Kanazawa — Records of Roam

While in Kyoto, we took a side trip to Kanazawa, which was recommended by one of our friends (thanks, Justin!). Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan and is known for having fantastic seafood; this is the place to have sushi in Japan. We spent two nights in Kanazawa and had a great experience! It was only a 2-hour bullet train ride from Kyoto.

We stayed at the Kaname Inn, a modern, hip boutique hotel with a music bar on the first floor. As an added bonus, we were lucky enough to be upgraded to an amazing top-floor suite since they didn’t have our room available.

Here's a recap of our visit!

Omicho Market

WOW! This market was amazing. We started and ended our trip to Kanazawa at the Omicho Market, which was conveniently on the walk to the train station. It’s a great market to get lost in, full of amazing seafood. There were giant oysters, giant shrimp, and sea urchin, all of which were available to eat raw, on the spot. There were beautiful scallops and tables full of huge crabs. Restaurants are sprinkled throughout the market, each with a line out the door; they all serve seafood, and fresh fish over rice (known as kaisendon) is a popular menu item.

We loved the crab potato croquettes at a stand that offered a bunch of different fried croquette treats!

Best Sushi Ever.

We were eager to get our sushi fill while there, so we had sushi every day during our visit to Kanazawa.

On our first night, we had an amazing omakase experience at Kuratake Sushi. It was the best sushi meal of our life. It’s what we dreamed of when we imagined trying sushi in Japan. We get it now; I understand how good rice can be. We saw the chef flavoring it with soy and wasabi and painting the soy on with a brush. We opted for omakase and were open-minded. We tried some weird stuff that was not our cup of tea (sea cucumber, snail, raw squid), but we were grateful to have the opportunity to try it there, where it was the best it could be! With 19 different courses, we tasted incredible mackerel, tuna, uni, crab, maki and hand rolls, and we ended with classic tamago. Jeff created a collage of our plates so we can remember this delicious meal!

Unfortunately, midway through the meal I almost choked on the squid nigiri, and it took all I had to keep it together and control my gag reflex. There was NO WAY I was going to embarrass myself or insult the chef, who stood proudly watching us eat his creations. When the next piece was a brutal follow-up (snail), I almost ran to the bathroom to unload it, but proudly kept it together enough to gulp it down with a swig of beer. Luckily for us, the mid-meal gauntlet was over and the remaining dishes that followed were pure deliciousness, or what the Japanese would describe as umami. We were so grateful to have had this experience!

On our second night, we had sushi at Sushi Ippei, a cute mom & pop classic sushi restaurant with just counter seats, conveniently located near our hotel. It was a rambunctious scene when we arrived late at night (it was tough to get in!) with a group of drunk local businessmen taking up most of the seats; they were so intrigued by us and what had brought us to Kanazawa. They gifted us a bottle of sake, along with two little Kanazawa pins. We had some amazing, melty nigiri in between lively commentary through one of the businessmen whose English was pretty good from spending a year in high school in upstate New York (!).

The wife serving us at Sushi Ippei was great. She told us they had been open 71 years; her husband, who silently prepared the sushi in the other corner, was the second generation. When Jeff asked everyone if they were excited about the upcoming Olympics, she told us that the government is teaching the Tokyo locals how to give directions guidance in English to the visitors. After the crazy crew in suits left, we ordered one final nigiri as a peaceful finale to our night.

On our last day, we decided to have sushi at one of the restaurants within Omicho Market. The guy at Sushi Ippei the night before had recommended Mori Mori, a conveyor belt sushi restaurant; I told Jeff I had never been to one, so we put our names in at the very crowded Mori Mori for our last meal in Kanazawa. While waiting for our number to be called (which is tricky when they shout the numbers in Japanese…!), we visited a stand where Jeff tried a fresh sea urchin!

Lunch was so fun! It was a great way to end our 3-day sushi bender in Kanazawa, which started and ended with the market. We loved the “tuna 5 ways” set, which included a minced tuna roll with scallion, unexpectedly good. We also had yellowtail nigiri, a fatty tuna roll, and a fresh uni nigiri from the belt (we were seated at the beginning of the belt, so we had first pick!). For our finale, we ended with a delicious set of tuna nigiri.

Kenroku-en

It was rainy and cold during our trip to Kanazawa, but we lucked out with some sunshine on the afternoon we visited the Kenroku-en. Kenroku-en is considered one of the “top 3 most beautiful” gardens in Japan. We enjoyed a lovely, leisurely stroll through the garden. Recent rain caused muddy paths, but the upside was amazing moss.

Lunch in Higashi Chaya

After our stroll through Kenroku-en, our bellies were hungry, so we walked to a soba noodle restaurant in the Higashi Chaya district, an area which is known for its history and old, preserved buildings. I had classic cold dipping soba noodles, which were tasty, while Jeff had a unique black seaweed soup with soba.

After exploring the surrounding Higashi Chaya neighborhood post-lunch, we popped into nearby Oriental Brewing for a couple beers. They served both their own beers and other Japanese craft beers; I ordered a “sakura” cherry blossom beer, steeped with sakura leaves. It was surprisingly delicious!

Oyama Shrine & Nagamachi Samurai District

While wandering the streets near our hotel, we discovered Oyama Shrine, which was a treat! The shrine had a majestic staircase entry, a pond, and a secret back trail.

We also found ourselves in Nagamachi, the old samurai district of Kanazawa, during a light rain.

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

On our last day in Kanazawa, we visited a contemporary art museum. I fell in love with the open sky, alternate universe of the “Turell Room” (also known as “Blue Planet Sky”). We also really liked the swimming pool exhibit, and a sculpture out front similar to the “Bean” in Chicago.