April 21: Nakatsu

Luke slept in again this morning and unfortunately we had to wake him up for breakfast. We went down for breakfast at 7 and everything was set up for us already and it was almost exactly the same spread we had the first night we stayed last time.

Breakfast

We had a lot of different things but they were all small portions so it didn't seem too heavy to me. I started with the miso soup.

Miso Soup

Then I ate the cha soba, which were green noodles and they are apparently named cha soba because they look have the same color as green tea. The dashi that was with it was very savory and moorish.

Cha Soba

Next I ate my tamagokake gohan, which is rice with a raw egg and soy sauce all mixed together. Then I had the salad, which had a nice soy based dressing on it.

Salad

Then I had the udofu. It was silken tofu with mizuna and konbu that was brought to a boil and then you scooped it out and dipped in a dashi to eat it.

Udofu

Next up was the ika somen with fresh wasabi and soy sauce. The squid was very tender and had a nice smooth texture.

Ika Somen

The okyuto dressed with soy sauce was good. Okyuto are basically noodles made from seaweed and they have very little flavor so the soy sauce was needed.

Okyuto

I started on the shiojake salmon, konbu kanten and maki tamago next. The salmon was very mild and well seasoned so it went with rice really well as did the konbu kanten. The maki tamago was soft and slightly sweet and I saved the last bite of it till the end.

Shiojake Salmon, Konbu Kanten & Maki Tamago w Shoga

There were some cooked greens dressed in a tofu and sesame dressing that were really good. The greens were slightly bitter, which went well with the nutty, sweet tofu and sesame dressing.

Greens w Tofu & Sesame Dressing

I ate me tsukemono next and hiding under the pickled daikon was some mentaiko, which was a nice surprise.

Tsukemono

I saved my satsuma age for last. It is basically a fried fish cake and this one had a very pleasant fishy flavor with a deep savoriness to it.

Satsuma Age

After we finished breakfast we went back to the room and got ready to leave. We had some extra time so Christal, Luke and I walked along the river downstream and upstream of the hotel and then came back right as Hiro-Ojichan arrived to pick us up.

Walking the River

We all drove to Nakatsu to visit their Aunts, Uncle and cousin and to see the Ogata clan's shrine. The Ogata clan is Ojiichan & Hiro-Ojichan's mother's side of the family. The drive took about an hour and a half and Luke and I both got in pretty good naps on the way.

Ogata Family Shrine

When we arrived they were all there and they showed us the shrines on their property. From what I understood from Christal's translations they can trace their ancestry back 600 years, which I thought was pretty impressive. Ojiichan was having fun reminiscing about his childhood when they would visit Nakatsu.

Ogata Family Property

Then we walked over to the house on the property, which is where Ojiichan's mother was born and where she was raised.

Where Hi-Obaachan was Born

After we had visited in the house for a few minutes Auntie Mikako took us to Nakatsu-jo, which is the castle that defended Nakatsu during the samurai era. The grounds were very impressive and would have been even more spectacular if we had been a week or two earlier when the sakura were blooming, but it was still pretty neat.

Nakatsu-Jo

Seeing some of the samurai armor and weapons was pretty cool and the view from the top floor was impressive. Once we had finished going through the castle we headed to lunch at Kitarou, which specializes in hamo, or conger eel.

A Few of the Suites of Samurai Armor

We had the hamo shabu gozen, which was the hamo shabu shabu teishoku or set menu. I was excited to try hamo because I remember seeing it on the original Iron Chef and haven't gotten to eat it until now. The lunch started off with three small dishes, the first of which was matsumaezuke. It was basically pickled konbu and carrot with a small piece of kazunoko and it was pretty slimy due to the konbu I think, but tasted good. Luke liked it so much he ate most of Christal's.

Matsumaezuke

The second dish was ume jellyfish. It had a bright red color and the jellyfish had a softer texture than I am used to. The ume was a nice strong flavor that the jellyfish absorbed well.

Ume Jellyfish

The third dish was a hotate (scallop) salad. The scallops were cooked and then roughly shredded to provide a unique texture and it included some of the scallop offal, which added a pleasant bitterness. The dressing looked very creamy, but it had a nice light, sweet flavor to it.

