Kanazawa: Omicho Market, Lunch, Dinner
After dropping off our luggage, we walked to the nearby Omicho Market (近江町市場) 🗾. As is common, much of the market activity subsides after 1:30 PM. We arrived around 2:00 PM, but there was still enough to see—lots of food stalls, in particular, seafood. There are also several restaurants on a separate level, from which we chose Ichinokura (市の蔵) for lunch. Lunch is a seafood dish over rice. After lunch, we sauntered back to the hotel and rested for a while.
For dinner, we were in the mood for curry, and we walked back to the market, where we had previously seen Kanazawa Curry Laboratory (金沢カレー研究工房 近江町市場) 🗾. There was another highly recommended curry place, but it was closed that day. To order, you first choose your curry style and level of spiciness, then select your rice, and finally add any desired toppings. We pick Golden Kanazawa Curry, Hanton Rice, and, for topping, omelette, croquettes, and tonkatsu on the side. We wash this delicious curry down with a couple of beers.
Hanton rice, by itself, is usually topped with an egg, ketchup, and tartar sauce, and has prawns or fish as a protein topping. This dish is not widely known in Japan; it is a Kanazawa thing. Here, since it concerns curry, ordering the Hanton rice option means you automatically get the omelette topping and sauces. However, you can still choose the protein separately (tonkatsu in our case).
