Category: Nagoya

I slowly awoke on our last morning in Nagoya. Unfolding myself from the futon….man; it had been awhile since I've slept on the floor and my body really wasn't used to it. Plus, we'd put in some mileage over the last two days. Still, falling into an exhausted sleep really helped since our apartment was pretty small and the train tracks were literally outside our window.

We got our things together, cleaned up the apartment, showered, closed up, and basically crossed the street to the JR Nagoya Station where we checked out some of the shops featuring local snacks….the ever present Nagoya Teba, in gift boxes for your enjoyment!

Anyway, we headed up to our tracks. We were about an hour early, our Shinkansen wasn't scheduled to leave until around 0845. There was a reason for this. If you recall, the Missus really enjoyed the Kishimen at Kaburaya and I promised Her we'd get another bowl of this Nagoya specialty. But where? Well, on our return trip from Tsumago, I pointed out this little booth between tracks 10 and 11.

This is one of the shops of Nadai Kishimen Sumiyoshi, there's another between tracks 3 and 4 as well. I'd read a bit about this tiny, stand up noodle shop; where you eat standing up, before catching your train. I told the Missus that folks had even recommended making a stop here just to grab a bowl on the train tracks before transferring to the next passing train. The Missus was fascinated with these type of shops, so She was totally game!

Of course ordering was by ticket machine and the Missus being to read Kanji helped a bit. We put our money into the machine and got our tickets. The shop opens at 0730; it was almost 8 and the only other customer in there was finishing up already. We surrendered our tickets and the woman went to work. It was a tidy little shop; a one woman show here….she was super organized and even communicated via sign language to let us know that there already was an egg in what the Missus ordered and did we really want another? The answer of course was yes.

The Missus had ordered the "Shop Special", only for this shop; the Shrimp Tempura Version, 500¥, think a bit over $4.50, with an additional 79¥ for an extra egg.

I got the "Seasonal Special", a vegetable tempura version for 500¥.

Boy, the soup, which tasted like a sweeter, stronger, dashi forward Kitsune Udon broth really had that "aaah" appeal. Very comforting; it was the beginning of April, but there was still a chill in the air. In fact, I'd read and Kat had mentioned to me that it had snowed in several parts of Japan just he previous week. The Missus of course loved mixing in that raw egg…or in Her case, the raw eggs. It's really the noodles that appealed to the Missus, flat and slightly wide, these noodles had a really nice "stretch" to them; what my Taiwanese coworkers would call "QQ"…..enjoyably chewy and toothsome, but not hard. No spoons here….you drink from the bowl! Man, this was good!

Nadai Kishimen Sumiyoshi (名代きしめん) – Between Tracks 10 and 11 JR Nagoya Station
1-1-4 Meieki
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

As our train arrived, I went to the ever present vending machines….one could write several blog posts about these; and bought some hot coffee and tea and we boarded.

And we were off. Our reserved seats were right behind the Engineer and I really enjoyed watching him. Taking note of he various hand signals and how he sped up or slowed down.

As we got closer to our destination; there it was….snow!

The Missus and I looked at each other and smiled….whatever was waiting, we'd make the best of it.

And as we had learned during "Typhoon Day" several years back, from Kat and others. When there's a possibility of unknown weather ahead, an important step is to………have snacks!

So, at least we were prepared for that!

Thanks for reading!

We had intentions of revisiting the original Yakyuudori  againon our last evening in Nagoya. Taka-san even told them to expect us. Yakyuudori doesn't take reservations, so our initial plan was to be there right when they opened. However, we'd had a pretty full day already and had passed out after lunch at Yabaton. When we awoke, it was getting late….but since Taka-san had told them to expect us; we had to show up. And we did. Yakyuudori however, was absolutely packed….folks were eating on the benches against the wall! The really nice guy from last time came out from behind the grill and told us; "you go to Hinotetsu 2"….so we decided to go down the street and find the place. But, in typical Japanese manner, he came out from behind the grill and insisted on walking us there!

We felt really bad in having him walk us to the place…..but he insisted and was so nice. He made sure to introduce us to the chef.

We quickly noticed something about the style of grilling at this location. There was minimum use of tare.

As was evident by the Kimo; chicken liver.

Though the Missus said She really liked this version as it had really absorbed the bincho flavor.

The butashiso was very good; the pork was tender and moist and the flavor of the shiso came through nicely.

A very nice version.

Last time around, I didn't know that Yakyuudori and Hinotez serves up basashi, raw horse, one of my favorite things. This time I made sure to order it.

While a bit leaner than my favorite version; the flavor was clean and the ginger and ponzu really made this refreshing.

We tend to use Tsukune; chicken meatballs, as our measure of a yakitori shop. This version didn't do it for us.