Hotate Salad

The sashimi course was hamo sashimi, which had a different texture. The conger eels have a lot of small bones so after they are filleted the meat is cut perpendicular to the length of the fillet to break down the bones and then they are consumed with the meat. The flavor of the hamo was very light, almost a cross between hirame and tai I thought.

Hamo Sashimi

The next course was hamo no yubikiri, which was poached hamo with sliced onions and a miso vinegar dressing. The hamo was delicious and had a nice chewy/crunchy texture due to the skin, the onions were very mild and didn't overpower the hamo at all. The miso vinegar dressing was really good. It gave the dish sweetness, acidity, richness and a depth of flavor that made it unforgettable.

Hamo No Yubikiri

They brought out a hamo chawan mushi next. The custard had a nice savory flavor to it and it was very silky. The hamo had a firmer texture than I was expecting and overall the chawan mushi was very good, but it wasn't the best I've ever had.

Hamo Chawan Mushi

Next was the main course, the hamo shabu shabu. They brought out the dashi to dip the hamo in first and it had leeks, Napa cabbage, carrot, konbu, tofu and shimeji mushrooms already in it along with part of the hamo spine for flavoring. Then came a plate with eight expertly cut pieces of hamo with some mizuna. The hamo had the same interesting texture as the hamo no ubikiri and when it was dipped in the soy based sauce they provided it was delicious. The meat was mild tasting and it didn't soak up too much of the sauce so it wasn't overpowered. It was excellent.

Hamo Shabu Shabu

The tempura course was brought out after we finished the shabu shabu and it had three pieces of hamo, sweet potato and eggplant. The batter was nice and thin with an excellent crunch to it and this tempura came with a dipping sauce instead of salt.

Hamo Tempura

Our last savory course was hamo dashi ozosui. It was basically a jook made with hamo stock with a side of tsukemono. It had a very nice flavor and was seasoned well and it was really easy to eat.

Hamo Dashi Ozosui

For dessert we had kinako ohagi with coconut milk. It was a mochi ball stuffed with adzuki beans and then rolled in kinako and it sat in a generous pool of sweet coconut milk. The toasted flavor of the kinako went well with the sweetness of the coconut milk and the adzuki beans were not too sweet. I enjoyed it quite a bit and had to stop from licking the bowl.

Kinako Ohagi w Coconut Milk

When we finished we drove by Yukichi Fukuzawa's childhood home to see it. He was a very famous philosopher, founder of Keio University, one of the founders of modern Japan and his image is on the 10,000 yen bill. Apparently when he was growing up he was good friends with Hi-Obaachan's great-great-great-grandfather because they were in the same kendo club.

Yukichi Fukuzawa's Home

After taking a quick look at the house we went to Uncle Kunizo and Auntie Kimiko's house for sweets, tea and conversation. Uncle Kunizo is Hi-Obaachan's youngest brother. Luke was especially outgoing at the house and seemed much more comfortable with everyone. Uncle Kunizo got some little pom-pom like things that are supposed to be used to drive away evil spirits and gave them to Luke who just loved them.

Uncle Kunizo & Auntie Kimiko's House

Eventually we had to leave to head back to the Munakata area. On the drive back everyone got to take naps while Hiro-Ojichan drove. We were a little bit ahead of schedule so we went by a sporting goods store and Hiro-Ojichan and Ojiichan bought a set of golf clubs to take back to Hawaii. From there we went to Eichan Udon for dinner. Since it was springtime I ordered sansai tempura udon. The tempura was very crispy and it included shimeji mushrooms, bamboo shoots and three different types of sansai shoots. Each one had a very different flavor. One was almost like cucumber, another was like a mix between green beans and asparagus and the third had a hint of a minty aroma with the flavor of slightly bitter spinach.

Sansai Tempura

The udon was just as good as I remembered it. The noodles had a nice chewy texture to them and the broth had a smoky flavor from all the katsuobushi used in the broth. When we finished dinner we drove back up to Nansuikaku where Hiro-Ojichan picked up his car. Christal, Luke and I went to the family onsen and then went to bed.

Udon