“People in Hamamatsu talk condescendingly, or rather reservedly, about local industry and culture.”
During my training at a top-class restaurant in Kyoto, I was surprised to find that they used a lot of ingredients from Enshu and Hamamatsu, such as shrimp potatoes, eel, shinko from Lake Hamana, conger eel, and melons for dessert, and I realized the charm of the local area from the outside. Mr. Kentaro Nakamura, the owner of Totoichi, said that he did.
Among the ingredients that are shipped to Tokyo and Kyoto but are not actively consumed locally, we will focus on seafood, where freshness affects the taste.
“When I want to eat fish, I feel like it’s a waste that the only option is a sushi restaurant, so I decided to open a restaurant in Hamamatsu that specializes in fish.”
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Totoichi, a restaurant specializing in fresh fish caught in Lake Hamana and the Enshu Sea, in Hamamatsu.
At the time, Hamamatsu City’s Sasamachi was a fashion street lined with high-end brands. I admired the fashionable modern Japanese style restaurants that were starting to become popular in Tokyo, and although the town wasn’t suitable for restaurants, I decided to open a restaurant in Sajimachi, which has a slightly more mature feel.
While many people were questioning whether or not to open the business, saying, “It’s difficult to attract customers to a store on the third floor,” and “There’s no way we’ll be successful with fish dishes alone,” the new building, which no one has ever set foot in, has a straight line. I was drawn to stairs and started my shop with baseless confidence and a rebellious spirit.
It has private rooms, so you can feel like you’re in a high-class restaurant even though you’re in the middle of the city. Although it is Japanese food, it is stylish and attracts attention as a restaurant where you can also enjoy alcohol.
Consumer behavior has changed from an era when people were happy to go to a restaurant that had everything, to a trend of specialty restaurants where people would choose a restaurant because they wanted to eat something, and the appearance of the city has also changed, but our beliefs remain unchanged and we strive to communicate the appeal of local ingredients. So, the years are ticking away.
“I think it was an insane and insane idea.”
It was a project created by Japanese, Western, and Chinese professionals to create Hamamatsu food that could be promoted nationwide, and Mr. Nakamura came up with the idea of serving eel as sashimi.
When we ask customers from outside the prefecture what they think of Hamamatsu, the most common answer is “eel.”
Among the many types of fish, eel was considered to be a specialty of eel restaurants, so it was not sold in stores until now, but the question is, “Why is there no sashimi in the eel course?” Therefore, after much trial and error, “eel sashimi” was created using the blood-draining techniques of a craftsman, believing that any fish that is alive and swimming can be easily made into sashimi.
Firm and elastic texture. Sweet fat that goes well with homemade aged ponzu sauce. The new taste of eel that Hamamatsu is proud of has been selected as the Fujinokuni New Product Selection Gold Award, and is also famous as Hamamatsu Power Food.
One of the characteristics of Totoichi is Mr. Nakamura’s policy of hiring staff as specialized and responsible employees, rather than relying on student part-time workers.
Since the store’s customer service is provided by people, they try to communicate with customers in a professional manner.
Many craftsmen who have trained under Mr. Nakamura have gone on to open their own businesses, but in the past he has been strict with Mr. Nakamura, saying, “We have to train staff who want to become independent so that they don’t feel embarrassed no matter where they work.” I had the bitter experience of having to temporarily close the store because my actions backfired and my employees suddenly stopped coming.
Even so, we are committed to training instructors and craftsmen with the belief that “we need people who can communicate through cooking.Everyone who comes to our store will be successful.”
“During the period when we couldn’t serve alcohol due to the coronavirus pandemic, it took a really long time for customers to finish their meals,” says Mr. Nakamura.
Even if you are eating a course meal with the same content, the meal time may be cut in half compared to enjoying the food with alcohol.
We’re eating the same thing, so our stomachs are full, but if we dig deeper into the unsatisfactory feeling of eating silently, we’ll find new ways to enjoy conversations with the people sitting with us, the afterglow of thinking about the land and the seasons from the food, and the feeling of something new. You will realize that many elements enrich the meal, such as encounters, discoveries, and the timing of the meal served.
After the state of emergency was lifted, we reaffirmed the role that eating out plays when we hear from our customers, “We’ve made it through the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s still different when we go out for drinks.”
Even after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, it is predicted that there will be fewer business trips and transfers in society.
