It would be hard to talk about Japan without going on and on about the food, the mouthwatering broths, the fantastic fast food conveyor belt sushi, the plethora of perfect noodles, and all the amazing umami flavors coaxed out of ingredients used in a way only the Japanese do. We certainly ate well.
In Kamiyama there are only about 7 or 8 restaurants: "the diner", the hotel restaurant, the Korean BBQ, the farmers' market, and the curry cafe were the usual haunts for us. Of course they all had Japanese names but were hard to remember and tell apart in conversation so we renamed them thusly (much to the confusion of our new friends). At each of these places they had specialties that were as good the 10th time we went as the first.
The diner made everything fresh for the day, udon noodles in broth hot or cold, specialties varying from marinated fish to sushi to tempura, "family chicken" (which was rice with egg, chicken and veggies), and ramen to name a few. This place was walking distance from our house so we ate there a lot, and for less than it would cost to go to Mac-y D's or cook at home. The lady who runs it was always being sweet with Hopper, giving him his own cup of ice and little treats to take home. (We found this experience to be the same in other places we frequented, little treats for Hopper.)
...I've done this post differently from others, the text is interspersed with photos to break it up so there's more to read after the photos...
Korean BBQ with Nik, Susken, Manus, Keiko & Sayaka and our entertainment for the evening, Hopper!
Korean BBQ, bimbimbop (sp?)
they would give us fruit for Hopper
"The Diner"
Hopper loved soba noodles and broth
farmers' market ice cream
we had special occasions here, we called it "the place where they do okonomiyaki on thursdays". There was always so much food you'd leave unbuttoning your pants, fried rice, sushi, marinated local specialties, noodles, on and on...
Suskens' goodbye dinner
the view from the hotel restaurant
hotel restaurant did lovely set menu's, Hopper loved the rainbow trout. This was after the exhibition opening.
hotel restaurant, also where the onsen is so we could combine the 2 great experiences
Korean BBQ place in Ishi, dynomite!!!
In Ishi there was a fast food sushi place that was fun, conveyor-belt style with self service screens to order things off the menu. It was a delight after we figured out how to use it and realized not to steel other people's orders. But I'm sure if you ask Hopper he'll tell you the best restaurant was in You Me shopping center and had the shinkansen. When the orders would come out, a shinkansen train with a flat bed delivered it to the table. And with all the booths in a row, it was a back and forth enjoyment for Mr. Train. (Oh, and for some reason the guy loves tempura shrimp tails, crunches it up and asks for more.)
Ominami-san, who runs the Green Valley company that puts on the residency, invited the artists and families to his favorite sushi place. If you've seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi then you have an idea of the concept. It was one guy, 10 seats, and you sit at the bar and eat what he makes. What a treat to eat everything in order, at the perfect temperature, with the perfect flavoring, all at the timing he sees fit, with the smoothest saki one could hope to throw down. True story, my shrimp was so fresh that 15 minutes after I ate it, the remaining tail thrashed around on the table. I was both relieved and disappointed that I didn't see it. (Hopper needed to have a moment outside to get out some toddler energy.)
Manus, Ominami-san, Nik; Sayaka, Susken, me & Hopper
chef came out to say goodbye
During the last week of our stay, oysters came into season so Keiko put together a plan to visit a special restaurant where she warned us not to wear our good clothes and bring some beers and condiments. She had been quite nonchalant about it and during the 90 min drive we were wondering just how much this would be worth the drive... Our minds were properly blown, this place was truly like no other.
You pull into a very dark dirt road jettying out near the ocean with nothing else around. There were work trucks parked near random mounds of dirt and a fluorescent lit building up a small hill. It smelled of brine and decay and the aromas of cooking. Outside was a massive skip full of empty shells and inside were tanks of various kinds of crustaceans just waiting to be consumed with vigor. There were about 6 or 7 huge tables with massive teppanyaki-style hot plates and huge metal lids that were operated with small crane motors to raise and lower them. We ordered a batch of oysters which were brought to the table in a massive crate and dumped and spread on the table. The lid was lowered, and the cooking began. And when at last the lid was raised, we ate what was probably health violating amounts of oysters with soy and horse radish, spring onion and sudachi lime, mayonaise, dashi, lemon, tabasco. On and on. Batch after batch, shucking and making a mess and surprising our selves with how many oysters one can consume. It was so not glamorous but like no other restaurant experience I've ever had.
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