Tochigi prefecture

[torakris]

Any favorite dishes from Tochigi?

don't know of any? take a look here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...14entry727014

[Hiroyuki]

Utsunomiya city, the capital of Tochigi prefecture, is known as a 'town' of gyoza (gyoza no machi). The per-capita gyoza consumption in this city is No. 1 in Japan, and there are a lot of gyoza shops there. But why 'town'? I don't know. Probably because shi (city) also means death and is avoided. There is a gyoza-shaped statue in front of JR Utsunomiya station.

http://www.ipe.tsukuba.ac.jp/~s0310126/gyouzazou.html

This site says that the statue actually represents a goddess wrapped in a gyoza skin.

[torakris]

is it mostly just "regular" gyoza or are there in special types?

special fillings?

different skins? like the white gyoza of Saitama

[Hiroyuki]

Hm... I can't quite answer your question. I've never been to Utsunomiya... . There are a variety of shops specializing in gyoza, so I guess you can eat all kinds of gyoza there.

There is a book called Utsunomiya Gyoza Official Guide:

http://www.shimotsuke.co.jp/jigyo/syuppan/...miya_gyouza.htm

(Japanese only)

[lambretta76]

I am planning a day trip to Nikko and was curious about any must-try restaurants in that town. It seems that the town is famous for its yuba - is there anywhere that does this any particular justice? Or, perhaps there's another cuisine for which this city is famous that I haven't discovered? I'd love to hear your opinions.

Edited May 17, 2005 by lambretta76 (log)

[mascarpone]

I am planning a day trip to Nikko and was curious about any must-try restaurants in that town. It seems that the town is famous for its yuba - is there anywhere that does this any particular justice? Or, perhaps there's another cuisine for which this city is famous that I haven't discovered? I'd love to hear your opinions.

←

I went to Nikko in December of 2003 and was taken to a modest Unagi (Eel) restaurant by my girlfriend's uncle. It was very simple place (four tables), and their main dish was a box of rice covered with Unagi. Delicious! I asked for a business card on the way out, but no luck. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the place. But I do have a business card of a Japanese Red bean sweets Store that was a few doors away from the Unagi place. The Sweets store was called Mitsu Yama Yo Kang Houmpo and the number in Nikko is (0288) 54-0068. I didn't buy any sweets as I had never developed a taste taste for them and they were rather expensive. I enjoyed the Unagi, as I have eaten this whenever I have been at Sushi restaurants in New York. It was definitely a step above what I was used to. It was, however, a very small place; small, but good.

[mascarpone]

Here are some places in Nikko:

[pricy]

Yotaro

0288-54-0198

Ebisuya

0120-180113

[so-so]

Masudaya

0288-54-2151

Nikko Yuba Gozen

1-22 Yasukawa-cho

Nikko

0288-53-0353

[reasonable]

Maruhide

10-24 Yasukawa-cho

Nikko

0288-54-0250

[mascarpone]

Lambretta76:

How was Nikko and where did you go?

[lambretta76]

Mascarpone -

I've been trying to find the business card for the place we went to, but I seem to have misplaced it.

Anyways, the place we went to was along the main road going westward once you crossed the Shinkyo Bridge, about 1 km on the South side of the road. It was a a rather tacky looking place, with a gift shop on one side and an empty dining room on the other. However, after hiking and seeing the temples, we didn't have enough strength to make it back into town for food, so we decided to just go here as they had the kanji for yuba in the window.

We sampled three of the area's "delicacies", according the waitress - yuba udon, sweetened yuba roll w/vegetables and peppers, and fried river shrimp. The yuba udon was exactly as expected, a fine bowl of udon w/ a roll of yuba in it. The sweetened yuba was interesting, especially as we were instructed to put the chirashi on it - it was a nice play of sweet and spicy. The fried river shrimps were exactly that - a bowl of about 100 half-inch long shrimps that were deep fried. Kind of like popping fishy, crunchy french fries, but weren't as good. I'd pass on these the next time.

Sorry I couldn't try any of the recommendations from the board but we were too exhausted. (It was an absolutely beautiful day and we ended up walking WAY too much.) Our plans to stop in Utsonomiya for gyoza on the way back were also thwarted by our blistered feet. (I actually didn't have gyoza once on our trip - and I love them!)

If I can find that card I'll scan it in (there wasn't any Romanji on the card.)

[JasonTrue]

I remember one of my Tokyo friends being bewildered that Nikko seemed to so heavily emphasize yuba as a town specialty. In her mind, it could be made anywhere.

In my experience, the particular types of yuba used widely in Nikko weren't that exciting; what I had seemed to be big rehydated rolled yuba. Pleasant but not unforgettable. In Kyoto the fresh yuba was much more impressive, whether small rolls of yuba, fresh rectangular sheets, or yubadoufu.