“We want to go back to our roots and connect with the local community, so that people feel more attracted to going out for a drink!We want to build a restaurant that is loved by our customers,” says Mr. Nakamura.
Finally, when I asked Totoichi what he would recommend for the end of the year, when the city is bustling with activity, he said, “As it’s getting colder, I’d like you to try a warm dish using local fish paired with sake.”
He told me that it would be interesting to try different temperature ranges of warmed sake to match the course.
[Totoichi]
“Hamamatsu Science Museum” is a spot near the station where you can enjoy learning science while having fun even in the rain.
Have you ever been looking for a spot close to Hamamatsu Station where you can have fun even on rainy days?
Hamamatsu Science Museum makes both of these possible. The museum is divided into zones of nature, force, sound, light, and space, where you can enjoy learning about science while having a variety of experiences.
Furthermore, in the planetarium, which was renovated in March 2022, you can view approximately 100 million stars. Science shows are also popular.
A drop of nature grown in Hamamatsu Tenryu Forest. “Kuromoji tea” made from trees
This year too, the delicious treasure grown in the forest, “Kicoro forest scented tea,” will be coming to town.
It is Kuromoji tea from Tenryu Forest, which was created with the idea of being an “entrance to get people interested in the forest,” and is harvested only once a year in early spring.
I first encountered this tea four years ago. At a cafe in Tenryu Ward, a friend recommended it to me and said, “This Kuromoji tea is delicious. It’s made from wood.” When I asked her, “What is a tree? You mean the leaves on that tree?”, she answered that they were not actually leaves. When we think of tea, we think of green tea or herbal tea, which is made from soft materials such as leaves and flower petals. So when I was told that it was made from wood, I couldn’t imagine it.
What arrived on the table was a gentle pink tea with a very nice aroma that overturned the image of “wood”.
You may not be familiar with the “Kuromoji” tree, but you might know it as a sweet toothpick used to cut up Japanese sweets and bring them to your mouth.
Nowadays, many of them are made of plastic or other wood, but they were originally made from the Kuromoji tree, which has a pleasant aroma and antibacterial properties. It is well known that when Sen no Rikyu, a famous tea master, made tea for Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he offered them a freshly shaved fragrant toothpick from a branch of the Kuromoji tree in his garden. The scent of Kuromoji may have soothed the spirits of war-torn military commanders.
Japanese sweets and Kuromoji cutting sweets
Kuromoji is said to be an aromatic native to Japan, and its refreshing yet sweet scent is said to have antiviral and relaxing effects. It is said that it is also included in Chanel No. 5, and it is a tree that is like the savior of today’s times.
Kuromoji has been drunk for treatment and health since ancient times. A herbal medicine called Usho is made from the leaves and branches, and it is also brewed and drunk as a health tea. So, what is the difference between Tenryu no Mori’s Kuromoji tea and the health teas that have been drunk up until now?
The person who makes Tenryu Forest’s Kuromoji tea is Mr. Takeshi Maeda, who works as a “visible woodcutter” to connect the mountains and the city. Even though I don’t like the outdoors or the rain, I was selfish because I wanted to see the black moji tree. Then, on a rainy day at the start of the rainy season, Mr. Maeda showed me around Kikoro Forest in Tenryu.
Hamamatsu Power Food – Visit the birthplace of soft-shelled turtle farming in search of Hamamatsu ingredients that are said to have supported the advancement of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Jenne and her friends go out on location early in the morning.
Ayano Jenne looks very sleepy.
Jenne Okubo then offers hot soup.
“This is actually a soft-shelled turtle soup that is very good for the body.Hamamatsu is actually the birthplace of soft-shelled turtles,” says Jenne Okubo.
When you think of Hamamatsu, you probably think of eel, but in fact, soft-shelled turtle is also famous and has a long history.
On this day, I visited the Hattori Nakamura Tortoise Farm in Magori-cho, Nishi-ku, Hamamatsu City, which is a company that has started full-scale farming of soft-shelled turtles.
It is said that eel was also farmed in the past.
Turtle farm’s soft-shelled turtle
Soft-shelled turtle is a high-quality food ingredient that is said to be good for beauty and health as it contains a lot of collagen and amino acids, but it has a long growing period and takes 3 to 4 years to grow before being shipped, making it difficult to maintain a stable supply.
I had the experience of picking up such a soft-shelled turtle.