We had a leisurely start to our second day in Nagoya and went to the popular tonkatsu chain - Misokatsu Yabaton - for brunch. Misokatsu is a Nagoya speciality - it's miso sauce poured over fried pork cutlet (tokatsu). Yabaton is very popular among locals. When we arrived before noon, there was already a line. They give you menus as you queue and seat you only when you have ordered.
It was slightly stressful as people who came after us expertly place their orders and were ushered into the restaurant while we were still trying to figure out the difference among the many different cuts of pork and sauces! But eventually we got our act together (when in doubt, order the one listed as "#1 Bestseller") and got a seat. A giant jug of cold green tea was served - trust the Japanese to decide what drink you were supposed to have to complement their food.
Three of us ordered the standard misokatsu bowl set. Each set comes with a bowl of soup and a massive serving of shredded cabbage. The waitress pours the red miso sauce over the pork for you.
Andre had the kurobuta (black pork) set.
I'm not a big fan of pork, but the tonkatsu here is excellent. The pork is tender, fatty and juicy, not like some of the tough cuts we tend to get in Singapore. The cabbage and green tea are a refreshing counterpoint to the richness of the pork and the sauce.
On our itinerary today was a trip to the Toyota Automobile Museum.To get there, we had to change trains at Fujigaoka subway station. The second leg was the Linimo train. Since it's a private railway, not the subway, we were expecting an older type of train, so was thoroughly impressed when it turned out to be a super modern one which looks like a souped up LRT. It looks very new and it moves so smoothly it practically glides along the rails.
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| On the Linimo train |
Entry to the Toyota Automobile Museum is Y1,000 per adult and Y500 for students, but at Fujigaoka station, you can pick up a discount card that gives you 20% off prices. The museum is very well organised, arranged chronologically according to the development of cars from the 1800s.
This is the Ford Model T, the car that changed the face of motoring, paving the way for cars to be made available to the mass market.
Kenneth loves to drive and Andre, who's now learning how to drive, has always been a motorhead. I, on the other hand, have been known not to recognise my own car, and Lesley-Anne is aligned with my non-car inclinations. As Andre went from one exhibit to another, exclaiming, "This is the Cadillac Model 30!" "Wow, a Bugatti!", Lesley-Anne and I were going, "oh look, a green car." and "that's a long one - I wonder how it parallel parks". When Andre excitedly showed us "the first car without a crank" I whispered to Lesley-Anne (whom we sometimes nickname 'Grumpy Cat'), "if you get into that car, we can change that."
This was the scene eventually (that's Kenneth in the background). Check out my unbridled excitement.
Meanwhile, Lesley-Anne, who's our official photographer, decided to adopt a more artistic approach.
Before long, this degenerated into the kids hamming it up.
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| The name of this car is Adorable One-Eyed Goblin |
This is a predictor of things to come.
My disinterest aside, it really is a great museum for petrolheads. Kenneth and Andre enjoyed it a lot and it's not crowded, so you can enjoy a leisurely look at each vehicle.
Finally, we decided to try another Nagoya speciality for dinner - kishimen which is flat wheat noodles in soup. We went to Yoshida Kishimen at Nagoya station. No English name, so it took us a while to find it.
Kishimen tastes like udon, just that the noodles are flat. The regular broth is light and tasty. Andre ordered the one with ankake sauce, another Nagoya speciality. It's described as a sticky, spicy sauce with vinegar. It looks similar to the shark's fin soup we get at home, but milder.
A lighter meal in contrast to the rich food we've been having, but alas, diets are thrown to the wind whenever we're on holiday. There's a Family Mart just around the corner of our hotel and Andre discovered this fabulous croquette sold there. We don't know what it is or what it's called but it has macaroni in it, so we think it's some form of mac and cheese croquette. Creamy and cheesy. He's been having this as a snack every night. Yumz.
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