Back in Japan (Winter 2009)…Last Ramen Lunch

Jason loves ramen, and we've been eating a lot of ramen in this trip back in Japan.

It was our last full day in this trip, and we decided to do our last ramen lunch in Urawa. We went to a tiny place called, Takumi, which is one of so-called "cult" ramen joints in the area.

They use only natural ingredients at Takumi, and their thick noodles are handmade. The broth was so rich but had the wonderful balance. The noodles had the very nice texture. Cha-shiu was thick cut and super-tender.

Gochisosama deshita.

Back in Japan (Winter 2009)…Lunch at Cave d’Occi Winery in Niigata

It was our third day in Niigata.


I had the wonderful breakfast at the hotel. The Koshihikari rice from Uonuma, Niigata, was so fantastic. Outside was snowing on and off again this morning.


We drove to Cave d’Occi, which is a winery located outside of Niigata City. The snow storm turned harder as we drove further. We stopped by at a bird-watching place and saw some ducks and swans!


The car drove through the snow-covered vineyard and finally arrived at the winery. At the winery, we did the tasting of their wines. It was my first time to taste wine from Niigata and I was so impressed. They grow international varieties, such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, etc.


After the tasting, we had lunch at one of their restaurants in the property. At this restaurant, they brew beer and make authentic German-style sausages. The whole restaurant smelled so good with the smoked sausages. Their homemade bread is also wonderful.


Tagliatelle with homemade bacon, and roasted local pork (Echigo Mochi Buta). Hazelnut panna cotta was very nice, too.


After the trip, we drove back to the city. We left Niigata Station by Shinkansen (bullet train) to go back home in the late afternoon.

Back in Japan (Winter 2009)…Sushi of Niigata

We came back to Niigata City in the late afternoon.


It was snowing on and off. We played with the snow a little bit.


Many people say, if you want the best gourmet experience in Japan, go to Niigata. So many delicious things known nationally come from this region. Among all the food/ sake they are famous for, seafood is something you just can’t miss. Especially in the wintertime, their local fish (from Sea of Japan) have the higher fat content and become tremendously tasty.


In Niigata City only, there are about 100 sushi restaurants (almost 1000 in the entire prefecture)! We went to Sushi Sei, which is one of the popular local sushi restaurants.


Niigata sake.


Appetizers include Ankimo (monkfish liver), Yanagi Karei (flat fish), Nodo Guro fish, etc. Cold Noppei Jiru (vegetable stew) was so nice, too.


Sashimi of local seafood…Kanburi (winter yellowtail), Bai Gai clam, Kinme Dai (snapper), etc. Nanban Ebi (sweet shrimp) was still alive. They were so exceptional that I wanted to just cry.


My sushi plate was all local seafood, too. It made me want to move to Niigata, seriously.

Back in Japan (Winter 2009)…Sake and “Sake no Shiobiki” (Salted Dried Salmon) in Murakami

We checked out of the ryokan in Senami in the morning and drove to the historic neighbor town of Murakami in Niigata.

We first went to pay a visit at Daihisan Kannonji Temple, where Bukkai Shounin is enshrined. Bukkai Shounin is the last existing mummified holy priest ("Sokushinbutsu") in Japan. Sokushinbutsu is unique to Japan and they are worshipped as Buddha. Bukkai Shounin became sokushinbutsu in 1903. It was quite a spiritual experience to be in front of a sokushinbutsu and listen to the valuable stories by the temple keeper (we were told the priest had been hospitalized for a while, unfortunately).

Visiting Murakami in the wintertime is especially special, because you go through rows of shops with the large salmon hanging from the eaves. They are “Sake no Shiobiki” (salted dried salmon), for which the freshly-caught salmon in the beginning of the winter are salted and dried in the air during the winter.


We stopped by at Kikkawa, which is one of the best known “Sake no Shiobiki” producers in Murakami. We met the owner and learned about their local salmon and their traditional method of making the salmon products.


These salmon at Kikkawa were so beautiful. We enjoyed the tasting, too.


After visiting Kikkawa, we had an appointment at Taiyo Shuzo, which is a local sake brewery.


We toured their facility (the whole property smelled so good!) and also tasted variety of their sake. The sakes we purchased were bottled to order, and our nephew put the labels on each of the bottles. Niigata is a premium sake region, because they have the best rice, water, and very warm-hearted people.