How to enjoy Hirome Market, which is full of the charms of Kochi's food. If you come here, let's all have a toast!

What is "Hirome Market"?

Hirome Market is located in the central shopping district of Kochi City, close to tourist attractions such as Kochi Castle. It is about 30 minutes by car from Kochi Ryoma Airport. If you use public transportation, you can access it in about 40 minutes by taking the airport limousine bus and then the tram (Tosaden).

It opened in 1998. It was built with the hope that it would become a central facility in revitalizing the shopping district. The name Hirome Market comes from Fukao Hirome Shigeaki, a Tosa clan chief retainer whose mansion was in this area. Mr. Fukao was well-known among the locals as a famous chief retainer who served four feudal lords during the late Edo period, and even after his mansion was no longer there as the era changed from Edo to Meiji, this area was still called "Hirome Mansion."

Hirome Market, built in this historic location, is a commercial facility with around 60 stores selling a wide variety of foods, souvenirs, and miscellaneous goods.

Important points to remember when using Hirome Market

Admission to Hirome Market is free. Bringing food and drinks from outside the facility is prohibited.

You can buy whatever you want from the various stores in Hirome Market and eat and drink as much as you like at the shared tables set up inside the building.

You may have to share a table with other customers. The charm of Hirome Market is the closeness with which locals and tourists mingle, and conversations naturally begin with questions like "Where are you from?"

Some stores have seating available inside, and some allow you to bring in food from other stores as long as you order drinks there.

Many of the shared tables can be filled on weekends, so the seats inside each store are actually hidden gems.

*Seating and ordering rules vary by store, so please check before using.

After you finish eating and drinking, the cleaning staff who is going around the building will clear away your dishes.

Additionally, there are several trash cans and shelves for returning tableware throughout the building, so you can clean up after yourself.

Clean it up so the next person can use it comfortably.

The building is barrier-free, and there are facilities such as a nursing space and baby beds, so guests can bring their children along.

Must-try foods recommended by locals!

Hirome Market has many shops, each offering unique gourmet food. Among them, we picked out four recommended shops from locals who frequent Hirome Market! We will introduce you to the gourmet food you should definitely try when you visit Kochi.

If you want to eat hearty, thick seared bonito, try "Yairotei"

The must-try Kochi gourmet food for anyone visiting Kochi is, of course, bonito tataki!

Yairotei is a restaurant serving carefully selected bonito and has been in business at this location since Hirome Market opened.

The owner wants to serve delicious bonito to his customers, so from March to November he serves raw bonito caught in the waters off the coast of Tosa, grilled over straw or as sashimi.

*December to February is the off-season, so if there is no fresh fish available, frozen bonito will be used.

The taste of bonito changes with the seasons, from the light "first bonito" in spring to the fatty "returned bonito" in autumn, so no matter how many times you visit you'll always find something new to enjoy.

Yairo-tei's seared bonito is standard in generous, thick slices.

The seasoning is simple, just salt, and you can add thinly sliced garlic or wasabi to taste. When you stuff a big piece into your mouth, the aroma of the straw-grilled fish is followed by the savory flavor of the bonito.

If you come to Kochi, this is the first gourmet dish you should try.

Yairo-tei

"Chinmido" where you can enjoy Kochi's local gourmet food

The largest store in Hirome Market is "Chinmido." It stocks a wide range of products, including noodles such as udon and soba, various side dishes, sushi, and souvenirs.

This is a great place to eat as it has a wide variety of small portioned side dishes and can cater to those who want to try a little bit of everything.

One thing you should definitely try here is Kochi's local cuisine.

Some of the dishes include "Tosa Maki," a sushi roll made with seared bonito (back left in the photo), "fried moray eel" (back right in the photo), known as the gangster of the sea, "Itadori," a wild vegetable that is not often eaten in other prefectures (front left in the photo), and "Noresore," a young conger eel (front right in the photo).

This is a great place to enjoy local ingredients, from classics to more unusual varieties in addition to this.

Chinmido

Crispy and light gyoza from the food stall "Hiromedeyasubee"

When you think of a final dish after drinking in Kochi, the first thing that comes to mind is yatai gyoza. Founded more than 50 years ago, "Yasube" is the original yatai gyoza restaurant.

