In Kitami, there are many delicious meat shops, but my main go-to shop is here. While their Genghis Khan (grilled mutton) is famous, their pork skirt meat is also exquisite. I also love their young chicken cartilage and bamboo shoots.

◆May 2015◆ I heard from a friend that the Genghis Khan (grilled lamb) here is delicious, so I decided to visit this restaurant. They offer packaged Genghis Khan for around 1000 yen, which you can stir-fry with vegetables. I really like the fact that the sauce is not too sweet. When I visited another day, I noticed that they also have a great selection of hormone (offal). And the prices are quite reasonable too. I purchased bamboo shoots, white cartilage, and hormone. The white cartilage is a rare part of the pig's throat cartilage, and it has a nice chewy texture that is super tasty. It goes really well with beer. The bamboo shoots are larger in size compared to other stores, and they have a great crunchy texture. I think I'm becoming addicted to bamboo shoots. There are many other delicious-looking hormones available, so I will try a different one next time.

I thought it was supposed to get cooler, but today is quite hot, isn't it? They said, "It will be 30 degrees tomorrow!" and I wouldn't mind having barbecue tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow is my health check-up... Last year, I had barbecue the day before my health check-up and it really affected the results. The doctor scolded me, saying, "Eating barbecue the day before your check-up is ridiculous!" so this year, I need to restrain myself a bit. Let's have barbecue today since I'm in Kitami. Kitami boasts itself as the "barbecue city." I have never had good barbecue in Kitami before. Wasn't there a ramen shop you liked nearby? I went in and they said, "Write down what you want on this paper." I thought, "Ugh, that's a hassle!" I bought "hormone, sagari, kalbi, pork belly, etc." The service was not great at all. Even though it's a meat shop, they lacked energy. We grilled the meat in the garage. The hormone was thin and tasteless. I've never had hormone this bad before. It lacked flavor and fat. If the meat is good, I can overlook some things. "This hormone is bad!" I said. The smell was also unpleasant. My energy dropped, so I didn't eat the sagari and kalbi in the end. I had no choice but to have barbecue again the next day. Even though I said I had a health check-up the next day... I didn't learn from last year when I got scolded for doing the same thing. Still, I eagerly grilled the sagari and kalbi. They weren't bad, but they weren't good either. What's going on? They all have a smell. I don't feel the satisfaction of good meat. Whenever I hear that Kitami is the barbecue city, I felt uneasy, but now I feel disgusted. To the people of Kitami, I apologize! (Well, if you're sorry, then don't write about it!!)