Stroll The Streets Of Hida Takayama With Delicacies In Both Hands!

2. Hida Beef Sushi

Behold – the Hida Beef Sushi, the fancy sushi, whose main ingredient (next to the rice) is luxurious Hida Beef! At the sushi restaurant Hida Kotte Ushi (link in Japanese; link in Traditional Chinese), you’ll not only savor the finest-quality Hida Beef but the Hida-quality rice as well, so be sure to check them out!

Besides Japanese, the menu comes in English and Chinese, too, but this restaurant has made it even easier for the customers to order – they’ve put up the letters a, b, c and x above the each sushi, so you can just say the letter of the chosen menu and the number of the desired quantity, and voila! You just ordered yourself a delicious meal in no time.

However, perhaps it would be wiser to check this restaurant out when you have more time to spare, since the menu items often get sold out, so it is not all that rare for customers to wait to order.

One must-try menu item is Hida Beef Toro Sashi Nigiri, seasoned with wasabi-soy sauce and topped with shredded scallions for the ultimate taste satisfaction (two pieces for 900 yen after tax). This dish is one of the reasons behind the restaurant’s fame, recognized for the soft, melting texture of Hida Beef with high degree of marbled fat that is used while making it.

This is the basic Hida Beef Nigirizushi (two pieces for 600 yen after tax). You can have the seasoning to your liking – salt and ginger-soy sauce seasonings are your available options.

This restaurant’s (incr)edible invention is putting senbei instead of a plate to serve sushi, so there is no extra trash and it tastes great! To make sure the senbei’s taste won’t influence the sushi’s flavour in any way, they make it lightly seasoned, with shrimp and aosa (*1) giving it a mild, but rich aroma.

*1 Aosa: an edible algae species. It is widely used as seasoning for its savory flavour.

Mitarashi Dango

Although the usual winning combination for a tasty mitarashi dango is soy sauce, sugar, and the potato starch, you can try a very special, yet simple soy sauce mitarashi dango, here in Hida Takayama.

In most cases the delicious dango is prepared right in front of the store, so if you stumble upon this precious event, don’t let the chance slip by! Take a closer look and you’ll sniff out the fragrant smell of soy sauce. You get to relish this aromatic dessert for 70 yen (after tax) per one skewer, but don’t be naïve – you won’t be able to stop at just one, trust us!

Now That Your Stomach’s Full, How About A Memento?

Did you know Hida Takayama is famous for the woodblock printing? It is believed that the main reason behind this area’s wide development of this marvelous art of printmaking is the harsh winters with lots of snow that prevented people from going out during this season. What makes this art so beautiful and extraordinary is that each time the wooden block is carved out it is painted and used as a print, so as a result you can’t have the same print twice.

At Shin Kogei (Japanese), one of the old street’s handicraft stores, you can choose yourself a cute souvenir from plenty of handicraft art made with woodblock prints, such as stuffed toys, picture postcards, coasters and much more.

Take this precious opportunity to feel the Hida-only atmosphere and take a stroll down these unique, memorable old streets!

Get the basic as well as the access information about Hida Takayama here:

Hida Takayama Travel Guide - Shirakawa-go, Beautiful Views, Onsen, And More!