Saitama Prefecture’s locals’ most highly recommended six gourmet dishes! Let’s eat them all!!

Higashi-Matsuyama: Yakitori

If you’re going to try Higashimatsuyama Yakitori, you’ve got to try a pork head skewer – known as Pork Kashira! The pork head, with its unique texture, and the sweet long onions are a perfect match! Washing them down with a cold beer is the “proper” way to eat these delicacies! Cover them in a bit of spicy miso sauce and they go to a whole new level of deliciousness, making the drinks even better! Each shop has its own unique flavor, so try a few and find the best one for you!

Kitamoto: Tomato Curry

According to “Miori Udon”, the original “Kitamoto Tomato Curry” has been an extremely popular gourmet dish ever since it won the Saitama B-Grade Local Gourmet King finals in 2011. With the tanginess of tomatoes moderately coupled with curry spices, the most special thing is the two mini-tomato meatballs riding on top of the curry and rice! When you bite into it, you can feel the juiciness and sweetness of Kitamoto tomatos!

Sugito: Eel Box

There are many “eel box” restaurants in Saitama. Among those, Takahashiya, which was established in the Meiji Era, is a popular, well-established store that is popular with famous Kabuki actors. The process of grilling and steaming is done repeatedly, and the bones are removed one by one – by hand – resulting in a delicously soft finish. On top of that, the eel is topped with a sauce that has been more than 100 years in the making. This is the secret to its wonderful flavor!

Fuubu・Kobayashi: “Mikan” Oranges

Within the Fuubu・Kobayashi area, there are 20 orange farms. Here, the oranges have a great between sweet and sour, and are so juicy that it’s like drinking! You can enter any of the farms for 800 yen and enjoy eating as much as you like right there! Then you can take one bag of oranges home as a souvenir. Of course, eating the oranges on site is the most delicious!

Nishikawaguchi: Chinese Cuisine

A “Chinatown” has formed in Nishikawaguchi as increasingly more and more ethnic Chinese come to live there. Among those, I-we-shan is a popular shop often picked up by many Japanese media. And their dumplings using Saitama Prefecture’s black pork, and their giant dumplings are specialties you will want to line up and eat alongside the locals! The taste of the crispy, fragrant curry-flavored fried shrimp Marie are unforgettable once you’ve tried them!

Sayama: Sayama Tea

SayamaTea, one of Japan’s “Thre Teas,” has thick leaves and a strong flavor. If you want to buy a souvenir, we recommend “Furuya Garden” because of its more than 150 years of history. There is a wide variety of products in the store, all having been produced in-house with Sayama tea. Recently, you can also find rare “hand-picked teas” and teas made by traditional hand-burning techniques. These are suitable as gifts or to drink at home!

After reading this article, are you drooling? Next time you go to Saitama, by all means, please try to eat the cuisine introduced in this aricle!