Regional food of Kansai

Akashiyaki, called tamagoyaki in Akashi, encloses a piece of octopus in a very soft egg-rich batter and serves the dumplings on a board with warm...

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Hamo-suki simmers professionally bone-cut pike conger and large Awaji Island onion pieces in stock made from the fish trimmings and a sweet soy-based...

Himeji oden is hot oden topped with ginger soy sauce or dipped into it at the table.

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Izushi sara soba serves small portions of buckwheat noodles on five white plates per standard order, with leek, wasabi, grated yam, daikon, and egg...

Katsumeshi places a flattened beef cutlet on rice, covers it with demi-glace-style sauce and serves it on a Western plate with chopsticks.

Kobe Beef is not a generic wagyu name. It applies only to qualifying Tajima cattle produced under Hyogo rules and meeting additional sex, carcass...

Kobe Fugetsudo Gaufres are large, paper-thin round wafers sandwiching vanilla, strawberry-flavored, or chocolate cream, with a crisp, fragile texture...

Kobe kawara senbei uses wheat flour, sugar and egg rather than rice, pressing a thin sweet batter in tile-shaped molds.

Nagata bokkake slowly braises parboiled beef tendon and konnyaku with soy sauce, sugar, mirin and related seasonings until tender. It is also called...

Tako meshi cooks octopus with seasoned rice along the Setouchi coast; Akashi is especially associated with Akashi octopus.

Tamba black soybean rice cooks the region's large Tamba-guro beans with rice and may turn the grains pale reddish-purple.

Botan nabe simmers sliced wild boar with napa, leek, burdock, mushrooms and tofu in a mainly miso-based broth in Tamba Sasayama.

Tansan senbei are very thin, round wafers baked with carbonated spring water from Arima Onsen. The name does not mean that they fizz in the mouth...

Ajari Mochi is a semi-fresh sweet made by Kyoto confectioner Mangetsu. A thin, moist and chewy baked dough containing glutinous-rice flour and egg...

Imobo slowly simmers large ebi-imo taro with rehydrated bodara, dried cod, until the sticky tuber and fibrous fish share a sweet-savory broth.

Kamo nasu dengaku thickly cuts Kyoto's large round eggplant, fries or slowly sears it until the dense flesh turns creamy, then finishes it with a...

Minazuki is white uiro topped with azuki and cut into triangles resembling ice, eaten in Kyoto for the Nagoshi purification on 30 June.

Nishin soba combines hot buckwheat noodles and clear dashi with migaki nishin, dried herring slowly simmered until tender in a sweet soy seasoning. As...

Senmaizuke thinly slices large Shogoin turnips, lightly salts them and seasons the translucent rounds with kombu, vinegar, sugar and chili for a...

Kyoto shippoku udon arranges simmered shiitake, yuba, ita-fu or nama-fu, kamaboko and mitsuba over udon in a clear dashi broth. Here shippoku conveys...

Suguki pickles the roots and leaves of a Kyoto turnip relative with salt, heavy pressure and warm-room lactic fermentation.

Uji Kintoki is Japanese shaved ice flavored with a green matcha syrup and served with sweet azuki bean paste. Its essential contrast is...

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Yatsuhashi is a Kyoto confection made chiefly from rice flour, sugar and cinnamon called nikki. Original yatsuhashi is a thin curved baked cracker...

Kyoto yuba is the thin protein-rich film that forms on gently heated soy milk and is lifted sheet by sheet. It is sold fresh or dried.

Yudofu gently warms large tofu cubes in water with kombu and serves them with soy dipping sauce or ponzu and garnishes such as scallion, grated...

This Kyoto home dish pairs large, long Manganji sweet peppers with chirimen jako, tiny dried sardines, in a lightly sweetened soy broth. The peppers...

Shibazuke is a fermented pickle associated with Ohara, Kyoto. Traditional nama-shibazuke ferments summer eggplant, aromatic crinkled red shiso, and...

Akafuku Mochi places smooth paste from Hokkaido azuki on top of white mochi made from Japanese glutinous rice, shaping three finger ridges across the...

