After a long stroll through Kyoto’s kitchen, the narrow NISHIKI passage lined by more than hundred small shops selling Japanese sweets, fresh seafood, vegetables, and very cute baby sardines and shrimps simmered in saltwater and dried in the sun called CHIRIMENJAKO, we went for lunch with a huge appetite nearby the market.
The CHRIMENJAKOS are as tiny as bred crumbs, maybe 1 mm diameter and 5 mm long, crispy and very tasty. They are part of the traditional Japanese breakfast.
A bowl of rice seasoned with AKA SHISO, a purple-red mint with a strong flavor compared to that of mint or fennel.
Once used as a currency the rice is still very precious and the most important ingredient of the Japanese cuisine. Raw rice is called KOME while cooked rice is GOHAN. However the daytime defines the attribute and the way of preparation. The morning rice is called ASA GOHAN, the noon rice HIRU GOHAN, and the evening rice BAN GOHAN.
The bowl of rice is placed to the left side at the table. The left palm embraces and lifts the bowl while the chopsticks between the fingers of the right hand point, pick and move the white rice flakes. A truly august ritual.
We drunk traditional Sapporo bear and ate very tasty Sashimi and Tempura (deap fried vegtables, seafood, and chicken).
The food in “sky” restaurants is usually rather moderate. However the restaurant SUMIRE YA served delicious modern japanese food. Our seven course meal consisted of small portions: an appetizer, sashimi, homemade side dish, assorted dishes, pre-main dish, the main dish, and a traditional made rice. Some of them reflected the season of the cherry blossoms.
The dessert, a kind of Portuguese flan pudding seasoned with espresso coffee and sweet beans was served in traditional pottery, along with fine green rise tea.
Akihito Abe and his wife invited me to a delicious seafood restaurant at the seaside of Kamakura. A calm place which seemed to meet the ideal of the traditional Japanese beauty including asymmetry, asperity, simplicity, modesty, intimacy, and a strong connection to the nature.
I had a fish menu served in great number of small pots filled with different colours and different textures: fibrous, bouncy, solid, strong, silky etc…
The biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world consists of the “inner market” where the auctions and the logistic of the fish delivery take place and the “outer market”, a mixture of small fish dealers, kitchen tools shops, and many food places especially sushi restaurants.
The daily Tsukiji newspaper provides the fish dealers and the private visitors with information and an orientation map. The pink sticker is an assumption of the sushi spot where I’ve eaten my first Japanese sushi in Tokyo.
We arrived at the same time and were squeezed together into the same spot at the bar. We ordered and nestled. The sushi chef started to stick the rise and slice the fish. In a short while he presented me a great lunch menu. I was satisfied.
Than I sneaked a peak at my neighbor’s sushi. What I saw puzzled me a little bit. Only two sushi pieces stand on their plate. They enjoyed it and order another small portion. The same procedure repeated itself several times and the sushi chef noted meticulously and patiently the flow of the appetite on some paper tables lying on top of the bar.
