Izakaya Hachinana Review – A Delightful Omakase in Kanazawa

Kanazawa’s Acclaimed Seafood in an Omakase at Izakaya Hachinana

We started with some sake – there wasn’t a menu per se but the staff asked us what kind of flavors we liked in sake and they selected a very lovely junmai daiginjo for us.

Soon the courses began, first a horsehair crab served in its shell. It was sweet, umami, and tasted like the sea. Served alongside was a vinegar for dipping which complemented the crab surprisingly well.

The crab theme continued with the next course, a miso soup with snow crab. The sweet white miso paired so nicely with the giant mound of sweet, rich crab. Two tiny slivers of yuzu zest on top packed a punch of citrus flavor, and veggies like radish and carrot rounded out the soup.

A sashimi course followed with shrimp, grouper, and squid. The shrimp was velvety and the grouper excellent, but the squid stole the show. The squid literally melted in our mouths and was incredibly creamy and buttery. In fact, it might have been the single best bite of that entire trip to Japan.

A slice of sudachi, sea salt, and shoyu were served on the side – simple but beautiful details like this are just one of the many reasons to love this place.

Next was one of our favorite dishes of the meal: two hunks of fried baby tuna with house made tartar sauce. The fish had the most delicate fried coating, like air, while simultaneously somehow still being crispy. The fish itself was so tender and rich and didn’t even need a sauce, but we weren’t complaining with the delicious tartar sauce punctuated with briny pickles and citrus.

The chef’s creativity was on display with the course that followed, a radish and mackerel “sandwich.” Thin slices of radish marinated in shio koji surrounded a slice of raw mackerel. It was sweet, umami, crunchy, and creamy, with yuzu on top for good measure.

Throughout the meal we had been watching the chef cook something over hot coals behind the counter. We finally got to try out his creation in the next course, which we weren’t sure what it was when it arrived because we didn’t understand the Japanese word. But we did know it looked funky and brain-like and was probably something very interesting.

We look it up later and learn that it was shirako, or cod sperm sacs. This highly seasonal delicacy was extremely creamy and rich with chili flakes on top for contrast. It was served with a shiitake mushroom that was grilled with it, and the earthiness of the shiitake complemented it well.

We then ventured away from the sea with duck for the next dish. Thin slices were served in a rich broth with radish and chrysanthemum greens, bringing an overall savory, richy, and hardy flavor to the dish.

You can’t have an omakase without tuna sashimi, and the following course proved it. Here it was served over rice and topped with grated mountain yam and yuzu zest. It was seasoned perfectly with a hint of sesame, and the slippery texture of the yam created a lovely sauce that coated the whole plate. Of course, the fish was the star – rich and umami and perfect. A red miso soup and crunchy pickles rounded out the plate.

At this point we were asked if we were still hungry – if so, we had the choice of adding on a ramen course. It sounded so good, so even though we were quite full, we said yes. Thin noodles were bathed in a shrimp-based stock that was delicate but full of flavor.

We finally came to dessert, an ice cream sandwich with black sesame ice cream. The ice cream was perfection – creamy, nutty, and rich.

We lingered for a bit, contemplating how everything in this meal hit just right. For us, the meal was a perfect balance of seasonal, high quality ingredients, with bits of creativity woven in to traditional Japanese flavors. If we ever find ourselves back in Kanazawa, we wouldn’t hesitate to come here again.

Izakaya Hachinana is located in Kanazawa, Japan.