Okay, I'm going to front load all the Nagoya food topics in this post to have a full comprehensive guide to what you should look for in Nagoya especially.
I'll save some of the heavy hitters for later so let's start with 台湾ラーメン (Taiwanese Ramen). Eating the ramen with a Taiwanese Australian colleague (and two German colleagues), I was informed that there was no ramen like this in Taiwan, it's not typical for ramen in Taiwan to be this spicy, and the restaurant name was a "Chinese Taiwanese Restaurant..." Nevertheless, it is a Nagoya delicacy (?) so it apparently is something that is best to try here. It is possible to find it at other places though (like Tsukuba) so no pressure.
The next subset I've tried were more pedestrian but still incredibly enjoyable. Recommended by one of our senior colleagues, we went to a famous Nagoya chain of restaurants called Sekai no yama-chan (世界の山ちゃん). It has Nagoya specialty izakaya-friendly foods like 『幻の胡椒 手羽先』 (まぼろし の こしょう てばさき or phantom pepper chicken wings), 天むす (shrimp tempura onigiri/musubi), and 味噌串カツ (miso cutlet skewers). While I tried all of these, let me talk about the first two, the highlights of the experience.
This "phantom pepper chicken wings," although sounding mysterious, is just crispy fried party wings with a heafty amount of black pepper salt seasoning. Although simplistic, the wing was seasoned to the bone, the amount of pepper was still very enjoyable, and maybe there was some mirin or sake helping marinate the wings due to the savoriness the wings had. As one would say, they were literally finger-licking good!
The next dish was this little ball called 天むす, a shrimp tempura musubi or onigiri like ball that might even be common in Nagoya convenient stores. I think it is a nice variation on the classic onigiri since it's super familiar but the shy little shrimp poking their head or tail out keeps it fun and different. Especially with a couple of lemon sours in you, it might taste even better!
Okay, the MAIN thing you should look for in Nagoya is anything miso. Although miso is obviously used everywhere in Japan, it's a weird quirk of Nagoya that people here love their miso. Typically, a Nagoya variant called hatcho miso is fermented for ~2-3 years, made ONLY FROM soybeans (many other variants have rice or barley incorporated). This red miso, although has some sweetness like other miso, is bolder and richer than typical variants. Because the Nagoya people seem to be proud of their miso, the rest of Japan joke that Nagoya people will find a way to put miso in everything!
While there are a few different dishes, the common dishes (and the dishes I've tried) are miso katsu and miso nikomi udon (miso udon stew?). To convince the reader that I had the real deal, let me point you to this establishment: 岩正手打ちうどん店 (Iwamasa teuchi udon-ten). From the google reviews, this restaurant has origins from the Meiji period, which means this restaurant is over 100 years old!
The first dish is the 味噌煮込みうどん (miso nikomi udon). I assume there's some dashi with a ton of miso, where the udon has plenty of opportunity to soak the stew in. For toppings, it normally comes with eggs, fish cake, and some other stuff. However, since I wanted to be extra, I also got kiri-mochi. For any of you that has seen my favorite movie, Tampopo, this mochi was so good, an elderly gentlemen almost choked to death trying to enjoy this stretchy chewy morsel. The bitterness in the back of my palette took some time to get used to but otherwise, it's just a pot of rich brothy deliciousness with tons of carbs to give you high blood sugar levels and send you to heaven. Except.....
Round two for lunch is the 味噌カツ丼 (miso katsu don). In this case, this seems to be a chicken cutlet with egg and a miso tare/sauce. Rather than the bitterness found in the miso nikomi, this highlighted the sweetness of the miso while still retaining the expected savoriness. This was personally my favorite dish I've had so far. I can't think of a better combination than carbs, sweetness, umami, fried items, and the essence of eggs. Maybe I need to try it at other places in Nagoya to see how this place compared to other restaurants but if I never had the chance, I'd still be content.
As some honorable mentions before I hit the final stretch, some important Nagoya dishes I didn't have enough time to find or enjoy are kishimen (a flat wide noodle), ankake spaghetti, ogura-toast, and a myriad of other miso-based dishes that I'm too lazy to find.
Okay, the pièce de résistance of Nagoya specialities: hitsumabushi. This is a Nagoya unagi (freshwater eel) dish served over rice and comes with sides of dashi and maybe an eel liver soup (kimosui). Now.... I can hear the peanut gallery saying something to the effect of "Excuse me. 鰻丼" or "鰻重" already exists. Why do these Nagoya people think they can just call this dish something else and get away with it? You can't just cut it up and put it in a circular dish and say it's different! Preposterous... "
『バカメ！』, I would respond, for I know better. Soon, you will too. In order to understand why we can provide Nagoya a pass on this, let's discuss the actual preparation, the accoutrements, and the eating methods.
一つ：Rather than the Kanto-method of steaming and then grilling the eel filet, they do something closer to the Kansai-method, which is 100% grilling. This produces some really crispy edges and provides so many more opportunities for the tare/sauce to stick on to the eel, while also concentrating that eel flavor. If you don't mind losing a bit of the fluffiness one might expect from the Kanto-method, the returns on the flavor front is worth it, in my humble opinion. Now, I hear the peanut gallery interrupting and replying "Okay, how is this different than a kansai-style うな重 then?" While this is a fair point, I still have two more points to bring up!
一つ：Maybe sometimes, you might go to a nice enough unagi place where this eel liver soup is also served along side. However, you find me an unaju/unagi-don place that also served wasabi and green onions to eat with eel (although, maybe you should save it for the next point). You find me an unagi establishment that also serves the unagi with a necessary vessel of dashi on the side. If you're wondering how the dashi is used...
一つ：While you can scoop out the eel for a small individualized portion and eat it like 鰻丼, that's only the initial rounds. When you feel up to it, or the dish is getting to heavy and the tsukemono/pickles are not enough, BAM! It is お茶漬け (ochazuke) time. You add the dashi as you would with お茶漬け in the portioned bowl and you get to experience a dish transforming your very eyes, where you get a decent approximation of this Kanto-style ふわふわ/fluffy texture. The cubed, thinner eel fillets makes it much easier to customize. I hope if you find this in Nagoya (or Tokyo...) to please give it a chance and keep an open mind.
As you can see, if you think of hitsumabushi as unaju or unagi-don, it is too surface level. When you consider this flavor oscillation that happens in the middle of your meal, you realize that hitsumabushi is a unique culinary experience, not just a bowl of eel with rice on top. I rest my case, your honor.
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