Hagi Seaside Market, Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture

[E Eto]

I love going to Hagi on the western coast of Yamaguchi prefecture. It's a scenic town, rich with history and best of all, there's good food to be had there. The two seafood items that are associated most with Hagi are squid and uni. The uni in Hagi is different from the Bafun uni from Aomori in northern Japan. Since I've never done a side-by-side tasting, I can't say for certain which one I prefer. Besides these, there's always a bounty of amadai (in the snapper family), sazae (turban shell), anago (sea eel), awabi (abalone), and fugu, just to name a few.

On this trip, we decided to eat at one of the restaurants in the Hagi Seaside Market (aka SeaMart, 萩しーまーと). The seaside market is a retail market with many fish counters as well as vegetables, dry goods, souveniers, and a cafe, and obento take-out stand. We were accompanied by a relative who's a life-long Hagi native, who is very familiar with the local cuisine. Being in his 70s and eating washoku all his life, he possesses a discerning palate, which I've seen in action. One of the reasons that we went to the Hagi Seamart is that I asked where I can eat some local, seasonal items, and one great reason to visit the restaurants in the Seamart is that you can buy some fish at any of the fish counters, and you can have it prepared by the restaurant (for an extra charge, depending on the kind of fish you buy). We all ordered some small teishoku and then we also brought in some things purchased at the market.

We got one tray of uni, and we also brought in a good piece of fugu. Before I go on, I need to address the fugu. There are many different species of fugu that are eaten in Japan. The highly prized torafugu is the one that gets all the attention, and is more abundant further south in the Shimonoseki area of Yamaguchi prefecture and in the Oseto inland sea. The fugu that is local to Hagi is called Mafugu. If torafugu is considered the king of fugu, mafugu is considered the queen of fugu (so it says on the Hagi brochures). Further, it seems that much of the fugu that is available in the big cities are farmed torafugu, and it still fetches a good price. Mafugu, on the other hand, is almost always caught wild, and is considered more poisonous than torafugu, but since it's not in demand in other parts of the country, it's also relatively inexpensive.

The teishoku lunches at the Seamart restaurant (I'm blanking on which one we went to) are pretty standard, and good values for what you get.
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These would have been enough for lunch, but we had to have some of the local specialities. First the uni tray (for about 700 yen
)http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/2282153570_776725aa8f_o.jpg

The fugu we had sliced for sashimi, and the bony parts we had fried up for kara-age. The bony parts made for good gnawing. As you'll notice, the sashimi slices of mafugu are different than you'd find with torafugu in that they're sliced thick, rather than the traditional translucent thin slices. According to our Hagi native guide, this is because mafugu has a better texture than torafugu, so it doesn't have to be shaved so thin to enjoy. Parts were a little chewy, but overall, I really enjoyed the thickly sliced mafugu than the delicately sliced torafugu I've had in the past. You get a better sense of the fugu this way. The fugu at the market cost about 1200 yen, and we had to pay an extra 1000 yen to have it prepared.
sashimi: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2242/2282153668_69d79bca7b_o.jpg
kara-age: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2208/2282153776_1d82391626_o.jpg

Since mafugu is only caught in this area of the Japan sea, Hagi and probably the coastal towns around Hagi are the only places you cat eat it. I'm not sure if it's local pride or the fact that my 70 year old relative has had access to such fresh fish all his life, but I've enjoyed his frank comments about comparing the local specialites to the ones prized in, say, Tokyo: "torafugu tsumaran" "bafun uni tsumaran". This is the Yamaguchi way of saying "ain't no good".

Hagi Seaside Market website: http://www.axis.or.jp/~seamart/

[FourSeasons]

I just had a delicious fugu karaage in Ariona de Takazawa in Tokyo. I asked the chef if the fugu is farmed or wild as I thought the season for wild fugu is over. He explained the torafugu's season is over but he had instead use mafugu, which is still available now. It just remind me of this thread I read sometimes ago.

But anyway, the fugu karaage I had just blew me away. It was certainly the best one I had for fugu meal.

[E Eto]

So how much did you spend for your mafugu in Tokyo? Considerably more than the 2200Y (whole fish + preparation cost) for the fugu in Hagi, I take it. And you're right, karaage might be the best way to enjoy mafugu.

[FourSeasons]

It was not a specifically fugu meal. 10 set course where only one is fugu; the rest were the creation of the chef Takazawa. And it wasn't a typical traditional fugu karaage; beside the deep fried jaw bone, the chef coated the fugu meat with some herbs/spice (???, I don't know what it was) that enhance the taste and texture.

Like you wrote earlier, torafugu seems to be more popular in Tokyo and a complete set (more than just sashimi and karaage, include skin, shirako, agemono, nabe, zosui etc) from a well known fugu place is going to cost 30-40k Yen per person. I personally have not tried that but I recall I spend like 5-7k Yen per person for the farmed fugu set. Even among the Japanese, wild fugu is really known to be especially expensive in Tokyo.

Beside karaage, I really like the fugu shirako too. And the skin was pretty good too.

[E Eto]

Made the pilgrimage to see the relatives in Hagi and made sure to stop by Hagi Seamart. Didn't eat there this time, but did some shopping.

Some photos:
The sign from the road: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2684/4324648454_fe1855497b_o.jpg
A section of the famous shoyu from Yamaguchi prefecture: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2745/4324647280_efa278c7e7_o.jpg
Mafugu tank: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4324646914_c0ec86bffa_o.jpg
Hagi's dried fish (iwashi, mebaru): http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2750/4323911303_e4be6a175d_o.jpg
Chicken ovaries and glands from the meat counter: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4324646788_673a8f4236_o.jpg
The fugu model: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2704/4323911101_b1a6dd61f4_o.jpg
Some cool looking shellfish (and iwashi/anko): http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774/4323911031_914a29e621_o.jpg
Sea cucumbers, abalone, and barnacles: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2740/4324646596_365a1271e1_o.jpg
Uni, oysters, namako and fugu: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2703/4324646530_4cbd8c2d4d_o.jpg
Some local catches; yazu, mebaru, and hirame: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4323910757_d400fa1501_o.jpg
Yari ika (the ones that are prepared live down the coast in Fukuoka/Karatsu): http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4324646348_67f29606db_o.jpg
Aori ika: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2747/4324646216_e7579bb58f_o.jpg
Sazae (turban shells): http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/4324646124_572934cab8_o.jpg
Hiraso (aka hiramasa), and suzuki (sea bass): http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4324646058_ee93380295_o.jpg
Amadai and mebaru butterflied: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2682/4324645956_b155447029_o.jpg
Awabi and namako: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2749/4323910147_077e96180b_o.jpg
Angler fish, mafugu, mafugu shirako, tara shirako: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2761/4324645752_9f51a54048_o.jpg
The famous yamaguchi kamaboko: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4324645654_34ae621ac3_o.jpg
Tilefish, sole, kawahagi, mebaru, monkfish, mafugu: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4...

Best of all, love the prices, and it doesn't get any fresher. Inaka mo iidesho.