The Local Gourmets In Hirosaki! The Best 10 Popular Restaurants!

When it comes to Hirosaki in Aomori, many people think of Hirosaki Park which has Hirosaki Castle. As there are a lot of old Western style buildings, this area is where you can feel its history and culture. This town is also known for its amazing restaurants that offer the beautiful coffees and the authentic French cuisine. Besides, it has plentiful local fruits and ingredients unique to Tsugaru including apples and vegetables. Today, I will introduce the best 10 restaurants that offer amazing local gourmets!

Aba

“Aba” is a Izakaya style restaurant located on the first floor of Hirosaki Toei Hotel along National Route 260 that offers the local gourmets. They have a wide variety of fish menus such as sashimi or simmered style. If you are keen on feeling Aomori, then Tsugaru cuisine would be the best.

“Igamenchi” is one of the best B-grade dishes in Hirosaki. Here at this restaurant, Igamenchi is to be tried with the special dipping sauce. Igamenchi is the fried chopped squid with vegetables – quite nice with the special sauce! You can try the real taste of squid and vegetables, and its crispy texture is amazing too. Also, just try the special menu of the day and you would be able to meet the unexpected taste of the amazing dish!

Sakuraya

This restaurant, “Sakuraya”, is also located near Hirosaki Park right in front of Hirosaki city gym. Open only during a lunch time while mainly offering Japanese cuisine, this restaurant has a buffet style for just 1,100 yen! They have a wide variety of dishes, more than 5 kinds, with the freshest ingredients possible. If you want to feel at home, this is the place. The views of Hirosaki Park from the window are amazing too.

The ingredients are all fresh and locally grown, and as can be imagined, they are healthy. Other than that, they have other menus including fish, sushi wrap, candied sweet potato, miso pork, and gratin.

Iwakiya

“Iwakiya” is a traditional restaurant located at the roadside station “Sunfesta Ishikawa” along National Route 7. They only have 6 bowl menus; one with sea urchin, one with tuna, one with spring onions and fatty meat of tuna, one with 3 kinds of seafood, one with white-flesh fish and tuna – surprisingly, all for 1,000 yen! (Note that the cost varies only for a bowl with sea urchin). The restaurant has been operated as a fishmonger, and they have the fresh seafood caught in the Sea of Japan, and Tsugaru Channel.

When you order one of the menus, you will be able to have a buffet style dish too and it is all included in the price (1,000 yen), coming with the small dishes of the vegetables and miso soup! Isn’t it so much affordable? Let’s visit this restaurant to try!

Salon de Cafe Ange

“Salon de Cafe Ange” is a restaurant located at “Kyoto Gijuku Gaijin Kyoushi Kan” in the southern part of Hirosaki Park. Here, you can try the Western style dishes centering on French cuisine. As the building itself was built in 1901, this is one of the historic sites as it was designated as an important property in Aomori. You can enjoy not only the menus, but also its atmosphere of old Western style building. There is a miniature of the building just in front of the window to be seen!

“Frenchi Gozen” is a course menu that you can actually eat French dishes with chopsticks. You can choose either fish or meat, and the cold apple soup from Aomori is just amazing! The combination of sweetness and sourness is great.

Yasuke

If you have a chance to visit Hirosaki, Tsugaru Ramen is one of the dishes you must try! “Yasuke” is a Ramen shop specialising in Chinese noodles in Hirosaki. Of all, “Special Chinese Noodles”, small dried sardines are used for the broth, is strongly recommended. What surprises you first is the amount of char sius! You will be so excited just to look at its appearance! Both char siu and noodles are all homemade, and they go well with the light broth of small dried sardines.

The balance of the flavour is amazing, and it has a pleasant finish, and many people tend to upgrade the size! Also, there are some side menus including the char siu bowl, rice, and beer. Do you want to go for Ramen now?

Angelique

Looking so stylish with the exterior of white walls and the interior – they have a wide variety of cakes displayed in a showcase. “Angelique” is a cake shop located right in front of the hospital in the eastern area of Hirosaki Park. You can either take a cake away on the first floor, or have it at the cafe on the second floor. The interior on the second floor is based on black colour with a great atmosphere!

One of the most recommended menus here is an apple pie. It contains a few slices of apples and it tastes sweet and sour at the same time. Not only that, it feels crispy with a slight flavour of cinnamon.

Coffee Hanamaru

Do you feel like having a cup of coffee? The cafe “Coffee Hanamaru”, located just short walk away from Kikko Bridge / Kikkomon in Hirosaki Park, is full of the scent of coffee. Hirosaki is actually known as a town of coffee – its culture had started about 150 years ago, and there are quite a few traditional coffee shops in the city.

When it comes to Aomori – it is apples. Aomori is the largest producer of apples, and “Kogyoku Apple Pie” is a must-try here. A combination of a pie pastry, apple jam, and sourness of Kogyoku apples is just great. This is a standard apple with a steady quality that goes well with a cup of coffee!

Restaurant Yamazaki

“Restaurant Yamazaki” is a French restaurant that offers the locally grown ingredients. With the brown colour based exterior, it might be a little hard to find the entrance, so just be careful not to miss it! The menu tells you the producers, so that you will know where the ingredients come from.

If you have a chance to visit this restaurant, try “Miracle Cold Apple Soup”! As it contains an apple juice, whipped cream and cinnamon inside, mix it up before drinking it and it would taste unique, but great. It tastes a little sweet, but this sweetness just comes from the apple itself as sugar is not contained at all. It is worth trying!

Mikasaya Mochi

Just 12 minutes away from Hirosaki Station by walking, there is a confectionery shop called “Mikasaya Mochi” just in front of Super Hotel Hirosaki that offers a variety of confectioneries such as Mame Daifuku, Ohagi, Yomogi Mochi, and Asaka Mochi. There are no additives included at all.

Of all, “Asaka Mochi” is one of the most popular items here. Actually, this is what the locals would love to have! It just looks like a standard rice cake with something similar to sesames – which is known as “Asaka Seeds”. Asaka Seeds are made from steamed rice. Because the seeds are to be powdered around Asaka Mochi, it is easy to have it in hands. Bean paste is slightly sweet, and mochi has a chewy texture. If you love a confectionery, just try!

Takahashi Chuka Soba

“Takahashi Chuka Soba” is a Ramen shop located along National Route 260. Although it offers a few parking spaces, they are often not available as so many customers visit this restaurant every day. The menu is quite simple – they only have 4; Chinese noodles, Zaru Chinese noodles, Char Siu noodles, and rice. They are one of the first Ramen shops started a small dried sardine based Ramen.

The broth of Chinese noodles here looks just so rich, and as the flavour is unique and original, it goes well with the chewy thick homemade noodles. Needless to say, Char siu tastes great. Why not try now?

Let’s Try The Local Gourmets In Hirosaki!

How was it? From apples to the seafood bowls, Ramen based on small dried sardines, Asaka Mochi and traditional Igamenchi, Hirosaki has a wide variety of local gourmets! Mainly somewhere near Hirosaki Park, there are a lot of restaurants, so using a car might be more convenient. Why not try out the gourmets while enjoying the views of retro buildings?