00:01
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast. Hello. I went to Hokkaido actually the other day. Oh. I did.
And um, I, you know, I've been saying that I love the kaisendon in Hokkaido. Yeah. You see it like
a one typical, what was it, Hakodate? Hakodate. Yeah. Yes. Typical one restaurant, right? Yeah,
like, uh, yeah, the one in Ichiba. Ichiba. Yeah. There's this, you know what I'm talking about,
right? There's an Ichiba right next to the Hakodate airport. Not Hakodate. Otaru. Otaru.
Right. There's the Otaru station. And if you, when you get out, there's like this small Ichiba right
next to it. You know what I'm talking about? I mean, I've never been to Otaru actually. Oh,
okay. Got it. Like I, so my grandparents living in Hokkaido. Okay. But that's very east side.
Yeah. That's the only place I went to as a Hokkaido. I've never been to Sapporo. You've
never been to Sapporo? Oh, sorry. Once went to Sapporo with my friends. Oh, but like, but like
that's it? Yeah. Two, two days. So you've never been to like, uh, the Hyakuman Doru no Yaikei?
No. Really? That's Hakodate, right? Maybe. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Or like Otaru. Otaru.
Furano. Ah, Furano, I think I've drove with my family. Drove? Ah. But, but not like Sapporo?
No, no. Wow. So I have no, so I went to Sapporo two days, three, two, three days. So I went to
like a snow park, snow festival. Okay. And so then, but most of the time I was in a cottage,
not like main Sapporo city, but like very far from Sapporo. Oh, okay. And did a kind of
camping kind of thing. Oh, okay. So honestly, I have no idea. No idea what it's like. Like a station
of Otaru. You've never, you don't know what the station is like? No. You don't know how the
underground tunnel of the Sapporo station is very long and it's like you can access anywhere. Oh,
really? Yeah. I have no idea. Don't know. Never been to the Chuo Koen, saw the Terebi Kyoku. Nah.
Wow. Okay. Okay. All right. Yeah. You don't know that there's a Romen Densha running
right in the middle of Sapporo. Really? Yeah. And it's aesthetic. Oh, nah. Oh.
Okay. All right. But, you know, okay. So, but I've been saying that I love the Hokkaido's
Kaisendon, right? Otaru Kaisendon. The best Kaisendon I've eaten in my life. Oh, great. Right.
So I went to Otaru. I went to that place. I went to that Shotengai. Is it Ichiba or Shotengai?
Sorry, Ichiba. Ichiba, okay. It's a narrow road and there's like open shops and ojisans are
standing there like, oishii yo, oishii yo. Ah, okay. Kani aru yo. Yeah, that's Ichiba.
03:01
Ichiba, yeah. And, um, and, um. Kani aru yo. Very simple marketing.
One of the shops, right, that, that, that, that, that, that I went. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Two hour waiting time. Two hours. So I was like, hmm. Is that like very famous place?
Obviously it was. I didn't know, but apparently it was very famous, right? Two hour waiting time.
So there was another Kaisendon that was next to it, right? Very similar menu looking, right? You
get to choose what you want to put in your donburi. Like you could choose three or five. Right.
Um, same style of menuing, right? Same, similar pricing. Okay. Same Ichiba. Yeah.
It's just probably from the same ocean, right? Yeah. Sure. It's not, it's not that different.
Yeah. So I went there, that was like a 30 minute wait. So I went to that place and I had myself,
uh, uh, salmon and a, and a, and a maguro don. Okay. Yeah. It was good, but it wasn't
what I expected though. It wasn't as good as what I had in my mind. Okay. So my question was like,
is it because it's a different store or did my memories, did my, my expectation grow so much
to the point where it exceeded the actual taste? Yeah. So I don't know what happened,
but that was what happened. I went to the store next to it and it wasn't as good. It was good,
but like not top notch. I see. I feel like I could have gotten it in Tokyo.
Okay. Yeah. When was the last time you went to that? The best shop? High school.
I see. High schooler. Yes. High fucking schooler. Okay. Oh no, wait, sorry. College.
Yes. College. College with my high school friends. Oh, okay. College. Which year?
Honestly, I have no idea, but like, I don't know. First or second, something like that.
Maybe. Okay. So it's like almost 10 years ago. Yes.
