Delicious memories to a bottle: A Personal Project

”Kanpai!” with a bottle of sake with the illustrated label. By me. A scene I have yet to experience and eagerly working towards.

A personal project.

This bottle of Matoya Wan was created from memories that I have with my family, on our trips to Ise, a coastal city in central Mie. Ise-jinguu is where we would start off. One of the largest Shinto shrine in Japan, where it is tradition for the PM to visit and pay respect every year. Not as prompt as the PM but my mother and I would visit every year too. Winter or spring time. We would have my grandma go with us if she felt like it. After paying our respect, it was only natural for us to eat and drink our way through oharaicho. A street right next to the entrance/exit to the Naigu shrine, bringing you back to Japan’s Edo and Meiji period. The only significant change you see are the visitors’ modern clothes.

There we would start with deep fried fish cakes on a stick. Ones with cheese, ones with squid, ones with edamame, bamboo shoots and a few other veggies. We needed something to avoid becoming hangry.

Then we would stop at Ise Kadoya, a local pub stop that has their own beer brewery. If we were lucky, we’d get to enjoy our pints at the table, looking out onto the buzzing pedestrian street, while waiting for our kaki furai, deep fried oysters. They'd serve it with tartar sauce. Nice but they'd also have some miso condiments so I'd prefer that. Or have it simply with a squeeze of lemon, also served.

Other delights we routinely eat our way through are:

Ise-Udon - Thick wheat noodles in a slightly sweet, thick sauce made with mirin, sake, soy sauce and dashi. Usually served with fresh egg yolk that adds richness to the bowl of udon.

Fuku-man (福マン）- “Fuku” translated to good fortune. A bun of good fortune. This one’s stuffed with beef simmered in slightly sweet soy sauce, with bamboo shoots and ginger. The bun steamed to fluff, perfect on a sunny and crisp winter’s day.

Last but not least, our favourite final stop is always the Moriton shack. Only discovered in recent years, as it is located away from the main street but has become our mandatory stop, or we could even call it our ultimate destination.

Fresh and raw is how we would have it. Served with a squeeze of lemon or with a dash of Bowmore. Either way, these oysters really are the milk of the sea.