Indonesian Restaurant Warung Matahari

Located south of Hiroshima city center is this Indonesian delight designed like a comfortable and modern Bali Beach Shack . There is seating along the counter as well as at tables. Reservations are accepted as well as walk-ins accepted. The staff members are beautifully dressed in Bali-style dress.


Enjoy your meal surrounded by Indonesian block print wall hangings and ornaments. On the monitor, beautiful videos and photos of Indonesia make you feel more like a traveler to Bali than a diner in Hiroshima. Warung Matahari has been a long time favorite in Hiroshima as you can see in the original review on GetHiroshima in 2012.

All the dishes are cooked by Balinese owner-chef Rasa. Chef Rasa says he tones the spiciness of the dishes down a bit to suit Japanese tastes, however, we haven’t noticed anything lacking as the dishes are bursting with flavor. If you like it hot, the chef is also happy to turn up the heat upon request if you think you can handle it.

Warung Matahari may be a little hard to find for first timers to the area, it is located a couple of blocks down from the Takanobashi tram station. Walk south from the covered Takanobashi covered mall, and you will find Warung Matahari around a street full of love-hotels between a 100 yen parking lot and a Karaoke place.

In terms of pricing, each dish is around 1,000 yen and a family of 3 can eat fairly well for around 5,000 yen. This may seem a little expensive since portions are rather small, but all the food is very healthy, tasty and cooked to perfection.

You can easily get to this restaurant by street-car, bus, by bicycle or on foot from the city center. It will take about 5-10 minutes to cycle here from the Hiroshima Peace Park Memorial Museum, 25-40 minutes on foot or 5-10 minutes in a taxi. On the streetcar, it would take about 10 minutes from the stop in front of NHK Starbucks along Heiwa Odori (Peace Boulevard).

The staff members are very welcoming and flexible when it comes to ordering. As we sat down, the staff gave us a clear menu for Vegetarians listing which dishes had egg, seafood or were spicy. When we asked for dishes without egg and or seafood, the staff were very flexible and accommodating. Warung Matahari staff and chef are very flexible for Vegetarian, Vegan and Muslim diners. There is really nothing of a similar caliber of Asian cuisine in Hiroshima city which caters so easily to special requests and variations from the normal menu.

Standard dishes come with meat or seafood, but Vegan and Vegetarian options include stir-fried vegetables with seitan, boiled vegetables with spicy peanut sauce, fried rice and fried Bifun noodles with vegetables. The spicy dishes are clearly labeled as spicy if you want to avoid it. There is an ice-cream and deep-fried banana fritter dessert anyone with a sweet tooth will love.

  • Easy to read bilingual menu with food pictures
  • Credit Cards Accepted
  • Reservations but not required
  • Party plans and set courses are available upon request
  • Seating along the counter and at tables for 27
  • No Parking for cars, but bicycle parking is available on the side of the building
  • Muslim-friendly, Vegetarian-friendly, Vegan-friendly meals upon request

Opening hours:17:30pm-23:00pm (L.O. 22:30)
Closed: Mondays

Address: 1F Echo Building, 5-8-13 Otemachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima-shi
Tel:082-240-2082
Fax:082-240-2083
URL:www.warungmatahari.com

jjwalsh

Writing about Hiroshima for over twenty years. Co-founded GetHiroshima in 1999 and founded the sustainability-focused InboundAmbassador business in 2019. Monthly CleanUp and Seeking Sustainability event organizer, guide workshop facilitator, online content creator and tourism destination consultant. Passionate about promoting solutions in Japan for people and the planet.