French cuisine featuring fish fresh from Suruga Bay

The city of Yaizu in Shizuoka Prefecture faces Suruga Bay and boasts a number of splendid views of Mount Fuji, as well as hot springs. Honestly speaking, though, the city is somewhat lacking in impact compared to neighboring cities when it comes to attracting many overseas tourists. In these circumstances, fine-dining restaurants have been a beacon of hope for Yaizu.

Over the past decade, a succession of Yaizu restaurants have been gaining attention, a notable example being Chakaiseki Onjaku, a Destination Restaurant of 2022. Thus, gastronomes from both inside and outside Japan are now visiting the area. The central figure in this trend is Naoki Maeda, owner of Sasue Maeda Fish Shop in Yaizu, which has been run by the Maeda family for five generations.

Maeda said, “Twenty years ago, I had the idea that the town could be revitalized if three good restaurants were established. So I joined forces with ambitious chefs, suggesting types of fish, cooking methods and so on. At the same time, I’ve also been working to raise the quality of fish, for instance by getting fishermen to change their processing methods.”

As a result, there are now six fine-dining restaurants in and around Yaizu that have teamed up with Sasue Maeda Fish Shop. One of these is Chisou Nishi Kenichi, a Destination Restaurant of 2024. Owner Kenichi Nishi and Maeda first met when Nishi, after an apprenticeship in France, was training at a Japanese restaurant in his hometown, Hiroshima, to study fish preparation in earnest. Nishi said he was stunned by the beauty and excellent condition of the fish delivered to Hiroshima in styrofoam boxes from Yaizu. He later struck out on his own, and in 2019 he opened the French restaurant Chisou 2924 in Hiroshima. A year after that, he was finally ready to begin using fish from Sasue Maeda Fish Shop. Incidentally, the city of Hiroshima is famous throughout Japan for the excellence of its fish, which is hardly surprising considering its location on the Seto Inland Sea.

“Even so,” said Nishi, “the fish from Sasue Maeda Fish Shop — including Mr. Maeda’s signature fish, mochiuma katsuo (a type of bonito) — is so delicious in terms of both texture and flavor, it’s on another level.”

The problem was that fish caught in Yaizu arrived in Hiroshima a day and a half later, meaning a little of its freshness was lost. In his cuisine, Nishi wanted to use fish that had been caught in Suruga Bay the same morning. It was this wish that motivated him to move to Yaizu, despite the ongoing COVID-19 situation. In June of 2022, he opened the French restaurant Chisou Nishi Kenichi in a location three minutes on foot from Sasue Maeda Fish Shop. The restaurant’s exterior architecture is Japanese in style. In back is a courtyard, and in front there is an open kitchen with an eight-seat counter. Both lunch and dinner service are exclusively omakase (chef’s choice) course menus consisting of 10 or 11 dishes, eight of which feature fish in starring roles, and cost ￥16,500 ($110). The appetizer of “swimming aji” marinated in sansho pepper oil and soy sauce — made with horse mackerel that has been left to swim in an aquarium and regain energy after being caught — might be called Nishi’s take on sashimi. When the meaty fish is cut with a knife and placed on the taste buds, there is a delight that is quite different from the experience of conventional sashimi. Nishi’s fritters are made from Pacific rudderfish, the moisture retention level of which has been enhanced through the use of 12 types of ice of differing shapes and temperatures in the cooling process. The fish is fried in untoasted sesame oil, and the fritters are amazingly juicy.

Today, Maeda’s fish appears on the tables of famous restaurants throughout Japan. But when it is eaten locally, the flavors are truly exceptional. It is well worth a visit to Yaizu to experience them for yourself.