Low FODMAP at Japanese & Sushi

Sashimi (tuna, salmon, yellowtail)

Plain raw fish contains essentially no FODMAPs at all — it is one of the safest restaurant orders in any cuisine. No wheat, no onion, no garlic, no sauce unless you add it.

💬 Order it: Add a side of plain steamed rice to make it a meal. Dip lightly in regular soy sauce (a splash is a low-FODMAP amount despite the wheat) or bring tamari. Real wasabi and a few slices of pickled ginger are generally fine.

Nigiri (salmon, tuna, shrimp, tamago)

Fish or cooked shrimp over seasoned rice — the classic seasoning is just rice vinegar, sugar, and salt, all low FODMAP. The only occasional catch is a restaurant that sweetens its sushi rice with fructose or corn syrup.

💬 Order it: Ask whether the sushi rice is seasoned with plain rice vinegar and sugar rather than a corn-syrup blend. Skip eel (unagi) nigiri — its glaze is the problem, not the fish. Avoid anything topped with spicy mayo.

Cucumber roll (kappa maki)

Rice, nori, and cucumber are all low FODMAP — this is the safest roll on virtually every sushi menu. Tuna (tekka maki) and plain salmon rolls are equally simple.

💬 Order it: Stick to rolls with a single plain filling: cucumber, raw tuna, or salmon. Say no to anything 'spicy', 'crunchy' (tempura flakes = wheat), or drizzled with eel sauce. A little avocado in one roll is fine; avocado-heavy rolls are not.

Salt-grilled fish (shioyaki — salmon or mackerel) with steamed rice

Traditional shioyaki is just fish and salt over a grill — no marinade, no glaze, no onion or garlic. With plain rice and a wedge of lemon it is a complete, naturally low-FODMAP teishoku-style meal.

💬 Order it: Confirm it is the salt version, not a miso- or teriyaki-glazed version. If it comes as a set, ask them to hold any miso soup with onion and swap salad dressing for lemon.

Yakitori, shio (salt) style

Grilled chicken skewers are a safe base — the fork in the road is the seasoning. 'Shio' is just salt; 'tare' is a sweet soy glaze that often includes garlic, honey, or corn syrup.

💬 Order it: Order skewers 'shio' explicitly. Skip negima skewers if the onion pieces bother you, or eat around them. Ask them not to brush anything with tare after grilling.

Zaru soba (chilled buckwheat noodles)

Buckwheat itself is low FODMAP, but most restaurant soba is a buckwheat-wheat blend, so a moderate portion is the play rather than a giant bowl. The chilled presentation keeps the sauce on the side, which puts you in control.

💬 Order it: Ask if the soba is 100% buckwheat (juwari) — if so this drops to a very safe order. Use the dipping sauce sparingly and skip the scallion garnish or use only the green tops.

Ramen

A worst-case bowl for sensitive guts: the noodles are wheat, and nearly every broth — tonkotsu, shoyu, miso — is built on long-simmered garlic and onion, often finished with fried garlic oil (mayu). There is no realistic modification at a ramen shop.

Gyoza

The wrapper is wheat and the filling is traditionally seasoned with garlic, garlic chives (nira), and onion — three triggers in one bite, whether steamed or pan-fried. The dipping sauce is usually fine; the dumpling is not.

Tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) with tonkatsu sauce

The cutlet is wrapped in panko (wheat), and the thick brown tonkatsu sauce is essentially a fruit-and-vegetable reduction — apple and onion are core ingredients, and commercial versions frequently add corn syrup.

Chicken teriyaki

It reads as plain grilled chicken, but the glaze is where the trouble lives: restaurant and bottled teriyaki sauces routinely include garlic, honey or corn-syrup sweeteners, and wheat-based soy in glaze-level quantities far beyond a low-FODMAP splash.

Spicy tuna roll

The 'spicy' in almost any spicy roll is mayo blended with sriracha or chili-garlic sauce — meaning garlic and often onion — stirred straight through the fish. The same trap applies to spicy salmon, volcano rolls, and most house special rolls.