Hachinohe Food Tour: Japan’s BEST Mackerel, LARGEST Morning Market & Incredible Aburasoba
Excuse me, guys. I’m recording here. Oh. [Music] All right, welcome back to another episode of Dave Makes Food. In today’s video, our Japanese food adventure continues in Hatchi noi, a city of about 215,000 located on the northeast coast of mainland Japan. Here we’ll have a massive bowl of some incredible Abua Soba, a seven course feast at a mackerel specialty restaurant, and also eat as much food as we possibly can at the Tatana Wararf Morning Market, the largest morning market in all of Japan. Each of these unique experiences offers an incredible taste of Hatchino’s vibrant food culture that you’re not going to want to miss. So, prepare your appetite because our Hatchino food adventure begins right now. [Music] Our first stop on our Hatchino food tour is Goku Niku Man Taishi, which translates to extreme meat noodles. Here they serve two kinds of noodles. Standard ramen with soup and aua soba which are soupless. Both styles come in three sizes. Small, regular, and extreme. I was pretty hungry and I really considered it. But extreme just sounded a little bit too crazy. So, I went with regular, which turned out to be the correct decision because even this was a massive bowl of noodles with two different types of pork shredded and sliced cabbage, green onions, a mountain of bean sprouts, about four cloves of garlic in surprisingly large pieces, all topped with rendered pork fat and chili powder. On the side, they also gave you even more rendered pork and a raw egg. Everything was on top of thick wavy homemade noodles. As soon as I started mixing the noodles, the rich aroma of pork fat hit me. It smelled incredible. Everything became coated in the extremely fragrant oily sauce. [Music] The noodles were so dense and chewy, and combined with the fresh crunch of the bean sprouts, the texture was so satisfying. The flavor of the sauce was so bold. I’d even go as far as to say it was extreme. soy sauce based with tons of pork flavor and an unbelievable amount of garlic. I honestly couldn’t believe this was the default amount, and it wasn’t even finely chopped or minced. Both styles of pork were very flavorful. The sliced pork was tender, and the shredded pork was a little bit on the dry side, but that was more than covered by the oily sauce. I could definitely see why this was called extreme. The noodles weren’t just very chewy. The sauce wasn’t kind of flavorful, and the amount of garlic wasn’t average. Every element of these noodles was extreme. I decided to add additional garlic powder and the rest of the rendered pork because why not? I also added the raw egg. The egg actually kind of mellowed out the sauce. It added a creamy element that toned down the level of richness from the pork fat as well as the pungency of the garlic. There was also black vinegar available which helped contrast the richness from the pork fat as well. Although all of the flavors were at an extreme level, they were surprisingly balanced. Personally, I always put a ton of raw garlic into my ramen, but this pushed me to a new limit. I could still taste it the next morning when I woke up. I’m fairly sure this amount of garlic is too extreme for a large percentage of people out there. Although there was a huge amount of noodles and I was really struggling at the end, I did eventually manage to finish them. They were so chewy and satisfying to eat, but it became really hard work near the end. The richness really started to add up. And for some strange reason, I tried to drink the broth, but it was obviously way too oily and garlicky. I really regretted it after I had a few sips, and even more so when I was out walking in the blazing 40° sun after lunch. Overall, this was definitely the chewiest and most flavorful bowl of noodles I’ve ever eaten in Japan. And personally, I loved it. But as the name suggests, this is only for people who enjoy extremes. [Music] The next stop on our Hatchino food adventure is Saba Noki, which translates to Mackerel Station. And as you can probably guess, this is a restaurant that specializes in mackerel. But not just any mackerel. They serve Hatchino at Myoki mackerel, which is widely considered to be the best in Japan due to its high fat content, giving it extra rich flavor and a more delicate texture. I ordered the seven course mackerel set for 5,500 yen. And the first course to arrive was sushimi, and it looks beautiful. three different types of mackerel sashimi plated very artistically with many different garnishes. The first style was slightly charred on the skin, giving it a smoky aroma and flavor. The meat was extremely tender with a medium amount of oiliness and richness. I was expecting a relatively strong fish flavor since it was mackerel, but it was surprisingly mild. It definitely had the distinct fishy and briny flavor of mackerel, but it was very clean tasting. The second kind of sushimi was shime saba or vinegared mackerel. Unlike the other two types that were cut on a bias, this one was cut perpendicular to the skin, giving it a much more firm and dense texture. This one also had a much more mild flavor than I