Dinner at Uomaru Hikone Before the Shinkansen

Table of Contents

Before the Shinkansen…

Dinner in Hikone!

This was the final stop of my Shiga trip. I was heading back to Tokyo by Shinkansen, and decided to have dinner before leaving.

I couldn’t find any promising places around Maibara Station, so I got off at Hikone Station to eat instead.

Sengyo to Robatayaki Uomaru Hikone Branch

The place I headed to at Hikone Station was Sengyo to Robatayaki Uomaru Hikone Branch. I had made a reservation in advance.

The restaurant was quite lively inside. Since I had a set time to catch my Shinkansen, I decided to keep it quick.

The otoshi, a small appetizer automatically served at the start of a meal, was morokyu, a simple dish of fresh cucumber served with miso for dipping, which made for a great start. I also ordered hinedori, mature chicken with a firm texture, something you don’t see very often in the Kanto region.

(Back) Morokyu, fresh cucumber served with miso, as an otoshi appetizer (Front) Hinedori, mature chicken, with green onions and ponzu

Since I like foods with a firm, chewy texture, it was a great dish for me.

I also ordered funazushi to meshi no namerou, an arranged take on funazushi, a traditional fermented sushi made with nigorobuna crucian carp from Lake Biwa, which I still hadn’t had on this trip. It was perfect as a snack with drinks.

Funazushi to meshi no namerou, an arranged dish made with funazushi, fermented crucian carp sushi from Lake Biwa

I also ordered genge and moroko, both of which aren’t seen very often in the Kanto region.

(Left) Fried genge, a deep-sea fish (Right) Hon-moroko nanbanzuke, small Lake Biwa freshwater fish marinated in sweet vinegar

Genge is a deep-sea fish, and moroko is a small freshwater fish caught in Lake Biwa.

Then I spotted Eigenji maitake again—a locally known maitake mushroom from the Eigenji area, and the one that had blown me away the day before—so I ordered it.

(Right) Eigenji maitake tempura, tempura-fried maitake mushrooms from the Eigenji area (Left) Shandong-style stir-fry of Baumkuchen Pork, pork from pigs raised on baumkuchen cake, and fresh wood ear mushrooms

One item with an intriguing name was Baumkuchen Pork, pork from pigs raised on baumkuchen, a ring-shaped German-style sponge cake popular in Japan. As the name suggests, it comes from pigs raised on baumkuchen, though apparently it has nothing to do with Club Harie (lol).

It was exactly my kind of restaurant, and I was completely satisfied right up to the very end of the trip.

I didn’t have time to visit Hikone Castle this time, so I’d really like to come back to Hikone again! And with that, my Shiga trip comes to an end. It was so much fun!!!