Hirome Market

Hirome opened in 1998 in central Kochi and is closer to a covered street than a food court - about sixty small stalls in several loosely named blocks around communal tables, where you buy from whichever stalls you like and bring it back to whatever seat you found. Drinking starts early and the noise level is high; Kochi has a reputation as the heaviest-drinking prefecture in Japan and the market does not contradict it. The dish to have is katsuo no tataki: skipjack bonito seared hard over a fire of burning rice straw, which flares to a very high temperature for a few seconds, so the outside cooks and the inside stays raw, then sliced thick and served with garlic, ginger, spring onion and salt rather than soy. Several stalls do the searing in front of you and the flames are theatrical and genuine. Sharing tables with strangers is normal and expected.

What you actually see

• Straw-fired searing - bonito flamed over burning rice straw at the counter.
• Salt rather than soy - the Kochi way of eating tataki, with garlic and ginger.
• Sixty stalls, shared tables - buy anywhere, sit anywhere, share with strangers.
• Early drinking - a market that starts before noon and does not quieten.

When to go

All year; lunchtime onwards. Two to three hours.

Honest expectations

Seats are hard to find at peak times and sharing is compulsory in practice. It is loud. Some stalls are much better than others and the queues indicate which. Sunday afternoons are packed.

Nearby

Kochi Castle is a short walk; the Sunday street market runs from its gate.