was expecting. less vinegar and salt than usual, but that allowed the natural rich flavor of the mackerel to come through and it was delicious. Most shime saba I’ve tried uses a lot more vinegar and salt, and you don’t really taste the flavor of the fish, but this had a really nice balance to the separate three elements. I’m pretty sure the final sashimi was the same as the first one, but topped with a slightly sweet soy sauce and roasted sesame seeds. The mackerel had the same delicious mild flavor. And although sweet soy sauce and sesame is a very popular topping for fish, especially dried ones, I preferred the savoriness of the first two preparations more. However, a little bit of added wasabi and green onions added fragrance and freshness, which made the style a lot more enjoyable. The next course came with two items, Saba Kushiaki and Saba sukun. The kushiaki is what they are particularly famous for here. A very generous portion of mackerel freshly grilled over charcoal to give it an irresistibly smoky aroma. It was served with a wedge of lemon and it was by far the best mackerel I’ve ever eaten. It was insanely tender, moist, and savory. About half of the meat was belly, which made the skewer extremely rich and flavorful as well. And on top of that, the skin was somehow extremely thin and crispy. It reminded me of the skin of a suckling pig with how rich and crispy it was. I’ve never had mackerel skin like this, and it was outstanding. The fresh lemon added some much needed acidity to balance the very rich and flavorful mackerel. This was 10 out of 10 delicious. A mustry item if you visit Saba Noki. And then I had the mackerel meatball, which was good, but I should have eaten it first. A mild mackerel flavor and very tender. It was tasty, but it was nowhere near as delicious as the cushiyaki. The tasty menu included two unspecified rotating courses. And the first one I received was a chicken wing that had been lightly breaded, fried, and then topped with some sort of ground sesame mixture. Surprisingly, it was much more sweet than savory. In fact, it wasn’t savory at all. There was no saltiness to balance the intense sweetness. I’m relatively sure the paste was just ground up sesame seeds and white sugar. In fact, this was a very interesting course, and I wouldn’t recommend it. I wasn’t even really sure why I was eating a chicken wing at a restaurant called Mackerel Station. to be honest. The second dish of the day was cold tofu topped with crab, green onions, radish, torch ginger, soy sauce, seaweed paste, and panzoo sauce. The finely shredded crab was mildly sweet and salty and paired nicely with the light flavor of the medium firm tofu. The fragrant herbal taste of the torch ginger worked particularly well as a pallet cleanser. It had a flavor similar to ginger, but much more mild and with a citrus fragrance as well. It was a very refreshing side dish and a great contrast to all the rich mackerel. Next up was mackerel cooked in a sweet miso sauce, a classic preparation. It was topped with some finely shredded negi and a couple thin slices of radish. As soon as it was set down in front of me, it gave off an irresistibly rich, earthy aroma of sweet miso. The mackerel was so extremely tender, rich, and a fantastic flavor combination with the sweet and savory miso sauce. Each time you chewed, so much rich, oily flavor came out of the fish, but it was nicely balanced by the freshness of the shredded negi and radish. I’ve had this dish many times, and this was by far the best version. It was extremely easy to finish. Next up was a saba sinb judu or mackerel cracker stew. Sinbjudu is a specialty of hatchino made with a duchy broth and containing lots of hearty ingredients like bo, onion, mushroom, leaks and of course simba which are rice crackers. It was seasoned very lightly and had a warm comforting dashi flavor. But this particular one had a much stronger fishy taste because of the added mackerel. It won’t appeal to everyone, but I thought it was delicious. The rice crackers had a soft yet chewy texture similar to udon noodles. I thought this course was pretty good, but I also felt like the quality of the mayokei mackerel wasn’t highlighted as it was in the previous courses. Unlike the next dish, which was a pickled mackerel rice bowl, this is another dish they are particularly famous for, and it did not disappoint. Extremely tender and rich pickled mackerel topped with sesame seeds, green onions, pickled ginger, seaweed, and shiso. I was also given some special soy sauce and told to put a few drops on. I think it was just very high quality show. Lots of umami and not overly salty. Each element combined so well with the flavorful macarel and rice. It was outstanding. This was by far the best macarel rice bowl I’ve ever had. Another dish you 100% have to try if you visit Saba no Ekki. Overall, this was a truly enjoyable experience and definitely the best mackerel I’ve ever eaten. I really enjoyed trying all the courses, but 5500 seemed a little bit on the expensive side to be honest. The kushiaki and mackerel rice bowl were absolute must-try dishes. The sushimi was also excellent, but the rest of the