00:00:03 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to the Kochi store. How you doing? Come on over here for a second. I'm in Ginza Ichome. This is Marugoto Kochi (Marugoto Kochi), a store that we brought you yesterday to show you some amazing stuff that they do have here. But it's considered a satellite store where they sell a lot of goods from Kochi Prefecture, which is on Shikoku Island. And tonight, we're going to be eating some of Kochi's delicious cuisine.

00:00:25 John Daub: This is the starter here. And over in this area, we have tataki (lightly seared bonito). Hai, daijoubu desu! And he's going to be showing us how to cook it. Now that is bonito, a very delicious fish. And they use this straw here. Check out what they're doing. They're lighting that straw aflame. And this is a very important part of cooking tataki. Oh, I can feel the heat on my face. Because that straw, that smoke, gets into the meat and creates an amazing flavor.

00:01:03 John Daub: This dish is best... you can get it in a couple of places, but I think it's best in Kochi. Oh man, I'm getting so hungry. I can smell it grilling. It takes about a minute, a minute and a half for it to cook. And they just char it on the outside. And what makes this so delicious is that on the inside, it's still pink despite all that fire and heat that you see. The inside is still pink. And it's got that delicious moistness to it. It's a great snack to have with Japanese sake or a meal on its own.

00:01:41 John Daub: Oh, he's turning it around. I wouldn't say it's burnt. It's slightly burnt on the outside, but you don't really taste the burning of it. Well, we're going to get a chance to taste it with some of our friends. And here comes some more straw in here. Watch how high this flame goes. This is like the finishing touches of tataki. And I think of all the foods that I get at restaurants, izakayas, this is one of my favorites. It's something like a sashimi, but it's hot on the outside, and it's still cool in the middle of it.

00:02:26 John Daub: The only thing separating me and the tataki is this glass, which is slightly warm. Ah, it smells so good. Again, today we're going to be eating regional cuisine from Kochi Prefecture down in Shikoku Island. Arigato gozaimasu. Ah, that's awesome. And they're preparing a lot of other delicious foods here in the kitchen. And I'm going to take you back into the eating area. Back into the eating area where we have some people that are going to help me eat this because I can't eat this all by myself.

00:02:59 John Daub: Have any of you been to Kochi? You can write in the comments and in the live stream your experiences eating regional food in Japan. So, it looks like... Oh, here it comes off of the tray here. And then after it's been cooked like this, they slice the tataki and garnish it. Oh man, this is making me hungry just staring at this. Arigato gozaimasu. All right, let's go to the table. Masks on and make sure we use alcohol for our hands and sanitize it. In the back of the room here, we have some guests.

00:03:55 John Daub: Hello everybody. I just got a chance to see some of the tataki in action and it looks really good. Is it the first time to eat food from Kochi Prefecture?

00:04:06 Guest: Not my first.

00:04:08 John Daub: Not your first time?

00:04:09 Guest: Yeah.

00:04:12 John Daub: So, I want everybody to introduce themselves here from above the glass partitions here. Go ahead.

00:04:17 Louise: Hi, I'm Louise. I'm from New Zealand and I just came back from my first trip to Kochi and I loved it. And I'm representing the vegetarians today. So, all the best vegetarian food will be right here.

00:04:26 John Daub: All right. So, Louise will be showing us some vegetarian cuisine over here.

00:04:32 Lee: Lee from Scotland and I've been to Kochi twice and I love it and I'm ready to love it again.

00:04:39 John Daub: Nice to see you, Lee. Here's Todd.

00:04:41 Todd: Hey, Todd from the US. But I've been in Japan for a long time and visited Kochi once and looking forward to going back and having Kochi food today. And sake.

00:04:54 John Daub: Japanese sake. Yep.

00:04:56 Biju Paul: I'm Biju Paul. I'm from Kochi. Kochi, India.

00:05:00 John Daub: You are not? Wait a second. He said Kochi in India. Are you serious?

00:05:04 Biju Paul: Yes. Really? Yeah. I'm from, there's a state called Kerala. There's a city called Kochi in Kerala. So, I'm from Kochi, India.

00:05:14 John Daub: I did the same double take. That's awesome. And it used to be a very frequent question in India, in Kochi. It's a quick question. Where is Bank of Kochi? People would say Bank of Kochi is in Japan. So, where's Bank of Kochi? People would say Kochi in India. But actually Bank of Kochi in Kochi, Japan. There's Kochi in India and there's a Kochi in Japan. So, whenever I say Kochi, I always say Kochi, Japan. Or Kochi in Shikoku. Just because we have a lot of viewers from India that also get a little confused.