This was really tough and hard, totally different from what we enjoy in a good tsukune. It really had the texture of an over worked sausage; even the beautiful egg yolk, nor the tare, of which it was drenched in couldn't help.

The teba; chicken wings were prepared in a different manner than the classic Yakyudori/Taisho splayed version, but the skin was very crisp and it was seasoned well.

We finished off with some kawa; the chicken skin.

This did real well with the straight up bincho grilling. It was nice and crisp and salted quite well. Though we did miss the crisp edges and the buttery interior of our favorite versions.

Overall, a mixed bag, but not bad. If anything, we appreciated Taisho even more after this visit. We'll make sure to get to Yakyuudori on time when we're back in Nagoya.

Hinotez 2
105 Fujimigaoka
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

After crossing the Gojo Bridge we walked past the Nagoya Noh Theatre….where the Missus was smitten with this Cherry Blossom tree.

I had gotten a good dose of the Missus's love….obsession with sakura a bit earlier on the trip so I just ket Her carry on; while I took a look around.

That's a statue of Daimyo Kato Kiyomasa who was known as the premier castle builder of his day. Under orders of Ieyasu Tokugawa, several Daimyo's including Kiyomasa were tasked with rebuilding Nagoya castle which had been abandoned.

Once the Missus was done taking Her photos and admiring the sakura, we headed across the street to the entrance of Nagoya Castle.

We paid our entrance fee and stopped by the tourist office where the very friendly young lady pointed out several places of note.

Apparently, there was some kind of festival going on………not quite sure what it was about, but seeing folks in….ummm….costumes kept us smiling.

And some browsing time as well…..

All in the shadow of the Castle's Turrets.

Here's another statue of Kato Kiyomasa. Apparently, it was from this stone that he would command the building of the castle.

We headed to the other end of the castle grounds, to the East Garden.

Where we found a Tea House and decided to take a break. The Missus loves Macha….if you only knew how much She spends ordering stuff from Ippodo, Lupicia, and other places….

The Missus wanted some extra "bling" in Her tea…..

We walked back to the area of Hommaru Palace, part of which is being restored. We could actually enter and view the restoration taking place and were provided hard hats…..which made for a couple of silly hard hat photos (of course).

It was really neat to be able to check out all the elaborate construction being done.

Genkan, the entrance hall and Omote Shoin, the main hall have been restored and are open to the public. We got a chance to see the wonderful wall and partition paintings.

We had, of course, saved the Main Donjon (Tower) for last.

On the way there we passed the "Kiyomasa Stone", the largest stone in the wall said to have been put there by Kato Kiyomasa himself; though it is said that Kuroda Nagamasa was actually in charge of building this part of the wall.

We loved watching the kids take photos with the "Samurai"….in fact, we ended up taking photos with him as well (ssshhh, don't tell).

There was an interesting reproduction of the castle town along with what some of the meals looked like.

There's a replica of the Golden Kinshachi, two of which adorn the roof of the Dojon, and are symbols of Nagoya.

And a nice view from the 7th Floor as well.

After this we decided to head on out……there was some shopping that we needed to do.

But first, we just had to stop and watch the children's dance performances.

The littlest one's were really adorable.

Done with Nagoya Castle; we headed down Honmachi Dori and somehow managed to find the Nadya Park Shopping Complex. We went to the Montbell Store and bought some ultra-light Plasma 1000 down jackets.

That done, it was getting kinda late, so we headed back toward Nagoya Station. We decided to take our chances at the Yabaton in the underground ESCA shopping center. Indeed, there was a line when we arrived….but, things moved quickly and they actually took your order while you waited in line.

So by the time we got to our table; things were just about waiting for us.

Misokatsu is one of the classic Nagoya food items….ask Taka-san at Taisho about it and he practically smacks his lips. Yabaton is probably the most well known chain of misokatsu restuarants.

I went with what Taka-san told me to order; the Teppan Misokatsu.

I shared my rice with the Missus. The miso soup was really good as well. In the teppan version of misokatsu; the tonkatsu is delivered on a hot plate lying on a bed of cabbage sizzling away. The miso sauce is then brought to the table and you can tell them how much you want.

The miso isn't overly salty; nice beany flavor, the breading on the cutlet is nice and stays crisp for a while. The pork is surprisingly tender….but man, this was a lot of pork.

The Missus got some small dishes which She enjoyed.

While everything was prepared well; this was perhaps too much of the same flavor and it was rather fatiguing after a while.

Nice meal; though I'll probably stick with some kushikatsu next time.

