If you're going to eat oden (Japanese hot pot dish) in Gifu Prefecture, these are the places to go! 9 popular picks by area

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Kyokujitsu Shoten Hanakushian Bekkan is a sister restaurant of Hanakushian, a long established oden restaurant in Gifu founded in 1989. It is located near Meitetsu Gifu Station, along Nagazumi-cho Street.

It has counter seats with a yatai (food stall)-like feel, and you can even see the large pot simmering the oden, which adds to the live atmosphere. There are table seats as well.

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They offer a wide range of easy-to-enjoy dishes, including kushiage (deep-fried skewers), made by skewering meat, fish, and other ingredients, coating them in batter, and frying them.

The specialty oden (Japanese stew) is made by slowly simmering ingredients such as daikon radish and rolled cabbage in their own special dashi broth. In the large Hot Pot, the ingredients gently simmer away.

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A popular oden ingredient is daikon radish. They select fresh, high quality daikon radish, cut it into large pieces, and simmer it over 2～3 days.

The broth, enriched with flavor from the ingredients, is said to be very tasty. You can also enjoy creative dishes such as cheese and ramen that let you savor the flavor of the broth.

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Dengaku-dokoro Murase is located in central Gifu City, inside Gifu Park at the foot of Kinkazan (Mount Kinka), where Gifu Castle, associated with the Sengoku warlord Oda Nobunaga, once stood. It is a restaurant that has been in business for more than 100 years.

It has the feel of an old fashioned chaya (tea house) that looks like it could appear in a period drama. They also serve light meals, so you can take a break and satisfy a small appetite.

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A feature of the oden is that about four kinds of ingredients, including daikon radish and eggs, are simmered in a large Hot Pot, and another container in the center of the Hot Pot keeps the miso sauce warm.

When you place an order, the staff put skewered daikon radish and other ingredients into the pot of miso sauce, coat them with the sauce, and then serve them.

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Their specialty is tofu dengaku (grilled skewered tofu with miso). They lightly grill the surface of tofu skewered on sticks, then coat it with their original miso sauce. The miso sauce has a rich flavor that goes well with both rice and alcohol.

Outside the shop, they also sell items such as mitarashi dango (rice dumplings glazed with sweet soy sauce).

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Miso Oden Yatai Aka Chochin is an izakaya located about a 4-minute walk from Meitetsu Gifu Station, on the 3rd floor of Gifu Yokocho, a five-story building with around 40 dining restaurants.

Several restaurants line the floor, and shared table seating is set up in the center. The lively atmosphere also gives it the feel of a row of food stalls.

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The counter seats are arranged around the kitchen, so you can order directly from your seat. They also have a full lineup of dishes that go well with drinks.

The signature “miso oden (oden simmered in miso broth)” is made by slowly cooking the ingredients in a soup of dashi (Japanese soup stock) with miso dissolved into it. The miso flavor is said to soak well into the ingredients.

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A dish made by slowly simmering tendon from Hida-gyu (Hida beef), a branded beef raised in the Hida region of Gifu Prefecture, is also popular. It is seasoned with a miso-based flavor.

The menu also includes keichan-yaki (Gifu-style stir-fried chicken), a local Gifu dish made by stir-frying chicken with cabbage and other vegetables.

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Tombo is an oden (Japanese one pot dish) specialty restaurant located about a 14-minute walk from Meitetsu Gifu Station, on the east side of the Yanagase Shopping Street arcade in the city center.

The interior has a Japanese feel, and it is a compact restaurant with about 15 seats in total, including counter and zashiki (tatami floor) seating.

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Broadly speaking, oden (Japanese hotpot with various ingredients) falls into two main styles: the Kanto style with a stronger soy sauce flavor, and the Kansai style based on a clear dashi broth and soy sauce. In Gifu (Gifu Prefecture), many places use a unique miso-based seasoning.

At this restaurant, even though it is in Gifu, you can enjoy oden simmered in Kansai-style dashi, bringing out the good flavor of the ingredients.

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The oden ingredients change with the season, and about 40 kinds of ingredients are simmered together with dashi in a large pot.

Popular choices include rolled cabbage and daikon radish. You can also find seafood such as bai-gai (whelk) and oysters, as well as unusual ingredients like gyoza and tomato, and they are all said to be delicious.

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Nobumi is a restaurant in Tajimi, a city in the southeastern part of Gifu Prefecture that is also known as a pottery town. It is located in Oda-cho along National Route 19.

