April itinerary in Japan Day 4 (Ehime Meal edition)

(Thursday, April 21)

Table of contents

1. Sushi Ino

After finishing sightseeing in Matsuyama in the morning of April 21, I had lunch at the reserved “Sushi Ino“. I ordered the “Lunch Course” (Yen 8,800 including tax) at “Sushi Ino”. Considering the grade of sushi, I think it is a very valuable course.

For Nigirizushi (sushi shaped by hand), I had flatfish, striped beakfish, halfbeak, bigfin reef squid, horse mackerel, tilefish, lean tuna pickled in soy sauce , dotted gizzard shad, Japanese tiger prawn, and conger eel.

“Sushi Ino” is a sushi restaurant that I visited in 2020 and was very impressed. This time too, everything was excellent and I had a blissful time. “Sushi Ino” is a well-known restaurant that has been awarded one Michelin star. It is also one of the 100 famous tabelog restaurants.

2. OKAIDO BREWERY

After enjoying delicious sushi at “Sushi Ino”, I drank craft beer at “OKAIDO BREWERY”. I couldn’t go sightseeing in the afternoon due to rain, so when I was looking for a craft beer, I found “OKAIDO BREWERY”.

“OKAIDO BREWERY” is a craft beer shop located in “Bochan Food Hall” of Matsuyama Mitsukoshi Department Store. “Bochan Food Hall” is a new food court that just opened in December 2021. “OKAIDO BREWERY” mainly offers beer, but the same food court “Ichinomaru Sake store” offers a lot of sake, mainly from Ehime prefecture. Therefore, we can enjoy various alcohols at the food court even in the daytime.

“OKAIDO BREWERY” sells “Bochan Food Hall” limited beer “Dandan Ale”. They also offer the “Dogo Beer” alto produced by Mizuguchi Sake Brewery in Matsuyama City. Both “Dandan Ale” and “Dogo Beer” were very delicious beers.

However, I was disappointed that of the 10 types of craft beer sold at “OKAIDO BREWERY”, only two types of beer in Ehime prefecture were “Dandan Ale” and “Dogo Beer”. Okaido is a place with a lot of tourists, so I thought they should sell more local beer.

3. Sushimaru Main Store

I had an early dinner at “Sushimaru Main Store” in the Okaido area. “Sushimaru Main Store” is a long-established sushi restaurant founded in 1948. Like “Sushi Ino”, I have revisited “Sushimaru Main Store” since 2020.

I ordered “local sake drink comparison set” and “Tai-somen”.

There were three types of sake in the “local sake drink comparison set”: “Ishizuchi”, “Matsuyama Mitsui”, and “Shirokawago” from Ehime prefecture. All were delicious sake.

I also ate “Tai-somen” in Uwajima. It was a cold day when it rained, so I ordered warm “Tai-somen” in Matsuyama. “Tai-somen” is a local dish of Ehime prefecture introduced in “Our Regional Cuisines” by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The “Tai-somen” that I ate at “Sushimaru” was delicious, but it lacked the gorgeous appearance. The “Tai-somen” posted on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website is very gorgeous using five-colored somen noodle, as shown in the second photo below. I would like to eat “Tai-somen” using the five-colored somen noodle as shown in this photo someday.

4. Kadoya Matsuyama Airport store

After arriving at Matsuyama Airport, I had some time left, so I had the last meal of my trip to Kochi and Ehime at Kadoya Matsuyama Airport. I use “Kadoya” at Matsuyama Airport every time I come to Matsuyama Airport. The Kadoya Group operates many restaurants mainly in Ehime Prefecture. Kadoya started with the opening of a small dining room in Uwajima in 1955.

I ordered “Uwajima Tsukushi Tai-meshi Zen” (Yen 2,100 including tax) at “Kadoya”. “Uwajima Tsukushi Tai-meshi Zen” is a set which you can enjoy Uwajima’s local cuisine with three types of small plates, “Fukumen”, “Jakoten”, and “Fuka no Yuzarashi”, in addition to “Tai-meshi”. As I have introduced several times, “Uwajima Tai-meshi” and “Jakoten” have been selected as one of the “100 selections of local cuisine” by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. In addition, “Fukumen” and “Fuka no Yuzarashi” are local dishes of Ehime prefecture introduced in “Our Regional Cuisines” of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

“Fukumen”, “Jakoten”, and “Fuka no Yuzarashi” are explained in detail in the BLOG on May 18th.

“Tai-meshi” of “Kadoya” was very delicious like the two “Tai-meshi” I ate in Uwajima. Only Matsuyama Airport can offer this high standard meal at the airport. In fact, the Kadoya Matsuyama Airport store was almost full and crowded with many tourists. I would like Yonago Kitaro Airport (I visited in February), which had few restaurants at the airport, to emulate Matsuyama Airport.

It was a pity that it rained on the last day of this trip to Kochi and Ehime prefectures. However, it was a very satisfying gourmet trip with seasonal bonitoes from Kochi and Ehime, natural eels from the Shimanto River, many local dishes from Uwajima and Matsuyama, and sushi and sashimi. Originally I liked traveling to Shikoku, but this trip made me more and more fond of Shikoku.

Note: The departure / arrival times, fares of transportation, admission fees, meal fees, etc. listed in the text are as of the time of writing the BLOG. Please check for yourself when you go on a trip as it may change in the future.