Have you ever come across ordering a bowl of sashimi or kaisen seafood don but it comes with some items which are not your favourite? Well you definitely will not have this problem at the Aomori Furukawa Market where the speciality of this market is their Nokke don.
Nokke don is buying a bowl of rice and various of your favourite toppings to go on top of your rice. By doing so, you would have created your unique bowl of rice or donburi which the Japanese call it.
The Furukawa Market, or more popular known as the Aomori fish and vegetable centre is just 5 minutes walk from JR Aomori station.
You can also find English instructions on how to make your own Nokke don at the market.
At the entrance of the market, you will find this information stall where you can purchase your ticket for the Nokke don.
The ticket comes in either JPY500 or JPY1000 with individual JPY100 tear off coupon.
To start off "making" your own Nokke don, you have to purchase a rice bowl first from any of the stores which have the orange flag. These are the stores which sell cooked rice. You can either purchase a small bowl rice for JPY100 or a larger portion for JPY200.
The stores with the blue flag sells raw fish, meat or vegetables for your rice bowl.
The variety of toppings available are huge! As the market is not very big, you can actually tour one round of the market to pinpoint your favourite stalls or toppings before starting to make your own rice bowl.
Besides raw food, there are also a variety of fried foods for your selection.
Our one and only unique bowl of nokke don!
As we still had some coupons left, we bought some fried stuff and also chu-toro.
Don't worry about finding a place to sit in the wet market. They have designated areas with tables and chairs, and even packet soya sauce, wasabi, chopsticks and even hot green tea for you to enjoy your nokke don. And as usual, as this is Japan, the place is kept very clean even though it is located inside the wet market.
Locals also come to buy their daily fresh fish and seafood.
As Aomori is surrounded by both the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean, you can get fresh and cheap seafood here. These fresh scallops are huge! They are meant for sashimi use, so you can actually eat it just like this. And a plate of 7-8 scallops only cost you JPY1000 (approx SGD15) which is certainly very cheap!
Fresh abalone is also sold here. Although there is no price tag to it, I believe it should be quite affordable as well.
Furukawa Market Nokke don
青森魚菜センター, 青森市古川1-11-16Aomori Fresh Fish and Vegetable center
1-11-16 Furukawa, Aomori shi, Aomori
Opening hours: 7am-5pm (individual stores may have different operating hours)
Closed on Tuesday
5 mins walk from JR Aomori station
www.aomori-ichiba.com (Japanese only)
The streets of Aomori are very quiet at night. Coupled by cold weather and icy roads with a hungry stomach, we decided on Ootoya (大戸屋) for dinner as we happened to pass by it.
Ootoya is a popular Japanese chain of restaurant which serves simple and cheap Japanese teishoku (set menu), which comes with rice, miso soup and pickles. They currently have more than 250 shops in Japan and more than 60 shops worldwide.
Started with a simple tofu salad (JPY380)
L ordered the Chicken Katsu with grated daikon cooked in a nabe (JPY760). Chicken Katsu is cooked in a sukiyaki based soup, with grated daikon and onions topped with an egg. Good choice for a cold winter night!
I ordered the popular Ootoya dish - Grilled Hokke fish (Mackerel - JPY810). Great for fish lovers like me who loves to eat fish which comes with the bones.
For the teishoku, you have a choice of white rice or 5 grain rice (五穀米). For other types of rice with toppings, you just have to top up a nominal price. And if you are a small eater and ask for less portion of rice, they even give you JPY20 discount!
A special piece of painting hung on the wall which talks about "health". It also expresses the "kodawari" or devotion of Ootoya, providing fresh and healthy food. If you notice, they even indicate the number of calories of each dish on the menu!
Ootoya Aomori
青森県青森市新町1-8-6
Open daily 11am - 10pm
5 minutes walk from JR Aomori station
(p.s. this is the only Ootoya in Aomori shi)
Just a minute walk away from Aomori station, A-FACTORY houses various eateries, a local produce market, as well as a small cider factory where you can watch the production of hard cider made from apples produced from Aomori.
A-FACTORY stands out with it's bright lights at night.
The first thing you will see is the Food Marche, selling a variety of fresh produces and Aomori processed foods.
A variety of juices and dressings, naturally made from Aomori local produces such as tomatoes, grapes and of course Apples!
Not to forget Jams! also made from Aomori apples.
Aomori produces a huge variety of apples, which are also made into apple juices.
These are not wine, but apple cider. Cider is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from fruit juice, most commonly and traditionally made from apple juice.
A-FACTORY also has a brewery producing a variety of apple ciders.
This must be my no. 1 favourite dessert / omiyage during my Northern Japan trip. Called "Asa no Hakkoda" (朝の八甲田) it's a smooth and creamy cheese cake found only in Aomori.
As it had to be refrigerated, I couldn't buy it back home (╯︵╰,) but I sure did try a few of the samples provided. Sure enough, the smooth and creamy cheesecake really melts in your mouth, making you longing for more!
Here's another french patisserie selling a variety of tarts. Ranging from fruit tarts such as cherries, prunes, bananas, apples, to sweet potato tarts, and even an all nut tart, there is definitely one which is your suits your palette.
Not able to buy the Asa no Hakkoda, my consolation is the apple tarte (Tarte Aux Pommes) for dessert. Selling at JPY380 (SGD5), the tart was filled with loads of apples, not too sweet with a tint of sourness. A refreshing tart, but could be even better if toasted hot.
Aomori A-FACTORY
青森県青森市柳川1-4-2
Yanakawa 1-4-2 Aomori Shi, Aomori
Open daily: 9am - 8pm
5 mins walk from Aomori station
www.jre-abc.com (japanese only)
Asa no Hakkoda (朝の八甲田)
www.arpajon.co.jp
After an exhausting 8 hours train ride from Niigata, we finally reached Aomori City!
The first thing we did was to check into our hotel - Hotel JAL City, Aomori.
This hotel must be the best hotel during our stay in Japan this time round. The room costs us JPY8000 per night (approximately SGD120). Still great value worth the money. The only downside is that as it is approximately 10 minutes walk away from Aomori station, we had to drag our luggages in the slippery snow to the hotel.
We had a spacious room, and even the toilet is bigger than the normal business hotels.
A great sunrise view from the hotel.
Our hotel is just 5 minutes walk away from the ASPAM tourist center. A place where gift shops, restaurants, local crafts and an observation deck where you can have a great view of the city.
Just located a few steps away from the hotel, is a monument commemorating Japan's no. 1 best tasting water.
Aomori Hotel JAL City
青森県青森市安方2丁目4番12号
2-4-12 Yasukata, Aomori Shi, Aomori
Nearest train station: JR Aomori
www.aomori.jalcity.co.jp
