小浜のFood Scene

Some of the best memories, I have from Obama was the introduction to a variety of new Japanese dishes! I have a deep fascination for cooking and especially the Japanese cuisine. I keep being surprised with new flavors, textures, and smells. I have, during my years in Japan, tried to cook as many Japanese dishes as possible, however, it is still very much a challenge. Therefore, being able to try a variety of izakaya, restaurants, むし料理 (steamed cooking) and desserts have been wonderful and inspiring.

IZAKAYA
I tried a couple of different izakaya during my stay and all of them had some very flavorful and new dishes. Below are listed my favorites from each spot.

The first evening after spending the day at a farm, I was invited by the farmer and his wife to eat dinner together with my fellow volunteer. It was a little bit scary at first as the dialect is very strong here. So, my understanding of the local Japanese was quite limited. However, as the dinner carried on, I quite enjoyed just listening and picked up on a few words here and there. I don’t eat meat, which is usually a bit tricky when going to Japanese restaurants, however the farmer and his wife was very attentive to only buy dishes for us to share without meat. I was very grateful to them for helping me out as much as possible, ot disturbed by the language barrier. I tried 揚げなす(deep fried eggplant soaked in a flavorful dashi broth) for the first time and it has definitely become one of my favorite dishes. This izakaya served it sprinkled with bonito flakes and chopped leek, which worked really well with the fatty eggplant. Next was the oden, I have tried to make oden at home… but it was not quite the same. This oden had a strong but nice flavor of dashi with a variety of fishcakes, tofu, egg, daikon and konnyaku soaked in it. I’m not a fan of konnyaku, however the tofu and the fish cakes were very delicious.

I went to this izakaya with my host family an evening. Again, I was presented with a lot of new dishes. I rarely went to izakaya in Tokyo with my family because the menu always seemed so overwhelming with too many kanji… However, I must overcome that - as I have now realized how much I have missed out on unique and delicious dishes. I tried 揚げ出し豆腐 (deep fried tofu served in dashi), a bit similar to the 揚げなす in assembling, however the taste was very different. We tried a potato salad too. There was a base of green leaves and tomato with a big top of finely shredded potato deep fried into crispy “strings”. A very creative presentation and very delicious! The weirdest yet nice flavorful dish was a very thick soup with spinach. The thickness was a bit strange to me, however, the flavor was something completely new and tasty.

A bit away from Obama center, there is a little izakaya with a very warm and homely atmosphere. Here I got to try their version of 揚げ出し豆腐 with seaweed and if I remember correctly ginger (but I’m not sure). Anyways, this was a tasty take on the dish as well. I got to try my go-to onigiri in the convenience store (tsukudani, kombu) as well, which was made very delicious with fluffy rice. The “appetizer” here, stood out as well compared to other izakaya. It was some sort of marinated mackerel with miso in a generous portion with a lovely strong flavor.

ICE CREAM
Obama has some very good places to grab an ice cream too!

Near the waterfront is a little gelato shop which serves a variety of intriguing and delicious flavors. I went there twice to try out a couple of them. The bottom picture is the kabocha flavor and Obama salt flavor. Both was very nice; however, I still need to get used to Japan’s use of kabocha (pumpkin) in desserts. In Denmark we rarely use what we consider “salty dish” ingredients in desserts: for example, sweet potato, kabocha and corn. They also serve tomato ice cream here.. but that sounded a bit too much like an ice cream tasting like tomato soup, so I didn’t dare try that one. However, my host family loves their tomato ice cream, so if you visit maybe, you should try the tomato ice cream.
The top picture was taken during a warm evening with a stunning sunset. I would recommend going for ice cream at sunset time, it is a very beautiful experience with the red glow appearing on the horizon above the sea. I tried raspberry milk ice cream which had a strong authentic taste of raspberry, however in my opinion the taste of chocolate in the choko pari was a bit vague.

