Japan - Sashami and Udon
Today's journey took us to the little town of Kotohira. Tonight, we are yet again staying in a Japanese Onsen Hotel. However, this one is considerably more up-market than last night's one. Here I am, for example, sitting in the lounge, listening to jazz and drinking beer by the fire, whilst I write this blog.
Tonight's blog post is about the sashami and udon that we consumed this evening. Our hotel booking included a "small dinner", so we all went out to have udon beforehand. Udon is a type of thick wheat-flour noodle - thicker and chewier than normal noodles. Although it took a bit more effort to munch my way through, I actually found I preferred it to normal noodles. Just as Nagano is said to be the Soba capital of Japan, so Kotohira is the udon capital of Japan. Photograph 1 shows this evening's udon dish - noodles with meat. It was only after I had eaten my bowl of noodles, and began feeling quite full, that Mark announced that we had to get back to the hotel quickly to "be ready for dinner." Dinner? What dinner? He explained about how we had a small dinner to eat, not the full dinner but a "half-version." After arriving back, we went straight into the dining room. Course after course came and went from the table - 5 courses in total in an hour and a half. By the end of it, I needed a wheelbarrow to carry me out. Courses included sashami dishes such as jellyfish, sea urchin (photo 7), 'tiny fish with bloody big eye' (I named that one myself) and turban shell (photo 5), which I likened to chewing on my own index finger. Photographs 2 to 7 are of the sashami courses. There was one moment during dinner where I almost choked on my halibut - Sayaka was talking about one of the fishes on the plate and suddenly blurted out "bastard founder" whilst the waiter was standing there serving us drink. Goodness only knows what he thought of that (the fish is called 'bastard flounder', by the way). I'm told, by the way, that the difference between sashami and sushi is that sashami is raw fish by itself (i.e. no rice). Straight after the sashami, came the meat course (photograph 8). By now I was feeling as full as an alcoholic's fridge. The beef was sliced and we had a little cooker, with a candle underneath, on which to cook the beef. I have to say that it was the best beef I've ever eaten. Absolutely delicious and flavoursome. To wash it down: plum sake - amazing flavour. There was one more course before dessert - a soup dish (photograph 9), which I decided not to have as I was ready to explode. Then came the dessert (photograph 10) - a sweet cream cheese roll (a bit like swiss roll) with some kiwi on the top. A delicious end to the meal.