Then I would say there are, I would say like high possibility that, that your memory like grows
inside and then just your expectation is like grows too much. Yeah. Oh wait, hold on.
There was another time that I went. Oh. After that Daigaku Hokkaido. Okay. There was another
timing where I went there. I honestly forgot the season. It was, I forgot it was when.
Um, after graduating from college. Okay. I think first year, first year of Shikaijin maybe? Okay.
06:04
Around there. While you were working at the company. Yeah. For the company. My first company,
yes. That, I went to Hokkaido again and went to that same shop. Okay. And that timing, I felt
the same thing as well. This is such a good Kaisendon. Never had it in my life that's this
good. Okay. The best. I felt the same like kando. So then it's like, that's like eight or seven
years ago. Yeah. Still long enough to have the memory just grow so much. Just walk on its own.
Yeah. You know, still enough time. True. Have you like been to many other Kaisendon places like
sushi restaurants after that? After that you went to Shikaijin timing? Yeah. That one. Yes.
In Tokyo. Yes. In Tokyo though. And you experienced like many great restaurants or
found like highest quality? Um, not really. Well, because, because, because yes, because if yes,
then your tongue or like, you know, taste got elevated. And then that's one possibility, but
that, um, so it's not like I went to all these places that are like very fancy, very expensive.
I did go to like, like Nantoka Minato, Nantoka-ko, Misaki-ko. Or like, you know, some sea areas.
I went to a lot of sea areas and bought a Kaisendon that sold it as fresh and new.
Yeah. Like the one in Kanagawa. Yeah. That's right. That's right. Those. Yeah.
It's in a mystery box. But do you think there's a possibility of that, that, that the, um,
taste change because I changed shops? Yeah. You think it's possible? Yeah. It's in the
same Shotenkai though. Same Ichiba. Right. Wouldn't it, isn't it the same?
Or the fish that's being bought, you think, um, they're buying a better fish than that shop that
I went to? Yeah. Because, um, so my grandparents' brother, my grandparents' brother. Yeah.
Grandparents' brother. Brother. Yeah. My grandparents' brother. Yeah. They were, they're
running, um, um, a fish store. Okay. And they are in the Ichiba. Okay. And then they do this
thing and everything. Yeah. And they say that it's completely depends on the, that store,
09:05
the quality of the fishes or like how expensive you get. Okay. Will be different. Okay. Even in
the same, you know, big Ichiba. Yeah. This shop is good, but this one's so-so. Even though they're
all fresh. Okay. But if they have that connection, if they have. Oh, so because they were, they had
the same price range though. Yeah. That's a, hmm. Maybe it was connections? Maybe. Maybe. Because
for example, when I went to Hokkaido, we sometimes buy fishes from the market. It's very fresh. Yeah.
From the market. Yeah. But it's actually different from the one the, the parents' brother gave us.
Every time we, we get that and taste that, we say, Oh.
So it's possible that they have like different Mekiki levels. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.
Yeah. Okay. All right. Then I would have to actually go to that store again. Yeah. Yeah.
But is that the, and also like he said, cause three hours waiting and 30 minutes waiting.
Yeah. Very different. Right. I thought it was just social media, you know? Oh, true.
You know how, if it's not, it's the same quality, but social media gets them on the track and there's
five hours waiting. That's happening all the time. Right. It's like, it's like Ichiran and
yeah. The, the, all the foreign tourists. Yeah. You could go to Ichiran. They're good, but like,
yeah. Is it worth two hours waiting? Yeah. We have many tonkotsu ramen shops. Yeah. True.
I thought it was like that. I mean, that's possible. Yeah. Highly possible. That's true.
Yeah. We'll have to see. I'll have to see. Yeah. Go again. See what's up. Yeah. Right. Right.
And you will be very disappointing if you, you know, I'm kind of scared to like find out,
like if I actually wait two hours and just taste it and be like, it's not bad. Yeah. Like that's
kind of disappointing for, you know, like I've, I feel like I've like, like I'm a rotten human being
now, you know? You know? Yeah. But at least you would know. Know. Yeah. Right. Right. Right.
Yeah. All right. Thanks for listening guys. Thank you. Bye. How was it good? Yeah. Good,
good. It was good though. Yeah. It was good. It was good. Yeah.