The Travel Bug: Nagoya - land of eel repute

Day 1 (Tues, 18 December 2018)

Our holiday destination this year is...Nagoya! To be honest, we didn't know much (anything) about Nagoya when we booked our air tickets. We wanted to go somewhere to relax and unwind, as it has been a hectic year for the whole family. And since end December, which is the super peak period, is the only period our kids' school holidays coincide, we decided to just pick a destination where the cost of air tickets didn't require us to sell our kidneys.

So Nagoya, also because Japan - home of the best food anywhere.

We took the SQ flight that arrived in Nagoya early in the morning at 8.20am. We were right on time to catch the Centrair Limousine which brought us to the Sakae area in 45mins, where our hotel was.

The bus stop is on Nishiki Dori Avenue, just a short walk to our hotel, which is HotelAPA Nagoya Nishiki. Brief background: the main, most happening area in Nagoya is around Nagoya train station. But hotels near there cost a bomb during the holiday season. Then I discovered that two subway stations away is Sakae, which is Nagoya's main shopping area. Hotels there are much more reasonably priced.

I wasn't sure if I would regret this choice as reviews were mixed on Tripadvisor. But in the end, we like it a lot. The rooms look like they need a makeover, but they're clean and they're larger than the twin rooms we stayed in in Osaka. The beds are comfortable, they have all the usual amenities and the shower is great (hot with great water pressure).

More importantly, the location is fantastic. A 2 min walk from Sakae subway station, and surrounded by malls, shops and eateries.

We were too early to check in, so we dropped our luggage at the hotel and headed off to Meijo Park, two subway stations away. I've always been fascinated by autumn colours, never having had the opportunity to travel during that season, and was hoping to catch some here. I was not disappointed. While most trees have already shed their foliage, there were still a few displaying their fiery hues (thank goodness for late bloomers!) They're absolutely gorgeous.

After that stroll in the park, we went for a spot of lunch at Oasis 21 - a mall near Sakae. The weather was just a tad nippy at 12 degrees celcius.

The venue was Nigiri no Tokube - a sushi kaiten (sushi train) restaurant.

Sushi kaitens have never disappointed us in Japan. The sushi is always fresh and the price affordable. The scallops were ridiculously delicious, unlike the ones in Singapore which tend to be rather tasteless.

By then, we were feeling pretty much like zombies, not having slept much on the flight over. So we went back to the hotel, checked in and took a 3-hour nap. After which, we were all refreshed and ready for...dinner!

One of Nagoya's specialties is hitsumabushi or grilled eel on rice. And the one restaurant that comes up on every list featuring Nagoya's hitsumabushi is Atsuta Horaiken - a restaurant with a 140 year history, so of course that's the one we had to try.

We went to the Atsuka branch at Matsuzakaya shopping centre, about a 10 min walk from our hotel. We almost missed it - the restaurant has no food displays, menus or English signboards on the outside, just a Japanese name. We didn't even realise it was a restaurant! Guess they are that famous.

We ordered their hitsumabushi and a serving of eel liver.

Eel liver

You can eat it three ways: alone, with condiments (spring onions, wasabi, seaweed) or with a bouillon. It was incredibly delicious, eaten any way. Sweet and smokey, with a slightly charred taste. It's like eel claypot rice. It's so good we want to come back. Tip: the rice portion is quite large. If you don't eat that much rice, order the large bowl which gives you more eel for Y5,100 and share it among two people.

After that scrumptious meal, we explored the area. One observation: the crowds here are nothing like Tokyo and Osaka. Considering this is the holiday season, the streets are quieter and not teeming with people, which we like a lot. There are definitely fewer tourists, and the tourists are mostly Japanese. We definitely stuck out as tourists here, and we have yet to see any Singaporeans.

We're really enjoying this - it's such a nice change from other busy cities. However the downside is that many restaurants only have signs only in Japanese, and most restaurant workers don't speak any form of English, which can make communication a little tricky. Ah well, there's always Google translate.

This is closest to the Glico running man in Dotonbori, Osaka - the Don Quijote building, which is at the intersection with the ferris wheel of Sunshine Sakae.