Hiroshima’s best‑known sushi counters are either booked months out or run through a booking app with no phone at all. Sushi Inaho, on the second floor of a small building a minute from Nagarekawa‑dori and the Mitsukoshi department store, is the one that behaves like a neighbourhood house. The chef, Mihara, was born on Etajima, the island across the bay, and trained at washoku and sushi houses in Hiroshima and Osaka rather than in Tokyo; the counter moved here from Ginzancho in 2023, and the stated aim on Tabelog is a “ハイクオリティな日常使いの出来る気さくな街の鮨屋” — a high‑quality sushi bar you can use on an ordinary night — with the omakase held “in the ten‑thousands”, not above ¥20,000. The house adds a caveat worth repeating: the room is convivial, and guests who want hushed reverence may not find it here.
What you eat
Setouchi‑mae is the house’s own word for it. The fish is chosen from the Seto Inland Sea and Hiroshima waters — a 2025 sushi blog describes direct dealings with local fishermen and a run of white fish, scorpionfish and grouper; earlier visits mention Hiroshima oysters cooked low and slow, anago, and aged eel grilled white. The rice is from Tojo in Shobara with the water from the same district, seasoned with a blend of two Hiroshima red vinegars, Onomichi Zosu and Goto Shoten. A dinner in 2025 ran to ten nigiri with a seasonal starter, soup, a grilled course and dessert, and the house says tsumami and nigiri are worked to the temperature of the rice rather than a fixed script. One omakase at dinner, ¥16,500 tax included with no service charge; on Saturday and Sunday only there is a lunch short course at ¥9,900 using the same fish in fewer cuts. Sake is chosen for you unless you ask — Hiroshima has around forty breweries and the list leans local — and there are Hiroshima craft spirits, whiskies and a serious non‑alcoholic line.
The booking reality
There is no release day. Reserve by telephone in Japanese (082‑545‑5458) or online: Tabelog takes the booking directly, and Ikyu and Gurunavi accept requests for either course. Reviews from 2024 to 2026 show the real lead times — lunch booked the day before, a dinner three days out, another a month out. Weekday dinners run full, the counter is twelve seats, and one 2026 diner took weekend lunch because dinner was gone; that lunch is the easy door for a traveler passing through.
House rules are few and clearly stated: children only from the upper primary grades and only if they eat the adult course; strong perfume is unwelcome; Ikyu lists a 100% charge for same‑day cancellation. Cards are accepted. The private room is small — the house and its listings variously say two or four people — so parties above four should expect the counter. When our desk handles the booking we call in Japanese, fix the course and the seating, and pass on any dietary limits before you arrive.
