Myojinmaru Hirome Market 明神丸 ひろめ市場店

Myojinmaru Hirome Market is one of the best exponents of the typical Kochi dish: Bonito Tataki. Kochi is famous for the beautiful "katsuo". There are two seasons, the first bonito is in spring, when it rises north from the Pacific waters, and in autumn, the bonito is back, which is the most appreciated because it returns from colder waters, bigger and fatter. The Kochi Bonito is traditionally a line fish, which allows maintaining optimal conditions. This local speciality is said to have originat ...Show more ed a few hundred years ago when the local lord prohibited eating raw fish for sanitary reasons. The locals invented this method to continue tasting their raw autumn bonito without breaking the law. And the thing is, the bonito is braised, in large pieces, with straw (it coincides with the rice harvest in autumn) that is to say with an intense and brief fire. The result is a crispy, roasted exterior and a raw, tender, tempered, and slightly smoky interior. The balance is great. Myuonjinmaru is one of the most famous restaurants in Kochi serving this speciality, they handle bonito in large pieces in front of the diners in a spectacular way as the flames reach great wings. The most popular is the Shiotakidon, nice tataki simply seasoned with salt, in a bowl of rice and miso soup. The restaurant is located in the Hirome market, in the center of Kochi, full of traditional shops and restaurants, very picturesque and visited by both tourists and locals. Both are worth a visit.