Oct 27, 2022 4 min read season one

In Search of Nodoguro

Day 8
Kanazawa, 24,993 steps, 21.1 kilometers

Everyone I told that Kanazawa is on my travel itinerary, recommended the fish there. Turns out — for a good reason.

But first — coffee.

Talking over coffee

Walking a city enables discovery — this morning I encountered another kissa completely by chance. Not that I didn’t try to find one. In fact, the evening before I was scouring Google Maps and searching for “喫茶店” — but somehow the query returned results only for Starbucks, other generic coffee shops, and tea houses (which Kanazawa is famous for, but it’s not time for those for me yet).

Bummer.

But then, come morning I am heading to the fish market and just walk by a classic kissa on my way. Nice!

The only other customer was an elderly lady. Her morning set was black coffee and a cigarette. (Smoking indoors is certainly a mood. Reminds me of Poland in the 90s.) Mine was coffee and pizza toast.

Chatted a bit with the owner — but my Japanese was as good as his English, so our conversation was superficial.

When I read Craig Mod’s newsletters I was wondering whether it’s possible to make similar walks/trips without knowing Japanese. He even addressed this question in one of his livestreams (and his answer was for sure).

This trip and this newsletter are proof that you indeed can. And not only can but also have a great time.

However, there will be moments when you feel you’re missing out. Like this one today. The guy was clearly eager to chat — so was I — but our efforts were stymied by language issues. Inevitably, it will happen from time to time.

This wasn’t the case at Cafe Ashito this afternoon. I had a great conversation with Yamato, who’s running that shop.

We talked cameras, travel plans (mine and his), and as a bonus he gave me some restaurant and sightseeing recommendations in the area.

Before leaving, I asked him for a picture (I told you I’m practicing that) and he was game.

The place had great coffee too! Couldn’t be more happier.

“The King of White Fish”

Everyone’s recommending Kanazawa’s seafood. My Tokyo colleague recommended Nodoguro (Blackmouth Seaperch) in particular — a fish of local specialty fame.

Finding it wasn’t difficult at all. All it takes is going to a local fish market (duh!) Plus, some shops have it painted all over.

Itaru serves only one main dish — Nodoguromeshi. If a restaurant limits itself only to one main, it must be good. The waitlist in front of the shop is another testament to that (it is advised to put your name there hours in advance of opening time).

It’s one dish, but you eat it in three ways:

First — as is. Roasted fish on rice.
Second — mixed with condiments (sesame seed, wasabi, scallion).
Third — chazuke-style, with broth poured over the fish and rice.

It was as good as advertised!

In a city with such spectacular food, it only make sense to combine the meal schedule I know from Poland with the one I adopted after I started working for American-based companies — and have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper.

Delicious late night tempura omakase, another chat with another restaurant owner, and this money shot — definitely worth stretching my stomach for.

The tiniest sake bar

While exploring nearby streets I was drawn to an alley full of tiny, shabby shops. I was taller than most of them!

Couldn’t decide what to think of them. Cute or sketchy? It was already quite late, so I leaned toward sketchy.

Somewhat reluctantly I entered one of the bars at random. Inside, there were only five seats. One was occupied by a salaryman having a beer and some snacks, another one soon to be occupied by me, other three empty.

It turned out to be a sake bar — so I order a sampler of three. And then I had the weirdest conversation so far on this trip. 80% through Google Translate, 20% somewhat accurately translated by the salaryman. Again, topics were cliche, but it was fun to connect with people nonetheless. And I got the impression that I made the owner’s and salaryman’s evening.

It’s only fair. They made my evening too!