Itaru, Kanazawa (Japan)
11 March 2009
My favourite meal in Japan
My recent trip to Japan was full of highlights. From the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and then to the slower pace of Kanazawa, I was never short of finding good food. One of the towns which we visited was Kanazawa. It is such a beautiful part of Japan which is well preserved, but often overlooked by travellers. I am quite glad we visited Kanazawa as otherwise we wouldn’t have found this gem of restaurant called Itaru.
From the outside Itaru looks like a typical small Japanese bar or pub. Once you enter the restaurant, we quickly began to realise it was a little more than a drinking hole. We were immediately greeted by the chefs on duty and had our coats taken off and hung onto the coat rack by the waitress. I was already impressed with this joint and I hadn’t even seen the menu yet. Another thing that impressed me was that Tetsuya Wakudu actually dined here a few days before we arrived. The head chef was saying that Tetsuya has a friend who owns a vineyard in Kanazawa and they both popped in for a meal. It would have been great to bump into Tetsuya and probe him on what his thoughts were on Itaru.
In terms of the food, luckily it was all in an english menu albeit with poor translations straight out of Google translator. We decided against the easy option of a set menu and decided to choose individual dishes, and I’m glad we did.
Sweet potato tempura
We didn’t actually try these, but noticed these in front of our tables. We stayed at the restaurant for nearly 3 hours and no one bought any so maybe they were’nt that good.
Open kitchen
I found open kitchens to be a common occurance in Japan. It was great to see the chef’s ply their trade, they actually loved it when I took photos.
Crab roe miso (1000¥ / $16 AUD)
I’ve never tasted anything like this before. While it does look like your eating some fresh concrete, it actually tasted like Pâté in terms of texture. The crab roe was particularly noticable and it’s taste dominated this dish. I wasn’t quite sure how to eat this, so I just ate it with my chopsticks. Some crusty bread would of been nice!
Boiled & seasoned Koumegai (600¥ / $10 AUD)
These are a variation of Whelks. The freshness of these was obvious and they were naturally sweet. While they were seasoned liberally it sure didn’t over power the natural sweetness of the whelks. I’m not sure what the seasoning was, but it might of been just boiled with it’s natural juices.
Chicken salad (600¥ / $10 AUD)
Tender pieces of chicken were tossed in with a mixture of cucumber, tomato, red onion and crispy noodles. To top it all off, a ponzu dressing was used. The salad wasn’t anything too special, but we need some vege’s as we were severely lacking some during our trip!
Horse mackarel with mustard & miso sauce (800¥ / $13)
I know this is such a lame ‘foodie’ saying, but if this fish was any fresher it would still be moving. This was also the first time I tried raw mackarel and I must admit I am now hooked to it. I knew this was fresh when I first looked at it, I could almost feel the mackarel’s eye’s staring right back at me. But moving along, the flesh of the fish had a ‘clean’ taste to it. Ok, that was a poor description but what I mean is that each bite was crisp and clean, there were no strands of fish left behind with each bite which you can often find with sashimi which is not fresh.
Kakiage - Mixed seafood tempura (700¥ / $11.50 AUD)
Crunchy ? yep. Juicy ? yep. Fresh ? Yep, and to top it off there was barely an ounce of oil on the piece of paper that came with the Tempura. A side of daikon was also served, freshly grated by the chef seconds before the tempura was ready to be served.
Tamagoyaki with cod roe & mayo (800¥ / $13)
Yummy creamy cod roe and mayo ooozing out
We ended up ordering this three times because it was awesome. The cod roe was plentiful and the Japanese mayo gave it that extra bit of creamyness. The tamagoyaki was cooked in a rectangle pan which was perfect for retaining the cod roe and mayo in it’s place.
Cold soba noodles (price unknown)
The cold soba noodles were placed on top of a bed of ice to ensure they stayed cold. It was simply served with a bowl of soy dipping sauce, soup and other condiments such as scallions, daikon , wasabi and seaweed. The soba noodles were slurped up in no time.
Kinjeso in sweetened vinegar (400¥ / $6.50)
A type of seaweed which was drowned in sweetened vinegar. We only ordered this because the menu said it was ‘traditional’.
Grilled nodoguro (1700¥ / $28)
These 2 fishies were lightly grilled until golden brown. Once again the freshness of the fish shines through, and all that is needed to accompany this fish was a squeeze of lemon and some daikon.
Steamed eel with tofu (800¥ / $13)
This dish was amazing , mainly due to the beautiful soup which infused the flavours of the mushroom and eel. The tofu was delicately soft, mushrooms were at it’s usual aromatic best and the eel was steamed to perfection. This dish was the perfect anecdote for the freezing winter night ahead.
Mushroom gratin with crab miso sauce (820¥ / $13.50)
I mentioned that we ordered the omelette three times, but we actually ordered this one four times. A bed of noodles were topped with bunashimeji mushrooms and crab miso sauce. The dish was rounded off with a thick layer of cheese, before being turned into a gratin. The result was a crunchy crust on top, with the natural juices of the bunashimeji mushrooms ensuring the inside of this dish was moist.
The verdict ? Everything about Itaru was perfect. The service, atmosphere, chef’s , food and sake were all above my expectations for a restaurant. All our food including copious amounts of sake cost $208 AUD, impeccable value for the 3 of us considering how much food we ordered and the sake we consumed (we ordered 2nd’s with some of the food) with it. In hindsight, they might have given us a discount because the numbers didn’t quite add up. Either way, it was great value.
A gift from the chef
Since I was so impressed with our whole evening, I gave the head chef a tube of Vegemite and a pack of tim tams to thank him and his staff for such a great meal. He was grateful for this and was saying how he loved vegemite as he had tried it before. After giving him the gifts, he offered us some warm sake on the house which was quite generous of him. About 10 minutes later, he returned with a dish which he said was on the house. It turns out he was out in the back kitchen whipping up a steamed egg and tofu dish with a vegemite and miso paste. He not only offered the dish to us, but also to the rest of the remaining restaurant patrons free of charge. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the dish, but this nice gesture by the head chef of Itaru was probably the highlight of my trip and is the sort of thing which separates a good restaurant from a great one. Even though we were quite tipsy by this time, I can still remember this meal quite clearly as being one of my favorite meals I’ve ever had. It’s just one of those experiences where the decor, atmosphere, chef’s, drinks, food and the people you eat with all form the definition of a near ‘perfect’ meal. Mind you, this is not a 3 Michelin Star place nor is it close. However sometimes a restaurant doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be in the elite company of a Tetsuya or an El Bulli to make it great.
Itaru
Town area, Izumi Nishi, Kanazawa
2-7-5 Katamati Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture
Ph : 076-224-4156
Open : 5:30pm – 11:30pm
Karen
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billy@ATFT
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foodie-central
sumosumo || 
konchiku || 
sydneyguyrojoe || 
Fantastic. If I make my way up to the Nagano area, I might stop in Kanazawa as well…
Places where the chefs and staff have so much personality and generosity are places that deserve far more credit and recognition than they usually get.
Is there something different about those soba noodles? They don’t look dark like they were made out of buckwheat flour. Actually, the color looks closer to udon!
That steamed eel and mushroom soup is what I’m salivating over. Was the eel grilled, or was it steamed too? The color of the eel looks like the grilled unagi you see in the summer, with a dark reddish glaze.