00:05:54 Marcel: Hello. I'm Marcel from Brazil. But I live in Japan for 30 years.

00:06:03 John Daub: 30 years? Today is your first time to know Kochi.

00:06:10 Marcel: I'm very excited to know.

00:06:12 John Daub: I'm very interested to hear your opinions on this. We went to Hirome Market (Hirome Market) in Kochi for the Sunday Market. There's Noto-san over there. She's in the live stream. Ha! Got you. Hirome Market is in Kochi Prefecture. There's actually a live stream that I took you there last year. It's really incredible to see the vast array of foods from Kochi Prefecture. Now we're going to get a chance to try it in Tokyo. Which makes this really interesting.

00:06:40 John Daub: They're going to be bringing as well as the food. We have a list of sake from all over Kochi. This is Tosa sake. And guess what? After this live stream, I'm going to be meeting with John Gauntner, who is the author of Sake Handbook.

00:06:57 Guest: Oh, you know John?

00:06:58 John Daub: Oh, yeah. Can he drink a lot?

00:07:00 Guest: Oh, yeah. We met him down in Kamakura. Was he drinking? We were drinking. He was drinking sake.

00:07:09 John Daub: When you eat in Japan, we've set up everything just for extra protection. You can see there's a glass shield. A plexiglass shield to try to keep everything safe. And our participants here have face shields, which also help to minimize it. And when you eat, though, I guess you can eat underneath the face shield.

00:07:30 Guest: Really? We have underneath shields.

00:07:32 John Daub: I've never eaten with a face shield on.

00:07:35 Guest: First time, too. Tilt it a little bit up like this, and then probably, yeah.

00:07:42 John Daub: Tilt it up? I figure if you're going to tilt it up, you can just take it off because with the partition, it's just about trying not to speak loudly. Whatever the big bosses say. Whatever the bosses are back there. The bosses are back there.

00:07:55 Guest: I love bosses.

00:07:58 John Daub: When are you going to bring more food? A little more? I'm famished. I haven't eaten since this morning.

00:08:06 Guests: Me, too. Yeah? Same boat. Yeah.

00:08:11 John Daub: So I think should we order sake now?

00:08:14 Guests: I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Hai. Hai. Hai. Hai.

00:08:17 John Daub: Okay, we got a big hai out of this one. And now we can drink. And some pretty shochu coming for you right up soon. Kochi beer. Kochi wine. And shochu. Kochi beer, Kochi wine, and Kochi sake. Sake's at the end? That's right. And we're doing another session, which is actually already in the playlist. You can make sure you get the notification and don't miss this one. I actually have John's book with me. I wonder if he'll sign it. For me. Nice. Yeah? Maybe. You can ask John. Has he been on the program before?

00:08:53 Guest: No, this will be John's first time on the program.

00:08:56 John Daub: He's a legend. He absolutely is. He has a few books, doesn't he? So no sake, but is there anybody here who's a shochu drinker?

00:09:07 Guests: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Really?

00:09:11 John Daub: See, for me, shochu is kind of stronger than sake, no? But you can have it mixed on sparkling water or soda water. Sparkling water. You can have it on the rocks. Shochu is made usually from potato, but there's another way to make it, right?

00:09:29 Guest: Wheat. Wheat.

00:09:30 John Daub: Wheat. I think that's cool. They can make it from rice, I think, right?

00:09:33 Guest: They can make it from rice.

00:09:35 John Daub: Would you consider it to be like moonshine? It's actually shochu is sold more than sake. Which surprised me. A lot of people, especially ladies, were drinking it because they said it helped you with diet or something. There was this thing in the news, and if it goes in Japanese news, it becomes something that everybody follows very strictly.

00:10:08 Guest: My friend's grandfather, he's like 85, in his 80s, and then he used to drink everything. And then when he turned 85, he stopped and only drank shochu. I put his health.

00:10:22 John Daub: Yeah. That's the thing. There was... I don't know if I swung it around the right way, but down in Kagoshima, which is on another island, when people live quite often to 100 years old there, I don't know why, one of the things that they say is the secret is shochu. It's like, why are you living... I drink shochu every day. Maybe that's why people have been eating this, drinking this a lot more.

00:10:55 John Daub: So we're getting closer and closer to the food coming. I can smell it. Just going to peek over here. You can see over there. There's some activity near the kitchen, and they're deciding what booze we should be drinking. Look at that. I'm filming them. They're probably panicking. Is that booze? Sake? It's sake.

