tamago senbei

Tamago senbei or tamagosen for short is a type of b-kyu gurume that is often seen at matsuri (festivals).

Satoshi said that growing up he and his friends would go to a dagashiya (candy shop) to buy snacks after school.

Using their kozukai (pocket money) they would buy ebisen (shrimp crackers) topped with okonomiyaki sauce.

I asked him about takosen (shrimp crackers topped with takoyaki).

He said that takosen was too expensive for the amount of  pocket money he normally had which was about 100 yen (like $1).

I don't remember ever trying this, so I made some for our lunch yesterday.

I juilienned some cabbage and then wilted it in a non-stick pan.

I also squeezed out as much liquid as I could from the wilted cabbage.

Then I pan fried an egg for each of us.

Topped the ebisen (shrimp crackers) with cabbage, the egg and then drizzled some okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, bubu arare (since I didn't have tempura bits) and some aonori.

Messy to eat but so so good!

I think the egg needed to be cooked a little longer so that it wasn't oozy when eaten.

I loved how crispy the shrimp crackers stayed even with all the toppings.

And the sweet salty combo from the okonomiyaki sauce with the shrimp crackers is so so addicting.

Since it will be awhile before festivals are allowed again, I will definitely make this again when I am in a pinch to make something for lunch.

miyazu-fukuchiyama-osaka

Breakfast was Japanese-style again and this time they offered to cook our "raw eggs"...whew!

After breakfast, the minshuku dropped us off at the station and we were able to ride the Aomatsu (blue pine) train.

Willer has three types, Akamatsu (red pine), Aomatsu (blue pine) and Kuromatsu (black pine) for various lines in the area, some are reservations only, some have extra fees and some can be ridden without added costs.

Aomatsu could be rode without added costs, so we were happy to be able to get seats.

It was like sitting in a moving café. It was a great experience.

The first thing we did when we arrived in Fukuchiyama was get some coffee and then find the castle ruins.

It takes about 10 minutes from the station to walk to the castle ruins.

The inside of the castle is modernized, but you can see the city from the top.

There were crazy Japanese people sticking their selfie sticks outside of the castle windows to take pictures of themselves inside the castle...geez!

It was so hot that we stopped for some gelato at Adachi Otoemon. This Japanese confectioner makes lots of sweets using local Tamba kuri (chestnuts).

Satoshi ordered a 2 dip (flavors) with Marron gelato and Kuri (chestnut overkill?) his scoops had tons of chestnut bits in it. Delicious!

I chose Uji matcha and bitter chocolate. The rich chocolate balanced out with the bitter matcha.

Refreshed, we checked out the Chisui (flood) museum. This museum is located in a restored home and provides information on floods and also teaches about flood control.

About a year or two ago, Fukuchiyama was flooded out. The volunteer explained that the older style home floors were protected with flood control techniques but the newly built home floors were destroyed with the flood.

It was a neat and informative place to check out.

Lunch was at Konamono-ya.

Earlier while walking to the castle ruins, a banner caught my eye..."B-kyu gurume Gomuyakisoba".

If you know some Japanese, you'll know that "gomu" means rubber...I knew we had to check out this place.

I ordered the gomu yakisoba meshi and Satoshi ordered the gomu omusoba.

The noodles were "rubbery" but what was interesting was the topping of a little marinara and basil mayo, which actually matched their yakisoba sauce.

I'm glad we tried this!

We brought home some canned sardines and a tokkuri ika. The squid is shaped and dried into a tokkuri (bottle) for you to put your sake into. The top is shaped and dried into an ochoko (cup). After drinking your sake from this several times, the squid becomes soft enough to eat as a chaser. I'll be sure to post about this when we try it.

We had a nice time and for the most part the weather was cooperative. I hope you enjoyed our adventure as much as we did.

