A Japanese restaurant near Strasbourg: HiBiKi

HiBiKi is nothing like certain sushi shops you can find elsewhere. This restaurant offers a foray into authentic Japanese cuisine. A culinary trip across the world without ever leaving the country!

The restaurant has a selection of dishes and 3 set menus: “Hibiki” (3 starters and 2 mains), a “Dégustation” tasting menu, and a vegetarian menu. The specials of the day are listed on a blackboard. For dessert, you can choose from an array of sorbets and ice creams that combine the best of Alsace and Japan (seasonal fruit from Alsace, like peaches, or Japanese ingredients like miso and black sesame). The “Dégustation” menu – consisting of 3 starters, salmon sashimi, miso soup and 1 main dish with rice – offers a great variety of flavors.

The dining room decor is understated yet calming. The service is very attentive, and each dish is thoroughly explained and described after we are seated.

Immediately after ordering, we hear a few Japanese phrases from the kitchen, before the mouthwatering smell of delicious cooking starts wafting out to our table.

Every dish is elaborated with care and presented with great attention to detail. Some of them are even made with produce grown by the chef! He regularly grows pumpkin, cucumber, and Japanese shallots himself, depending on the season.

HiBiKi is the embodiment of kawaii (“small and cute” in Japanese). The restaurant is located in a tiny house, a splash of color in the center of Schiltigheim (a ten-minute drive from Strasbourg). The dining room is just large enough to accommodate around fifteen guests, and the tasty dishes are served in small portions, but you will definitely not leave hungry.

At the end of our meal, we ask our waiter what the word hibiki means: “harmony”. That says it all!

We enjoyed this culinary voyage to Japan, in this French adaptation of the izakaya format, complete with elegant Japanese tableware. Our favorites of the evening were the smooth and exotic flavors of the cold eggplant soup with umeboshi (salted plum), the salmon aburi sushi (with flame torched salmon), the piping hot genmaicha (Japanese toasted rice green tea), the comforting miso soup (one of the best we’ve tasted in Europe), and the black sesame ice cream.

Reservations are a must.

HiBiKi
📍 6 rue de la mairie, 67300 Schiltigheim