Went for a bit of a tiki tour today in search of Hokkiado cheese. We found our selves on the western coast of the island in a fishing town called Iwanai. As usual we had no idea about anything so were more than happy to be shown this small eatery. Tacked onto the side of a seafood market the kitchen is no more than a grill a rice cooker and a single burner for a soup pot.
We ordered three of the fishes available to day on a hand written menu on the wall.
All the sets came with the same accompaniments, a bowl of miso, some bright yellow pickled diakon, a bowl of blanched bean sprouts which were then tossed with sesame oil and topped with aonori, a small plate of braised octopus, rice and on each of the fish plates was a seaweed relish and grated diakon.
Salmon belly; lightly glazed and grilled to perfection
Saba; a japanese mackerel, needed a little soy to bring out the flavor
Hoke; firm white fleshed fish lightly glazed
Through to the market
I liked that as the fish was used the woman working just walked through to the market and picked up a couple more pieces. Not much fresher than that.
On the way home we came across this spring near the Konbu spa. The local council has put some plumbing into the ground so people can take advantage of the constant running water.
Filling up our soft drink bottles I could understand why there were people there with dozens of large water vessels filling up, it is delicious, clean and crisp possibly the best water I have ever tried, and the bonus is it's free. How cool is that??
We ordered three of the fishes available to day on a hand written menu on the wall.
All the sets came with the same accompaniments, a bowl of miso, some bright yellow pickled diakon, a bowl of blanched bean sprouts which were then tossed with sesame oil and topped with aonori, a small plate of braised octopus, rice and on each of the fish plates was a seaweed relish and grated diakon.
Salmon belly; lightly glazed and grilled to perfection
Saba; a japanese mackerel, needed a little soy to bring out the flavor
Hoke; firm white fleshed fish lightly glazed
Through to the market
I liked that as the fish was used the woman working just walked through to the market and picked up a couple more pieces. Not much fresher than that.
On the way home we came across this spring near the Konbu spa. The local council has put some plumbing into the ground so people can take advantage of the constant running water.
Filling up our soft drink bottles I could understand why there were people there with dozens of large water vessels filling up, it is delicious, clean and crisp possibly the best water I have ever tried, and the bonus is it's free. How cool is that??
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