Tomorrow I begin the long trek home. But tonight I'm hungry and on my own so I do a brief search of the internet and find this place. An Izakaya, which I think means casual eating and drinking place. Perfect. And, it's about a 20 minute walk, so there I head.
I sit down and right off the bat I order a Lemon Sour. From my research I learned that this is the go-to drink. Fresh Hokkaido lemons and some fizzy and some alcohol. No idea on either as once again, no English.
No English no problem.
KAMPAI!
As I look around it's a pretty cool place, small but cool, which are both super typical of an Izakaya.
Here are the menus. What would you order? What should I order?
Exactly, who knows.
I am also limited because no one else is eating, only drinkers at this moment, so I can't simply say "me too".
After an extensive amount of pointing, smiling, and Japanese baby-talk, I settle on the fried chicken to start (karrage).
Perfectly fried, super juicy. It's sprinkled with a light spicy powder that only adds flavor, no too much spice. This is thigh meat. A good start.
Next, I'm sitting right in front of this mountain of yakitori so, yes please!
It's chicken skin wound around the skewers. Ohhhhh yeah.....
Obviously they are pre-cooked, which is normal and OK, then finished off to order over a ceramic heating element on the other side of the bar. The smell is amazing.
While I wait I realize that my drink has vanished.... So I order a larger one to fix the problem.
It's super refreshing, not much alcohol, but there is some. It's just goes really well with the fried's.
The top 2 are sweet style, bottom 2 are salt style. Not a dramatic flavor difference, honestly.
Awesomely delicious though (hard to mess up crispy chicken skin).
What next?????
I'm eyeing this bread, looks like a brioche. I ask the dude using my amazing command of the local language (not) and he says (I think) that they have a cheese thing that is a specialty, and he recommends it.
Yes sir!!
Please do!
And it begins...
And then here it is.
It's pretty darn good, especially after all of the chicken, a good contrast. The bread is light and sweet and there are 3 kinds of cheese, cheddar, Camembert, some sort of blue. There is also a raw egg that he cracked and dumped in the middle as he built this thing. All and all it's very well balanced, not too cheesy, etc.. A good finish and a nice thick layer in my belly as I head to sleep in a bit, the jet lag I hope is over, just in time to head home.
Thanks for reading, cheers and love to all.
DVA
