Kitsune no Botan — Restaurant in Imabari

One of the best meals of my life. Hands down. I don’t say that lightly. I live in Tokyo right now and go to izakaya multiple times a week. None have compared to this experience. Not only are the owner and his wife such sweet and welcoming couple, but also take your order directly and then make everything themselves in front of you. So fresh. Tell them what you like and ask for what they recommend!

Came in prepared to only spend a bit and completely blew all my money on how good the food was. You could easily go in and order two or three dishes and be satisfied though. The owner was sweet enough to let me try half size portions of many things because I was curious. That being said, I was the first customer of the night and it is a small restaurant in a small town, so get there right when they open for the most selection. I noticed that they ran out of certain items after the first hour. After a few tables on a weeknight, they had to turn people away. That is only a testament to how fresh this food is.

Standouts included the pork soaked in wine, the orange peel and plum tempura, and the squid. Everything was amazing though I had to force myself to stop😅

The music playing was amazing too- so many classic beatles and stones hits

I will dream of this...

A very unique and interesting experience on the island of Omishima, came across this spot as one of the few open on the island after spending the day biking over from Onomichi. It's a one man operation, serving an eclectic izakaya menu that's written on a whiteboard.

We had some trouble understanding/translating the menu, which meant we weren't entirely sure what we were ordering but made for a surprise

We ordered: octopus - tasty but a tad too salty

sashimi w/ sesame oil - this was delicious, the sesame oil is so fragrant

tripe sashimi - we thought this would be fish belly, but turned out to be tripe. It was okay, not too chewy as it's thin stripes. It takes on the flavour of the sauce.

chicken sashimi - this is a local dish, chicken is just torched on top. The owner suggested a half portion as we were apprehensive about trying. Personally wasn't a huge fan of it, it's cut into chunks which was quite chewy.

karage - can't go wrong with fried chicken

fried clams - also...

Absolutely stunning meal after a long day of cycling! This was one of the most enjoyable izakaya experiences that we have had with everything from precisely cooked, innovative and delicious dishes to the most friendly husband/wife team and the locals filtering in and out for their evening tipple and snack.

Chef's flavour combinations were super fun: nagi and blue cheese, fried chicken with yam sauce, salmon with "salt and pepper", raw octopus with a soy marinade that had LOADS of wasabi (in a good way).

His wife is a sake lover and will recommend depending on what her mood is and what you're eating. Everything she suggested was spot on.

It was hit after hit and was already the perfect experience before on the way out they heard it was our honeymoon and gifted us a bag full of snacks as a gift. What a special night.

We had an absolute feast and drank plenty with the bill only...