00:11:26 Guests: It's sake. It's sake. It's sake. It's sake. It's sake. It's sake. It's sake.

00:11:39 Staff: Saisho no sake, dabu dabu hiburi desu. Kurin shochu desu (first sake, splash splash flame. Chestnut shochu).

00:11:48 John Daub: Chestnut? This sake is made from chestnuts. Shochu from chestnuts. Yeah. What? Shochu from chestnuts. This is crazy. It's very alcoholic. Ah, tsuyoi desu ka? And John, we did a taste test in America, and nine out of ten Americans preferred shochu over vodka in the various mixed drinks. Shochu is more popular than vodka to Americans in a taste test. Nine out of ten preferred shochu to vodka. Just putting that out there for those of you who are vodka drinkers. Perhaps shochu is the way to go.

00:12:26 John Daub: Chestnuts, it's not sake, it's shochu. The difference between sake and shochu, the main difference is that shochu is distilled, meaning it can stay on the shelf for quite a long time. Sake is brewed, so it's very much like beer and has a shelf life. Meaning you don't have aged sake, but you do have aged shochu. And you actually do have aged sake as well.

00:12:48 Guest: My friends make it. Oh, really? Yeah. There's the We Love Sake group, and they have a new, I mean they have aged sake as well. It's very tasty. Aged sake.

00:12:57 John Daub: It is, but it is brewed, so it's a tricky process, right? It's a very small niche, but it's interesting. Koshu (aged sake). Yeah. So you can get aged sake. It's a niche. But 99% is... You get fresh. Don't get it wrong. Distilling is a different process to making alcohol than brewing. Sake actually, and I'm not the one to be answering this, John Gauntner is probably, but I'm warming it up. Sake is more brewed like beer would be in that kind of a process, except it uses rice and koji mold, whereas shochu is distilled in the way you would make vodka, thus you can have it for years and years. And find it on a pirate ship underneath the sea and still drink it.

00:13:47 Guests: Kanpai. We can't... Air chin chin. Yeah. Air chin chin. Through the glass. That's so funny.

00:14:00 John Daub: All right. Down the hatch. Oishii (delicious). Yes, really. It's really smooth. It warms you up, too. Oishii. Oishii. Oh, yeah. Oishii. It's got a little bit of a warm in your chest. It's got a good taste. Yeah, I got some new hairs on my chest. It's going to be popping through the white T-shirt. I hate when that happens, when the chest hairs pop through the T-shirt. Does anyone have that problem? Jari, no? No. Yeah. I don't taste any chestnut or it's just alcohol tasting, but it's very smooth, a smooth alcohol taste to it. I think this would be great on the rocks. It would be.

00:14:53 Guest: In Korea, people go like this to show it's empty. Nobody does that here, right? Yeah. Korea's hardcore about drinking. Like, they have to prove it. And if they're wrong, it just spills out. I've seen that happen, too.

00:15:05 John Daub: One CEO from America went over there, and the Koreans told him not to come back, because he couldn't... He wasn't a good drinker. They said, send someone else. Wow. Yeah. If you can't drink... In Japan, drinking is a pretty important part of the culture here, too. I get a lot of business done at after meetings almost exclusively.

00:15:34 John Daub: Just to keep myself from licking the plate right now. Oh my okay let's get a quick panning shot that's what we're talking about this is that one that was just grilled about 10 minutes ago and you can see on the outside it has a really beautiful brownness to it on the inside it's got that deep burgundy red and we're gonna get a chance to try this arigato gozaimasu oh here comes an entire tray of food oh I forgot my light in the other room all right okay this is the best part I'm so excited there's a lot of food we're gonna have to get an explanation from the chef on all what all of this is here it's a Louise yours is different I noticed that right right away.

00:17:14 John Daub: Right these are green peppers which where the green peppers all right the nori tempura so good yeah that does look great what is that sushi there that's really interesting and we've seen that before and this is a hamburger hamburger this carten we'll kind of don't eat the taba that a night what is it it's a— it's a vegetable coup it's a vegetable oh it's daikon oh I see the secrets here like a pickled something-something mountain vegetables I like the sound of that... this is a sea weed tempura and it's not from, put a color to it. And it's not seaweed from the sea. It's seaweed from the river, which is a real special. The Shimanto (Shimanto River). Oh, wow. So this is river seaweed. It's also the only river, undammed river in Japan. Yeah, it's a beautiful river in Shikoku. It runs through Kochi. That looks amazing.

