While planning our visit to Kanazawa I cam across an interesting restaurant named Iwashigumi. I first saw photos on Tabelog and was quite intrigued. So I had a friend make reservations for us. We took a nice long stroll down to the Katamachi district, a popular shopping and nightlife area. Iwashigumi is discreetly located fairly close to the main street.
The style is rustic, old school izakaya. I believe you can purchase a red lantern for the wall if you want.
As the name indicates; this place is all about iwashi……sardines. Yep, a restaurant specializing in sardines, everything from iwashi honesenbei to iwashi croquette. The Missus loves sardines (remember Tito 2 in Matoshinos), so She quickly agreed.
The set-up is like a sushi bar, with a few tables to the side. There's a certain charm to this place…..
When you order sake, they bring you a selection of ochoko (sake cups), some of which are rather interesting.
The Missus had sake and I started with some "nama-beeru"….
So, based on some of my previous posts on this trip, you can kind of figure that I just couldn't get enough of honsenbei, fried fish bone ("crackers"). The Missus was totally over it, but humored me ("for one last time").
Crunchy-savory goodness!
First up was the Iwashi-sashimi. You'd think this would be on the "oily" side, but this was very clean tasting.
There was a slight chew; the flavor and texture was reminiscent of Aji (Spanish Mackeral).
The Iwashi Tataki was another refreshing dish.
Nice crunchy vegetables to add contrast to the toothsome fish. Funny, we really didn't need the ginger for both of these dishes.
When we placed our order, we made sure to first request the grilled sardine which takes about 20-30 minutes.
Good salt and crisp skin. This was quite rich and oily, a bit too strong in flavor for the Missus. I did need the oroshi and lemon, to help cut the richness.
The Missus had no such problem with the Iwashi no Mentaiko.
This was our favorite dish of the night. The rich, grilled sardine, met straight up with the briny and spicy cod roe. Salty, but in a good way, this one made our night.
At this point, I needed to help the Missus with Her sake, so I choose the goofiest cup I could find.
Of course one needs rice to complete a meal; so we ordered the Iwashi Oshizushi, which filled us up.
We really enjoyed our meal. The service was friendly and efficient. One of the young ladies spoke pretty good English as well. Along with Kuroyuri, Morimori Sushi, and our breakfasts, Iwashigumi made our trip to Kanazawa a delicious one.
Iwashigumi
1-7-13 Katamachi
Kanazawa, Japan
Side note: While looking for the address, I noticed that Iwashigumi is on Michelin's Bib Gourmand list. Good for them!
We'd done quite a bit on this day, so we caught the bus back to Kanazawa Station and our hotel. I had some time to relax, catch up on emails, and work on a post.
For some reason, I found the taxi queue, and the patterns for determining which cab was up next mesmerizing……
You could say the same about Kanazawa……