Incredible dinner at Canteen Izakaya

Michael and I decided to finally give an Izakaya a go, and this one had solid reviews, food we liked the look of, and was only 220m away from the hotel. We got seated up at the head kitchen bar so that we could watch the chef's all in action. The place was basically completely full of Japanese locals, including a pair of elderly women who we were seated next to. We ended up using translation apps to have a full conversation with the women, as they thought we were a very sweet couple and that Michael was very, very handsome, and they liked very much that we were married. It was so funny. Plus, they wanted to give us recommendations to do in Kanazawa, so because we actually leave tomorrow I just showed them this blog and they loved what we have been up to and said we had nailed it hahaha.

Not only was the atmosphere and company good, the food itself was the best we've had in Japan. It was simple food, but it was a cut above.

We started with fried horse mackerel with a ponzo sauce. Absolutely delicious. Then I was served my tempura sweet potato. Divine. So sweet, fluffy and crunchy on the outside. Then our king potato croquette came out. We died. It was beyond. How mash potato fried in crumbs with some sweet sauce could taste so good and so deeply flavoured, we do not know. All we know is we saw the light. After that was the Wagyu beef. Gobsmackingly good. Then tempura prawns in spicy mayo. I hate mayo normally. This was heavenly. So yum. And finally we finished it off with karaage chicken that was the softest, juiciest fried chicken we have ever eaten.

We watched the chefs in action, and it was obvious that they were in absolute lockstep and loved what they do. As we left, the oldest chef (he would have been in his seventies or eighties) came up to thank us, and the youngest (who could speak English really well and was our translator and cracking up about the cute elderly ladies thirsting over Michael), walked us out the door to thank us for coming to visit their izakaya.

It was just awesome. Loved every bit of the experience. Relaxed, slow eating of perfectly cooked food in perfect portion sizes to have a variety and feel completely satiated without feeling stuffed. Kanazawa truly had phenomenal food!Read more