What to Eat on Miyajima: Anago, Oysters, Fried Momiji

Everyone writes about Miyajima’s floating torii. Fair enough — it is on this site’s front page too. But when I took the ferry over on a March Sunday in 2023, alone, the plan was simpler: see the shrine, and eat well. This is the eating-well part — and the honest answer to how much time the island actually needs.

Quick facts

Mametanuki: one set, three Hiroshima classics

Mametanuki (穴子と牡蠣 まめたぬき) sits inside the Kinsuikan ryokan on the main street, and the set to order is the Aki-no-Kuni Zukushi (安芸乃国づくし) — “all of Aki province,” listed on the English menu as the Hiroshima Special — which bundles the island’s two signatures with a third from the mainland:

• Anago-meshi — conger eel over rice. Mametanuki steams its anago rather than only grilling it, and that is the point: the flesh comes out fluffy, closer to a cloud than to kabayaki. If you have only had grilled anago, this is a different dish.
• Fried oysters — Hiroshima is Japan’s oyster capital, and these were big ones, the flavor deep and concentrated. March is still within the winter oyster season, which probably didn’t hurt.
• Roast beef of Taoshita wagyu — a lean cut from Takehara on the Hiroshima mainland: proper red-meat umami with a firm, satisfying chew, a nice counterweight to the soft anago.

The Aki-no-Kuni Zukushi set: two whole anago over rice, Taoshita roast beef, three fat fried oysters — and the sides that come along for the ride.

I lined up at noon on a Sunday and waited ten to twenty minutes — reasonable for the island’s main street at peak lunch. Solo diners slot in easily.

Fried momiji: eat it hot, standing up

Momiji manju — the maple-leaf-shaped cake — is Miyajima’s souvenir. The version worth your attention is the fried one (age-momiji) at Momijido (紅葉堂): battered, fried to order, handed over hot. Mine was koshian (smooth red-bean paste): the shell crisp, the inside steaming and fluffy, the sweetness restrained. It is as much about the texture as the taste — and it does not survive being carried home. Eat it on the spot.

Between bites: the shrine and the deer

The food slots neatly around Itsukushima Shrine itself. With the tide in, the shrine does its famous trick: vermilion corridors running over open water.

The corridors with the tide in — water underfoot the whole way.

And from those corridors, the money view: the great torii out in the bay, with a tour rowboat sliding under the gate.

The torii framed from the corridors, boat passing under. This is the tide-in version.

One honest note on tides: the torii “floats” at high tide and stands on wet sand at low tide, and both are worth seeing. I only caught the water version. If walking out to the gate is on your list, look up the tide table before picking your ferry time.

The famous deer, for the record, were thoroughly mellow that day — lounging around the shore, minding their own business.

Exhibit A: a thoroughly mellow local.

So how much time does Miyajima need?

For the shrine, the main street, a proper lunch and a hot fried momiji: my 2.5 hours was enough, and it did not feel rushed. As a half-day trip built around one very good lunch, the island works perfectly.

Staying longer? The Miyajima Ropeway climbs from Momijidani Park up Mt. Misen in two stages — about fifteen minutes of riding — and the Shishiiwa Observatory at the top station lays the Seto Inland Sea out in islands below you. The true summit is another half-hour on foot beyond that. I skipped it this time, which is exactly why 2.5 hours felt like enough; budget roughly two extra hours if you won’t.