Kamameshi

It was past noon. We had just returned from our gondola ride up and down the peak where we endured a blizzard. We were hungry!

As we walked back to Echigo Yuzawa Station, we stumbled upon this restaurant.

As you may know from a previous post, Echigo Yuzawa is snow country. But Niigata is renown for its rice harvest. It is also known for its fresh seafood from the Japan Sea and vegetables available in the reason.

We were fortunate to find this restaurant that specialized in Kamameshi. Kamameshi combines the best of both world: Niigata's rice and locally available ingredients. Rice and ingredients are combined with dashi in a mini pot and cooked over an open flame. The result is perfectly cooked rice with the flavors of seafood (or chicken).



I had the seafood kamameshi. It included shrimp, scallops, fish, crab and oyster. The picture shown above is a "before" picture. The proper way to eat kamameshi is to take you paddle and mix the toppings into the rice. The mixture of ice and seafood was delightful as every bite was different as the combination of ingredients changed with each pass.

The best part is the "koge" or the burnt rice that sticks to the bottom of the pot. This is something that I do not share with anybody. The crispy rice is complemented by the flavors of the ingredients. Ono!!!