Aburafu Don

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

aburafu donTomewheat glutenhattolocal food

Illustration of Aburafu Don, Miyagi — Illustration — not a photograph

What makes Aburafu Don worth planning around is less the menu than the timing — get that right and the rest follows.

Aburafu is a stick of wheat gluten that has been fried in oil rather than baked, a Toyoma speciality made here since the Meiji period as a protein source in an inland town with no fish. It is light, dry and porous, and when it is simmered it soaks up whatever it is cooked in.

Aburafu don takes that and treats it exactly as a katsudon treats a pork cutlet: sliced, simmered with onion in a sweet soy stock and set with beaten egg over rice. It looks like a katsudon and eats lighter, and it was devised in the 1990s by a local restaurant to use the town's own product. It has since spread across Tome and is now the dish the city is known for. Hatto, a hand-torn flour dumpling in soup, is the other one.

What to know before you go

When to go

Year-round

Serving hours

Varies by establishment

Closed: Varies by establishment

Time to allow

45–60 minutes

Cost

¥800–1,200 per bowl

Finding the spot

Access notes

Served across Tome, especially in the Toyoma district, at restaurants, canteens and hotels; aburafu itself is sold at shops and roadside stations in the city. The dish is sliced fried wheat gluten simmered with onion in a sweet soy stock and set with egg over rice. Hatto, a hand-torn flour dumpling served in a soy-based soup with vegetables, is the other local speciality and is widely available in the same restaurants. Individual establishments' hours, rest days and prices vary.

Beyond the guidebook

**It is a katsudon without the pork.** Same construction, same sauce, same egg, with fried gluten instead of a cutlet. Understanding that before it arrives helps. **Aburafu is fried, not baked.** Which is why it soaks up stock and holds its shape. Ordinary fu would collapse. **Buy sticks to take home.** Shops and roadside stations in Tome sell them dry. They keep for a long time and are the most portable souvenir the city has. **Have the hatto too.** Hand-torn dough in soy soup, the older of the two local dishes, and usually on the same menu. **It is a 1990s invention.** Devised locally to use the town's own product. That is recent, and nobody in Tome pretends otherwise.

View on Google Maps