On the other hand, in Nikko I knew I'd be getting a little more protein than usual when I ordered yuba-soba.

[lambretta76]

I did have yuba in Kyoto as well, shredded in a side dish with small cubes of tofu (or a tofu like substance - it kind of tasted like the Chinese soy milk drink do-cheon) and these bizarre - for a lack of a better word - Japanese gnocchi. However, there wasn't really enough of it to get a good sense of what it was...

I'll have to try some of the restaurants here in NYC that make their own yuba.

[JasonTrue]

One of the things that makes it possible for simple flavors taste wonderful in Japan is that individual dishes are rarely served in portions so large as to make your palate bored. In Kyoto this is even more so.

Your three small cubes of something creamy but tofu/soymilk like might have been yubadoufu. I had it served in small cubes also, but I think we ate it with either umeboshi or shouyu.

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/ajizanmai/k.../yubadoufu.html has a photo of a larger serving of yubadoufu.

As for the "Japanese gnocchi", are you thinking of perhaps dango or shiratama? Dango are usually, but not always, made with glutinous rice, and shiratama can be made from kuzuko or other starches. Dango are usually seasoned with something sweet-savory (such as mirin, soy sauce, sugar), and shiratama are usually served in sweeter things, but in a restaurant setting you might find other inventions. I usually explain gnocchi to Japanese friends as "Italia dango."

Below: Flavored yuba and another godoufu-like mochi-mochi toufu, and shiso, with shredded vegetables. Seved at a ryokan near Morioka, northern Japan.

I did have yuba in Kyoto as well, shredded in a side dish with small cubes of tofu (or a tofu like substance - it kind of tasted like the Chinese soy milk drink do-cheon) and these bizarre - for a lack of a better word - Japanese gnocchi. However, there wasn't really enough of it to get a good sense of what it was...

I'll have to try some of the restaurants here in NYC that make their own yuba.

←

[mascarpone]

Lambretta:

Sounds like you had a great time at the Temples which is the real specialty of Nikko.

[fenyx66]

Yesterday, I took a road trip to Utsunomiya with some friends. I bought a car in December and wanted to stretch it's legs, so to speak, with a short trip. We went to Oya, which is just outside of Utsunomiy and saw the famous Kannons that are carved in the cliffs there. And then we went into the city and sought out delicious Gyoza. We parked in a parking deck near the station (for 300 yen an hour, so I would recommend taking the train in, instead of sitting in the traffic and paying lot to park) and then went to a Koban to ask the police where the famous gyoza shops are. I didn't know any specific names, so I just said (in my poor Japanese) "etooo, yumena gyoza basho wa doko desuka?" and they knew exactly what I wanted, and gave us a small map and highlighted the path to "Minmin," My friend asked another police officer and he also said Minmin. So, that's where we went. We walked in and the man pointed to the menu on the wall. Deep Fried Gyoza 220 yen, Boilied Gyoza 220 yen, Fried Gyoza 200 yen, Rice 200 yen, Beer 400 yen. That's it. There are six gyoza per dish and three of use, so we got one plate of each and shared. We just wanted to taste them. Of the three places, these shells were the best, I think they had a crispness to them that was really nice. The filling was really nice too, the vegetables that were used were fresh and you could taste it. Then we went to another gyoza place that was just around the corner and I think the name is Shinfu. They had seafood gyoza and a curry gyoza. The filling was pretty unoriginal except that they added bits of shrimp, octopus, squid, or anything else. We shared the two combinations plates they had. My two favorite were the mentaiko and the shrimp. Other than that, the hyoza wasn't that special. The last place we went was, what we agreed, the best place for gyoza. I don't know the name, but the first kanji was 華、or at least, that's what it looked like. It serves ramen and gyoza, and is next to another famous gyoza place that had a long line coming out of it. There was no one in 華。 We went in ordered their 水 gyoza, their regular gyoza, the "lovely" gyoza, and their Goemon Tsukemono. Their filling also consisted of fresh vegetables and their wrappers had a nice bite and crispiness to them. Their 水　gyoza held together better than the minmin ones and tasted better, I think. But the real treat was the Goemon tsukemono which is the restaurants original recipe. It had eggplant, cucumber, daikon, and maybe the other thing was negi. I'm not sure what kind of tsukemono they were, but it had ginger and maybe a little vinegar among other flavors. They were great and the obaachan that worked there was very kind. The atmosphere there was better than the busy atmosphere of minmin and the cafeteria like atmosphere in Shinfu. There is also a beautiful shrine in the city which is worth visiting if you happen to be there.