Hakodate's star food product is its squid (ika). The cold Tsugaru Strait waters produce particularly good squid, and the city's fishermen pioneered the ika-somen style — squid sliced into thin noodle-like strips and served raw. The morning market near the station (Asaichi) is where the day's catch arrives from 5am and the cheapest raw seafood meals are eaten at counter restaurants by dock workers and early-rising tourists.
Hakodate salt ramen is the city's noodle specialty — a lighter broth than the miso or soy varieties dominant in other parts of Hokkaido, with a clean, slightly sweet soup that shows off the seafood added to it. The Hakodate Beer at the Kanemori Warehouses produces several of its own unfiltered varieties on site, making the beer hall a reasonable evening option. For more traditional meals, the ryokan in Yunokawa Onsen serve seafood kaiseki dinners at prices typical of Japanese resort hotels.