Foodie Scientist: Kirishima (Kagoshima)

I stopped by Miyakonojo on the way to Kirishima in Kagoshima prefecture. Miyakonojo is located in the southwest region of Miyazaki prefecture, adjacent to Kagoshima. Miyakonojo is one of the cities with the highest meat production. Although the most famous meat in Miyazaki is chicken, Miyazaki beef is a well recognized brand of beef in Japan.

One of the best ways to enjoy good wagyu beef is BBQ (Yakiniku). The style of BBQ originated in Korea, but most Japanese BBQ meats are served unseasoned. The meat is accompanied by dipping sauce. Normally yakiniku is served for dinner, so there are not many yakiniku restaurants open for lunch. Luckily, I found a yakiniku restaurant that serves Miyazaki beef for lunch, Ryo-zan.

The entire city was quiet and many restaurants were closed. And this restaurant was empty. So, I didn't expect much. But they served excellent quality meat at a reasonable price. I chose the cheapest course, which is around US$35 per person and the amount of meat was pretty generous by Japanese standards.

Accompanied dipping sauce (ponzu, lemon juice, miso-based BBQ sauce from left to right)

For 2 persons

Miyazaki is famous for mangoes as well. It's a relatively new local specialty, but their high quality mangoes became popular very quickly. I went to a fruit parlor, called Tanaka. Once I went inside, I was really disappointed. Mango was not in season... I should have thought of this, though. Instead, I tried two seasonal fruit parfaits, hyuganatsu and persimmon. Hyuganatsu is a local citrus fruit and somewhat similar to pomelo.

Persimmon parfait

After the desserts, I headed to the onsen (hot spring) inn in Kagoshima. I got off the train at Kirishima jingu station and dropped by a shochu brewery, Kirishima-cho brewery. Initially I chose this brewery just because it's located on the way to the inn. Then, I found that their shochu, called Akarui Noson, had won a double gold medal at the World Spirits Competition in San Francisco in 2018. Shochu is a spirit made from various grains/starches, such as wheat, rice and potato. Kagoshima area is famous for potato shochu. I really liked their purple potato and red potato shochu. Because spirits are distilled, there's no color in the final product, unfortunately.

Their tasting bar was self service.

The inn I stayed at had an amazing view of Sakura-jima from the balcony. (Sakura-jima is a former island - now a peninsula - with an active volcano). The plume on the top of the mountain is the tail of smoke that is constantly released from the volcano.

Because I chose the inn for the beautiful outside onsen (hot spring) and the location (for the view of Sakura-jima), I didn't have a high expectation for the food. However, it was really good.

When I was seated, a big appetizer plate with various items welcomed me.

Kagoshima is famous for their Kuro buta (literally means black pork). Kuro buta is starting to become a well-known brand of pork outside of Japan as well. It originated with Berkshire pork from the UK and was brought to Japan in the late 1800's. The dinner included pork shabu shabu. The silver pot is filled with a rich broth, so it didn't need any dipping sauce. Very good.