00:18:52 John Daub: I'm going to come back and get your impressions of what the vegetarian food is like. Oh, I see this right here. Look at this inakazushi (country sushi). I know exactly what that is. Ah, this is awesome. Look how colorful this is. Let me get the light on it. So this in front of me here, it looks like a dessert almost because of the red and the different colors here. But this is actually inakazushi, and it's vegetarian and maybe even vegan. It depends if they're using soy sauce and certain other ingredients here. But sometimes you can find some that are vegan-friendly, like we did in Kochi Prefecture. Some of the stands down at the Sunday Market in Kochi City have them. It is an amazing, amazing dish because it's just made with vegetables. There's no fish. And the presentation is beautiful. This is at the Kochi store. This is right in Tokyo. You don't have to travel all the way to Kochi, although we would like you to. But you can get inakazushi, which is a specialty of Kochi right here.

00:19:53 Louise: And I believe that that's a ginger. And this is takenoko or bamboo sprout. And this here on the top is cucumber. Cucumber. Cucumber. And this is... Renkon (lotus root). How would you say renkon in English? I'm not sure. Like a pickled... So it's the stem of lotus.

00:20:26 John Daub: What else have you got there? What else? We have konnyaku (devil's tongue) and shiitake. Shiitake is really good on top of rice. And inakazushi. Which is really good. Is this vegan or vegetarian?

00:20:42 Louise: This is vegetarian.

00:20:43 John Daub: Let's ask the vegan. But we've already tried it. So they made it vegan for us. Oh, vegan. For you. Hey, I was thinking I'm vegan on Mondays and Wednesdays.

00:20:57 Staff: And she's saying that in Kochi this is like a very special dish for special occasions. Oh, inakazushi. Interesting. And so we have similar to ones. There's the stem of the lotus root there. And then we have some pickles. Some... What is this? What is this? What is this? This is a shellfish. Oh, this is a kind of a shellfish. Tokobushi (abalone?). Wow. Do you eat the shells? No.

00:21:30 John Daub: I just heard people laughing. Oh, we got this. This is also aosanori (river seaweed). This is a shirasu (baby sardines). We have a souvenir. A shirasu. Oh, that's a mouthful. What I love about this... Oh, I got some of my chopsticks! Look, you can see their eyes. You see their eyes? All right, folks, we're back on 4G here. Sorry about that. So these little teeny... What do you call these here? Shirimen don (shirimen rice ball). So it's a shirimen rice ball. Yeah, and that's from the Shimanto River too? Yes, land of pork. Oh, wow. The Chirimen fish are from Aki City, the city of Aki. Which fronts on Pacific.

00:22:42 John Daub: So this is shogayaki (ginger pork). This is pork that has been sauteed in ginger with a delicious sauce. Oh, not yet. All right, folks, we're back again. Hopefully the video is back as well. So this here is shogayaki. This is pork that has been grilled, sauteed in a pan. I guess they mean almost the same thing. But there's ginger in there with this pork and a delicious sauce. Goes great on top of rice. I love shogayaki. It is a staple for a lot of households. That delicious thick pork and that pork is obviously from Kochi Prefecture. Yeah, Shimanto. All this comes from Kochi Prefecture. And the important thing about eating regional cuisine. This is a reason why you travel around Japan and not just stay in Tokyo when you do come to Japan or the cities. But go out into the countryside and eat the cuisine from the source. And I'm a big believer that you should go to the farms, go and see your food and get an idea of the ingredients. Because in Kochi, they have a very strong connection to nature than we do here in Tokyo. And you can taste that in the foods that you eat from different prefectures, especially Kochi.

00:24:05 John Daub: And then we have the tataki, which is over here for those that are seeing it for the first time with a light. The colors really come out. Look at that. Tataki is one dish that you have to have. And even in Tokyo, you can just come to the Kochi store and have some. It's delicious. And Louise had something that she wanted to show us very quickly.

00:24:25 Louise: I wanted to show you the sushi we just mentioned with the konbu (kelp) around the outside. It's also flavored with yuzu (Japanese citrus). Yuzu flavor.

00:24:33 John Daub: And I think Kochi has about 50% share of the yuzu in Japan. It's this really delicate kind of lemon lime. I don't know how to describe it. It's a citrus flavor that's really popular. It's popular in Japanese cuisine. And it's, I think it's soaked in a citrus and wrapped in rice. That's delicious. Yeah, it does look delicious. I'm jealous. I wish I was vegetarian. Even outside. Does anyone have anything that they want to ask the chef that I haven't covered?

