Takayama: Sosuke Dinner (night one)

1-50-30, Sowamachi, Takayama-shi, Gifu-ken
Website http://hida-yado.net/yado/sosuke/english.htm

Just like the breakfasts written about previously, the dinners at Sosuke Minshuku were just as impressive. The theme of traditional home style dining prevailed, and we were able to sample further specialities of the region including Hida beef and yomogi udon.

We were also treated to a little something extra on our first dinner - a film crew taping a very loud and obnoxious travel guide (the lass in green) pontificating about her dinner. Anyway...

Sashimi course consisted of exquisite slices of white fish, sitting on a perky shiso leaf and doused in a dressing of yuzu and some unfamiliar herb (possibly mugwort?). The taste was as mouth-watering as it looks. Language was a bit of a barrier to ask what type of fish was on offer - but I'm thinking some kind of kingfish for at least one of them.

Agedashi tofu sat in a briney dashi and wakame broth. On top of the block sat a deep-fried pastry-ish round. The tofu in Takayama was great - quite creamy with a hint of whey to it.

One of the specialities of the region is yomogi udon. The noodles contain boiled and mashed buds of mugwort collected in early spring, and like most udon, are chewy yet smooth. It was served in a seasoned dashi with strips of wakame and sliced baby leeks.

This was an unusual little dish, more so because it seemed quite western. The aluminium bom-bom parcel contained chicken and broccoli in a cheesy white sauce. The braising liquor was sweet with mirin and sake balanced by a dash of shoyu.

I am a little unsure what this vegetable was exactly, but I think it was some sort of sansai (mountain vegetable). It was firm to the bite with a little bit of crunch (like a green bean) and had been pickled with a chilli.

A little hibachi (fire bowl) was topped with a ceramic dish containing Hida beef, beanshoots, eggplant, mushrooms, and local green chillis. When we arrived it was covered with a ceramic lid, and it cooked and bubbled in front of us in a delicious sweet soy braise.

And a meal is not complete without sake, served warm as it was quite cold and rainy outside. Takayama is well know for this alcoholic brew (as evidenced by Helen over at Grab Your Fork). A perfect accompaniment to our great meal.

Takayama: Sosuke Minshuku - Breakfasts

1-50-30, Sowamachi, Takayama-shi, Gifu-ken
Website http://hida-yado.net/yado/sosuke/english.htm

We stayed at the most wonderful minshuku (family run guest house) in Takayama called Sosuke. Part of what made it so wonderful was the food; traditional Japanese breakfasts and dinners served in Sosuke's tatami'd dining room. I'll blog the dinners shortly, but following are three breakfasts we had the pleasure of consuming.

Breakfast on day one consisted of the essentials: Japanese pearl rice (to the tooth), small rectangular seasoned toasted nori sheets in which to dip in soy and envelop chopstick-full bites of rice, and an earthy reddish miso soup spiked with spring onions, wakame and blocks of tofu.

The extra day one items included slices of deep-fried firm tofu, slices of kamaboko (fish cake) beside a knob of wasabi, a dish of pickled hakusai (chinese cabbage), kinpira gobo (braised burdock root and carrot), and a dish of boiled and lightly seasoned azuki (red beans).

We also had this dashi poached egg in a ceramic dish, which came after I'd taken the first photo above (and after I had already dug in).

Day two breakfast consisted of the essentials mentioned above (athough this time you can see the seasoned nori sheets in their original packaging), with a sunny-side-up fried egg, steamed mirin/shoyu seasoned kabocha (pumpkin), blocks of silken tofu dressed with shavings of bonito and spring onions, plain boiled sansai (mountain vegetables) and the pickled hakusai (chinese cabbage).

Breakfast on day three provided us with one of the specialities of the Hida region; Hoba miso. Miso and sliced leeks are placed on a sun dried magnolia leaf which sits on foil over a little hibachi (fire bowl). Once the miso gets a cookin', the magnolia leaf imparts a definite pleasant fragrance to the paste, which was just delightfully salty and fresh when scooped up with a mouthful of rice.

We also had tamago, and oh my god, this was fabulous. For the uninitiated, tamago is a rolled layered omelette that is flavoured with dashi, soy, mirin and sugar. You sometimes see it cold and sliced thinly on top of sushi, but this version had been freshly made, and was juicy and flavourful in all the right ways. I must learn to make this myself one day.

Once again another little dish of sansai (mountain vegetables), this time dressed in a creamy white sauce (which was not mayonnaisey).

And lastly was a different sansai (mountain vegetables), this time braised with carrots.

One thing I love about Japanese breakfasts (like the ones experienced here) is the variety. I love having five or six little dishes to eat from - you feel that you are satiated on a physical, spiritual and nutritional plane. A little bit of protein, some vegetables, soy (in one or two different guises), rice and soup. A perfect healthy way to start the day.

Kani Doraku Honten

1-6-18 Dotombori Chuo-ku

6211 8975

http://www.douraku.co.jp/kansai/shop/honten.html (Japanese only)

Osaka's Dotombori area is full of giant neon billboards, many of which advertise a restaurant's particular specialisation. There are giant blowfish (for fugu) and giant octopus (for takoyaki). And of course, there has to be a giant mechanical crab, glaringly proclaiming the bill of fare of the institutional Kani Doraku Honten. A Japan-wide chain that specialises in crab banquets (duh!), the Dotombori eatery is the original edition. Feeling somewhat crabby after looking at some at the Osaka Aquarium, Mellie and I decided to check it out for dinner.

The restaurant has several levels and discrete dining areas. We were seated with a great view of the Dotombori canal, which didn't smell so bad behind glass. Despite the somewhat formal look of the place, Kani Doraku had a pretty casual vibe.

