Japanese food is delicious. Many foreign tourists visit Japan to enjoy eating Japanese food.
In Japan, there is the phrase “Autumn Appetite.”
Many foods are in season from October to November, and are delicious to eat in this time of year.
This phrase means that many people have a strong appetite for the tastes of the season.
To name a few, autumn has matsutake mushrooms, chestnuts and persimmon, but what i’d most like you to experience as representative of the “autumn of appetite” is salt-grilled saury. For Japanese families, when salt-grilled sauryis on the table, it feels like autumn has truly arrived.
Izakaya drinking establishments are the standard choice for enjoying salt-grilled saury, but I recommend trying a robatayaki restaurant.
Using a charcoal grill lets you see the saury grilling in front of you and lends its distinctive charcoal flavoring to salt-grilled saury, making it even more appetizing.
The Japanese way of eating grilled saury is to add seasoning such as soy sauce, grated daikon radish or citrus for a more refreshing, zestier flavor.
Veteran Japanese saury enjoyers can remove the bones of saury with the ease of a magic trick, but for foreign visitors who are less experienced, eating while removing the bones may be a fun experience in and of itself.
The belly of saury is more bitter due to the organs there, and even most Japanese do not eat it, but there are some who prefer it for its bitterness. When salt-grilled saury is eaten neatly, only the bones and the head remain. If you have a chance, be sure to try salt-grilled saury and experience the arrival of Japanese autumn for yourself.