Eat. That’s all we did today; just eat. But I digress.

We signed up for a Secret Food Tour because we’ve found them to be spectacular in that they provide a progressive meal of sorts by taking us to out-of-the-way local places that only insiders know about.

We met the group at the Shin Obue station. It was an effortless journey (see yesterday for our trek), no jamming into the car, and only 3 stops. We were off to a good start.

We walked around the area for a few minutes and stopped in a small temple where local business owners go to pray for prosperity. After winding through a few “streets” we ended up at a 3rd floor sushi shop. The guide had arrived earlier and put our names on a list. The shop doesn’t take reservations and it was first come, first served. As we stood waiting for the shop to open, we saw the delivery of fish just purchased at the fish auction.

Their suggestion was 4 pieces: salmon, lean tuna, fatty tuna, and eel accompanied by matcha tea. It was fabulous. (And as I’m looking at photos, I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of it.)

The second stop was for tempura. They served us giant prawns which was super fresh and lightly battered. A surprise was a noodle accompaniment that was dipped in broth. The presentation was really nice.

From there we meandered to a dumpling shop. Saturday is a busy day for outings and there was an hour wait to be seated. We opted to keep going.

Next was a stop for yakatori which is grilled skewered chicken. They also served us kushiyaki which was ground chicken and spice on a wide skewer. Finally, they served dumplings which were fresh from the kitchen. All of this food was balanced by an ice cold beer.

Our final stop was for dessert and a tiny shop. They had soft serve ice cream that was very rich with dairy product and only came as vanilla, matcha, or a combo. I opted for the combo and the matcha side was just as the guide suggested: bitter.

At that point, 3 ½ hours later, we were bursting at the seams. We wandered around the market for a few minutes just to see what was being sold before heading back to the hotel.

Needless to say, there was no dinner!

Tomorrow we head to Kobe where the ship is docked. We’ll be taking the Shinkansen (bullet train) for the 520 km, 2 ½ hour trip.