Fish on a stick? Yes, please!
On rainy wander through the Arashiyama area, I stumbled across a rustic (rundown?) storefront between the train station and the famous Katsura River. What caught my eye were large river sweetfish (not to be confused with Swedish fish, my friends) skewered on sticks and displayed like flags from the large vessel in which they were roasted. Behind this eye-catcher were various fish and chicken dishes stewed Kyoto style.
The shop, called Arashiyama Tanaka, possessed an atmosphere that was humble and homely; it definitely had seen its fair share of patronage. The store staff seemed just like people from the neighborhood--casual and friendly, yet really knowing their stuff.
You wouldn’t know from its appearance, but Arashiyama Tanaka has actually been featured on television for its food.
One of those creations is its anago yawata-maki, which is fresh water eel wrapped around locally grown burdock root before being slowly roasted over a bed of charcoals. This is actually a spin on the common Japanese household dish, the meat-wrapped burdock root, that brings together the bounties of the country and river.
Besides its sweetfish and anago, Arashiyama Tanaka also offers Kyoto-style croquettes, various chicken dishes, duck, soft shell turtle, dashimaki (omelet flavored with dashi), unagi (sea eel), and even koi!
After looking over the captivating treats, I purchased the skewered sweetfish, and the anago yawata-maki. First, I dug into the sweetfish. It looked like a feat to eat, but the fish was roasted so that the bones had all softened. Though the only flavoring was salt, the taste of the delicious fish itself was really well preserved. There was even roe inside the fish, providing for an extra delicious experience! The anago yawata-maki looked like it would have a sweet, rich sauce flavor, but it was actually very light and not sweet or overpowering at all. I am sure that it would make a great addition to any bento lunch.
This unplanned stumble-upon turned out to be quite a lucky find. I happen to like these Japanese mom-and-pop type shops. There’s something about the non-mass produced experience that just soothes the soul.
Next time I will have to go back to try their okara (soy pulp) croquettes!