Ise udon coats long-boiled extra-thick soft noodles with a small amount of dark tamari-and-dashi sauce, usually adding little beyond scallion.

Mehari-zushi wraps rice completely in a broad salted or lightly pickled takana leaf, sometimes mixing chopped stalk, ginger or sesame into the rice.

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Tekonezushi mixes soy-marinated bonito sashimi with sushi rice and shiso, ginger and nori in the Shima region of Mie.

Arame-maki wraps sardine, saury or cutlassfish in rehydrated thick arame and simmers the rolls with soy, sugar, sake and mirin around Toba's islands.

Chagayu is rice porridge cooked in roasted green tea or bancha, especially associated with Nara and Wakayama. In Nara it is also called okai-san and...

Kakisuga is Sohonten Kakisuga's trademarked confection: candied yuzu peel forms the core and layers of dried persimmon are rolled tightly around it...

Miwa somen is hand-stretched around Miwa in Sakurai, using repeated twisting, resting, oiling and drying to make exceptionally fine noodles with a...

Asuka nabe cooks chicken, napa cabbage, leek, mushrooms and other vegetables in chicken stock enriched with milk.

Nara chameshi cooks rice in sencha or hojicha infusion with roasted soybeans, producing separate grains, tea aroma and nutty beans.

Nara imobota cooks rice with tubers and mashes them into small sticky dumplings; Ikoma uses taro with kinako or soybean coating.

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Kuzukiri is a Japanese confection made by heating kudzu starch and water into a clear sheet, cutting it into noodles, chilling it, and dipping it in...

Nyumen serves boiled somen in hot dashi. Around Sakurai and Miwa, Nara's hand-stretched somen region, it is a year-round counterpart to chilled...

Warabi mochi is a soft Japanese sweet made by heating starch traditionally extracted from bracken roots with water and sugar, then serving the set...

Yoshino kakinoha-zushi places thin salt-and-vinegar-cured mackerel or another fish on bite-size vinegared rice, wraps each piece in...

Narazuke begins with salted white melon, cucumber, small watermelon, ginger or other produce, which is moved through fresh sake-lees beds repeatedly...

Meibutsu Mimuro is a monaka made by Shiratamaya Eiju in Miwa, Sakurai. Crisp mochi-rice shells hold kanoko-an that combines smooth and whole-bean...

Yamato zoni combines white-miso broth, round mochi, taro, celebration daikon, carrot, tofu and konnyaku, then moves the mochi to a separate dish of...

Goma-dofu is made by heating and kneading sesame paste, kudzu starch and water, then cooling the glossy mixture until it sets.

Hako-zushi is Osaka pressed sushi made by packing seasoned vinegared rice and carefully prepared seafood into a square wooden mold, pressing it and...

Kyoto white-miso ozoni combines sweet, koji-rich white miso with round mochi, head taro or taro, daikon and Kintoki carrot.

Awa okoshi is an Osaka confection made by crushing rice to millet-sized grains, toasting it and binding it firmly with sugar or starch syrup.

Battera is Osaka pressed sushi layering vinegared rice, cured mackerel and a translucent sheet of shiroita kombu.

Doteyaki is an Osaka comfort dish of parboiled beef tendon, often with konnyaku, slowly simmered in a sweet-savory mixture of miso, sugar, and mirin...

Harihari nabe is an Osaka hot pot of thinly sliced whale meat and generous handfuls of mizuna cooked briefly in kombu-and-bonito dashi. The name...

Iwa okoshi binds finely crushed rice densely with syrup into rock-hard slabs, commonly scented with fresh ginger and toasted sesame.

Kayaku gohan is the Kansai name for rice cooked with dashi, soy and additions such as chicken, fried tofu, burdock, carrot, konnyaku and mushrooms.

Osaka kitsune udon combines soft noodles, clear kombu-bonito broth and a large fried-tofu pouch simmered sweet-savory with sugar and soy.

