00:00:01 John Daub: Fukushima prefecture and yeah, I'm with this guy again. That's Shige. Where are you now? Today I'm here for lunch. Here, Cafe Hiranaga-san. Cafe Hiranaga. Not Hiragana. Hiranaga-san. It's up here so let's go.

00:00:30 John Daub: We were just at Tsuchiyu Onsen and yeah, we got hungry. So he knows this place. Let's go inside. Konnichiwa. Hello. Hiranaga-san? Yes, I'm Hiranaga. Wow. It smells really good in here. It smells like coffee and hotcakes.

00:01:23 John Daub: So what is this place famous for? Hotcakes. That's why it smells like hotcakes. So yeah, Shige brought me to the hotcake place. This is the hotcake and this is the tamago sando (egg sandwich). Shige's recommendation, the hotcakes, which are like pancakes—I'll explain the difference.

00:02:00 Hiranaga: Let's have coffee together. There are many kinds of coffee. I recommend a long black one. Arabica Kyoto brand.

00:02:21 John Daub: Okay, let's have two of those, please. That looks pretty fresh. Hotcake and tamago sando. This is going to be good because I'm starving. We can watch them make the stuff here. It looks really beautiful. It looks so expensive. Everything is polished. It's so clean.

00:03:55 John Daub: Wow, that's a deep espresso. Smells so good. You have to be here to experience this. We don't have smell-o-vision yet. How long has this shop been open?

00:04:19 Hiranaga: Three years.

00:04:21 John Daub: So this store is three years old. Just a baby. It smells like good coffee. Shiggy is in paradise. This is so hot. Hot cake time. The difference between a pancake and a hot cake: a pancake is a little bit thinner and a hot cake is a little bit thicker. That's what I was told and yeah, it might be true. That is pretty thick. That's a super pancake. I hope you're hungry.

00:06:06 John Daub: You hear the coffee maker in the background. We'll come back and look at the hot cake, but right now we got more coffee action going on. I like the layout too. We've got antique cameras and lenses and things like this. It's pretty cool. They have chai. Very trendy. So the customers will be coming in later but we're kind of here early. Number one because we're really hungry and number two because we called ahead. They knew we were coming. It's a very cute cafe.

00:07:14 John Daub: Where are we now? Fukushima City, Izaka. This is in Fukushima City and a place called Izaka. I put the link in the description so you can check it out if you're in the area. This area smells like a big hot cake. Tamago sando. This is called Hiranaga. What does it mean? It's not hiragana right?

00:08:04 Hiranaga: Hirano-san. Nagai-san. Hiranaga.

00:08:18 John Daub: They took the two names and put it together: Hira from Hirano-san and Naga from Nagai-san. Hiranaga. Pretty cool. We've been working together for a long time. Business partners. Coffee and hotcakes. We're having way too much fun. Kanpai. You don't say kanpai for coffee. It's good. Long black is espresso and hot water, like an Americano, Australian long black.

00:09:48 John Daub: Look at the little holders here. It's a filter, a miniature filter. That's where you put the coffee. Awesome idea. It's a mini one.

00:10:06 Hiranaga: I used it once. I washed it and ironed it.

00:10:16 John Daub: So it's recycled. They used to use paper filters in South America. It's a waste to throw it away. So now they're using reusable filters, but they still have some of these recycled ones. They emptied it, washed it, ironed it, and now they use it to protect the table. Pretty intense, but it's a good idea. Reuse it. Don't throw the paper away.

00:12:11 John Daub: Wow, that's amazing. There was this store for three years, but before? It was in Koriyama, housecleaning.

00:12:30 Hiranaga: I still do it a little.

00:12:37 John Daub: Hirano-san was in Koriyama before and had a cleaning job. After leaving that, he started this business and now he's a coffee master and hot cake master. That's living the dream. That's the way life's supposed to be. I like the view. It's very residential.

00:13:11 John Daub: Ladies day on Wednesday. Because there's only women, so no time for him. It's just Nagai-san, who's a lady. Men's day is night. Thursday is the night cafe. That's when the guys come out. Pretty cool.

00:14:48 John Daub: That's a hot cake. I'm hot for hot cakes. So this is the thumbnail. Oh no, it's a sandwich. That's awesome. Look at that. So good looking. Alright, you all take the thumbnail. Put it all together. Should the hot cake be in the front or the sandwich? Oh yeah, that looks pretty cool. Alright Shige, click.

00:16:16 John Daub: Now the most important part is the tasting. We need silverware. You can't eat it without this. We're gonna eat this and give you a complete report. Are you hungry? It's 2 o'clock. That's why I'm so hungry. Alright Shige, you can go ahead. Cut it up for John-san. Give me the big half. I never have my food cut ever since I became an adult. But Shige's a good guy. This is like okonomiyaki kirikata (okonomiyaki cutting style). It's easy to eat. Pretty thick. Let's eat. Itadakimasu.

00:18:05 John Daub: That's pretty thick. Ah yeah, that's the best part. It's really crunchy on the end there. The fluffy and crunchy come together. Wow. That is like the biggest compliment. Fluffy and crunchy.

00:19:24 Shige: It was good!

00:19:27 Hiranaga: Thank you. It's fluffy and crispy. The texture of the crispy and fluffy is the key to our hot cake.

00:19:48 John Daub: It kind of makes me feel like it was home cooked. Thank you, Toby (crow). Alright, Toby the crow, this is for you. We're going to eat this one for you. That tasted oishii (delicious). Egg sando! Now this is where it's at. Look how soft that is. Whoa, that should be a crime. Interesting way to cut it. Same as okonomiyaki. This is how you eat it in one bite.

00:21:29 John Daub: Let's eat. Eat it with love.

00:21:56 Shige: Is this mayonnaise?

00:21:57 Hiranaga: Yes, but the egg is very strong in the mustard. To make it more refreshing, you have to mix a lot of sour mustard. Mayonnaise, mustard. A little sour. And then sugar and salt. You mix that up. Balance it.

00:23:01 John Daub: It's not a secret. Mixture with the eggs, mustard, Japanese mayonnaise—which is different—some sugar, balanced. And boom. Because Shige cut it up bite size. Oh man. Mustard, mayonnaise, and dashi (fish stock). That's the umami. The secret is the dashi. The bread itself is a little sweet. Sukimi milk (skim milk?) made with honey milk adds sweetness.

00:24:56 John Daub: This is a good meal. Delicious. I put a link in the description. If you're in the Fukushima City area, check out Hiranaga. Hiranaga, not Hiragana. Because Hira from Hirano and Nagai. Thank you very much. So that was really good. Everybody, thank you for watching the live stream. That's Shige. We're gonna eat the rest of this. Thanks everybody. I'm gonna leave the last 20 seconds in the beautiful view of the residential area here in Fukushima. Sabakoyu (foot bath?). Ashiyu (foot bath?). Alright, thank you everybody. See you next time. Bye bye.