連休が取れたので、久々に能登半島へ行ってきました。出る時は京都は雨でしたが、北陸自動車道を進むうちに快晴に！梅雨の晴れ間の小旅行と相成りました。I got 2 days off, so I decided to go North to the Noto Peninsula. It was raining when my friend and I left Kyoto, but as we headed up the Hokuriku expressway, the rainy-season weather began to clear up.
朝市では、素敵な所を見つけました。メインの朝市通りから海側に少し入った小さな路地裏にあります。もちろん朝市通りにも沢山の食べ物屋さんがあるのですが….どうも…へそ曲がりな私には観光客目当ての気がして。どこかに地元の人達や行商のおっちゃんおばちゃんが食べてるような店無いかなぁ…と探してると！Wajima, a small town at the top of the Noto Peninsula is famous for its asaichi morning market. There are so many restaurants in the main street, of course, but they seem all very touristic to me. I thought to myself ‘Is there any place the local people go?’ I was just wandering around, and then…
この派手な看板….メイン通りからも見えるようにとこのインパクト。はい、つかみOK！！ 有無を云わさぬこのシンプル、かつダイレクトな看板につられて歩いていくと… I found this flashy, big sign. It says “MEAL”. Cannot be more simple, direct and effective!
これまた素敵な名前！そしてこの暖簾！何でも、とある有名な画家がふらっと訪ねて来てこの素敵な絵をプレゼントしたそう。その原画を暖簾にするべく、京都のとある所で拡大してもらい、布地に印刷したら１５万超えたって言ったはりました。ここでランチ決定！Here’s the entrance of the shop. The name is MAMAYA. What a great name! (MAMA is an old children’s word for ‘food’ or ’meal’, and also carries the meaning of ‘mother’; YA means ‘shop’ or ‘store’.) Also, take a look at this great noren curtain! According to the shop owners, some famous painter dropped by this place for lunch and gave them a print. They took the print to Kyoto to be made into a large noren curtain, as you can see, and it cost more than 150,000 yen! Anyway, clearly our lunch spot was decided!
店に入るとカウンター１０席ほどで、満席状態。何とおばあちゃん２人で切り盛りしてはります。全ての材料を能登産とする、超地域密着型のメニューはこれもキッパリ、朝市／刺身／焼き魚定食の３品のみ。私は焼き魚定食を注文。ワクワク！I entered the small place to find its 10 seats were almost full. I was surprised to find the place is run buy 2 old grandmas. They only use locally-sourced ingredients. The menu has just 3 set variations: the Morning Market; the Sashimi; and the Grilled Fish teishoku lunches.
定食ですが一遍に出されず、コースのように（？）次々おばあちゃんがトレイの上に乗せていきます。最初に出て来たのが、ところてんの生姜二杯酢和え。あっさりしてます。The dishes are brought to your tray, one at a time, by the old ladies. First came tokoroten (a kind of vermicelli made of kanten agar-agar) in a ginger and vinegar sauce.
特大タッパーに作り置きマリネしてあったメギスの南蛮漬け。ほどよい酸味で美味。Next came grilled and marinéed Megisu Nanban-zuke whiting served in a Japanese sweet and peppery vegetable sauce, which the granma brought out of a huge tupperware container in their fridge. The vinegar wasn’t overstrong, and it was tasty.
能登名物の茶碗豆腐。とってもまろやか！意外でしたが辛子がぴったり合っていました。This is Noto’s famous take on tofu Chawan-tofu. It’s very creamy, with a rounded flavour profile. Unexpectedly, the mustard with which it was served, suited it perfectly.
蕗と筍の炊き合わせ。Fuki Japanese butterbur stewed with bamboo-shoots in the style known as takiawase.
良ーく脂の乗った鯖の塩焼き。頃合いに、本当においしく焼けてます。これに炊きたての能登ヒカリ米の御飯と、トビウオの出汁のお味噌汁がつきます。Here’s great grilled and salted mackerel, luscious with fat. It came with the finest Notohikari rice and miso soup made with stock from tobiuo flying fish. Taken from the ocean and served at exactly the right time, it was grilled to perfection.