Misokatsu Yabaton (ESCA Shop)
ESCA Underground Shopping Center
Tsubakimachi 6 No. 9 Gosaki Esca
Tsubakicho, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, 453-0015
Hours:
11am – 10pm Daily

After a nice morning and early afternoon of visiting Kiyomizu-dera and shopping, we had a nice nap, then headed off to Kyoto Station. We had booked a trip to Nagoya.

For what, you might ask? Earlier on the trip we had visited Asahikawa in order to check out the "Main Branch" of Santouka, during one of our many visits to Taisho, Taka-san had told us that we should go to visit the "Main Branch" of Yakuyudori in Nagoya. We thought "why not"? And soon enough and told Taka-san that we'd be glad to visit Yakyuudori and told him what day we'd be there. On our next visit, being the nice guy he is; Taka-san handed me a small slip of paper with a phone number and the address of 142 Fujimigaoka. Apparently, there are several Yakyuudori and Hinotetsu branches in the area, but this is the one we should visit. He even told me that his friend, the main Yakitori guy there would be expecting us.

So it's was a pleasant trip on the Shinkansen, about a 40 minute trip to Nagoya Station where we meandered around a bit, then caught the Nagoya Higashiyama Line to Fujigaoka Station.

We walked around exploring the area, which is much different than around bustling Nagoya Station. We walked through the market and checked out some shops, before heading down Fujimigaoka, which parallels the train tracks (a key item).

Along the way we passed another Yakyuudori. We checked the phone number on the sign. When it didn't match up, we kept going. Until we ended up at this little shop right next to an auto repair.

The locale was quite amazing as it was built right below the subway tracks. Entering was even more interesting……consider the nice, rather darkly lit, austere, yet fairly classy Taisho…jazz music playing in the background. And then check this place out!

Man, you gotta love this place! A total neighborhood "joint", the guys working here were really friendly, almost jolly. And everytime the train passed overhead, the whole restaurant would rock slightly! Amazing!

The "main guy" was so funny…he'd been expecting us, and in fact, wore a Yakitori Taisho T-shirt to welcome us! Check out that crock of salt!

Don't let his jolly and easy going appearance fool you. He had some major grilling chops. Every so often, he'd pass us our food, wink, and say, "better than Taka"! And just crack up.

We ordered all the usual suspects…..if you read my Taisho posts, or have been to Taisho, you'll recognize them. This is where Taka-san trained.

Things started with some Hatsu (chicken heart). We weren't too thrilled by the appearance, but man, this was really good. Heart like gizzards always seems to absorb a good amount of smoke. Combine that with the perfect amount of salt and grilling the chicken heart to "just done" and this was so good. It was very tender as well. You could tell that the chicken here was much different than what we get in the states.

I thought the gizzards were a bit too hard for my taste.

Nice smokey flavor though.

This was good time for a beer break. We ended buying a round for the folks working and they were having a great time….singing aloud, almost dancing…..we were just loving it.

And we loved the Tsukune too. Up to this point in time; I'd say this was the best I had ever had.

My goodness, that tare was a wonderful combination of sweet-salty-savory….the meatball was slightly crisp on the exterior, and meltingly soft….as is the hallmark of the tsukune served at Yakyudori-Taisho-Hinotez here, there was a light background hint of ginger floating around. And a dip in that egg yolk…..adding a rich creaminess. This was number one, until it was dethroned later on this trip. Still, I'd come back for this in an instant!

The Missus loved the creamy Kimo – chicken liver.

Again, not over-cooked, and without tare….but the Missus said it was great.

The nankotsu was also a winner.

Great crunchiness, crisp on the exterior. Nice, restrained seasoning.

And of course……a Yakyudori classic….the Teba, chicken wings.

The akahimo also tasted like a carbon copy of what we regularly get at Taisho.

The kawa (chicken skin) was also a winner. Here it's served without tare as well.

Light and crisp at first bite, transitioning to a creamy interior. Perfect salt, really great chicken flavor.

And then the buto-shiso….the porkiness of this was very distinct.

The interior of the pork roll was very tender, this was another winner.

We loved this place…..the casual, yet welcoming crew, the unique atmosphere. This is what we were wishing for and were left wanting at the Yakitori places in Tokyo. After returning, I chatted with Taka-san about the differences in the chicken used at Yakyudori in Japan and here in the states. I was told that he "wishes he could get the same quality and breed" here.

Well, I guess we'll just have to head back to Nagoya……

Yakyuudori (野球鳥)
142 Fujimigaoka
Meito-ku Nagoya Aichi

Before catching the Shinkansen back to Kyoto, we stopped at Takashimaya Department Store….of course going to B1 and checking out the food and snacks. One of the women working at one of the stands was so friendly and warm….really wanted us to taste everything! She was a hoot….so of course we ended up buying some snacks.

It was about time we got into the "holiday spirit" right?

Thanks for reading!