mino_ej20t
In mid-July 2021, for lunch. Today, I plan to arrive in Hakodate from Sapporo. I decided to try the crab rice in Omu, and also took a dip in the Omube Onsen. It's an old hot spring town, but the hot spring water was nice with a mild alkaline quality. Upon arrival around 11:00 am, there were 3 groups of customers ahead of us. We were seated at the last available table. Although there were still many sunken kotatsu seats available, it seemed like there was plenty of seating space, but all the table seats were filled shortly after opening, indicating its popularity. We ordered crab rice and chawanmushi. I was curious about the crab rice set, but looking at the menu, it seemed to come with crab rice, chawanmushi, and crab salad, so I decided to skip the salad. The dishes arrived fairly quickly, accompanied by miso soup and pickles. The black pickle was seaweed tsukudani, which tasted milder than store-bought ones. Trying the crab rice, it seemed to be cooked crab meat on top of warm white rice. There was quite a generous amount, showing the effort put into picking the meat. It's essentially a bento, so the crab flavor is there but not overwhelmingly so. The rice was warm and delicious. The experience was similar to the kamameshi from Oginoya in Gunma. The chawanmushi had a sweet flavor, which might appeal more to those from the Kanto region, but it also had a good dashi taste. It served as a nice solid dish in between bites of crab rice, complementing the meal well. On another note, Omu is famous for a gag by Tetsu Yorii. I looked it up and found out that it was a hit on a sexy variety show on TV. I must have been around elementary school age, but I remember laughing at something I didn't understand, which was my introduction to the name Omube. It's quite an achievement to have spread the name through humor. There are stories of him getting scolded by the residents, but that's understandable ===========