Wakayama (AKA WakaYUMa)

A strange stop in our Japanese tour, but an unforgettable one!

One of the shortest planned stops on our trips with one of the best restaurants so far. Also managed some much needed downtime.

The Terminal

After a chilled morning and another breakfast hotdog (how can I refuse!?) we headed off from Kyoto to Wakayama.

Lunched at a cafe whilst waiting on the hotel room and had possibly the best cheese toastie ever, was almost like an egg salad thing. The staff were incredibly friendly (a theme that continued here) so we sat for a while looking at options to try and get out to some of the temples near Koyasan (the main point for coming to this area) but had completely blanked on the day that we had free here: Sunday. sigh With the main plans out the window we spent the time in the cafe looking up some alternatives.

Luckily the hotel had a spa here too so that had to get used almost immediately after checking in. Bliss.

Heiwa Shuzou

After soaking away the cares of working out what we were going to do here, we had a look around the terminal building (the terminal provides) for places to go for dinner and went to a sake distillery shop (Heiwa Shuzou) that had their wares available for tasting/sale. We tried some AMAZING fruit liqueur there before taking a look around the terminal building (the terminal provides) for a place to go for dinner.

Musu Musu dinner and markets

Heading back to the hotel we chilled out for a bit before heading back to the terminal building (the terminal provides) for dinner at Musu Musu which specialised in steamed food. We had a large set dinner each that included steamed, cheesy fermented chicken! Was as delicious and strange as it sounds.

There was a local market store in the terminal building as well (the terminal provides) that showcased some of the local produce. So, being the dutiful tourists that we are, we bought as many snacks, drinks and treats as we could carry back to the room for movie night.

An Unexpected Day

Planning

Today was one of those days that just makes you smile. One of those days when, if feeling a little sad, you can look back on and feel better about everything.

Starting off with the obligatory morning spa, we went out for a breakfast in the terminal (the terminal provides). Our plan, such as it was, depended on the weather which, at that moment, was reasonably clear. So, if we couldn’t head out to Koyasan (Chaos Factor did an incredible effort of trying to organise a personal tour, despite it being a Sunday), then we decided to take an afternoon trip up to Kada, a small fishing area North of Wakayaka, known it’s glorious coastline and plentiful sea bream.

Trip to Kada

Getting there was a novelty in itself as each of the trains that went there were all themed trains, each one a different coloured fish called Medetai Trains, meaning happy trains! Loved everything about this. Our train was the blue ‘father’ train called Kai and even the hand rings to hold on to were wooden shaped into ocean themed shapes.

The train network, run by Nankai, looked like they really lent into novelty with these and it was a pleasure reading up on them and getting to ride one to Kada. Even after the rain started up again!

Kada Kasuga Shrine

After walking through the empty streets of Kada for a bit, we headed to the first of the shrines for the day: Kada Kasuga Shrine. This was a beautiful small (or so we thought) shrine that had a stunning tree near one of the gates and a few buildings to look around.

Looking to collect another stamp from the shrine, we rang the bell for one of the attendants to assist and got another beautifully drawn stamp for my makeshift Goshuin book.

The Restaurant

With one of us starting to get dangerously hungry, we scouted around for somewhere to eat with increasing desperation! Trying one place that should have been open, we found the doors locked, yet could hear voices inside. Disheartened, we kept walking and came across The Restaurant.

This place quickly became my favourite restaurant that we’ve come across in Japan. And that’s saying a lot considering the quality of the food and service that we received to date. However, there was no photos allowed in this place (this was a plus in my book!), so it will have to be described instead.

Inside, the restaurant was an interesting mix of modern and not: from the shiny new kitchen, to the hand-written menus, the place was a welcoming mix of styles.

Firstly, the staff were INCREDIBLE, we can’t speak more highly of them. All of the staff in the restaurant were joking and chatting amongst themselves to the point that we wondered if it was a family run restaurant, but we think that it was just that they were all so friendly. One of the staff members (we found out later was the owner/head chef) tried to describe the menu to us both with gestures and with the use of a pocket translator that ‘spoke’ each translation. In the end, the expansive menu was too much and, at the chefs recommendation, we ordered what she recommended. We think that this was a showcase set menu or something focused on the local produce of sea bream, but we were happy to follow her recommendation regardless.

Either way, after we’d blindly ordered her recommended option, they started placing one dish at a time in front of us and using the pocket translator to describe each. And, with each dish that was placed down, the funnier it was as there was a LOT of dishes. The staff loved the simultaneous looks of delight and horror that we had over the quantity of dishes and descriptions that we were bombarded with!

The main dish was a sea bream bone broth that sat on top of a small portable butane cooker (the sort you might take camping) that slowly simmered away until the gas can ran out. It came with:

• A dish with a single egg that you had to crack into the soup
• A dish of noodles to be added when you got another bowlful from the pot
• A dish with fresh wasabi (wasn’t a paste) that was to be added to the soup (but not before they made us try it without first!)

In an array of other small and large plates and dishes were:

• 4 separate sea bream sashimi dishes each with their own sauce and presentation (I liked the seaweed/miso one)
• A Congee eel dish with two different sauces
• Deep fried scales (shaped into a scaled tail or something sea looking) served with curry salt to be sprinkled on. This dish was initially served straight out of the deep fryer and the chef squeezed some fresh lemon juice on it for a dramatic and loud sizzle right in front of us!
• A selection of 3 different rice:
  • Thai rice
  • A white rice that was topped with hundreds of tiny, silver, baby shrimp
  • A rice soup dish that had a texture more like a rice pudding consistency
• A grilled fish portion with a burnt miso topping sitting on a bed of mushrooms
• House pickles (these were MASSIVE chunks of vegetables) with a delicious dipping sauce
• A fish gratin, also with mushrooms
• Sea urchin toast (baguette-like bread topped with the sea urchin mixture, which was surprisingly sweet)
• Probably other dishes that we’ve forgotten!

Each of these were incredible in taste, texture, presentation, everything! Many of the flavours were unique and different to anything that we’d had before. To add to the spectacle of all the amazing dishes being presented to us was the delight that the chef and her staff had in sharing these and demonstrating how to cook or eat each. It was as entertaining as it was delicious!

During the course of our meal feast we were chatting to the chef via our text translators and their voiced one (also very fun!) and learnt that the restaurant had burnt down only six months prior and the chef herself had burns on her face and hands as a result! It was an incredible story coming from someone so cheerful and happy. She told us a little of the area and she (and her staff) were interested as to why we were travelling to there.

To make things even more incredible was that the chef asked us where we were going next and offered us a lift to the shrine that we were heading too (incidentally where her first shop was!). After politely declining, even though it was raining a little, we settled up and started walking to the next place, only to hear someone shouting behind us! After worrying that we’d left something behind, we turned back to see the chef running over to us with two umbrellas that she claimed were ‘presents’ for us. Amazing. Everything about this place was amazing, the location, the restaurant, the food but ESPECIALLY the chef and her staff.

Suffice to say, I think that we’d both go back there in a heartbeat: 満幸商店Ⅱ or Miyoko Shop

Awashima Jinja Shrine

The final stop in Kada was the only one that we’d actually noted to have a look at in our ‘planning’ session. The shrine was said to house LOADS of small dolls and figurines that had been donated to the shrine over the years. Sounded intriguing enough to take a look.

The pathway up to the shrine was incredible, made of the same green stone (still not sure what it’s actually called) that we saw in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Having a look around (and collecting another shrine stamp!) we had a look at the multi-layered shrine and the huge array of different figures around the courtyard and shrine buildings. Well worth a look around.