courses were only average to good. If you decide to visit Sabino Ekki, I recommend ordering Alakart, but this is definitely a restaurant you have to visit if you come to Hatchino. Our last destination for this video will be the Tate Hana Wararf Morning Market, Japan’s largest morning market, which is only open once a week on Sunday mornings. It opens at 4:30 a.m., so I woke up early to get there right as it opened. And I have to say, there was a shocking number of people still out on the streets and bars that were still open. It took about an hour to walk there. And once I arrived, there was just tent after tent of vendors selling everything from flowers to produce to fresh seafood to prepared items, as well as lots of non-food related items. There was already a good amount of foot traffic at 4:30, but I decided to walk through the entire market and decide which foods I wanted to try before I started ordering so I wouldn’t miss anything. The market was divided into three separate streets, each of which probably had around 50 stalls. It was massive. I decided to start with some crab soup. Because of the color, I thought it was crab miso soup, which is my favorite, but it was water-based. The aroma of crab was strong, and it smelled delicious. It had tons of crab flavor, and inside were daicon radish, dried tofu, green onions, and lots of small crabs, which had been cut in half. These crabs are known as hirakani, a type of small swimming crab. The salty crab flavor was good, but overall the soup was pretty one-dimensional since the broth was literally just water and crab. The crabs did have a good amount of mildly flavorful cluster meat, and it was a decent way to start the morning. I had read reviews of the market online prior to coming, and nearly all of them mentioned the fried chicken was the mustry item and that it sold out pretty early. So, I got into the line that was already surprisingly long at 5:00 a.m. While in line, I could see the chefs making batch after batch of fried chicken, and I could see it was a starch-based batter, so I knew it was going to be extremely crispy. Ordering is done by the piece, and I ordered three wings and one drumstick. Each piece was only about $1, which was extremely reasonable. And just as expected, the wings were as crispy as possible, and the batter was well seasoned with maybe something like garlic powder, MSG, and salt. It had really good flavor, and the meat inside was maximum hot and juicy. It was irresistibly good fried chicken. And for such a low price, this was incredible value as well. I really don’t ever eat fried chicken, but this was probably the best I’ve ever had. The extremely crunchy and chewy texture of the starch-based batter combined with the moist and flavorful meat was absolutely perfect. And on top of that, you’re eating it as soon as it comes out of the deep fryer, so it’s as fresh as possible. Next up, I saw a man blowtorrching some large scallop skewers that were covered in some sort of soybased glaze. The aroma coming off them was irresistible, so I had no choice but to order one. The scallops were a good size and extremely fresh and tender. The sauce was a sweet soy glaze that had a charred flavor from the torch. It would have been impossible for this combination of ingredients to be bad. These were delicious. The rich and mildly sweet scallop was complimented by the charred sweet soy flavor. And for 500 yen, this was another fantastic investment. The next stall that I visited converted the back of their pickup truck into a hearth used to grill fish. It was amazing. You could even rotate the outer part that held the fish. I ordered a whole grilled fish and a really delicious looking soy sauce glazed fillet. I also bought a lightly pickled cucumber and a fresh blueberry juice from other vendors to make a nice little meal. [Music] I started with the whole fish and it had moist and fluffy white meat that was heavily seasoned with salt. It was very delicious. However, because the fish was grilled whole, any meat directly touching the inards had a really unpleasant bitter flavor. The meat itself tasted good, but you really had to avoid the inards. The fillet, on the other hand, was one of the most delicious pieces of fish I’ve ever eaten. I’m 99% sure this was sea bass. And it was covered in a light soy sauce glaze that was charred from the fire. It was unbelievably moist and rich with a pleasant mild fish flavor. It looked kind of dry and overcooked on the outside, but inside it was full of extremely fatty, juicy flesh. This piece of fish was also only about $4. Another incredible investment. Highly recommended. The cucumber was a nice refreshing side to eat along with the rich fish. And the blueberry juice was excellent. So sweet with a slight tanginess and a ton of natural blueberry flavor. Next, I decided to try a bowl of Hatchino Simbe Judu. The same soup we tried at the previous restaurant. It had a dashy based broth with lots of onions, daicon, mushrooms, fried tofu, and simba. The crackers were soaked in the flavorful broth and had a soft yet chewy texture. It was a tasty soup, but a little too far on the plain side to be eating at a morning