00:25:01 Guest: Oh, this is especially amazing taste. What is this again? The Ichigo no Bu? The Nori tempura? The Nori tempura. The ribbon Nori tempura.

00:25:12 John Daub: The Nori tempura looks really good. Yeah. It's really good. It's a really unique taste that I haven't had after eating tempura in Japan for over 10 years. It's spongy, right? It's got a kind of a sponginess to it. Yeah, really original. Packed with a lot of flavor. And this sounds like mountain vegetables. I eat this all the time. This just tastes like... fresher. It's just, it's so unique. It's distinct. Mmm. Mmm. This is my favorite. My favorite. This is my first time. Yeah, mine too. Nori tempura is my first time. Oh, your first time? First time. They don't have that in Kochi, India, do they? We don't have that in Kochi, India. This is first time. Even in Japan, I've never had this before. Really? Yeah. Nori tempura. First time. Very, very tasty. Very nice. Delicious.

00:26:08 John Daub: So I'll check in, I'll check in with you. Please go ahead and eat. I'll check in with you as we go along with the meal. Because... Because I need to eat too. Yes. You know, whenever I film these episodes, especially the edited videos, I never eat anything. I literally... I'm filming it, I'll have one bite, and then it's time to go. Zannen (too bad). Yeah, zannen. Big time. Motainai (wasteful). Super motainai.

00:26:34 John Daub: All right, what are we gonna start here first with the tataki. Tataki is the, um, right here, katsuo no tataki (bonito tataki). Ponzu (citrus soy sauce). Ponzu. Where's the ponzu. In the middle. Ah, in the middle? Yeah. All right. Why is it like that? Why is the line like that? It's gonna get all the garlic. Yeah. Gimbals. That was not an earthquake! That was the gimbal. I don't know why. It just... It has... Soon I think this gimbal will have a name if it keeps shaking like that.

00:27:16 John Daub: It's really tricky to get out, unless they've charged it up. Oh. Oh, look at that. Oh. I can smell the grilling... The charred parts. Part of the tataki here put it in the ponzu here in the center just kind of dip it. Can we share the live stream? No go ahead and share away yeah that's really good the tataki is i don't know how they do it but it's not it's still kind of warm on the outside and in the center it has a coolness to it i don't know how they do it some kochi magic into it but the flavor of that straw that grass it penetrates into the outside of the skin maybe it goes into maybe a couple of millimeters in there so every bite has a kind of a smokiness a subtle smokiness to it it's not overpowering i can eat tataki every day yeah and go there there's places where you can actually do it eat it every day no you can you can you can uh not really but you can add the straw you can smoke it basically really yeah so it's kind of um um like the little chews that they've got there that's lee in the back there right so like i guess you can get the straw and then you can get the um bonito fish and then just go barbecue it yourself then you do it at the shop right you're at the shop you basically pitch the straw into the fire and they tell you when you flip it over and then you eat it at the end it's a lot of fun how hard could this job be do you think is there is there like a skill to it i could i tolerate it do they have to have a tolerance to heat you saw the fire that was it's very hot in that kitchen when they're grilling the tataki.

00:29:22 John Daub: All right let's take a look at some of the other foods here some of you are the vegetarians are very curious about this this is the inaka sushi and uh uh this platter here i i don't i've never seen this the united states and that's a big shame i wonder if there's a way for in in the united states or other states to make this sort of sushi so sushi does not have to be fish inaka sushi inaka the word means countryside sushi means sushi so sushi does not have to be fish but i love the little bite-sized pieces here check that out that's a shoga or ginger i believe very good which is your favorite inaka sushi todd did you not get one no we're sharing the the konnyaku is very soft oh this one it was a surprising uh soft but i love ginger so i'm sure.

00:30:22 Todd: Look at that, konnyaku is like a glutinous potato.

00:30:41 John Daub: So for those, Louise made a really good point. Here at the Kochi store, they can create vegan meals for you. So if you're interested in getting, if you're vegan, you can eat it here. You don't have to have a... Just make sure you tell them in advance. That's always good to know because a lot of people are vegans when they come to Japan. Sometimes it's... Here comes the wine. We've got some special Kochi wine. How's the signal everybody? Is it coming in loud and nice and strong? It's just a little bit getting close to 730, I believe. Strong signal right to Noshabroth. This is a very good sign. The playback gets a little bit better, I think. Yeah. Yeah. So one more piece of tataki. I want you to swim in that for a second. Just look at it. Yeah. What's it called? What's it called? So this is the Nishima. This wine is a rosé. And Noto-san is just explaining that it is an all natural winery. It's very unusual to have to grow wine or to grow grapes for wine in Kochi, just because it's such a warm climate so this is probably one of the only ones and it's right at the border between kochi and tokushima kind of up in the mountains um from uh kochi city itself and it's run by um so it's just started three years ago are you taunting me i know watch out for the meteorite do that again but yeah they started three years ago and it's a husband and wife who just started it out so it's one of the new things for kochi so let us know what you think i like to have fun with my food do they do white i mean rose and other or.

