One of the healthiest Japanese ingredients that I love is Japanese mountain yam. We Japanese love sticky, slimy, slippery food like grated Japanese mountain yam and natto… But they are super healthy! Similar to avocado, in my opinion. When we were visiting Shizuoka, we visited a restaurant who specializes in their local Japanese mountain yam. Now, this was more challenging than we thought it would be, since they seem to have a random business hours… Every time we went, they were closed! But, we finally got there when they were open, on our third try. I guess it is true what people say – third time’s a charm!
It looked quite grand, pristine white walls, carefully pruned bushes, with architecture that matches nearby Kakegawa Castle. And most of all, open for business!!! Yes! We walked right in with joy and anticipation that built up over the last few failed visits. The inside was very different look from the outside. It was really cozy and homey.
They had these adorable little characters, their original mascot. I am not sure what they are… I think they are some kind of cute fluffy cats that are in a mortar, holding a wooden pestle, as Japanese mountain yam are grated in moltar and pestle.
We got there soon after they opened, so they had only couple of customers. They had a dining room on both sides of the main entrance, and I heard they have a large dining room on second floor. All the interior here is old-fashion, with tatami floor and low dining tables.
We were taken to the dining room to the right of the entrance. They had four large tables, enough to seat up to six people per table. You have to take your shoes off before getting up on the tatami. They had interesting warning sign everywhere, and I mean, everywhere in the restaurant. It said that no cell phone, tablet or computer allowed. It didn’t say no camera allowed, so I hope it was ok for me taking photos… Maybe they just don’t like people talking on the phone (can be disturbing to other customers) or spending way too extra time at the restaurant, playing/working on the tablet or laptop instead of eating. They are a popular restaurant, so they have to be considerate for others if there are customers waiting for a table.
They brought us complimentary hot green tea, and even though it was a hot Summer day when we visited, it still was very tasty. Nothing like a locally grown and produced, high quality green tea…
On their menu, they had their top three popular lunch items. Since there were three of us, we each order the different item of the top three, so we can all try them. The Number one of the top three was Jinenjo Tororo Donburi (1,500 yen/small). The nice thing about these set was that they offer regular size and smaller size. “Small” is not really small portion, just a little less portion than the regular portion.
Tororo is the name for grated Japanese yam. This one simply has grated yam over hot steamed rice and barley. There are few different kinds of yam of this type: Jinenenjo, Yamatoimo, Nagaimo, etc. The kind they use here is the Jinenjo, which has the highest content of vitamins and minerals, and also has more sticky-ness than others, making it most ideal for consumption in grated form. They grate the whole Jinenjo yam by hand, with its thin skin still left on it. Then their special dashi soup is added to complete their tororo. Look at this beauty! The tororo had such great flavor, it didn’t need anything additional like soy sauce.
This set comes with Fried Tororo, pickles, and a soup. I have never seen tororo being fried, so it was really interesting! They had one wrapped in a leaf, and another one wrapped in dried seaweed.
Since Jinenjo yam has the strongest sticky-ness and very firm when grated, it gives good consistency to be able to be fried without falling apart. Also, it doesn’t have high water content, so another reason why it works so well for frying.
The soup was not miso soup, but a clear soup with lots of shredded veggie. It had really nice flavor and very refreshing.
The pickles were cucumber pickles with red shiso leaves, giving the deep, reddish-purple color. Fresh and delicious.
The second popular lunch set menu was Marinated Tuna Jinenjo Tororo Donburi (1,500 yen/small). My hubby was hungry, so he wanted to get the regular size, but my sister assured him that smaller size would be more than enough. He trusted her and she was right. It was still pretty darn big! He was very happy. It comes with soup and pickles.
It looked great, especially the tuna! It was sliced thick, marinated in ginger and sweet soy sauce. My goodness it was fantastic. This much of high quality ingredients and huge portion, it was an amazing deal. The combination of marinated tuna, flavored tororo and barley rice was magic made in heaven.
The third popular lunch set menu was Beef Jinenjo Tororo Donburi (1,500 yen/small). It comes with soup and pickles. The beef was cooked how it would be for gyudon or beef bows. The beef and onion are simmered in a sweet sauce, placed on top of their tororo.
I don’t think I have ever seen a combination of tororo and beef before… But, it actually worked pretty great together. Who knew? Obviously they did! The meat was tender and super juicy, packed with flavor and very satisfying.
They have gender neutral bathroom all the way at the back.
They have a sink at the door, and two stools. But, one is an old-fashion Japanese stool, so if you are not used to that style, make sure to use the one of the second door, with a regular toilet. It is interesting how some places still have old-fashion Japanese style stools.
Our lunch was amazing, and we were extremely full. With the smaller size, I couldn’t finish… My hubby was stuffed too. So, unless you are a big hungry bear, I recommend getting the smaller size. Their tororo was amazing, super fresh, high quality with special flavoring was like a symphony on my tongue. The staffs were not very friendly but we’ve heard about that before we went, so we were not too surprised. They kind of leave you alone other than when they take your order and bring you food. Getting glasses of water from them was a bit of challenge, and they acted like it was such a huge request… But, we went there for their tororo, not for the great service. For that, we were very happy. If you love tororo, and if you are in the area, this place is a must!
Tororo Honmaru – 2 Chome-14-2 Minami, Kakegawa, Shizuoka Japan
とろろ 本丸 – 静岡県掛川市南2-14-2