🟠 Local-First — Best in its home region: Odawara, Kanagawa.
This article introduces Odawara-don and aji-fry at Odawara Fish Market Cafeteria in Hayakawa Port, Odawara. Through a seafood rice bowl topped with fresh fish from Sagami Bay and aji-fry, a beloved local specialty of Odawara, you can experience the food culture of a fishing-port town close to Tokyo.
Last updated: 2026-05-03
Introduction
Odawara is a port town that is easy to visit on the way from Tokyo to Hakone or Atami. For many travelers, it may look like just a transfer point for Hakone. But if you go a little farther to Hayakawa Port, you can discover Odawara’s local seafood culture.
Around Hayakawa Port, you will find restaurants serving seafood bowls, sashimi set meals, dried fish, simmered fish, and aji-fry. Among them, aji-fry is one of the dishes loved as a local specialty around Odawara Fishing Port.
The place introduced here, Odawara Fish Market Cafeteria, is a casual market cafeteria inside Odawara Fish Market. Here, you can enjoy seafood from Sagami Bay in an Odawara-don, and taste the simple pleasure of fried fish through aji-fry.
Before heading to Hakone or Atami, or on your way back to Tokyo, a short detour lets you experience the atmosphere of a fishing port close to Tokyo and enjoy a fish-market lunch that feels very Odawara.
What to Try
Odawara-don
The first dish to try is Odawara-don.
The bowl is topped with sashimi, sweet shrimp, ikura, tamagoyaki, and other seafood items. Rather than focusing deeply on one kind of fish, this is a bowl that lets you enjoy a little of many seafood flavors in a fish-market style.
The softness of white fish, the umami of red-fleshed fish, the sweetness of shrimp, the saltiness of ikura, and the gentle sweetness of tamagoyaki all come together over rice. It has the satisfying feeling of a port-town cafeteria meal.
The charm of Odawara-don is not only its variety. There is meaning in being able to casually enjoy several kinds of fish in one bowl at a market cafeteria. It is not a polished luxury seafood bowl, but a lively fish-market bowl that feels right because you came to the port.
Even if you do not have time to visit a sushi restaurant during your trip, this kind of seafood bowl lets you enjoy the fish of a port town in a short amount of time. Odawara-don is a very fitting lunch for Hayakawa Port.
Aji-Fry
The dish I especially want you to try in Odawara is aji-fry.
Aji-fry, or deep-fried horse mackerel, is a familiar fish dish often found at Japanese set-meal restaurants and izakaya. It is not a special luxury dish, but that is exactly why the difference becomes easy to understand when you eat it in a port town.
Around Odawara and Hayakawa Port, aji-fry is loved as a local specialty. In this area near Sagami Bay, there is a culture of casually enjoying fresh fish, and aji-fry is one of its representative dishes.
Aji is a fish for which freshness matters. When it is fried while still fresh, it has less fishiness, the flesh stays plump, and the texture feels light. Even though it is deep-fried, it does not feel too heavy, and you can still taste the natural flavor of the fish. That is the appeal of eating aji-fry near the port.
The aji-fry at Odawara Fish Market Cafeteria is not a beautifully decorated dish. But there is value in eating it freshly fried, casually, near Hayakawa Port. Because you eat it not at a tourist restaurant, but in a market cafeteria, it conveys the character of Odawara as a port town.
The seasoning is very simple. On the table, you will basically find soy sauce and sauce. Instead of adding mayonnaise or tartar sauce, the style here is to eat it simply with soy sauce or sauce.
Try it first with soy sauce, and the flavor of the fish becomes easier to notice. With sauce, it tastes more familiar and set-meal-like. Both are very typical ways to enjoy food at a Japanese cafeteria.
How to Order
At Odawara Fish Market Cafeteria, you first buy a meal ticket from the ticket machine. Look at the menu, press the button for the dish you want, and purchase your ticket.