This is said to be a place that has long been loved by locals. The well-worn antique interior gives it the feel of a calm izakaya (Japanese pub).

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The specialty oden (Japanese stew) comes in Gifu’s own miso-based style. Ingredients such as daikon radish and tofu are simmered in a Hot Pot with miso and dashi combined.

The “niku” is an oden dish made by slowly simmering a chunk of pork. It is cooked until it is so tender it nearly melts apart.

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They offer a wide range of set meal menus that come with rice, miso soup, and a main dish. You can choose from various options such as Yakiniku and fried shrimp.

The popular "Nobumi Teishoku" lets you enjoy both their signature oden (Japanese stew) and sashimi. The miso flavored oden is also well liked for going great with rice.

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Tsutaya is an izakaya (Japanese pub) near Unuma Station in Kakamigahara City, close to where Unuma-juku, one of the post stations on the Tokaido (the route linking Tokyo and Kyoto) around 1500, once stood.

Founded in 1950. The restaurant has an antique feel, and the counter seats surrounding the grill area seem to add to the lively atmosphere.

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Inside, the smoke from dishes grilled over charcoal mixes with the aroma of miso from oden (Japanese stew) simmering for a long time.

The oden is simmered in a Hot Pot with a dark colored miso broth, with meat, eggs, and other ingredients cooked in it. The skewered meat is said to be tender, and its rich flavor goes well with alcohol.

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The specialty here is kushiyaki (grilled skewers). They bring in fresh blocks of pork, cut them up at the restaurant, and carefully skewer each piece. They offer many different cuts, including some rare ones.

The menu centers on kushiyaki and oden (Japanese stew). They recommend eating oden while you wait for the kushiyaki to finish grilling.

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Gokuraku Chaya is a restaurant near Hazama Fudoson, a place known for spiritual training for more than 1200 years, located on the way to the observatory at the summit of Myozan, which straddles Kakamigahara City in Gifu City and Seki City.

It is easy to get there by car. It is a convenient place to stop during a drive, and you can also have a meal there.

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This place serves as both a shop and a diner, and inside you can eat oden (Japanese fish cake stew) as well as ramen and soba.

The oden is self service, and you take what you want yourself from the Hot Pot set in one corner of the shop. The miso sauce is kept warm too, and you dip the skewers with the ingredients into the sauce jar before eating.

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The miso dare (sweet-savory miso sauce) is said to have a sweet and salty taste. The ingredients are simmered in dashi (Japanese soup stock), and adding the miso dare makes them even better.

The soy sauce-based ramen, “chuka soba (Chinese-style noodles),” is also popular. Both the oden (Japanese stew) and the ramen are known for a taste that has stayed the same for years.

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"Tenkushi Ogaki Ekimae Ten" is an izakaya near the south exit of Ogaki Station, the hub of Ogaki City, which sits just west of Gifu City and is home to many historic landmarks.

The interior has a calm Japanese feel. There are several Private room zashiki rooms with Sunken kotatsu seating, and every seat is used after taking off your shoes.

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One of the main menu items is oden (Japanese simmered hotpot items). They slowly simmer daikon radish, boiled eggs, tendon meat, and other ingredients in dashi broth.

The soup is said to be clear and fragrant. The ingredients, cooked over a long time, are tender and full of dashi flavor, with a light taste.

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The other main item on the menu is tempura (Japanese battered and deep-fried food). It is a simple dish made by coating ingredients in batter and frying them in oil.

The batter seals in the ingredients' flavor and gives them a light, tender finish, almost as if they were steamed. You can enjoy many kinds of tempura, including shrimp and vegetables.

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Inomaru Shoten is located in Takayama City in the northern part of Gifu Prefecture, an area surrounded by the Hida Sanmyaku (Hida Mountains), about a 10-minute walk from the east exit of Takayama Station.

It is one of the roughly 20 eateries gathered in Dekonaru Yokocho. The compact interior has only about 10 counter seats, and the place seems to have a lively feel.

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Oden (Japanese hot pot with ingredients simmered in broth) features a fragrant dashi broth with all kinds of ingredients simmered in it. Along with classics like daikon radish, eggs, and konnyaku (firm yam cake), they also offer some unusual items.

They simmer whole onions, and they also have "teba-gyoza (chicken wings stuffed with ground meat)," making you want to try several of them.

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Other than oden (Japanese hot pot dish), the menu mainly centers on fried items. It seems they offer chicken Kara-age, croquettes, and french fries.

There were also reviews saying this is the kind of place where you can chat easily with the owner and strike up conversations with other customers.