HOKURIKU / KOSHINETSU
Kanazawa
Travel journal from Kanazawa, with 19 notes on the places I ate, the dishes I cooked and the sights: Higashi Chaya District, Omicho Market, Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line and Tsurugi Station, Kenrokuen and its yukitsuri.
Journeys: 1 · Notes: 19
Journeys
01
Cook the local flavors once more
Dishes made in borrowed kitchens, and how each one connects to the land.
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Jibuni
A simmered dish of Ishikawa made with duck, sudare-fu and seasonal vegetables, said to have been eaten by samurai households since at least the Edo period.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Nodoguro takikomi gohan
Nodoguro is a prized fish, so rich in fat it is called "the toro of white fish." The overnight-dried fish I bought at the market was lightly salted using deep-s…
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Mettajiru
A hearty pork miso soup full of root vegetables, distinguished by using sweet potato in place of the usual potato.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
My take on Yahoo chazuke
The shop known as "Yahoo chazuke" was Shinano, an ochazuke shop in Katamachi 1-chome, Kanazawa.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
02
A little of each town’s story
Sights, specialties and how the towns came to be: small cultural notes beside each journey.
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Higashi Chaya District
A teahouse district opened in 1820 on the east side of the Asano River with the approval of the Kaga domain.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Omicho Market
A market in Musashigatsuji, in the heart of Kanazawa, with roughly 300 years of history going back to the days of the domain.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Kaga vegetables
Fifteen traditional vegetables of Kanazawa, certified as "vegetables grown since before 1945 and still grown mainly in Kanazawa." They include Gensuke daikon, K…
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Kanazawa oden
Kanazawa's oden uses a broth of kombu and bonito flakes with light soy sauce, and local ingredients such as Kaga vegetables and Hokuriku seafood.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line and Tsurugi Station
An electrified single-track line of 17 stations and 13.8 kilometers, running from Nomachi to Tsurugi.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Kenrokuen and its yukitsuri
One of Japan's three great gardens, alongside Kairakuen in Mito and Korakuen in Okayama: a daimyo garden of the Edo period shaped over many years by successive…
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Kabura-zushi and daikon-zushi
Both are signature fermented foods of Kaga.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Kanazawa gold leaf
A Kanazawa craft dating back to the Azuchi-Momoyama period, which grew rapidly from the Meiji era thanks to the city's skill and the quality of its water.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
03
Places we stopped along the way
What we ate and bought, with shop details checked against published listings.
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Omicho Ichiba-boshi, a nodoguro dried-fish shop
At a shop with a sign reading "dried-fish specialist," I bought overnight-dried nodoguro from Ishikawa.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Ichiba Meshi Amatsubo
Run by Amatsubo, a long-established izakaya founded in 1964, it serves seafood bowls and local dishes such as Kanazawa oden.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Hachiban Ramen
A ramen chain whose first shop opened on February 11, 1967, beside National Route 8 in Kuwabara, Kaga, Ishikawa.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Miyoshian
A teahouse beside Hisago Pond in Kenrokuen, serving Kaga cuisine and matcha.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Grill Otsuka
A Western-style diner founded in 1957, often introduced as the birthplace of hanton rice.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Kyodenya, an Edo-period rice shop
A rice shop on the south side of the Higashi Chaya District.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Takagi Koji Shoten
A long-established koji and miso maker in the Higashi Chaya District, said to have a 180-year history.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
