Ok, going to Japan obviously makes you think “eating sushi all the time”. However once there I realized that there were so many other amazing new things to eat. Nevertheless I was amazed by the Edo-style sushi I had at the fish market in Tokyo and the conveyor belt-style sushi in Osaka. BUT let me tell you this was nothing compared to the amazing sushi I had at Sushi Ippei in Kanazawa.
If you like me watched Jiro dreams of Sushi and got fascinated by the small and cosy family styled restaurant then this is exactly the place. You sit at a marble counter which has space for maximum 10 guests at a time. The charming couple running the place is instructing all the newcomers to real sushi like me on how to eat and order. She takes orders and he is the chef standing behind the counter preparing each sushi individually and serving the pieces in pairs of 2 directly in front of you on the marble counter; no plates, no wasabi, just a small soy bowl. Wasabi as I learned is always in the sushi directly so unlike the Western-style sushi you don’t add it to the sushi pieces manually when eating. Also depending on the sushi piece I got instructed if I am allowed to add soy sauce or not as it would destroy the flavour for some parts. So as I learned you eat the sushi with the hands and not with chopsticks. I literally tried every piece they had to offer which changes every day based on the fresh fish they get directly from the harbour. My personal favourite was aji which also includes some kind of herb leaf.
The next morning I spend looking at the Kanazawa Castle and its adjourned Kenroku-en Garden. It was rainy very rainy so the pictures are not really optimal but it was certainly interesting to see how the traditional Japanese woodwork techniques work which are highlighted in the castle exhibition. The joints back then were already constructed in a way that they would withstand earthquakes.
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