Me So Crazy For Miso

The Lost Blogs #20

A lot of people I know really love Nagoya. Nagoya is the fourth largest city in Japan, following Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka. I LOVE Tokyo, and I love Yokohama. I had a really great time eating my way through Osaka. But I’ll be honest… I really don’t get too thrilled about Nagoya. It’s got a famous castle, an aquarium, some shrines and temples… but when I was reading about the city, I was in a very been-there-done-that kind of mood, so I wasn’t really eager to visit any of its major tourist attractions.

There are only two reasons that I gave Nagoya a chance:

It’s halfway between Shizuoka-ken and Mie-ken: Shizuoka being where I’m from, and Mie being where my friend Amber is. It was the perfect place for us to meet in the middle and spend some quality time together.
It’s local specialty is miso, a sauce made from fermented soybeans, salt, and a fungus called kōjikin, or Aspergillus oryzae. And I love me some miso.

Nagoya is actually pretty close to Hamamatsu, so my visit to the city was just a short day trip. It takes about 80 minutes by local train and costs only 1,890 yen. I relied heavily on Chowhound to create my itinerary:

Lunch:
Yabaton – Nagoya Meitetsu Store （矢場とん、名古屋駅名鉄）
名古屋市中村区名駅1-2-1名鉄百貨店本館9階
Located on the 9th floor of the Meitetsu Department Store

Yabaton is a restaurant that is famous for misokatsu. Misokatsu is breaded pork cutlet (tonkotsu) covered in miso paste. Nagoya is also famous for its especially jumbo-sized shrimp (check out my shrimp to hand size comparison!). I ordered a set lunch that came with both. A delicious and refreshing cold green tea was served with our food instead of water.

Dessert:
Quil Fait Bon （キルフェボン）
Sakae, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi-ken
愛知県名古屋市中区栄3-16-1
Located on the 1st floor of the Matsuzakaya Department Store

Quil Fait Bon is a patisserie that serves various cakes and sweets. It can also be found in Tokyo, Shizuoka, Hamamatsu, and a few other cities around Japan. We decided to try it out since there were some rave reviews on the internet about their cakes. In the evening, we had to wait for a table to open up. While waiting, you can view the available cakes in the display and place your order. Generally, the prices are high and vary, with seasonal flavors are more expensive than standard ones. For example, this 白いイチゴ～初恋の香り～のタルト (White Strawberry~Scent of First Love~Tart) cost 1,575 yen per slice and 11,970 yen for a whole tart (21 cm).

I ended up getting this mont blanc (chestnut) tart; Jamie and Nick each got a strawberry tart, an Amber got a chocolate one.

Dinner:
Sekai no Yama-chan – Nagoya Station Store （世界の山ちゃん）
名古屋市中村区名駅4-16-27
Located 3 minutes from Meitetsu-Nagoya Station

Yama-chan is an izakaya-style restaurant. It has many locations both within the city and outside. Their specialty is tebasaki wings, but you can also order other local specialties and dishes flavored with miso. They also have an English menu available for tourists.

Tebasaki literally mans “the tip section of a chicken wing”. I think they may be flavored with soy sauce. This is their most popular item and is located on the front page of the menu. At the time, for an extra cost, they were selling tebasaki wings with gold flakes. We passed on that though.

This is miso kushi-katsu. Kushi-katsu is actually a local specialty of Osaka, but we decided to try it for the miso flavor. It was very tasty!

This was also a Nagoya-specialty chicken dish, but I forgot what the name was.

Throughout the day, we enjoyed shopping, purikura, and karaoke in the city. And lastly, at the conbini, I picked up a box of “Kuchidoke Almond” Kit-Kats, which translates to “melt in your mouth almond” flavor. Did it? Yes, it did. It was one of the best ones I’ve had.