00:32:51 John Daub: All right let's move on to i'm going to move on to this here this downstairs did they sell it this is um the tempura made from uh seaweed from the shimanto river in kochi and i believe oh you eat it just like this konamama (as is) means as is just so you know that does have nothing to do with mama i'm just saying some people like what does it mean like this yeah just mama it's getting serious the seaweed it it's hard to it's hard to explain it luckily i have two pieces to give you an image of this this the seaweed of course it absorbs some of the oil but it doesn't really absorb too much of it there's a batter with it as well it's got this really natural uh sponginess to it and that sponginess is almost like like a very light mochi mochiness to it but it's not like stretchy it's just springy to it slightly salted i don't think you want to salt it too much and super healthy despite it being tempura-ized with tempura but um you can get this uh this is from the river but i've seen this similar one in okinawa too you can uh the uh nori right um is also quite popular but in tempura you can you can make tempura almost out of anything right i've seen like tempura sausages tempura sandwiches yeah tempura cheese yes please all right next time.

00:35:00 John Daub: Right next up we have the um shoga yaki this is pork and ginger let's give this a try here it's really good the pork is juicy um the ginger is not overpowering you can see this this one will probably be overpowering but the ginger is has a very subtle gingerness too this is one that you should eat when you come to japan you see this mostly like home cooking i see um but if you do see it on the menu in the restaurant this is it's a good one to one to have for sure that's so good can we pour a little bit of ponzu into here or oh you dipped it into oh but she says you can also pour it on top if you prefer let's give this a try these are the stem of lotus roots that's really good it's got a really natural crunchiness to it because it's been like pickle-ized i don't know the scientific word for it but it has a slight saltiness to it um but the texture everything with with the pickles is the texture is always somewhat unique it's it's either on a little bit softer a little bit crunchier but hold on a second it's like right right behind me a really good texture to the to that wow everything complements each other very well here i still love this tataki and i guess you put the ponzu on top of the pork to this one here i like how they're i like how they're watching us in the background they're probably so hungry back there but that's like part of the job like looking at you these were once these were once in the sea now they're gonna be in your mouth the wine i'm gonna give that a try next they're very meaty these little fish very meaty sometimes i see see them on pizza have you ever seen these oh yeah yeah i see this as a topping on pizza and it it's it's pretty good gives you very i mean you can have pepperoni or you can have one some of these and these are healthier than pepperoni but it doesn't have that that um same taste of course i don't think it'll ever replace a pepperoni pizza but it's pretty neat to see little teeny white fish on here i didn't have it because it was special but somebody i wouldn't put on a cheese pizza yeah it's a really good taste uh to have on a pizza you can get that down in in other places in japan but again like when you're eating regional foods you eat it at the source and it's just so much fresher you can't you can't get this in tokyo at the kochi store it's just you have to come here.

00:39:20 John Daub: How does the food come here by plane foreign how do they get the food to tokyo a truck plane yes the fish come by plane ah those fish can fly they do fly and then for the vegetables and things like that they come by truck okay the vegetables come by truck which is like a eight to ten hour drive and the plane is about 90 minutes so you can get from haneda airport to kochi in like 90 minutes and there are some budget lcc low-cost carrier lcc carriers that will take you there for like fifty dollars or less sometimes just depends you can see ruth in the background shaking her head yes yes no who is that ruth or something i can't see is that sarah oh it's ruth oh i see you oh zoomed i zoomed in real close see my teeth you see the white fish in my teeth now you can get daikon on here if you're in the car if you're in the car you can get here you want to just get a big load i'm just saying that right at the moment while you're eating the two the three very seasonal ingredients are the renkon so the um this one yes the thing lotus and then the myoga (Japanese ginger) so that kind of pinky one on top of the sushi which is japanese ginger um not like your regular type and the itadori (Japanese knotweed) which i've actually eaten raw before in kochi and it grows to about this tall it's basically a weed but it's a delicious weed and she's just saying also that for like the katsuo uh itself it's crumbing right into season now they kind of get nice and fat and full of delicious delicious fattiness and that is soon going to be the best time to smoke flavor that has a really good from the preparation i guess deep smoky and it's very unusual in a kind of place that does this kind of what i like eating these straw smoking but we want to have like the real deal this is where real deal i'm just saying that the key words here as you eat real deal meal real deal meal yes you can buy it i'm not at the supermarket but it doesn't taste anywhere i had this just a few nights ago which is it's night and day sacrilegious how dare you buy this at the supermarket you can have it fresh here we wanted to compare it to make sure that's exactly what we're trying to do that's exactly what i think all right i'll let you off the hook.

