would be interesting to trace their backgrounds too. Today, many products are available online, but the local foods tastes best when you eat at the actual place. You can enjoy not only the taste, but also the atmosphere of the place, and that would be a great memory. You must visit Ehime.