To keep the high from the whale meat I had at lunch going, I headed to a whale-cuisine specialist I’d bookmarked in advance. As is so often the case with places like this, it was tucked into a corner of Shimonoseki’s little nightlife district. It sits back off the street so it’s easy to miss, yet whether because it’s famous or because of the day it was, the seats were almost all taken. Still, travelling solo has its perks, and a single seat opened up soon enough.
Beer
Starting off with a beer. Japanese beer is supposed to be great, but honestly I’m getting a bit tired of it. These days I rarely drink it unless it’s hot or I’ve worked up a sweat, but today I’d been out to Ganryujima and sweated a fair bit, so I ordered one to rehydrate.
Otoshi
Rolled omelette, goya, and dressed whale heart. Nicely chewy and tasty. I could barely tell it apart from beef heart.
Fin whale sashimi, the first caught in 30 years
They said it was a super-rare item, so I gave it a go. But six slices of sashimi for 1,500 yen. -_- The flavour is plain, with almost no fat or sinew. If anything, I imagine watered-down beef would taste like this. 1,500 yen for this.. It may be rare sashimi, but it didn’t seem worth the price.
Tatsuta-age
It seemed to be meat in a thin coating, deep-fried, but maybe because I’m not a big fan of fried food, it didn’t do much for me.
Steak
This was the best of the lot. It tastes almost like a beef steak, but perhaps because it’s so clean-tasting, it somehow comes across as quite refined. This one was pretty hard on the wallet, too.
Shimabijin oyuwari
Some people from Kagoshima were eating at the next seats, so I got chatting with them, and they said Shimabijin is the go-to sweet potato shochu these days. At the premium end, Isami, which a member of a certain foodie club once recommended to me, is apparently the best seller. Drinking it oyuwari (cut with hot water) brings out the aroma that’s unique to sweet potato shochu, but people who aren’t used to it dislike that, so outside Kagoshima hardly anyone drinks it oyuwari. Conversely, if you want a really good oyuwari, you have to go to Kagoshima, they said. It’s a bit far so I’ve been hesitating, but I’ll definitely go if I get the chance.
Mimasu, the izakaya in front of the station
I’d spent more than I should have, but my stomach still felt empty, so I tried Mimasu, an izakaya from these parts that has a nationwide reputation.
Beer
But.. it was surprisingly shabby. Reminded me of what Pyeongnaeok used to be like back in the day. Elderly ladies were running both the floor and the kitchen. Just four drinks on offer: beer, barley shochu, sweet potato shochu and sake, one of each. And only really cheap brands at that. The place itself is on the rundown side, and looking at the menu it’s mostly seafood, with not a single rice dish. And I came here for a meal.. I’d have thought it was common sense for an izakaya to have a varied menu, so I have no idea how a place like this got popular. They say the upside is cheap fugu, but in that case you might as well just buy it at the market and eat it there.
Proof that this place really is famous.
Miyuki Hatakeyama of Port of Notes dropped by in February this year. Her voice is a work of art. Seeing that even someone like her has been here, it’s definitely famous, but.. hmm.. maybe it just doesn’t match what I’m after..
Fugu nabe
I seriously thought about just walking out, then ordered something anyway, and well.. it doesn’t taste bad, but there’s some MSG in there. I think this place’s concept is cheap and plenty rather than delicious. They offered to make porridge with the leftover broth too, but I said no thanks.
Dipping sauce
It’s so strong you can barely taste the fugu. Even among famous places, some are just plain odd. Well.. with places like this there’s a chance something different comes out if you go with a regular, but anyway it wasn’t a place for me.