After a really thorough shopping trip at a big supermarket in Izumo called Youme Town, we visited Shimane Winery and Izumo Taisha. It was cold, but we covered all the main spots. It’s the same Japan, but big cities like Tokyo or Osaka and the countryside have a completely different feel. As a hands-on kind of trip, it was a good route. They said they wanted sushi for dinner, so I went back to Naniwa Sushi, my secret-weapon sushi place that I know well. I go so often you’d think I’d be tired of it, but this place has never once let me down either..
Wriggling kuruma ebi
The prawns were thrashing about and the abalone were wrestling. Now, now, fellow seafood friends shouldn’t fight, you should get along. All the more so since you’ll all be ending up in my stomach soon anyway..
Gari and shoyu
The gari here is high quality.
Octopus as a starter
Boiled just right, so it’s tender but not mushy. That must be because of how much care goes into making it. Care is something you can’t simply buy with money, so just getting to know a place like this is an enormous stroke of luck.
Buri, chutoro
In winter it has to be buri, nice and fatty. I was also hoping for akami, but that day they only had chutoro.
Ika
Anything is tasty when the ingredients are fresh, but I think that goes double for ika and tako.
Aburi nodoguro
This is the house signature dish. It holds its own against otoro.
Seared salmon
Whatever anyone says, salmon only tastes right when it’s seared. Next to this, salmon topped with mayonnaise really isn’t fit for human consumption.
Sazae
Sazae is another of the house signature items. ^_^ It didn’t move me the way it did the first time I had it, but I put that down to the luck of the day’s catch. I’d like to keep coming back to see what hidden menu items they have. After I finished, the slightly bitter tsuboyaki came out, just like last time.
Uni
At cheap sushi places, premium ingredients like this come out in tiny dabs, so you can’t really enjoy them. At some point I stopped going to conveyor-belt sushi much.
Anago
Seasoned with salt.
Kani
It’s a bit awkward to eat with the shell still attached, but then again you can’t exactly eat it without the shell. The meat is so sticky it clings to your mouth. It reminds me again that winter is crab season.
Akagai
A winter delicacy. I wish the pieces had been a bit plumper.
Persimmon gratin
It was a popular dish last time too, and this time it was a huge hit again.
Geso-yaki
This one also came on the house. After eating this far, I ordered a few more pieces okonomi, à la carte.
Kuruma ebi
I couldn’t not eat the kuruma ebi that had been thrashing around earlier. It was nicely firm, but not as sweet as I’d expected.
Unagi
An ordinary item.
Kuromame
One of the dishes of osechi, Japanese New Year food. It’s meant as a wish for good health. They were simmered carefully, without a single wrinkle.
Kuruma ebi heads
With prawns, the head with the innards is the tastiest part. A satisfying meal right to the end. I’d like to go again sometime next month, so it’d be nice if someone came along. With a place like this I’d like to go often and become a regular, but reality doesn’t make that easy.