I arrived in Kushiro at night. On this day, I will stay at Pako near the Kushiro River Heimai Bridge. After checking in and having dinner with my colleagues, feeling exhausted, I decided to visit "Kuma no Ie" which I had been curious about for a while. I checked in advance and found out that their yakisoba portion is huge! I can't wait to try it. Inside, there was an authentic hearth! It was different from what I had imagined, but it felt more like Kushiro. There were two regular elderly customers, two tourist couples, a young male solo traveler, and a female solo traveler, creating a welcoming atmosphere for various people. I sat next to the regular customers in the back. First, we toasted with highballs and beer. They were so cold and delicious! I ordered zangi, yakisoba, raw flounder, cod fry, and the limited tonkatsu! Oh boy, even though I ordered them, they are higher in calories than usual! (laughs) Starting with zangi. The authentic Kushiro zangi is indeed delicious! It tastes just as good as in Sapporo, but eating hot zangi while still steaming is so delicious! The most delicious dish was the cod fry! I love it so much, I can't think of anything I like more in Kushiro. It conveyed freshness and was so fluffy and delicious. Ta-da! Here it is! The yakisoba! How many servings is this? It's only 680 yen, so it's unbelievable! I would almost want to ask, "Is this for one person?" Adding mayonnaise made it even more voluminous and calorie-packed! After that, I had raw flounder and tonkatsu for dessert and continued drinking. Oh, I'm so full! Thank you for the feast!

Charcoal-grilled chicken thigh, house special Zangi, premium tonkatsu, extra large portion of potato fries, wasabi greens, and pickled vegetables.

I had forgotten about my summer vacation. Even if it turns into a lonely tour, I must eat hokke in Kushiro. Last month, I wanted to eat hokke so badly that I went to Otaru to buy some, but it was a striped hokke and I couldn't eat it because the head and skin were too tough. That disappointment led to what was supposed to be a car camping tour turning into staying at a hotel and visiting Kumano-ya in Kushiro, a restaurant I had been wanting to visit for a while. I was captivated by the photos of hokke and decided that if I were to eat hokke in Kushiro, it would be at this restaurant. However, when I entered the restaurant, I realized it was a place I had been to before, under a different name. I ordered hokke, of course. Once I had a piece of hokke, nothing else could satisfy me. Initially, the young man at the restaurant tried to cook it for me, but he didn't seem to know how to cook fish. A middle-aged woman took over. She explained, "For river fish, start from the skin; for sea fish, start from the flesh." Even so, she flipped the fish too many times. Hokke should be cooked with strong, indirect heat, starting with the flesh before cooking the skin. If you flip it too much, the fat will drip off. You need to cook the flesh thoroughly before cooking the skin, otherwise you can't eat the small bones in the belly. Hokke's belly and head are the best parts, but with this method... The upper belly was dry, and the back meat was not enjoyable. The head was tough, and the skin was hard to eat. I managed to eat the skin. Grilled fish has both fat that drips off and fat that remains. It's not just about grilling everything. It's about the difficulty of getting the grilling just right. There was still fat left on the plate after finishing the meal. The restaurant I used to go to didn't flip the grilled surface so much. The owner seemed fussy about it. The person in charge of grilling also had his own preferences. I should have checked the new location beforehand.

We used this restaurant for a welcome party for a transfer from the police headquarters. Every menu was delicious and everyone in the large room was very satisfied, but the highlight was the spicy cod roe with mackerel. The harmony of the spicy cod roe's pungent taste and the juicy, oily flavor of the mackerel was wonderful, and we all burst into laughter thinking this was the highlight of the night. It was really delicious, so when my sister and her husband come to visit, I plan to bring them here and let them taste this dish.