Toyama food beyond sushi富山の美味

Small, translucent, almost pearlescent shrimp found in commercial quantities almost nowhere else on Earth except Toyama Bay. Sweetness bordering on delicate melon. One of the three “prefectural fish.”

Eat as sashimi, on nigiri, in shiroebi-don heaped over rice (Shiroebi-tei at Toyama Station is the canonical lunch), or as kakiage tempura. Take home shiroebi sembei rice crackers, the easy souvenir.

Cold-water buri (Japanese amberjack) that swim into Toyama Bay November to February are fatty, dense, and considered among the best yellowtail in Japan. The certified Himi Kan-buri stamp commands premium prices.

Five canonical preparations: sashimi/buritoro (raw belly); buri shabu-shabu (paper-thin slices in light broth, the elegant winter pinnacle); buri-daikon (simmered with daikon); buri-don; and yaki-buri kama (grilled collar/neck). Best at a Himi Onsen ryokan with a full kan-buri kaiseki course.

Intensely black from soy sauce, heavily peppered, with thick noodles. Salty, rich, and designed to be eaten with a side bowl of plain white rice, the ramen functions almost as a sauce-like protein rather than a complete meal.

Invented in post-war Toyama for manual labourers rebuilding the city after WWII bombings. Gained national fame in 2009 when Menya Iroha won the Tokyo Ramen Show Grand Prix. Eat at the CiC branch near Toyama Station for convenience, or visit Taiki, the 1947-founded birthplace, still family-run.

Masuzushi, salt-cured trout layered with vinegared rice, wrapped in bamboo leaves, pressed in a round wooden mould, cut into wedges like a cake. An 18th-century preservation method that travelled as gifts to Edo-period shoguns. Today the most famous ekiben at Toyama Station, Minamotono and Masuzushiya Takeura are the canonical makers.

Kombu (kelp), Toyama is one of Japan’s top kelp-consuming cities per capita, a legacy of the Edo-era Kitamae-bune sea trade. Try kobujime (kelp-cured nigiri), tororo-kombu (shaved kelp over rice), and kombu-jime sushi at counter restaurants.