My last night in Onomichi was spent in an izakaya. I didn’t eat or drink too much there but I had enough for dinner. Tamaganzo is a nice little place and a real typical izakaya. It is part of a small chain of izakaya in Onomichi and it made me realize how good the food is in Onomichi. There are a lot of small shops with interesting items and a lot of fresh foods too. Tamaganzo didn’t disappoint but the prices did feel a bit inflated for what we had.
Tamaganzo
Tamaganzo is located on the street next to the wharf and near the station. It is a little hard to find but the small 3 wheel Daihatsu in the entrance is a good landmark. The signs are pretty big but if you aren’t looking up you can easily miss it.
Daihatsu at Tamaganzo
There are several floors of the building that are part of the izakaya and “A” and I only went to the second floor. We could hear a raucous party going on upstairs in what sounded like a big party. We were seated at the bar counter with other groups of 2. We were given the menu and we were a little “shocked” to see it all in hand written Japanese.
Tamaganzo
If you have ever been to a small izakaya, you will realize that they often write the menu by hand as they change the items often. This hand written style is pretty hard to read for a foreigner and even though we both had a decent level of comprehension, we still had a lot of trouble reading it. We did get the “English menu” but it was more alike flash cards than a menu itself. We ended up just studying the menu for a while before making a decision.
We Love Onomichi
Otoshi (Pre-meal Snack)
We started off with a little local sashimi and we got a good selection. We also had some deep fried burdock. It was a bit too salty for me, but that was also because I was using the salt as a dip. The main item we ordered was the fruity chashu. It was barbecue pork with a fruity dressing. It was actually very good and we wish we had ordered more.
Sashimi
Deep Fried Burdock
Fruity Chashu
Tamaganzo is a great place for dinner and cheap beer. While I still like “A Clue” when it comes to beer but the food there is very limited. Tamaganzo is a great place to eat and drink before going to a bar to finish up.
Tamaganzo