Tohoku Cuisine: Typical Food From the Region

Author: Caroline Grinsted, former head chef of Muse Berlin renowned for international comfort food Edited by: Joost Nusselder, author of The Essential Japanese meal planner cookbook Updated October 31, 2024

Tohoku is in the far north of Honshu island. It’s a region with icy cold winters. As a result, hearty soups and warming stews feature prominently in the cuisine of Tohoku, and it also has a rich food-preservation heritage, due to the need to lay down stores for the long, cold winters.

Tohoku contains long coastlines which bring a variety of fresh seafood to the region. Each of the 6 different prefectures (Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyage and Yamagata) has different local specialities. Some are known for noodle dishes, some for rice, and some for apples.

The top restaurants to visit in Tohoku are Azumaya Restaurant in Iwate for wanko soba, Shokudo Namae in Fukushima for kitakata ramen, and Aji Tasuke in Miyagi, which is the birthplace of gyutan.

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What food is Tohoku famous for?

Tohoku is famous for a variety of local dishes, including wanko soba, mugimeshi, and morioka reimen. Other famous dishes include Tohoku’s variety of hotpots, soups, and stews.

There are 6 prefectures in Tohoku, each of which are known and celebrated for different delicacies

Akita

Akita has long, cold winters and this is reflected in its food. There are a lot of hotpot dishes which have arisen from the need for hot, warming food.

5 local delicacies of the region are as follows:

• Kiritanpo: warm and comforting grilled rice skewers, often served in a hotpot as “Kiritanpo nabe”.
• Nasuno-kojizuke: eggplant marinated in rice and koji
• Shottsuru nabe: a hotpot with fermented sandfish, tofu and leeks
• Hatahata zushi: a type of sushi made exclusively from the sandfish
• Iburi gakko: smoked vegetables pickled in a unique way

Aomori

Aomori is known more than anything for its apples. Fuji, Hokuto, Kinsei, and Orin are some of the apple varieties the region has developed and is well-known for. Additionally there are several dishes which use shellfish.

These 5 dishes are typical of the region:

• Kininaru ringo: a whole Fuji apple soaked in syrup and enclosed in flaky golden pastry.
• Sekai Ichi: the most expensive (and some say, most delicious) apples in the world are grown in Aomori.
• Ichigoni: a traditional, luxurious soup of sea urchin and abalone.
• Kaiyaki-misu: scallops, leeks, and eggs in a miso broth, traditionally served in a scallop shell.
• Kenoshiru: country soup with foraged mountain vegetables and tofu, allegedly improving every time it is reheated.

Fukushima

Fukushima has a rich heritage and history and a diverse range of flavors reflecting its local traditions.

5 of the local specialities you may be served are:

• Kitakata Ramen: curly ramen noodles in broth, named after the city of Kitakata
• Kozuyu: a local soup with dried scallops and vegetables
• Nishin no sansho zuke: fermented herrings layered with peppers
• Enban gyoza: gyoza dumplings that fuse together when fried.
• Donkojiru: soup made from a local fish species on the region

Iwate

Iwate is very well-known for its noodles. This region has a huge variety of different types of noodles and noodle dishes.

Here are 5 dishes typical of the region:

• Wanko soba: never-ending noodles with mixed condiments! The bowl is replenished until the diner is full.
• Morioka reimen: chilled noodles made from potato starch, in spicy broth with eggs, vegetables and fruit.
• Azuki batto: short, chewy udon noodles in a broth made from sweet red bean paste.
• Kamome no tamago: meaning “seagull’s egg” due to its appearance, this confectionary item is sweetened white bean paste wrapped in cake and dipped in white chocolate.
• Kurumi mochi: sweet rice cakes with a creamy walnut sauce typical of the region.

Miyagi

Miyagi is home to excellent seafood, including salmon and oysters. It is also famed for inventing grilled beef tongue dishes, which are now popular throughout the country.

Here are 5 local dishes:

• Gyutan yaki: grilled beef tongue
• Mugimeshi: white rice and barley porridge, often served with gyutan.
• Harakomeshi: steamed rice topped with the region’s local salmon and salmon roe.
• Miyagi Kaki: the special oysters of the region, large and sweet.
• Zunda mochi: a dessert from Sendai city of boiled rice cakes and a paste of edemame beans.

Yamagata

Yamagata also has strong winters and favors hot, rich dishes as a consequence. It is also known as a sake-producing area, and many dishes make use of byproducts of that industry.

5 local delicacies are as follows:

• Imoni: a hearty meat stew with beef and vegetables.
• Sansai nabe: the region’s signature hotpot, with mountain vegetables, chicken, or rabbit.
• Kasu jiru: soup with salted salmon, radishes and soybeans in sake lees.
• Ita soba: buckwheat noodles, cut larger than normal soba noodles.
• Sakata ramen: thin curly homemade noodles typical of the city of Sakata in Yamagata.

What restaurants do you go when eating in Tohoku?

For wanko soba, the online recommendation sites Zendine and Taste Atlas both recommend Azumaya Restaurant in Iwate. Taste Atlas also suggests Chokurian for wanko soba.

Bannai Shokudo in Fukushima is the number one restaurant for Kitakata ramen, according to Taste Atlas, and Tsubasa Usai and several other food critics recommend Shokudo Namae.

In Miyagi, the food critic Daniel Goh recommends Umami Tasuke for gyutan; Taste Atlas suggests Kisuke for gyutan and mugimeshi, and the website Visit Japan claims that Aji Tasuke is the birthplace of gyutan.

The website Savor Japan, lists Ajimichi Ippei, Sansuien Higashiguchi, Datenari, and Ryotei Hamaya, as its top 3 Japanese restaurants in Tohoku, and also mentions Hotaru Kokubun-cho as a highly recommended izakaya.

How does Tohoku differ from other regional Japanese food?

Tohoku differs from other regional Japanese food primarily due to the long, harsh winters of the region. This means that the region has a rich heritage of traditional preservation techniques using local ingredients and many of the region’s most loved dishes are warming winter hotpots.

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Caroline first opened the doors to her own apartment in Berlin to guests, which was soon sold out. She then became the head chef of Muse Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg, for eight years, renowned for “international comfort food.”