Let’s head to Hokkaido’s Washo Marketplace for the unique kattedon expertise.
There are a number of dishes in Japanese delicacies that finish in “-don,” which is brief for donburi, that means “rice bowl.” For instance, gyu means “beef,” and so gyudon is a beef bowl (of the type served up at Yoshinoya), and katsudon, from katsu/cutlet, is a pork cutlet bowl.
The linguistics get rather less easy, although, with the rice bowl known as kattedon, since katte, by itself, means “egocentric.”
To substantiate, sure, that’s egocentric, not shellfish, though generally “egocentric bowls” embrace shellfish. That’s as a result of kattedon embrace no matter you’d like, chosen from what’s on supply from the retailers at fish markets in Japan.
To make a kattedon, you head into the market and first buy a bowl of rice, then make the rounds and pick no matter cuts of sashimi or different seafood you’d like so as to add, designing the meal as you go from stall to stall. At the moment, “kattedon” has turn into form of a normal time period, however the phrase really originated at Washo Market within the city of Kushiro in Hokkaido Prefecture, in order that’s the place we went for our kattedon expertise.
▼ Washo Market
▼ Even in the event you can’t learn Japanese, there’s a giant “RICE” signal pointing you towards the kattedon start line.
Relying on how a lot white rice you need, the value ranges from 120 to 350 yen (US$0.85 to US$2.50). Alongside along with your rice, you’re additionally given a pair of tongs and a secondary tray to position your seafood on till you’ve acquired all of the elements collectively and are able to bodily assemble your kattedon.
Not each stall out there is a part of the kattedon system, however on the day we stopped by there have been three retailers collaborating. Our Hokkaido-travelling reporter Saya Togashi was a little bit fearful that may imply there wouldn’t be that many alternative sorts of seafood to select from, however these fears turned out to be fully pointless.
Ready at these three stalls was a huge number of mouthwatering contemporary fish and different blessings of the ocean, together with tuna, salmon, sujiko (salmon roe), octopus, tantaka (barfin flounder), menme (rockfish), surf clams, and hakkaku (tokubire).
You’ll additionally see some fish displayed with an indication or sticker with the characters 釧路産, indicating that the fish was caught regionally. It’s also possible to ask the employees “Kushiro san no sakana wa arimasu ka?” (“Do you may have Kushiro-caught fish?”), and there was sufficient on supply that we may have simply made a complete meal out of nothing however regionally sourced seafood.
With a lot to select from, it’d take some time to make up your thoughts, however while you do determine on one thing you need to add to your kattedon, simply use your tongs and switch it to your tray. Costs fluctuate by ingredient, however most have been within the 100 to 300 yen vary, with a number of premium gadgets, just like the extra-fatty otoro tuna, at 500 yen.
▼ There are eat-in areas contained in the market the place you possibly can sit and revel in your kattedon.
Once you’ve completed making your alternatives, you head to the register and pay, then discover a seat, place your seafood atop the rice, add wasabi and soy sauce, then dig in. On our go to, it appeared like most clients’ kattedon ended up within the vary of two,000 to three,000 yen (although there’s at the moment a 10-percent-off coupon right here), so these aren’t the most affordable sashimi bowls round…however they’re among the freshest and best-tasting!
As an example how good Washo Market’s fish is, Saya really isn’t that huge of a sushi/sashimi fan, since she seems like she will be able to virtually all the time detect some form of gaminess in uncooked fish, even when the typical Japanese particular person finds it completely tasty. However not solely did Saya discover her kattedon palatable, it was so tasty that the one factor stopping her from instantly getting up and constructing one other to eat was that she was stuffed after ending her first. It was so good that she’s accomplished a whole 180 on her opinion relating to sea urchin. Till now, Saya had all the time thought she simply didn’t look after it, however after attempting the super-fresh sea urchin at Washo Market and discovering it completely scrumptious, she realizes that she simply has very excessive requirements.
Washo is alleged to have began serving kattedon when motorbike tourers would cease by the market and wished to attempt the seafood, however due to their mode of transportation couldn’t precisely deliver an ice chest to replenish with complete fish to take again house. You don’t want wheels of your personal to go to the market, although, because it’s only a five-minute stroll from Kushiro Station, making it one more good spot to fit into your Hokkaido itinerary.
Location data
Kushiro Waho Market / 釧路和商市場
Handle: Hokkaido, Kushiro-shi, Kurogane-cho 13-25
北海道釧路市黒金町13丁目25
Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed Sundays
Web site
Photographs ©SoraNews24
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