朝６時半開店のままやは、１３時過ぎには閉店します。御年８０ン歳のおばあちゃんはこの頃にはどっと疲れが来るらしい。わかりますわ、その気持ち… Mamaya opens for business at 6.30am, and closes at 1pm, when the 80-something year old grannies get tired. As a fellow restaurant worker, I know that feeling myself, only too well…
こうして暖簾を仕舞った後でも、入りたいお客さんが引きも切らず….いやはや、高齢のおばあちゃん（でもすっごく元気そう！）２人が見事に仕切る大繁盛店、恐るべし。Even after they put their shop curtain inside (this denotes the restaurant is closed), customers kept coming in asking to be served. This old ladies’ little shop is super popular indeed… Amazing!
おばあちゃんの店、すてきですね！北山のナポリピザも行ってみたいとおもいます。一乗寺のAlsace行ったことありますか？ブログjpが抜けてたので。よかったら見てね。
早速のコメントありがとう！私もブログ見させてもらいましたよ。
アルザス、もちろん行った事ありますー。ワンマンショーでやったはるすごい店ですね。東京の某有名料理研究家の方もわざわざ足を運ばれたようです。
またいろいろ情報交換したいですね。
Hi Sasha,
My name is Billy Martyn. I follow your blog and wanted to introduce myself.
My brother and I recently launched a free language learning site with the goal of offering English and Japanese language learners a new way to practice with each other.
Our site (abcloop.com) focuses on the “social” aspect of learning, with tools that allow conversations to be translated and checked by everyone who uses it. Conversations, for example in the Good Eats Loop and the Travel Loop, often start in one language and continue in both English and Japanese.
It is great that you write in both English and Japanese and hope more people will be inspired to do the same. This is what we want to encourage on ABCLoop.
We think many of our members would be interested in your blog and vice versa.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Best regards,
Billy
billy@abcloop.com
P.S. I studied in Kyoto for one year during college and really miss the city!
Hi Billy
Thanks for getting in touch, and good luck with abcloop, it looks like a fun way to learn and make friends. And thanks so much for reading the Foodelica blog. Right from the beginning, I wanted to do it in both languages, even though I knew it would be much more time-consuming, but I want to appeal to readers around the world, not just here in Japan. At the same time, I didn’t want to get too hung up on translation issues, so you’ll notice that sometimes the Japanese text and English text are a bit different. I am happy with that, and hopefully my readers too. After all, food is my main thing!
I hope you enjoyed Kyoto and will visit again some time. There’s some pretty wonderful food here, after all!
S
サシャさん
お元気そうですね～
早速読ませて頂いてます
うちの父は輪島出身なので小さい頃は毎夏輪島のジジババ宅に預けられていました
しかもおばあちゃんは朝一で野菜やお花を売ってはったので結構馴染みがあります
おばあちゃん亡くならはってから、おばあちゃんが店を出してはったスペースがぽっかり空いているので、これからどうなるのか興味津々です
輪島のおばあちゃんてみなさん働き者でしょ？
能登のとと楽、加賀のかか楽という言葉通りみたいです
ではまた覗かせて頂きますね～
わぁ！素敵な偶然！
輪島のばあちゃん達はしっかり者の、お達者の、商売上手な強者揃いだったよ！
大先輩に見習いたい事がたっくさんある。
ばあちゃんのスペースがぽっかり空いてるって、後継者とかはいないんかな？
いつかは、夕市にも行きたいな。
とと楽、かか楽初めて聞きました。
隣にいる連れ合いに説明して、『じゃあ、岡崎は断然とと楽だよねぇ』と言ったら、早よぅ飯にしてくれ！と追い打ちをかけられたよ。
これからもどんどんアップしていきますので、また覗いて見てねー！