Outstanding gourmet food nurtured by rich Northern Alps nature【Collaboration Project with Omachi City Vol.3】
If you are planning to visit Nagano prefecture, a famous destination for many travelers from abroad, put your base in Omachi City. In this city, you will get to see whimsical scenery in Takase Gorge and Three Lakes of Nishina (Nishina Sanko) created by clear water and grand nature that are all distinct in each season. Also while you are in town, do not miss the breath-taking “Yuki-no-Otani-Snow wall”, which is as high as 20m. What’s more, you can easily access internationally famous tourist attractions such as Kurobe Dam, Matsumoto Castle and Zenko-ji Temple from Omachi City too. However, visiting Omachi is actually a lot more than that. In this article, which is a series of 3 volumes, we will introduce you 3 video clips that the city newly produced to spread its charms to foreigners planning to travel the area.
In this third article, we will introduce you the gourmet food you can enjoy in Omachi City.
▼Here is the video clip about the delicious food in Omachi City!If it takes long time to download it, please continue to read this article first!
▼Soba
Omachi City is a part of Shinshu area, which is quite famous for delicious soba (buckwheat noodles). In fact, this whole area is called “the country of soba”. Among many parts in the area, Omachi is especially suited for raising buckwheat for its climate and other natural features. At the restaurant “Asano Yakata” shown in the video, you can enjoy a bowl of soba noodles made with 100% locally grown buckwheat flour. Enjoy rich aroma of freshly made soba along with genuine sweetness and chewy texture of the fine-quality noodles.
【Asano Yakata（麻の館）】
Address:14004 Miasa Omachi-City, Nagano
Business Hours:11:00-17:00
Closed:Thursday
▼Ramen
“Buta no Sanpo” is a restaurant specializing in pork dishes. Here, enjoy their special “Omachi Nikujiro” ramen noodles. If you know that you are a big eater, please do try this dish with a heap of meat and vegetables on top of ramen noodles.
【Buta no Sanpo Omachi Ekimae-ten】
Address:3168-8 Omachi, Omachi City, Nagano
Business Hours:11:30-14:00, 18:00-23:00
Closed:No scheduled holidays
▼Curry
If you want to talk about Omachi City, you got to eat the famous “Kurobe Dam Curry”. Kurobe Dam Curry resembles the actual dam; rice is served in a shape of arched embankment of the dam, and curry is the water saved in the dam. In the city, various eateries offer their own unique dishes of the Kurobe Dam Curry.
▼Sake
Another specialty in Omachi City is Japanese Sake. Given the fact that the area has long been the center of fine-quality rice nurtured by abundant pure cold water, it comes natural that the area has also developed as a home of Japanese Sake brewing using the locally grown rice. In the city, there are 3 long-established Sake breweries; Usui Shoten, Ichinoya Shoten and Hokuan Jozo, and they all continue to produce their own unique and striking bottles of Japanese Sake.
In Hokuan Jozo featured in the video, they produce Sake sticking to historical techniques utilizing manual labor. In fact, they are proud of their long-lasting skills that have been handed down in this small brewery. Most of their Sake have sweet taste. All of their products born out of the strong commitment for high-quality have rich aroma and exclusive flavors.
【Hokuan Jozo】
Address:2340-1 Omachi, Omachi City, Nagano
Business Hours:8:00-17:00
Closed:weekends and holidays
▼Wine
Grapes used for Nishina Wine, another local specialty in the area, withstand severe coldness in the winter and absorb abundant sunlight in the summer. This superb ingredient for the wine is made possible only because the land in the area is suited for the cultivation of wine grapes. The wine made with such grapes is genuinely refreshing and savory.
Omachi City is a place surrounded by the grand nature and goes through the distinctive four seasons. Visit the city and you will be pleasantly surprised to discover the colorful food culture such natural features can create.