If it is your first visit, I recommend making Odawara-don the main dish and adding aji-fry if you have room. Eating both by yourself may be a little too much. If you visit with two people, ordering Odawara-don and aji-fry to share is an easy way to enjoy both without overdoing it.
The cafeteria is quite self-service. You pick up your food, return your dishes after eating, and get your own tea. The tableware is also plastic, and the service is simple.
However, rather than seeing this as inconvenient, it is better to enjoy it as part of the market cafeteria experience. Instead of beautiful tableware or formal service, the appeal of this place is that you can casually eat fish near the port.
Aji-fry is served freshly fried, so you may need to wait a little. If you are stopping by on your way to Hakone or Atami, it is a good idea to check your train time before lining up.
Tokyo or Trip?
🟠 Local-First — Best in its home region: Odawara, Kanagawa.
Tokyo has many good seafood bowls and aji-fry. However, a fish-market lunch at Odawara and Hayakawa Port offers something that is hard to feel in central Tokyo.
The biggest difference is the feeling that you are eating fish near a fishing port. At Hayakawa Port, you can enjoy seafood bowls and aji-fry casually inside a market cafeteria, not at a polished tourist restaurant.
Aji-fry, in particular, has a reason to be eaten in Odawara. Around Odawara Fishing Port, aji-fry is loved as a local specialty, and when fresh horse mackerel is fried, it has less fishiness and a plump texture.
You buy a meal ticket from a machine, pour your own tea, and eat fish from plastic tableware. There is no luxury here. But that simplicity is what makes the market cafeteria feel real.
Before going to Hakone, on the way to Atami, or before returning to Tokyo, take a little time at Hayakawa Port. Just eating Odawara-don and aji-fry there adds a “port-town meal” scene to your trip.
Odawara is not just a place to pass through. It is a small food trip close to Tokyo, where you can feel the sea, the fishing port, and fresh local fish.
Explore Nearby
- Kakigori at Tamaya (Enoshima) 🍧
- Tsukiji Tamagoyaki at Marutake (Tokyo) 🥚
- Kura Sushi in Tokyo — Conveyor Belt 🍣
- Tori-Chiku Udon at Onyanma (Tokyo) 🍜
- Cream Anmitsu in Asakusa (Tokyo) 🍨
Similar Dishes
External Links
- Kanagawa Prefecture Tourism — TOTOCO Odawara (Official) 🔗
- Japanese Jack Mackerel — Species info (Wikipedia) 🔗
About "Taste of Japan"
Hello, I'm Yuta.
Born in landlocked Yamanashi and having lived in the gourmet city of Sendai for 10 years, I now call Togoshi-Ginza home. My frequent business trips across Japan allow me to constantly explore the diversity of regional flavors.
Why Togoshi-Ginza?
This street is Tokyo’s longest shopping arcade (about 1.3 km), but it holds a special history. It was the very first street in Japan to adopt the "Ginza" name—a tradition that later spread across the country—after receiving bricks from the famous Ginza district following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.
My Wish as a Local
I am not a culinary expert. However, as a Japanese local who knows both the convenience of Tokyo and the origins of regional food, I want to share the "atmosphere" and "personal feelings" that you won't find in standard guidebooks.
The Concept: "Tokyo or Trip?"
Visiting every region of Japan in a single trip is nearly impossible. Some food experiences are worth the travel to the source, while others offer a fully satisfying experience right here in Tokyo.
This blog is a guide to help you make that choice. Based in Togoshi-Ginza, I share my honest experiences and "my personal answer" to help you maximize your culinary journey in Japan.
- 🟠 Local-First: Best experienced in its home region. Worth a trip.
- 🟢 Great-in-Tokyo: A nationwide favorite or regional specialty that offers a fully satisfying, authentic experience right here in Tokyo.
- 🟣 Tokyo-Do-Must: A unique food culture born in or exclusive to Tokyo.