00:42:45 John Daub: Now all of my friends in the u.s and some in england when they pour wine they often go up to the very top have you ever seen them before i don't know i'm not a wine snob or anything but like i've seen people fill their wine glasses up to here and it's just funny because i often say like how do you do this without it spilling he said oh you just drink it drink it down and then you do that so can i let me see this one here thanks lee so this is um a rose from mishima farm in uh the uh tosa area it's in tosa city tosa city so even the cities have a natural area to grow wine you can't grow wine in tokyo can you yes you can out in out in the countryside you can grow wine all right let me give you the uh the bouquet the bouquet ooh sweet hints of hints of berries hints of berries something yellow some kind of a yellow dandelion maybe maybe some kind of a yellow yellow vegetable that we wouldn't eat but it smells good i have that apparently they're all hand-picked not captured sorry they're all hand-picked washed by hand and they actually old style where you wow mash them with the feet wow and they only make a thousand bottles of this a year at the moment so thousand is it numbered what number is this okay they only make a thousand a year. So there's only 999 left. 999 bottles of wine on the wall. All right, let's try it. Kanpai. It's just one book of wine. Yeah, it's a husband and wife. Wow. That's very pleasant. It's not, I thought it was going to be sweet, but it's not. It has a very, a kind of a dry taste to it and there's a slight sweetness, but nothing, it's not what you would think. It's not like a Chardonnay. It doesn't have a lot of natural sugars in it. It's interesting, but what Chiara was saying was that they hand-pick the grapes and they wash it by hand and then they smash it by feet, which is the old Italian way to do it, right?

00:45:38 Guest: Yeah, yes indeed. Yeah. That way. Yeah. It's really good.

00:45:44 John Daub: And Kogiku doesn't just make shochu and sake, they also make wine. And whenever I go to Kochi, I realize how weak I am at alcohol, because down there they know how to drink. Some of the strongest drinkers were from Kochi, I think. Yeah, at Hirome Market, you can meet most of them. Oh yeah. And the women are stronger. Yeah, the women are stronger, some are stronger. I've seen some ladies take down some guys that I thought they were big, but if you go to Hirome Market, people are, this is Market in Kochi City, where you can just sit in the middle with a drink, and they make wine. Yeah, this is Market in Kochi City, where you can just sit in the middle with a drink. Everybody it's almost like Oktoberfest for Kochi, and you're eating tataki and drinking sake and beer, and wow, people drink a lot. It's always a good time. That's a reason, you know, that market in itself is a reason to go down to Kochi, I think. Absolutely. Just because in Tokyo, I always found it's really hard to meet locals and make friends here with Japanese. Everyone's kind of standoffish, because the city. You go down to Kochi, everyone's so open and friendly and like, what are you doing here? Like, what are you doing here? And everybody has a story, and they're a little bit more relaxed, and their English is pretty good down there too, I thought. Maybe because it's the alcohol. After you've had two or three drinks, all that English you studied in elementary school starts to come out of the woodwork, deep down in the brain. It's amazing how quickly they forget, though.

00:47:14 John Daub: By the way, there are only two places in the world that you can get this wine. You can either go to the local place, or you can go to the local store. You'll get it in Kochi at the farm or here. Oh wow. Give me a little more. You want an Okawari (refill)? I can do that. Hold on. Okawari. Oh look, these three! What happened just right here? Oh, the three glasses came. Okay, bring your glasses through the partition. Just a snifter. There we go. There we go. How about over here? Alright, just... Cheers, cheers. Alright. Cheers, cheers. Cheers, cheers. Cheers. I'm so glad I had to come in. Oh, there she is, our dancer. Does everybody like the wine? The wine is great. Yeah, this is a surprise. It's really good. Is it good? How are you? Are you recovered from your dancing yesterday?

00:48:33 Ruth: I'm recovered. I'm really ready to dance again. Better get some wine.

00:48:39 John Daub: Yeah, oh no, I don't want to know what it's like with Ruthie and some wine. So this is your first time trying cuisine from Kochi. What do you think of this?

