Yakiniku and much more!

Tuesday, 16th September
Itsukaichi, Hiroshima City
広島県五日市コイン通り

If you are going to open up a restaurant in Japan than there is no other option than making it a yaki-niku one! My Japanese friend Mineo, who I have known for three years now, called me the other day and invited me to attend some restaurant opening. I soon remembered a previous call that we had a couple of months ago where he mentioned something about restaurant manager training in Osaka. Anyway to cut to the chase, I actually got invited to the opening of his restaurant which he is the store manager of! Since the shop is a good three hour drive away from where I live, I had to make a decision whether of not to attend. However, it didn't take that long to decide knowing that the shop specialises in meat - my favourite type of restaurant in Japan! And that the evening would be provided free of charge! all you can eat self-barbecued meat! Pretty hard to say no to that!

Along the way I was wondering what the place looks like on the outside as it can be rather difficult to find places in Japan at the best of times. This place however, stands out, and I mean stands out with its bright and loud red colours shouting out to everyone passing by!

There was a short ceremony - Japanese style with a few speeches and tears shed before a toast to the opening! Once that was out the way the meat came out! and did so for the next couple of hours!

As I mentioned in a previous entry about yaki-niku in Japan, the list of food eaten is rather long compared to the western equivalent and when it comes to meat, the Japanese pretty much eat anything!

I must say that the 'tan' cows tongue (my favourite) with a drop of fresh lemon on the top once cooked was very tasty as it usually is, as was the 'tontoro' (very tasty pork found from the cheek to the shoulder of a pig) and 'karubi' (rib meat from a cow).

But the name of the restaurant - JO NETSU HORUMON literally meaning PASSIONATE INTERNAL ORGANS in English, can make ones mind wonder what kind of meat this place actually serves!

stomach


sausage, mushroom, and.........no it's not a waffle!

A look at the menu made me wonder whether or not it was worth the trip! Cows liver, nose, ear, heart, intestines and even blood vessels and uterus to top it off! Enough to make you loose your appetite for days if not weeks or months! Or in extreme cases turn you into a vegetarian for life! BUT with so much to choose from, can one really refuse to try something that your getting for free?!

heart

Anyway I had to try something new since I always eat the same meat - tongue, liver, rib and so on. My choice was heart!

a little unsure but.....

And it was actually quite nice! A taste that wasn't too odd or too similar to anything else. It doesn't require endless chewing like intestines do!

Overall it was an excellent evening and I was truly impressed by Mineo's achievement having come this far so quickly! I wish him success with managing the place and I will definitely be back for more soon. I also realised that the Japanese have a point when they say that there is no reason to waste good meat! I have my reservations though.

good-bye until next time!