Anko Nabe
Anko nabe is a hot pot dish featuring monkfish caught in deep ocean waters and cooked with white cabbage and shiitake mushrooms. Monkfish flesh has a mild taste and a texture similar to lobster, with lots of healthy collagen.
Mito Natto
For a healthy eater, Ibaraki Mito Natto is a thing that not to be missed. There are numerous places all over Ibaraki sell them, and one of the most popular dishes using these is plain Natto over rice, which is a popular dish for breakfast in Japan. Natto, fermented soybeans, is considered one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Natto from Mito is prized across Japan for its deep and earthy flavor.
Hitachi Beef
Hitachi is actually a town name in Ibaraki, and the worldwide brand Hitachi actually comes from here. For the Hitachi Wagyu beef, the black cows are specially fed with grain produced in this region. Beef from Japanese black cattle, one of Japan's six native cattle breeds, which are raised for 30 months on a strict diet that yields tender, mouthwatering meat.
Best ways to eat the Hitachi Beef is by sukiyaki, yakiniku, steak and of course, barbecue. You can find restaurants serving Hitachi Wagyu Beef in Mito City, and don’t worry about the price, because one thing for sure is that this is possibly one of the best grades of Wagyu you will ever have in Japan.
Mitohan Ramen
This ramen is one of the mysterious noodles that has a claim to be the first ever and original ramen in Japanese history. It also says that the first Japanese to ever eat this ramen was Lord Tokugawa Mitsukuni of Mito, from the very early Edo period of Japan, around 1655, and it was introduced by Chinese traders.
Nowadays, this ramen is served with five spices on the side, that you can add on to your ramen. Often known as the Mito Clan Noodles or Mito Ramen, this unique dish is only found at only three specialty ramen shops in Mito City, which are known as Taikou-hanten, Kinryusaikan and Houchinrou. Kinryusaikan Restaurant is the only one which found out the five spices and recreated the original Mitohan Ramen.
Hitachino Nest Beer
Hitachino family has been brewing beer and sake from 1823 so far, and their products have always been high-quality. Hitachino is the ancient name of the province where is located the brewery, and it has been famous since then for its rich and fertile soil. Hitachino beer is a Japanese beer, made with Japanese ingredients and Japanese technique, so it may be interesting to visit the brewery and taste some samples! You can also buy some as a souvenir and give it as a gift if you have friends or family who love beer.
The brewery is located at 1257 Konosu Naka-shi, in Ibaraki.