Adachi Otoemon
44-18 Naiki
Fukuchiyama, Kyoto
Hours: 9:00-19:00 daily except New Years Day

Konamono-ya
251-2 Aza Amadaekimae-cho
Fukuchiyama, Kyoto
Phone: 0773.22.0032
Lunch: 11:00-14:00, Dinner: 17:30-20:00
Closed Tuesdays

sayonara

Bummer that the snack park in the basement of Hanshin Department store is closing.

It's been around since 1957!

This is where Dennis and I had ikayaki (squid cooked in a thin crepe), the most popular item there.

After some renovations, the ikayaki will be available as a take-out item only.

No more people watching though. I'm glad I got to take Dennis there before it closed.

denraku

We stumbled upon Denraku the other weekend but tried them this past Wednesday.

They serve different teishoku (set meals) as well as Kanazawa curry (which I think is B-kyu gurume).

Satoshi went with the ebi fry (fried shrimp) Kanazawa curry...880 yen.

It comes out on a huge plate with lots of rice, a thin layer of julienned cabbage, spicy curry ladled on top, then fukujinzuke (pickles) and kaiware (radish sprouts) scattered before being topped with the fried shrimp.

He also had two pieces of karaage tucked in there...a nice surprise.

I went with the Kanazawa yaki-curry...780 yen.

A baked version, with grilled chicken topping it.

Super filling! but really good and cheesy.

Satoshi also ordered some Hamamatsu gyoza...300 yen...meh! He said that the moment these were brought out, he knew they were frozen types, nothing to rave about.

This shop is definitely a "manly" place, there were so many construction workers there and all of them smokers too...*ack*

We'll be back, hopefully when no one else is there to smoke us out...

Denraku
1-1-1 Sakura
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.721.1114
Lunch: 11:00-14:00, Dinner 18:00-23:00

foodie friday in osaka

Friday the weather was cold, a bit rainy but I was happy that I got to meet Dennis of Radiused Corner.

After getting lost on the JR loop line, we finally made our way to Namba Jiyuken.

This shop has been in business since 1910 and is totally B-kyu Gurume.

Dennis asked what the difference between Namba Jiyuken and Senba Jiyuken was, well, I found out. They are two separate companies.

In fact, Senba Jiyuken's main shop is in Tokyo. Namba Jiyuken is only found in areas around Osaka.

The funny thing is that they sell almost the exact same menu items.

We shared their curry rice, this comes with a raw egg on top.

If there is one place you could safely eat raw eggs I would say it would have to be in Japan.

Taste the rice..the curry is spicy.

Add a dash of their sauce (worchestershire) and the flavors become a bit bolder.

Then mix in the egg and it all mellows out.

We also tried their ebi cream croquette (shrimp cream croquette). The coating is so crispy and the inside so creamy with lots of shrimp in it.

It comes with some cole slaw and some macaroni coated with their tomato sauce.

Soul food at its finest.

The turnover is pretty fast. And you'll have to share your table with others.

I'm glad I took Dennis to the "real" Jiyuken.

After lunch we went to check out Doguyasuji, where Dennis bought a lot of gadgets for his kitchen.

We then headed to Hanshin Department Store to check out more B-kyu Gurume.

Their ikayaki is a thin crepe filled with ika (squid) and their sauce, similar to the kind used for okonomiyaki. Apparently they sell over 10,000 of these in a day!

This was simple but a really nice snack.

We also tried their negiyaki (the ikayaki with green onions), but this one was a bit bitter.

The snack park, a standing eating area was great for people watching. All sorts of B-kyu Gurume (ramen, omurice, takoyaki, and much much more)

Dennis was nice to give Satoshi this In-n-Out Burger t-shirt and some stickers.

We'll have to travel to California so that I can let him taste an In-n-Out burger.

He also gave us some Gomatamago, a Japanese sweet filled with black sesame paste.

The day went by so quickly but I'm glad we got to meet up, lots of eating, lots of walking and lots of talking.

Thanks for a great day Dennis!