On a little tour to buy salt water for cooking at a shiitake farm, I got to try Shiitake soft ice cream. I love mushrooms (and shiitake), so I could not miss that opportunity. The mushroom taste was very mild and with the addition of sprinkled dried shiitake and the dried shiitake on top it made a nice dessert. I would definitely get one again when I get the chance! They also had a menu with a variety of sandwiches and burgers that had shiitake patties which would be interesting to try one day as well.

R Cinq Famille
I unfortunately don’t have any pictures from this cute little ice sorbet shop However, if you are in Obama you should definitely visit here. They have a variety of ice sorbets with different flavors and it’s not only the flavor here which is wonderful; the presentation of the sorbets are beautiful (So please search the store up on the internet, so you can see the colorful sorbets!). I tried one with local grown banana and small pieces of cake crumble on my first day in Obama, and it was delightful. Later on, I tried the dragon fruit sorbet. I have tried a dragon fruit sorbet before, which was remarkably tasteless. However, this sorbet was full of a nice, sweet taste of the dragon fruit and had a vibrant purple color.

DRINKS & DESSERT

Located in Obama, there is a very cozy bar/restaurant called Lion J. I went there a couple of times with my host-father to talk to the other locals in the area and to try out the variety of non-alcohol drinks they served. The picture shows a flavorful drink with local kiwis and lemon. To eat, we shared fried potatoes (made from local potatoes) and fried sardine (which was caught the day before nearby). The access to fresh and local produce here in Obama is very abundant compared to Tokyo, which I envy. It feels detached going to a supermarket with fruits and vegetables from the other side of the world, when we could grow our own or get the vegetables locally, if we had the time and area available for it. The sardines tasted very nice, however the way of eating the entire fish including all the bones is still a bit of a struggle to enjoy for me.

At the end of my stay, I went to Lion J for a dessert event with both of my host parents. It was hosted by the chef at R Cinq Famille who is educated as a patisserie. So, the menu consisted of two desserts. First, we got to observe the patisserie compose a glass parfait with crumble, white chocolate mousse, a kiwi ice cream, a lemon/herb ice cream (my personal favorite) and rosemary sirup. It tasted wonderful and I slowly ate my way through as the new dish was being prepared. The rosemary taste brought me back to Denmark, where my aunt and I made chocolates filled with rosemary and white chocolate ganache once (it turned out amazing). The Mont Blanc was assembled in front of us as well. It consisted of marrons, cream and earl grey cream. It was fascinating to see how the thin noodle shaped marron cream slowly created a beautiful top on the dessert. To finish it off a biscuit of pie dough was placed. It was served with delicious tea with a gracious flavor of cinnamon and spices that reminded me of the cozy smell of Christmas.

STEAMED COOKING

In Obama the thermal activity underground is impacted by the many volcanoes in the area. This provides a great amount of steam from the hot springs running underground. The onsens here are some of the warmest in Japan. In Obama they have invested in how to harvest this steam and one of the strategies are to utilize the steam as a mean of cooking. This requires no energy, no water added - the only thing is the steam box, a wooden bowl, vegetables, bread etc. We first went to the Taneto shop which is located in a little town nearby. One of my favorite shops; they specialize in local organic produce and have a very conscious approach towards protecting the environment and care for our nature (which is all reflected in the products they sell). We bought an interesting looking kabocha, green beans, eggplant, white bitter melon, sweet potatoes, winter melon (from the farm I volunteer at) and marrons. We went to Jokiya where we could rent cooking equipment and use steam boxes. We cut the veggies and placed them in the wooden bowls. With gloves we carefully placed the food in the steam box and turned it on. Depending on what was cooking the time would differ. Spinach was some of the fastest while the kabocha took a while. As the vegetables became ready, we would turn off the steam box and carefully with gloves take out the wooden bowls. The steam was very very hot so you could easily burn by touching it. The vegetables were served with salt (we brought some salt from home; however salt was also provided at Jokiya), sesame oil, olive oil and spices which were available in the kitchen. It tasted amazing; very simple but really delicious. The marrons were a bit hard to eat due to the outer “shell”, however the inside was delightful. My 1-year-old host little sister was especially happy to eat all the kabocha!