There’s a place I see every time I head to Nagoya Airport. It’s Kanefuku’s Mentai Park, famous for mentaiko (spicy cod roe). Since there’s actually a factory inside, they produce fresh mentaiko and sell various foods made from it.

The place

As you can see, there’s a cute mentaiko mascot on top of the building. Every time I passed this road, I wondered what on earth that place was.

The entrance

Well… it wasn’t particularly crowded.

They even have claw machines…

I think those are for the kids.

Mentai Park…

I’m not entirely sure what this part is… Since it wasn’t a busy day, it seemed like this section wasn’t operating.

Inside

There are plenty of shops.

Mentaiko sausages and more

They have a variety of mentaiko-based products, though the prices aren’t exactly dirt cheap.

The line for Mentai France

I didn’t know what was going on, but a line suddenly formed, so I joined in. Turns out it was for “Mentai France,” a baguette filled with mentaiko, sold in limited quantities of 50 per day starting at 11:30 AM. As you can see, the determination of the people in line was no joke. They were people who had specifically made time to visit and were buying several at a time…

Tasting corner

I just took a photo. I didn’t actually try the samples because I felt like I’d have to buy something if I did…

Finally, sales began…

I only bought one.

Mentaiko soft serve

This was surprisingly delicious. The saltiness of the mentaiko complemented the sweetness of the soft serve, actually making it taste better. The mentaiko senbei (crackers) were also great…

Mentai France

It’s much larger than I expected.

Inside

It’s packed with mentaiko. This is a must-buy. It was seriously delicious.

Food court

They have pasta and other things, and everything looked tasty. It would be great to visit again next time. But it’s so far… I don’t know when I’ll ever be back…

Mentaiko rice ball

Surprisingly, this rice ball was delicious.

Inside

It was filled to the brim with mentaiko.

Mentaiko

I bought some to try, and the taste was truly excellent…

Mentaiko mayonnaise

If you spread this mayo on regular white bread and toast it, it tastes very similar to the Mentai France. It was so good… If this place were closer, I would have visited often. I’m not sure if I’ll have a reason to go back in this lifetime…

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