A cafe at the ultra modern-rustic shopping mall, Umi No Scole, in Nagahama, Shiga, offers Japanese comfort food with its modern take on traditional fermented foods.
Japan is all about fermented foods (that’s a wild pronouncement but not not-true). Say, soy sauce, miso (soybean paste), sake, etc., these widely known Japanese traditional food products, are fermented foods. It’s impossible to disown the existence of such foods when it comes to eating in Japan.
Fermented foods in Japan used to give off (literally) aged, exotic vibes until a koji (fermented cereals) boom circa 2012. Since then, the value of them has ripened and gracefully fallen into the hands of people from all walks of life. If I encounter a koji or any other fermented food product at any supermarket, I probably just walk past them. I mean, it’s that unremarkable to see them nowadays.
“How to make Koji rice at home”
The value of fermented foods in Japan has even developed thanks to SDGs because fermented foods are preservatives and compatible with a sustainable lifestyle. Fermented foods in Japan are now transcending to upscale and sophisticated foods.
Since fermented foods are cool, it’s almost impossible not to have a cool fermented foods section at a cool supermarket. So the birth of the full-fledged fermented-foods-oriented shopping mall, Umi No Scole, was a matter of time.
The storefront of Umi No Scole.
The interior of Umi No Scole. A Japanese sugidama ball is suspended from the ceiling.
The display of modern-rustic/primitive home accessories.
Umi No Scole – School of Sea – is essentially a sophisticated shopping mall or ultra modern-rustic/primitive IKEA focused on fermented foods, foods produced in Shiga prefecture, and home accessories. As its name says, it’s like a school in terms of the variety of departments (a home decor store, a gallery, a book store, a cheese factory, a brewing room, a miso and cheese workshop, and a cafe).
FYI: Shiga prefecture encircles Japan’s largest lake Biwa-ko (Lake Biwa) and has a chilled-and-relaxed lake town vibe like America’s Cape Cod (without gays and lobsters).
The cafe at Umi No Scole.
The menu at the cafe.
The cafe is where you can taste the beauty of fermented foods and local ingredients from Shiga. It showcases how to make use of the foods. Dishes at the cafe are modern Japanese comfort food (or “cafe menu” in Japanese) such as curry rice, spaghetti bolognese, etc.
Heshiko Doria with Yomogi Cheese.
The heshiko doria was a doria with heshiko. Let me explain about heshiko and a doria, respectively, with respect.
Heshiko is pickled fish (often mackerel) fermented in nukazuke style (fermentation with bran) and is a local specialty in the Hokuriku region (Wakasa Province on an old Japanese map whose capital city is Obama). I would say any rest area in the region sells heshiko as souvenir.
A doria, invented by French chef Auguste Escoffier-inspired Jewish Swiss chef Saly Weil, the first head chef at Japan’s legendary Hotel New Grand circa 1930, is a creamy risotto (or a rice gratin) with cheese on top. It is a quintessential Japanese yoshoku (western food) dish. A doria in Japan is like an unsurprisingly non-Italien mac and cheese in the US.
Now the heshiko doria. The dish was perfect as a doria. It cleverly included heshiko in the form of paste. The paste was the right amount (or just a few dashes) of fermented fishiness. Nothing was overwhelming (imagine a mac and cheese with a bitter-and-not-salty anchovy paste).
Shredded gari (right) and a heshiko-infused nukazuke butter (left) on a bed of melted yomogi cheese.
The shredded gari (pale pink sweet-and-sour ginger pickles) on top had an interesting effect: it made me feel like I was at a sushi restaurant since gari is a must-have condiment on a table at a sushi restaurant.
I expected more from the yomogi (wormwood, often used for Japanese mochi) cheese, which I somehow couldn’t taste much. But the heshiko-infused nukazuke butter was so good that it supplemented everything.
A side-dish salad with koji dressing.
The koji dressing had a porridge-ish texture.
Much better was the salad which came first and came as a surprise to me. Rare (to be seen at an ordinary Japanese cafe) fronds and equally thin slices of yellow zucchini. On top was the sweet and slightly bitter koji dressing with a savory sake aroma and an umami flavor. It almost convinced me to buy a bottle of the koji dressing.
At the entrance of the cafe.
I think ¥1320/$10 for a main dish with a salad is a moderate price for any sexy cafe in Japan. The food and the menu at the cafe looked perfect as Japanese comfort food anyone would like to try.
The cafe was indeed a great showcase of fermented foods. And I appreciated the commitment of a waiter who seemed unreluctant to be responsible for any questions from any table. ¥1320 including an imaginary tip (*there’s no tipping culture in Japan) shouldn’t be bad.
Umi No Scole | 13-29 Motohamacho, Nagahama, Shiga, 〒526-0059, Japan
Heshiko Doria with Yomogi Cheese: ¥1320 / $10 / £8.20 / €9.40
Website
Umi No Scole | 13-29 Motohamacho, Nagahama, Shiga, 〒526-0059, Japan