The way the filling is made has not changed since the shop first opened. Chinese chives, ginger, and cabbage are chopped by hand and kneaded together with pork. After an order is placed, each dumpling is individually wrapped in a skin, a meticulous craftsmanship. Finally, the dumplings are deep-fried in plenty of oil, creating the unique texture that is characteristic of yatai gyoza.

The light and crispy texture of these tempting gyoza dumplings makes it easy to eat as many as you like. If you want to share with multiple people, we recommend ordering two or more servings.

Needless to say, it pairs perfectly with beer.

Hiromedeyasubee

Hotei Chaya: Relax with carefully selected sweets

Hirome Market is a place where you can enjoy not only alcohol and food, but also sweets. The next place we will introduce is Hotei Chaya, a shop where you can enjoy authentic sweets.

The shop is run by a former Japanese tea specialist in Kochi City, and matcha from Kyoto's long-established matcha green tea shop "Koyamaen" is luxuriously blended into its soft serve ice cream and parfaits.

Their signature matcha sweets are popular, but their other products such as zenzai, parfaits, and non-alcoholic squash have also captured the hearts of people of all ages and genders.

The photo shows the "Matcha Parfait" topped with homemade red bean paste and shiratama (rice flour dumplings) and "Seasonal Squash (from the left, Kochi Prefecture-grown citrus fruits "Naoshichi" and "Bushukan")." The squash is made with homemade syrup, and the lineup changes depending on the season.

One of the attractions of Hirome Market is that you can enjoy authentic sweets at any time, whether it's for an afternoon snack or after-meal sweets.

Hotei Chaya

In addition to the stores we have introduced, there are many other attractive stores! The maps on the tables and inside the building can help you find your favorite store or menu.

One of the joys of Hirome Market is gathering a table full of delicious food from various shops and tasting it all.

Bring delicious memories from Kochi to your home

If you want to send the delicious food you found in Kochi to a loved one or enjoy it at home after your trip, buy souvenirs at Hirome Market and send them away.

The taste you enjoyed, along with your memories of Kochi. We will introduce two stores in Hirome Market where you can buy and have your purchases shipped.

Extremely fresh! Seared bonito must be raw "Tosa Kuroshio Suisan"

"Tosa Kuroshio Suisan" is a store that can deliver bonito tataki. Moreover, the bonito tataki that is delivered is grilled over straw after an order is placed! Therefore, the freshness is impeccable.

You can now enjoy the bonito tataki you had in Kochi in the comfort of your own home.

In addition to seared bonito, everything on display in the store, including dried fish, vegetables, fruit, and sweets, can be shipped.

This shop has a wide selection of Kochi foods, making you want to send a whole bunch of different things at once.

Tosa Kuroshio Fisheries

Sweets Restaurant Manten no Hoshi: bittersweet and aromatic roasted green tea sweets

Sweets Restaurant Manten no Hoshi is a restaurant that was founded in Tsuno town, a tea-producing area of Kochi.

The shop is proud of its "Hojicha", which is made by tea leaves grown in the Shimanto River basin in Tsuno Town, carefully roasted in a kiln by roasting artisans. It has a mild bitterness and a mellow, fragrant aroma.

A souvenir that lets you experience the charm of hojicha is the hojicha daifuku "Manten no Hoshi Daifuku." This daifuku is made of hojicha mochi rice cake wrapped with cream and bean paste, and then coated with plenty of fragrant hojicha powder.

When you put it in your mouth, the aroma of roasted green tea spreads, the taste of slight bitterness is followed by the mellowness and sweetness of the cream, giving it a slightly mature taste.

"Manten no Hoshi Daifuku" can be taken home or shipped frozen.

This is the perfect souvenir for those who want to deviate from the typical Kochi standard and send something unique.

Sweets Restaurant Manten no Hoshi

Enjoy Kochi cuisine to the fullest at Hirome Market

As we have introduced so far, Hirome Market is packed with the charm of Kochi's food. In fact, it may be that it is a place filled with the charm of Kochi's culture and local character, not just food. It is a bit miscellaneous and somehow free. The unique mixed feeling creates a comfortable space.

Why not visit Hirome Market to experience this local atmosphere?

Hirome Market

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