Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Japan: Culinary Adventures (3): Musashi



I can’t just skip over Musashi, a nice little restaurant in Kanazawa.

Mie recommended Musashi as a good restaurant within walking distance of the ryokan.

"Ah," I said. "Miyamoto Musashi."

"Yes," she exclaimed. "Miyamoto Musashi!!"

Of course, Miyamoto Musashi, as we all know, was a legendary samurai warrior, made famous by Toshiro Mifune in the great Inagaki trilogy. And I’m sure that we all accept as indisputable fact Musashi’s ability to catch flies with his chopsticks.

I strolled by the restaurant on a sunset pix expedition and ascertained that they had an English menu; then we went back that evening. Hali had been designated as the food adventurer, so she pushed open the door and I followed. We were ushered to a seat at the counter directly in front of a great quantity of sake bottles.

A really nice place! Servings were almost like tapas—that is, small portions covering a variety of the culinary spectrum. My scrawled, indistinct notes only mention that we had, among other things, a shredded radish salad, halibut cheeks and tempura. (Everything we had certainly went well with beer.)

Watching the chefs cook was, probably, the most fun.

Photos: Sake Bottles—Kanazawa, 2008; Chef Cooking, Musashi—Kanazawa, 2008

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