Last Saturday, I hopped on an 8 A.M. train to Saga, nestled right underneath Fukuoka – the big apple of Kyushu – on a quest to visit a Japanese fish market. Like most other tourists, I had heard of Tsukiji, renowned for selling luxury catches and cheap fresh bites to the public. But this was my first time to venture into a regional one: Yobuko Morning Market in Karatsu city.
As my escort drove past road-side squid stalls and docks, I could tell our destination was near.
We strolled down the major outdoor shopping alley, lined with several small fish carts and food stalls. Unfortunately, due to the recent surge of the pandemic, only a handful of residents, let alone foreigners, were to be spotted. Thus most of the elderly merchants were enthralled to offer us discounted deals. The Yobuko market itself is open from 7 A.M. to midday, with most vendors selling every day excluding New Year’s Day (as most Japanese businesses do). Yobuko is particularly famed for its squid, and true to tale, most stalls were selling some form of it. However many also offered other options: here are some of the exotic ones we tried…
→ Japanese sea snail さざえ (‘sazae’)
Roasted inside its shell with soy sauce and butter. While conceptually and texturally similar to escargot, ‘sazae’ is less creamy, more firm and bitter towards the tail. Can also be eaten raw.
→ Sea Urchin ウニ (‘uni’)
Only the innards are edible. Its spiny shell is cracked, and the bright orange gonads are scraped out onto a small saucer. Not a familiar flavour to westerners; slimy sea water taste with a faint creamy tang. Eye-catching and appealing as sushi, but not my cup of tea on its own!
→ Dried baby sardines ちりめん (‘chiramen’)
Relatively cheap but flavour and vitamin-packed. Chewy, yet softer than commercially dried variants. We were kindly given a free handful from a woman as we passed by her buckets.
Of course, all of the products sold are freshly caught and prepared by hand. One of the most top-selling is overnight dried squid (イカ一夜干し) which can be an easy souvenir or snack.
To finish our tour, we tucked into raw squid sashimi at a popular restaurant ‘Kawataro’ (河太郎)!
We opted for the orthodox set, featuring squid 3 ways: sashimi, tempura and dumpling, accompanied with pickles/rice/miso soup. But I didn’t expect our squids to still be slightly alive! Two fresh squids first arrived at our table with their heads neatly sliced into bite-size strings. Fortunately, their squirming tentacles were to be fried up for the next course as tempura. My favorite, though, was the squid dumpling: daintily steamed and slightly sweet.
If it was not for the worldwide pandemic, Yobuko would be bustling with overseas visitors. Efforts to promote this tourism were evident through multilingual signing and cute squid icons dotted around the town. There’s even a cruise-ship decorated as a giant squid!
For those looking to visit ‘hidden gems’ in Japan, Yobuko is certainly a worthwhile stop for a half-day gourmet trip. Although a car is most convenient for getting around, the city is also accessible by tourist buses and boats. I will certainly be back for another squid sensation!
