Friendly staff, a fantastic mix of Japanese and Western dishes, a good range of wines and drinks at good prices. A winning combination that make Wordsworth a hit for singles, couples, groups and parties. Remodeled at the end of 2012, Wordsworth is now bigger and offers views of the city’s drinking district from a newly enlarged window. It is open every night except Tuesday, from 6pm until late (usually 2-3 am) make sure to call ahead to book for groups if you want to guarantee a table without a wait and because they sometimes have large group bookings.
The staff are very good at managing the tables with ease, anticipating your next order or request and delivering dishes and drinks quickly. On my way back from the toilet, I was wondering what the sizzling was and caught the chef using a small, wood-fired Hibatchi BBQ grill set up on the counter to cook up some fat, juicy steaks and other meats.
It looks like a good place for carnivores. However, even for us lighter eaters, we were spoiled for choice. The specials board is only in Japanese and there are only a few category names in English on the main menu, but if you ask the staff for a recommended dish (ex: “‘fish’-
osusume wa...”) in a certain category, you won’t be disappointed.
The atmosphere is like a modern
Izakaya, Japanese style pub as there were many frosty glasses of draft beer (
nama-beer kudasai) making their way around to the tables, ice jugs and bottles of wine being brought to others. There was a large reunion party happening next to us with speeches and toasts, smaller groups of friends at other tables, a couple or two on a date and some tables of businesspeople meeting for a post work drink. It is located at the edge of Hiroshima city’s
Nagarekawa drinking district, this venue has a wooden interior, open style kitchen plan and seating for 30 or more customers at a time. The seating is at the tables and along the counter-bar.
The food was a range of seafood, fish, vegetables, meat and a few desserts that are an interesting mix of Japanese and Western styles. To start, try the WordsWorth salad, a hot and cold combination of vegetables and pan-fried seafood drizzled with a mayonnaise. We tried the smoked
Saba fish which was a perfect beer companion with its subtle smoky, salty flavor. We loved the cheese “
moriawase” selection with the mini baguette. The creamy seafood cheese sauce pasta was rich and yummy comfort food. The potato and white fish
fritte was crispy shoe-string potatoes surrounding delicate white fish, very yummy. We couldn’t resist the French Toast at the end of the night which came in individual hot, sticky portions covered in a cold dollop of vanilla ice-cream. The menu offers many Japanese and Western delights served in an original way.
As we enjoyed all the food, our group of four shared a few bottles of wine as well as cold beers. Our bill came out to 4,000 yen per person which seemed very reasonable for the amount we consumed over the 4 or so hours we were there. I’d expect to pay between 2,000~6,000 per person to drink and dine here. It is quite an easy place to let the time pass you by.
- Open: Closed Tuesdays, Open 18:00-03:00
- Address: 3F, 4-3 Ebisu-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima city. 4-33 広島市中区胡町4-3 3階
- Telephone: 082- 241-2433
- Credit cards: OK Reservations: OK Parking: NO
Getting there: One block south of the main streetcar road: Aioi-dori. Set between Kanayamacho and Ebisucho stations. One block to the East of Mitsukoshi department store. Near the liquor shop Yamatoya (on the same block, next door). The sign is in Japanese and English: [ワーズワース California Wine Dining]
