Fukudaiya Okonomiyaki

The friendly Fukudaiya family run one of the best eating joints in Hagi - good casual home cooking at a reasonable price. They will even speak a little English to you. You can order a bowl of their specialty okonomiyaki mix (savoury egg pancake with cabbage, sprouts and the meat of your choice) and cook it yourself on the grill tables or order something from their picture menu. They have cutlets on rice, pizza, hamburger patties and fried shrimp.

My personal recommendation is the curry - this is home made, a little spicier than the average Japanese curry and definately worth a try. The chicken katsu (breaded cutlet) curry is number one.

Where to find it: Standing in front of the Hagi Bus Centre on the main street, walk right (towards Hagi Station, away from Higashi Hagi Station) for about 30 seconds. Fukudaiya is on the corner. There is an old disused gas station on the opposite side of the main street.

Italian Restaurant

For the best salad and pizza in town, head to San Marco.
You can get good reasonably priced food here at one of Hagi's most well-established and popular eateries.
The pizza bases are fresh and homemade with a variety of toppings and are good to share or for one as a meal.

A variety of dishes are offered including beef stroganoff and pastas. There are a range of meal sets available - eg a main plus salad, dessert and coffee.
You will love the jukebox tunes of the 60's.

My favourite - kinoko sarada - a salad bursting with lettuce, mushroom, tomato, cucumber, cashews, bacon and chicken with a gorgeous goma dressing. Enjoy!
Not to be missed is a cabinet full of homemade ice-creams and sorbets - flavours include goma, tiramisu, wild strawberry, matcha and mint choc chip.
You will be given a little voucher when you pay - collect 3 of these and you will be treated to a free scoop of icecream on your next visit.

Where to find it: On Hagi's main street, to the left of Beer City restaurant on the 2nd floor.

Coffee

The coffee at Cafe Tikal is organic and first-rate. It is served in beautiful Hagiyaki cups and saucers. The homemade cheesecake and other sweets come highly recommended.

For serious coffee addicts you can buy a bag of coffee beans to take home. The lovely owners (who speak a little English) will grind the beans for you. They also stock a good selection of coffee paraphernalia - drips, filters, grinders etc.

Where to find it:
You are outside Uniqlo clothes store and across the road you can see a yellow building - Bell English school. Walk towards Higashihagi Station. You will cross an intersection, keep walking straight. You will pass Geo video store on your left (there will be a Hokka Hokka Tei restaurant across the road here). You will come to a major intersection - on your left will be Sun Life Community Centre (not Sun Live supermarket!) and you will see Hagi Higashi Junior High school on your left beyond the intersection.
TAKE A RIGHT - you will have to cross the road. Take the second left on this street (passing Target video store on your right). The Cafe Tikal car park is your first right from there - you should see their sign.