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| A weak tea goes well
with the sea bream steeped in sesame
sauce. If it was given to a feudal
lord it has to be luxurious. |
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| This is a tatami room
that has a Noh theatre stage said to
have greeted the imperial household.
This space, where elegance and refinement
floats in the air, looks like it can
be used for a Japanese-style wedding
ceremony. |
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Wakaeya
Kitahama, Kitsuki City
Tel/ 0978-63-5555
Hours: 11:00AM – 8:00PM
Closed: New Years Eve and New Years
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If you ask what Kituski City,
Jyokamachi’s local dish is, it would have
to be its “tai chazuke,” or “sea
bream chazuke.” (chazuke is hot tea poured
over rice.)It is also called ureshino. This was
my first time entering Wakaeya, a Japanese-style
restaurant where you can eat taichazuke, as well
as my first time eating it. Ureshino is so well
known that some people travel here just to eat
it. The name ureshino orginates from a feudal lord
a long time ago who was at one time fed taichazuke.
He was given taichazuke once when he became sick,
and thereafter came to love it some much that every
time it was brought to him he would say, “taichazuke
again? Ureshino.” (“I am so happy.”)Even
I, in my quiet separate room, could completely
taste what it felt like to be him.
The dish is made by slicing sea bream into three
thin strips, steeping those in a secret sesame
seed sauce, after which they are then placed on
top of cooked rice, onto which hot tea is poured.
Rather than being an ochazuke with a bold sesame
seed taste, it’s more like a gentle sesame-seed
tasting rice porridge. Wakaeya has kept this taste
the same for the last 300 years. They have over
the generations altered the sesame seed flavoring
subtly in order to match the customers’ tastes.
It is because of these efforts that even now it
is endlessly popular among customers. The number
of places I want to take my friends and family
to has increased by one. |
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| This is a picture
of the Ureshino course meal: taichazuke,
akadashi, sashimi, kabutoyaki, and
kobachi. |
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