Namba Jiyuken
3-1-34 Namba
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6631.5564
Closed Mondays
Hours: 11:20-21:20

Hanshin Meibutsu Ikayaki
Hanshin Department Store B1
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6345.1201

oni-sasa

On that show that features local cuisines they recently featured something from Ishigaki island in Okinawa...oni-sasa.

It is the combination of an onigiri and sasami fry (fried chicken breast).

What they do is go to an okazuya and take a plastic bag.

Place the fried chicken breast into the bag.

Place the onigiri of their choice on top.

Drizzle some sauce and then close up the bag.

Then just before eating, they smash and mold the rice and chicken together, creating what they call oni-sasa.

Satoshi and I decided we wanted to try this so we picked up some fried chicken breast.

I cooked some rice and made musubi with some furikake.

And then we put them into a plastic bag, drizzled some tonkatsu sauce and molded them...

This is really good picnic food!

Your hands don't get dirty because "everything is in the bag", so to speak.

I'm making this again the next time we go picnic-ing.

hakodate day 3

Day 3 was "warm". Instead of the minus temps, we were in single digits, which meant, the snow was melting and we were walking around in slush...

Breakfast was buffet-style, which Satoshi always goes overboard on. He ate 3 bowls of rice and lots of tsukemono...someone is supposed to be watching his salt intake...ahem!

After breakfast, we walked through the asaichi (morning market) and to the Mashu Maru, a ferry that linked Honshu to Hokkaido for 80 years.

Apparently, ships in Japan attach "maru" to the names of their ships because they thought of their ships as castles and to have a circle (the meaning of maru) is like having a barrier (like the moats for castles) around to protect it.

One of the interesting things was the blanket origami. Apparently, this art-form was done for the upper class passengers to commemorate special events like anniversaries, even the New Year.

The stewards would learn from the elder stewards how to fold the blankets. Unfortunately, this tradition was stopped in the 60's because it hindered the amount of time it took to prepare the rooms for the next passengers.

We then went to drop off our bags at the hotel we would be staying at called the Winning Hotel.

Down the street from this hotel is the 1st cement electric pole in Japan. It stands 10 meters (about 33 feet) tall.

I was intrigued by this old liquor store, which turned out to be a sweets shop called Kin no Kokoro.

It was here that we picked up some of their delicious cake donuts.

We then walked up the hill to check out the old British consulate.

I was amazed at how big these older buildings were. It was hard to believe that we were in Japan.

And then we came back down for lunch at California Baby, another local establishment. This place has a concoction called Cisco Rice...buttered rice, topped with meat sauce and 2 grilled frankfurters.

Really filling and a taste of Hakodate's B-kyu gurume.

I was bummed that their meat sauce was a store-bought type, but was happy that I got to try this.

Satoshi had their meat sauce spaghetti, and after eating 3 bowls of rice at breakfast, he was quite stuffed.

So we walked around a bit and saw the area where foreigners 1st stepped onto Hokkaido soil. And then we checked in at our hotel.

After putting our things away, we then headed to Tachikawa Cafe where we shared this tarte Normandie (apple tart) and had some coffee.

A common sight were these buildings that had Japanese style architecture on the bottom floor and Western style on the top floor.

I think it was about this time that the winds starting whipping rain and sleet at us and when my folding umbrella's shaft snapped like a twig.

We made it back to our hotel, a bit wind blown and lots wet.

It was still early for dinner, so we watched the Spring high school baseball tournament on television and took a little nap.

Dinner was at Ika ika tei.

We both had the isaribi set, which came with assorted sushi and miso soup which seemed to have ogo (red seaweed) in it.

I was bummed that my uni (sea urchin) had something crunchy in it...ew!

Despite the weather, it was another day of great sights and eats.