00:48:50 Ruth: It's a good, very tasty.

00:48:53 John Daub: Yeah. How about with the food? What did you like the best?

00:48:56 Ruth: First time, yeah, Kochi wine. Is it good? It's good. Is it good? Yes, it's good. It's my first time. What did you like the most? Shirasu. Shirasu, yeah. It's really good. First time eating cuisine from Kochi prefecture.

00:49:17 John Daub: I have saved one thing last because in Kanazawa I had shellfish and I didn't know how to get it out. And I still don't know how, like, shellfish scares me. How do you get it out?

00:49:30 Guest: You didn't have toothpicks, but it worked with the hot soup, with the chopsticks. Can you just suck it out? Well, I tried to do that. You tried to do that? I'd like to watch. You'd like to watch me suck it out? I've been sucking it for a while. I don't think it's going to come out. That sucks. Exactly. I don't know. I don't know. Right? Yeah, yeah. The chopsticks work. Usually they have a toothpick, but... Oh, it's like a big... Oh, that's kind of nasty. Yeah. I should be able to do this with Ashley, dude. He's been here a while. He was going to try and suck it out. Why would Mel Wrightson and Ruth would know? Why would Ruth know? Yeah. Ruth is all knowing. Absolutely. Mm. Yeah. That's really good. Just give me a mouthful. That's it. Didn't speak a lick. Did you get any other ones? I need one person. There's like a little shell part to it. It's in there. It's really good. The sauce that they cook it in kind of adds into the meat of it. And again, it's a regional item that you wouldn't find in typical Tokyo stores. You'll find it here in Kochi Prefecture. And that's what makes... Oh, I'm back to here. That's what makes eating at the prefectural stores like the Marugoto Kochi or the other ones. The one here, it's all ingredients from Kochi Prefecture. And that's what makes eating at these restaurants really super special. You're getting it from all the ingredients from that local area. I'm going to chow down on that. Anybody have any questions or last comments? Something for the chef or... Just bravo to the chef. Bravo to the chef. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some applause to the chef. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some bravo to the chef. And thanks everybody.

00:51:26 John Daub: This is Marugoto Kochi. This is in Ginza. Ginza Ichome. You can walk here from Yurakucho Station or Tokyo Station or even go to the Ginza line to Ginza Station. And it takes about less than five minutes to walk here. There's a link in the description to come here. Do you need a reservation for dinner? Yeah. It's best to make a reservation, but you can try to come in. And if there's a seat available, perhaps you can make it on the spot. Do you need a lunch? Oh, for lunch, you don't need a reservation. Everything is pretty reasonably priced. But if you're coming for dinner, be prepared to drink because you have to take advantage of Kochi's delicious wines, sakes, and shochus. And try that one with Maru. John, if you're vegetarian... Yeah. Right. And if you're vegetarian or vegan or pesco-vegan or one of the other categories... Pescatarian. Pescatarian. I had a problem with that. I had a friend who called herself a pesco-vegan. I did not argue with her. If you do have a special dietary need, you can ask them in advance and they'll... And this is almost in any traditional Japanese dinner, ryokan too. If you tell them in advance, they will go out of their way to make something for you. And that's part of the omotenashi (hospitality) spirit.

00:52:44 John Daub: What is Kochi's signature food? Anything that is very special, Kochi's signature food? What is Kochi's signature food? It might be alcohol. It might be alcohol? I don't know. Anything that you can say. That's a good question. So, Noto-san says the most famous food in Kochi is the katsuo no tataki. So, the straw roasted... Tataki is the most famous one. But anything some old lady cooks is also a specialty of Kochi. Kochi has no end to old ladies who cook delicious food. They cook delicious foods at super reasonable prices, right? We were driving around Kochi last year. Oh yeah, Shige no Jiri (Shige no Jiri?). That was fantastic. Shige no Jiri. I think... I don't know if I had a live stream on it. It was a video I made. This place was like $5 all you can eat. Like, it was ridiculously cheap for what we got. Some granny made everything fresh. It was amazing indeed. It was a lot of vegetarian options. This is the tataki. I'll end with this. 20 seconds. Just stare at that. Stare at that! Why aren't you here? When you do come to Japan, make sure you do hit... Kochi Prefecture. Or if you can't... Yeah, just come over here to the Kochi store. You can have some Kochi food. Have some Kochi booze. And have a Kochi time. I'm talking about Kochi, Japan. Not Kochi, India. Right. Bye, everybody.