Mitarashi Komochi reverses ordinary glazed skewered dumplings by sealing sweet-savory soy sauce inside a soft bite-size rice-flour mochi.

Nikusui is an Osaka soup born from the idea of ordering beef udon without the udon. Light Kansai dashi carries thin simmered beef, scallion, and often...

Osaka kushikatsu skewers bite-size beef, pork, seafood, vegetables, egg, cheese or other fillings, coats them in a thin flour batter and fine...

Osaka okonomiyaki mixes chopped cabbage, egg and often grated yam into dashi-seasoned flour batter, then cooks it as a round pancake with pork or...

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Senshu mizunasu asazuke briefly pickles the region's round, thin-skinned, low-astringency water eggplant in rice bran or seasoning liquid, preserving...

Takoyaki is Osaka's round griddle snack: diced octopus enclosed in a dashi-seasoned wheat batter and turned in a pan of hemispherical molds. Sauce...

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Funazushi is Shiga's fermented nare-zushi: salt-cured crucian carp is layered with cooked rice and lactic-fermented. Unlike modern vinegared-rice...

Umoregi wraps smooth white-bean paste in soft gyuhi and coats the small piece with matcha blended into wasanbon sugar.

Okoko no jako-ni soaks and parboils over-aged salty or sour takuan, then simmers it again with dried fish, soy sauce, mirin and chilli. Okoko is a...

Koayu sansho-ni simmers small Lake Biwa ayu whole with soy, sugar, sake, mirin and aromatic sansho berries. The concentrated glaze balances the fish's...

Yakisaba somen simmers grilled mackerel in a sweet soy broth, then cooks somen in that broth until the noodles absorb most of it.

Hinona-zuke pickles the long, slender Hinona turnip native to Hino, Shiga, using salt, vinegar or rice bran.

Aka konnyaku is Omihachiman konnyaku colored vivid red-brown with food-grade ferric oxide. The color does not come from chili, so the plain product is...

Miidera Chikara Mochi from Miidera Chikara Mochi Honke places three soft white mochi pieces on each skewer, brushes them with a proprietary syrup and...

Ebi-mame simmers small Lake Biwa sujiebi with soybeans in sugar, soy, sake and mirin, sometimes with a little vinegar.

Kamo nabe in northern Shiga traditionally simmers winter wild mallard from Lake Biwa with leek, tofu and greens.

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Ubagamochi are tiny pieces of mochi made with Kusatsu rice, wrapped outside in smooth koshi-an and topped with a small white nerikiri made from white...

Kinzanji miso ferments rice, barley and soybean koji with salt and vegetables such as melon, eggplant, ginger and shiso. Visible grains and vegetable...

Kishu umeboshi preserve Wakayama-grown ume with salt and sun-drying. Large Nanko ume, prized for thick flesh and thin skin, are especially closely...

Kue nabe simmers thick cuts, skin and bony parts of longtooth grouper with vegetables and tofu. Wakayama's Hidaka area is especially associated with...

Suzuyaki are Kobaido's tiny bell-shaped cakes from Shingu, Wakayama. Egg, butter, sugar, and related ingredients make a golden castella-like cake with...

Deluxe Cake sandwiches Suzumeya's special white-bean-based jam between dense castella-like layers and coats the square piece completely in pale white...

Wakayama chagayu cooks raw rice in lightly brewed bancha or hojicha. Called okai-san or okae-san with affection, it was an everyday staple distinct...

Honnoji Manju is Souhonke Surugaya's small white sake manju, with smooth red-bean paste wrapped in fermented steamed dough and the distinctive hon...

Mikan mochi steams glutinous rice with whole satsuma mandarins, removes the cooked peel, then pounds the fruit flesh, rice and sugar together...

Wakayama shirasu-don is rice topped generously with local whitebait. Most bowls use fluffy kamaage shirasu, briefly blanched and lightly salted, while...

Whale tatsuta-age marinates whale meat in soy sauce, ginger and sake, coats it with potato starch and fries it. In Taiji, Wakayama, it belongs to a...