Utsunomiya Minmin 宇都宮みんみん@ Miyamirai

Utsunomiya 宇都宮 is famous for gyozas. We were in the city for a meeting and came too early, so we decided to catch a quick lunch.

Utsunomiya in Tochigi Prefecture is probably best known for its gyoza, small meat and vegetable dumplings served pan-fried, deep fried or boiled. The city is home to dozens of restaurants specialising in the dish, which come filled with a whole host of ingredients including pork, kimchi, seafood and other fillings.

Utsunomiya Minmin is a renowned historic restaurant in Utsunomiya that specialises in gyoza, established in Showa 33 (昭和33年 or 1958), founded by a repatriate family from Beijing. They brought the recipe they learnt from China and the rest is history. The Miyamirai Branch is located at Utsunomiya Terrace, directly connected to the east exit of Utsunomiya Station of the Tokuhu Shinkansen line.

Tama Konnyaku 玉こんにゃく is a popular local street food in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. It consists of small, round, chewy konnyaku (a type of gelatinous food made from the konjac plant) balls, typically simmered in a soy sauce-based broth. It’s known for its unique texture and is often enjoyed with a dollop of Japanese mustard. 

I expect that a restaurant that offers only three dishes plus rice knows what it’s doing with those three dishes. The set came with 12 pieces of gyozas, a bowl of rice and Chinese-style pickles. You get to choose 3 styles of gyozas – pan fried, deep fried and boiled. The flavourful and juicy pan-fried dumplings 焼餃子 were worth the trip. All the gyozas have the same filling – pork and Chinese cabbage with scallions in the perfect combination and ratio of fat and lean minced pork.

The deep-fried gyoza 揚餃子 were small, rich but not oily, although it was my least favourite among the trio because they were too hard.

I liked the boiled dumplings 水餃子, as this is my go-to comfort food when I have no appetite. I can easily down two dozens of these morsels of deliciousness in the past but I have to watch my diet these days.

A variation of the boiled dumplings was this soy milk Szechuan dandy version. Nice, but not what I was expecting as I am a traditionalist at heart.

Finally the other appetiser arrived, octopus karaage. Think of it as deep fried calamari but with octopus legs.

The dumplings are what this place is famous for. Stick to their strength and skip the rest.

Utsunomiya Minmin Miyamirai Ten 宇都宮みんみん
1-1 Miyamirai Utsunomiya Terrace 2F, Utsunomiya 321-0969 Tochigi Prefecture
栃木県宇都宮市宮みらい1-1 ウツノミヤテラス 2F
Tel : +81-028-651-6810

Visited Mar 2025

PS: Excellent NHK documentary about Gyozas

https://youtu.be/n7aGzxD_oI8?si=gGY3CK5j-JRHLH8c