Kin no kokoro
16-13 Suehiro-cho
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.27.3153
Closed Tuesdays

California Baby
23-15 Suehiro-cho
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.22.0643

Tachikawa Cafe
15-15 Benten-cho
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.22.0340
Closed Mondays

Ika ika tei
12-12 Toyokawa-cho Hakodate Kaisen Ichiba
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.22.5656

Winning Hotel
22-11 Suehiro-cho
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.26.1111

b-kyu gurume

In the States, you probably know about B movies, but there is something called B-kyu gurume (B class gourmet) here in Japan. 

This form of food is not "frou-frou", but found in shitamachi (working class areas). 

It is down to earth, cheap and delicious. 

These foods usually don't use the best parts of the animal, which is probably why they can sell things cheap. 

Anyway...Satoshi has been wanting to check out a monument...of a comic character, so we headed to Kobe. Tetsujin Niju-hachi go (Super Giant 28) was created by Yokoyama Mitsuteru, who was born near Kobe. 

Satoshi grew up with this cartoon on television. An NPO group came up with the idea for this monument as a way to "cheer up" their area which was decimated in the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

The project was started in 2006 and the monument was finished in 2009. 

It is 18 meters tall (59 feet high). 

Unfortunately, Mr. Yokoyama died in 2004 and was never able to see the finished product. The monument is located in a park near the JR Shin Nagata station. 

From the park, there are many shopping arcades, unfortunately, there were only a handful open because most shops have the day off on Wednesday. 

Still, I got to show Satoshi some of the b-kyu gurume that Nagata has to offer. 

First off, we shared an okonomiyaki topped with suji-kon from Iroha. 

Suji-kon is beef tendon cooked with konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly) in a sweet and salty sauce. 

Suji-kon is also called bokkake. 

We loved this okonomiyaki, it had lots of cabbage and the sauce was nicely balanced (not too sweet or salty)...330 yen (about US$3.30) 

I have tried something before with bokkake and blogged about it here. 

A couple blocks away from Iroha was Chizuruya, a butcher/croquette shop.

Just the smell of the oil frying up croquette drew us to them. 

Not to mention the line waiting for the croquettes. We tried a potato croquette 60 yen (about US$.60) and menchikatsu (minced beef (hamburger) cutlet) 70 yen (about US$.70). 

We ordered ours to eat right away, so they came wrapped in brown paper and were piping hot.

Nagata is also known for being an area which makes shoes, so we went to check out a building called Shoes Plaza, unfortunately this place had the day off too. 

If you go to check them out (when they are open), they have many shoe shops inside and in front you'll see these huge red high heels. 

Across the street from the Shoes Plaza there is a tiny okonomiyaki shop called Fuji. 

There was a dish that I wanted Satoshi to try called sobameshi, luckily they had it on their menu. 

Soba is yakisoba (fried noodle), meshi is rice. 

This dish is like fried rice but with the addition of fried noodles. 

They are cooked with cabbage, green onion and the noodle is chopped up as it is cooked. 

At the end, it is topped with some of the sweet and salty sauce. 

You can find many variations of this dish in Nagata, but I think the best is with bokkake in it. 

Satoshi and I shared the sobameshi and suji sobameshi...total 1400 yen (about US$14). 

I loved how the noodle got crispy from staying on the griddle while you ate. 

Both dishes came with a serving of miso soup & pickles. 

Very filling but with all that walking, surely hit the spot. 

Despite most of the shops being closed, it was a nice sunny day, a bit chilly, but lots of delicious foods to try. 

Iroha 

6-1-1 Ohashi-cho 

Nagata-ku, Kobe 

Phone: 078.611.1798 

Chitsuruya Seiniku 

5-1-1-128 Futaba-cho 

Nagata-ku, Kobe 

Phone: 078.642.4129 

Closed Fridays 

Okonomiyaki Fuji 

6-7-14 Kagura-cho 

Nagata-ku, Kobe 

Shoes Plaza 

7-1-9 Hosoda-cho 

Nagata-ku, Kobe 

Phone: 078.646.5266 

Closed Wednesdays