The sun is setting over Satsumasendai(薩摩川内).
I watched the sky slowly darken and headed out from the hotel.
Checking the map, it looked like the restaurants and izakayas were clustered around Nishimukadacho(西向田町).
An arcade shopping street south of Taihei Bridge(太平橋), by the looks of it.
It took about ten minutes on foot from the hotel.
There weren’t many people around, but there were an awful lot of places to eat.
:: My first chicken sashimi, at Dan.
I had a few places on my shortlist, and after some deliberation I settled on this one, Dan(炭匠 だん 川内本店).
Satsumasendai isn’t a city known for tourism, and maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem to have any particularly famous local dish.
So tonight I wanted chicken.
There were grilled chicken places all over the area.
Probably because it’s close to Izumi(出水).
They say Izumi chicken is the most famous chicken in Kagoshima, and it really does seem to be true.
If I’d known, should I have eaten more chicken back in Izumi? The thought crossed my mind.
This place serves Izumi chicken too.
For my first order I went with chicken sashimi.
There was a menu item that came with both momo(もも, thigh) and mune(むね, breast).
You can eat chicken sashimi in Korea too, but it’s pretty rare, right?
In Japan it’s a more common menu item than in Korea.
Especially around cities like Izumi where chicken is famous, it’s easier to find.
Anyway, this chicken sashimi thing — I was eating it for the first time.
The meat with the red in it is thigh, the white side is breast.
Eating it with the shredded onion makes it go down easier.
It also comes with minced garlic and ginger.
Piling the onion, ginger and garlic on top of the meat and dipping it generously in soy sauce was good.
The soy sauce in particular was tasty.
Hmm… but this chicken sashimi.
It isn’t an easy food for me.
Sashimi of meat rather than fish just isn’t really my kind of thing after all.
As you chew, something stringy stays behind in your mouth.
Probably fascia, or the tougher parts of the meat.
I don’t like that feeling.
And since it isn’t something I eat often, there’s a psychological factor at work too.
So I could only taste two or three pieces of each and leave the rest.
I’d anticipated not being able to finish the sashimi, so I’d ordered this alongside it — momo no hibashirayaki(ももの火柱焼).
It’s chicken thigh cooked quickly over a very strong flame.
That’s probably where the name hibashira(火柱, pillar of fire) comes from.
Because it’s grilled over such a fierce fire, the outside is a bit blackened with what looks like soot.
This is very good.
For a start, the quality of the chicken itself is excellent.
Izumi chicken, as expected. The meat is springy and tender, really first-rate.
On top of that, the fast grilling over high heat adds a smoky char, and it’s seasoned a little on the salty side, so it goes down very well.
Good with a drink, too.
Last up, a few kinds of yakitori I ordered to eat with shochu.
From the left: okuramaki (okra wrapped in pork belly), shiitake, negima (chicken and leek), kawa (chicken skin) and tsukune (chicken meatball).
All things you can easily find in Korea too.
You’d think they’d taste dramatically better eaten locally, but that isn’t necessarily the case.
What’s true is that the average level of quality is high, even if you don’t seek out a famous place.
These were good as well.
Though I do prefer the skin grilled a bit crisper.
:: A quiet way to end the day, Bar Tsubaki.
After dinner I walked a little, hoping to see the night view along the Sendai River(川内川).
There wasn’t really anywhere to see a night view from, so I turned back toward the main strip fairly quickly.
Walking slowly through that quiet, deserted main strip — which is a strange thing to say — I spotted a place and went in.
I wanted one drink to close out the day.
The place is called Tsubaki(椿).
From the general atmosphere, I figured it was a snack bar(スナック).
Middle-aged men sitting at the bar, and one good-looking woman who appeared to be the owner.
The sign says bar lounge.
For reference, a “lounge” in Japan generally refers to something between a bar and a kyabakura, they say.
I’m not sure exactly what the difference is. The world of the night is complicated.
The system is 90 minutes of all-you-can-drink for 3,500 yen, and that’s it.
I alternated between shochu and highballs.
At one point I was given a taste of the slightly pricier whisky the man next to me was drinking.
There were about three other men there besides me.
When I said I’d come from Korea, they all seemed intrigued and asked me all sorts of things.
Late at night, in a place where middle-aged men gather, there’s a certain fun in drinking while making this kind of small talk.