We went one of the crab banquets. Funnily enough, the waitress didn't advise us that you had to order two banquets for two people; we assumed that they would automatically provide enough for the both of us. Alas, we got to share the one banquet, which meant fighting Mellie for the crab legs!! First course was crab sashimi, served on the shell. The meat was very sweet indeed, a characteristic of the crab variety that they serve here (spider crab). These crabs are evil, alien looking things in real life, which we witnessed first hand at the aquarium. They kind of freaked me out then, which made me glad that I was having revenge on them by feasting on their sweet sweet flavour.

Second course was boiled crab legs, which went a treat with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of the salt/pepper mix you see on the green plate. I was very impressed by the sweetness of the meat, but there simply wasn't enough of it for the both of us - doh. This course also came with some rather good chawan mushi (steamed egg custard).

Next course was tempura crab and vegetables. The batter was light, crunchy and not too oily.

The hot plate on our table was turned on for the next course of grill-yourself crab. As you can see from the picture, we were also offered the green goopy contents of the crab's head, also known as kanimiso. We declined to touch it with extreme prejudice.

The grilled crab meat had a nice smokey taste, but again the legs were too scrawny to contain much meat. Spider crabs should get into the gym and do some leg curls or squats.

This course was accompanied by some crab rice - rice that had been cooked with the flavour of crab. This was very tasty, and went well with a bowl of miso soup.

Our meal finished with excellent green tea ice-cream, made with the matcha (powdered tea) that imparted a bitter-sweet flavour to the dessert. Very nice indeed.

If you're a crab fan, Kani Doraku is highly recommended. Spider crab is certainly one of the sweetest crab meats I have ever tasted. Just make sure you order enough food for your dining party! We also noticed other tables tucking into various hotpots, which looked and smelled fantastic. Alas we didn't have enough time to go back and try these. However, you can't go wrong with the banquets and this place seems to be quite good for groups if you are in the mood for a bang-up crab feast!

Takayama Food: Hida Milk

We purchased these cute little bottles of Hida milk in Takayama for AU$1. How delightful is the old-style packaging, sealed with waxed cardboard and protected with cellophane? As I pulled back the top I smiled - the milk was non-homogenised and a thick layer of buttercup yellow cream sat delectably on top, the milk itself, full bodied and sweet.

Milk is not as common in Japan as it is in Australia, due in part to the traditional dietary habits of the Japanese and the reduced agricultural availability of farming land. Unfortunately, with an increase in the cost of cattle feed (corn, barley, oats etc.) of late, the dairy industry is in real trouble. Worrisome times ahead.

Takayama Street Food: Imagawayaki and Taiyaki

You may have noticed a particular penchant in some of my posts - a penchant for the sweeter things in life. Not that I am a big cake eater. But give me a cute little macaron, a delicate pastry, a luscious truffle, some choux filled with custard, or a sweet yeasty dough, and I'm in heaven. Therefore it should come as no surprise that these imagawayaki hit my sweet spot.

Traditionally these festival treats are filled with red bean azuki paste, but we also found ones pumped full of custard, green tea flavoured bean paste, yam/taro and even a chocolate custard version.

The sweet batter is poured into a heated cast cast iron mould, and when the bottoms are browned, the filling is placed on one side and the other side is flipped over on top. It is left to finish cooking and heat through.

As you can see, the imagawayaki are a delicious and filling snack, and certainly not shy on the red bean paste (mmm). As a side note, imagawayaki also go by many different regional names such as obanyaki and taikoyaki, and these days even come in savoury versions (eww).

Another variation is the taiyaki, or sea bream fish shaped cake. Same batter, same filling. And yes, I ate this one too. Just to make sure.

There is much discussion about the origin of taiyaki, but they have apparently been made at Naniwa in Tokyo since 1909.

These smaller taiyaki are being filled with a green bean paste, and come in a small, medium or large bag. I didn't eat these ones as I was full on my other two indulgences.

Do these look familiar? Yes, they are similar to the Emperor's Puff we had in Sydney last year, and are basically a cooked sweet batter. Kept warm over a hot plate, shovelfuls are heaped into bags for festivalgoers. These were particularly popular with the locals.

Takayama Street Food: Owara Tamaten

I just fell in love with this happy chappy, the purveyor of owara tamaten, little cubes of grilled honey-flavoured meringuey/marshmallowy goodness. His cheeky chuckle brought a smile to our faces as I held up two fingers and said "owara tamaten o futatsu kudasai" ("I'll have two please").

A delightful translation of this unusual little treat was posted above the street stall for the benefit of tourists (such as us). Interesting to note that agar-agar, a vegetable gelatin derived from seaweed, is used as the setting agent.

The dexterity he displayed as he picked up the soft meringue cubes with chopsticks was very impressive. They were submerged into a mixture of egg yolk, honey and mirin (for colour and taste), allowed to drip dry and then deposited on a hot plate to toast.

They taste as amazing as they sound and look - cloudy puffs of eggy sweetness, tinged with a sweet honeyed outer coating. You can purchase them in take-away packs, but to eat them straight off the grill became one of those eye-closing, mouth-savouring moments.

I am S for Stoked

Thank you Sarah from the "equally-excellent" Sarah Cooks and Sarah Discovers How to Eat, for awarding me an E for Excellent Blog Award. Sarah's mouth watering posts often have me pining for great food and reminiscing about my recent trip to Japan (which she also did last year).

I'd like to throw this award to a couple of my favorite blogs, Claire (aka mutemonkey) from downtown Melbourne Gastronome, and Cindy and Michael from where's the beef.