market with such exciting food. Although I say that a short while later, I bought what I thought was a mochi covered in miso sauce that was roasting over charcoal. It turned out to be a boiled flour dumpling, which has a very similar texture, but slightly less chewy and more dense. It was quite tasty. The charred miso was extremely savory with a deep umami flavor. It was also slightly sweet and very delicious. For $1, it was fantastic. At that point, I had eaten a lot of food, so I wanted something refreshing to drink. I saw a vendor selling a pearless soda and decided to try one. He added ice, pearles syrup, a ton of fresh mint, surprisingly, and soda water. The pill flavor wasn’t very strong and it was more sweet than I preferred. It basically tasted like a mojito with a very faint pill flavor. It was decent. Actually, after it cooled down more from smashing the mint around and mixing it more with the ice, it became a lot more refreshing. It was slightly better than decent. At this point, I was getting pretty full, so I walked around for a while. There’s tons of stuff to browse, so time actually went by pretty quickly. I came across another vendor selling oyster and scallop skewers that he was cooking fresh over charcoal and constantly brushing with a sauce of butter, soy sauce, and garlic. I ordered an oyster skewer for 400 yen, and it was incredible. Extremely fresh, tender, moist, and rich oysters coated in a very flavorful mixture of butter, garlic, and soy sauce that had been caramelizing over the charcoal, which also imparted a smoky flavor. These were as good as grilled oysters could possibly be. 10 out of 10. After that, I was pretty full. It was around 8:30, and I had been walking around and eating for about 4 hours. I decided that was enough and it was a successful visit to the Tatana Wararf Morning Market. Many of the shops were starting to close down as well. In fact, many of them had sold out in the first few hours and had packed and gone home already. This was definitely one of the more enjoyable markets I’ve been to in Japan. There was a huge variety of things to browse as well as taste, and the prices on everything were extremely reasonable. I’d say about half the stalls were literally just farmers who were selling their produce for unbelievably cheap prices. Maybe around 50% less than at grocery stores. You definitely weren’t paying a tourist premium for anything here. In fact, it really just seemed like these were people setting up a tent and selling literally whatever they have once a week. I tried a ton of different food items and had a few more drinks that I didn’t show, but I only spent about 4,000 yen in total over 4 hours. I highly recommend visiting the Tatihana Wararf Morning Market if you ever come to Hatchino. And that was the end of my Hatchino food adventure, a quiet city with some unbelievably tasty food. These were three unique and very delicious experiences, and I highly recommend them all. I also hope you enjoyed this video. Please like and subscribe if you did. Let me know in the comments what you thought about the food I tried at these locations. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Anyways, I’m heading to Almori City next and I hope you’ll continue to follow my food adventure in Japan. Thanks for watching. [Music]
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Welcome back to another incredible Japanese food adventure! In this video, we’re taking you to Hachinohe, Japan, a hidden gem on the northeast coast known for its vibrant food culture. Get ready to experience three truly epic culinary stops!
Our journey begins with a massive and delicious bowl of aburasoba at Gokunikumen Taishi. As the name “Extreme Meat Noodles” suggests, this place delivers on its promise with a satisfying, soupless ramen that is loaded with savory meat and flavor (and garlic!).
Next, we dive into Hachinohe’s most famous specialty: mackerel! We visit Saba no Eki “Mackerel Station” for a luxurious 7-course mackerel feast. This is where we’ll taste why Hachinohe Maeoki mackerel is considered by many to be the best in Japan, sampling dishes like their famous saba kushiyaki (mackerel skewers) and a spectacular saba rice bowl.
Our final stop is the legendary Tatehana Wharf Morning Market, the largest morning market in all of Japan! We’ll explore the incredible variety of fresh food and eat as much as we can, including plump grilled oysters and scallops, a comforting bowl of senbei jiru, and some amazing fresh grilled fish.
If you’re a food lover looking for authentic and unique experiences beyond the usual tourist spots, this Hachinohe food guide is for you!
Don’t forget to LIKE this video, SUBSCRIBE for more Japan food tours, and tell us in the comments which Hachinohe dish you’d want to try first!
Music by Roa
https://youtube.com/c/RoaMusic
locations I visited:
gokunikumen taishi (extreme meat noodle):〒031-0072 Aomori, Hachinohe, Shiroshita, 2 Chome−11 イオンタウン八戸城下 内
saba no eki (mackerel station):〒031-0033 Aomori, Hachinohe, Muikamachi, 12 大松ビル
tatehana wharf morning market:〒031-0811 Aomori, Hachinohe, Shinminato, 3 Chome, 館鼻岸壁内
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