Taking a trip to Mie Prefecture and Ise Shrine? Don’t forget to bring your camera, and your appetite too.
With the G7 Ise-Shima conference about to start, we’ve made our way to Ise City, Mie Prefecture, in hope of rubbing elbows with some of the world’s most powerful politicians and encouraging them to make daily reading of RocketNews24 part of the education curriculum in their respective nations. But since we arrived a few days before the summit gets underway, we’ve had to keep ourselves fed, and no matter how cool Ise’s retro convenience store may be, we can’t eat all of our meals there.
So we decided to explore some of the culinary wonders of Ise, although being the cheapskates we are, we’re taking such prestigious yet premium local delicacies as a full Ise ebi (spiny lobster) and Matsuzaka beef off the menu, and have instead compiled a list of six things you’ll want to try when you visit the home of Shinto’s Ise Shrine.
1. Ise miso ramen
Kura de Ramen /蔵 de らーめん
Website
Sapporo may be Japan’s most famous miso ramen mecca, but Kura de Ramen’s take on the dish, made with locally produced miso and served in a converted miso warehouse, is seriously tasty stuff.
2. Ise udon
Chitose / ちとせ
Website (Tabelog)
If you’re craving even more Ise-style noodles, make your next bowl one of Ise udon, the cold, refreshing pasta that’s been refreshing and travelers and pilgrims for generations. Chitose’s udon is especially tasty, with a consistency that’s pleasingly soft and fluffy, but never mushy.
3. Beef bowl/gyudon
Butasute /豚捨
Website
Butasute means “throw out the pigs,” which is a really odd name for a restaurant. Still, after eating one of their mouthwatering beef bowls, filled with juicy, flavorful strips of beef, you might find you’ve acquired a similar disdain for pork.
4. Akafuku Kori
Akafuku
Website
This dessert is perfect for indecisive types. Akafuku is famous for the confectionary of the same name, which is a small ball of mochi enveloped in smooth anko (sweet bean paste).
▼ Akafuku
The akafuku kori, though, takes an akafuku and tosses it into a heaping serving of matcha-flavored shaved ice, making it sweetly satisfying and soothingly cool.
5. Henba mochi
Henba Shoten / へんば商店
Webite
While it’s not as famous as akafuku, henba mochi is also definitely worth trying. Composition-wise, it’s the exact opposite of akafuku, with mochi on the outside and anko inside.
6. Ise ebi ice cream
Oharaimachi / おはらい町
Next to Ise Shrine you’ll find Oharaimachi, a neighborhood with souvenir shops and restaurants catering to the many travelers the shrine draws. Some of the stalls sell ice cream, and if you’re craving something more unique than chocolate or vanilla, you can try ice cream actually flavored with Ise ebi.
That gourmet pedigree is hard to say no to, but this scoop of ice cream genuinely tastes, and smells, like a bunch of shellfish. So while it’s worth eating if you’re trying to one-up anyone who’s eaten instant ramen ice cream, this Ise ebi ice cream is definitely something you eat more for the experience than the flavor. As such, we recommend trying it before the other items on this list, because you’ll probably find yourself wanting a palate cleanser ASAP.
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