Sushi Sushiko, Taste the blessings of Setouchi, Okayama

Okayama station, Sushiko

There are only early morning flights and night flights from Okinawa to Okayama. I worked at home during the day and I went to Naha Airport to go to Okayama by night flight. Flight JTA016 took off with a delay of 30 minutes. I took a bus for Okayama Station at Okayama Airport. I arrived at Okayama station after 21:30.

The downtown area of Okayama is about a meter away from Okayama station by taxi. But I have plans for tomorrow. I wanted to have a quick meal near the station. However, there are only chain stores around here. I walked to see if there was a restaurant where I could eat local food. And the restaurant I found was already closed. As I walked further, I saw a red lantern. It’s like a sushi restaurant. When I opened the door, there were no guests. The manager and the young chef were sitting at the counter. I was able to enter the sushi restaurant because the sushi restaurant is still open.

The seafood I want to eat in Okayama is Japanese Spanish mackerel and mantis shrimp. Kanji of Spanish mackerel（鰆）is written as spring（春） fish（魚）. So I wanted to eat Spanish mackerel as sashimi at Okayama in the spring. But after passing the age of 40, I learned the startling facts. The season of the Spanish mackerel is from autumn to winter.

In the old days, Spanish mackerel used to lay eggs in the Setonaikai Sea from spring to summer. So Spanish mackerel meant a fish that signaled spring in Japan. I heard a Spanish mackerel holding an egg or a white egg is delicious, but I’ve never eaten it.

Sashimi Platter

I ordered sashimi platter first. Raw cockle, marinade sardine, horse mackerel, spot prawn, salted Spanish mackerel, sea bream. I think marinade blue-backed fish is delicious more than raw, such as vinegared not only horse mackerel but also mackerel and sardines. Also I like raw cockle and surf clam but I don’t like boiled cockle because it’s not delicious. I felt that salted Spanish mackerel was stable taste.

Grilled Chintai-gai (Chinese razor clam)

Next, grilled Chintai-gai (Chinese razor clam). It’s shaped like a razor clam but it’s different. It tastes like concentrated clam flavor.

Mantis shrimp vinegar

Next is mantis shrimp vinegar. Eat roasted mantis shrimp with crab vinegar. delicious! Originally a mantis shrimp was a special product of Setouchi, but now it is not so much. This sushi restaurant also uses Hokkaido products. The chef says that a rare and nice type of mantis shrimp was obtained today. It has been a long time since this local sushi restaurant has received locally produced mantis shrimp. Really big It has a strong taste. I didn’t know that the mantis shrimp with crab vinegar was so delicious! I even ate the meat of the scissors.

Sushi – Halfbeak

Sayori (Halfbeak) sushi. A silver stripe shines white on the green bamboo leaves. It looks beautiful and tastes good.

Sushi – Pen Shell

“Today, we have Tairagi (Pen Shell) caught in Ushimado. The Tairagi (Pen Shell) here is exceptional. Do you know where Ushimado is?”

The chef asked me.

“Yes, I know.”

Ushimado is a port town located east of Okayama city. Tairagi is large and chewy. It has a strong taste. Ah, happy.

Sushi – Beka

The last is “Beka”. It looks squid.

“What is this?”
“Beka. It’s rice squid, so we call it beka, beka.” (In Japanese, rice is pronounced same as “bay”, pronounce squid as “ika”.)

Later, when I checked it, it was a Japanese small squid. The standard name is  Loliolus Squid. It named “rice squid” because it has roe like rice grains.

I thoroughly enjoyed the sushi. I drank enough. Reasonable and delicious. It’s a very good sushi restaurant. I left the sushi restaurant, satisfied with my body and soul.

Japanese Sushi Sushiko

Okayama-city, Okayama
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298134-d9647663-Reviews-Sushiko-Okayama_Okayama_Prefecture_Chugoku.html