Sparkling sake “Bijofu Usunigori” with Yakitori at “Chuya”

Thank you very much for visiting this blog!

This is the 2nd blog by me, a secret correspondent “K”.
As well as last time, I’d like to introduce a restaurant which is comfortable for lonely girl visitors to enjoy Nihonshu in Kochi City.

Contents

A freezing night, Warm myself up at “Chuya”

Kochi is said to be a “tropical Kochi”, but winter is winter, winter is cold in Kochi as well.
On a freezing night, warming the body with a hot Nihonshu is great.
I was in the mood for sipping hot sake with Yakitori (grilled chicken on stick) on that day, even though I was not sure if Yakitori was a suitable food for this situation.
So, I visited a Yakitori restaurant which I had visited a long time ago.

This restaurant, “Chuya”.
The outside appearance was simple and handsome. I like it!

It was a Thursday night, so there were not many people other than me.
A friendly and cheerful staff welcomed and took me to the seat.

The room was wide and seemed to have a capacity of tens of people.
I felt an atmosphere that a lonely woman visitor like me can stay there comfortably because the staffs were nice and there were many counter seats.
I was with one more person on that day, so we took table seats.

Let’s order some foods!

At first, I wanted to sip a hot sake and spend a quiet time, but as soon as I started to see the menu book, my appetite started to yell.
Oh well I can’t stop. I ordered “Kara-Age (Japanese deep fried chicken) first to satisfy my desire”. (My first aim had gone.)
Other than Kara-Age, we ordered some Yakitori and other Kushi (foods on sticks) menus.
This restaurant’s main menu is Kushi foods, so there were various Kushi, not only Yakitori, but also beef, other types of chicken, and meat roll-ups. You can order 1 stick each at the minimum lot.
Other menus such as salads, rice balls, and other snacks were so attractive that I wanted to try all.

I ordered a potato shochu (Japanese spirit distilled from potatoes) with hot water, as it was really a freezing night.

After I ordered, the staff brought me the drink and the appetizer immediately.
The appetizer of the day was a snack of cucumber.
Pieces of cucumber were flavored with Ponzu vinegar (sauce made with citrus juice) or Dashi-soy sauce (soy sauce with stock mixed with). It was light but good.
And the hot shochu. It went around my cold body, and I was warmed up as well as I started to get drunk.

While I was drowning in the warmth of shochu, the foods arrived.
The first was Kara-Age.

Here they are!
My appetize yelled again!
We finished the plate soon because we were a group of 2 people, but it might be too big for one woman. The pieces were crispy outside and juicy inside. The pieces’ size was big, so it was very exciting when I saw it at first.
It is a big volume, but I think that I’ll order this anyway even when I come alone.

Bijofu Mai Usunigori

I finished the hot shochu, so I ordered Nihonshu next.
Today’s sake is,

“Bijofu Mai Usunigori Junmai Daiginjo Namazake”.
This sparkling sake ferments in the bottle. You can enjoy the bubbles like champagne.

In this brand “Bijofu”, there are normal (non-sparkling) sake, too. My personal impression of “Bijofu” series is that it has fruity and light flavor, and comparatively sweet.
Well, my experience of “Bijofu” is not that much, so I don’t know my impression is correct, though.

“Usunigori” which I had on the day was like a sparkling wine because it had mild gas and fruity taste. I think many women should like this.
You can also enjoy Nihonshu’s deep flavor, not only the bubbly and fruity characteristics.

I can’t help finishing it up quickly because of its good taste (T T)

At this “Chuya”, there were other Kochi’s local sake such as “Bunkajin”, “Kameizumi”, and “Takiarashi”. They also had some liqueur drinks which were made with Kochi’s local foods.

Kushi foods of Chuya

When I was enjoying Bijofu Usunigori, Kushi foods were served.
When you order Kushi, you also get a plate of cabbage which you see in the back in the photo below. The cabbage goes well with the sauce for Kushi.

I regret that I didn’t take pictures of each Kushi.
I had Negima (Yakitori of chicken and spring onion), Sunagimo (gizzard on stick) and Nankotsu (chicken gristle on stick). Also, asparagus rolled with pork in the second photo above.
As seen in the very first photo, there were many types of pork-roll Kushi. I’d like to try “ginger” roll next time. (Kochi is Japan’s biggest producer of ginger. The share of Kochi’s ginger is very big.)

Our appetize was satisfied thanks to the big pieces of Kara-age, so we finished the meal with these drinks and foods.
I remember a TV program was saying that “Yakitori is a food which makes conversation active”. You can have good chatting at Yakitori restaurants, they said.

This restaurant, “Chuya”, was a perfect place even when you are alone because they had many food menus which you can order from small number or volume, and they had comfortable counter seats.