Happy Year of the Cow!
Happy New Year everyone! Now that Christmas is over, it is time to break out the mochi, Japanese New Year wreath and get ready for the New Year holidays. It is crazy how many days off we have during New Years here in Japan. In the states, you only get January 1st off and that is it. On the 2nd, you are back at work which is really depressing. New Years in Japan is very interesting. It is a family holiday unlike back in my country where everyone goes out and parties. In Japan, you eat special New Year dishes like osechi or soba together with family. After having a special meal, everyone goes to a shrine and prays for a good New Year. Finally, if you don't mind losing some sleep that day, some people head outside and watch the sunrise. I have experienced a Japanese New Year quite a number of times and I find it special and relaxing.
Now that 2020 is nearly over, I wanted to look back at all the posts I have done this year and do a wrap up on some of the places I have talked about. I want to do a kind of awards thing where I will have four categories:
Best Event
Most Fun Place
Best Sweets
Biggest Surprise
Best Event
Beer Garden in Hitachi Naka
I know this year was really tough on events. I barely went to any this year. I really missed my Burger Baka event and hope that it happens next year. But during the summer, a few beer gardens popped up around Ibaraki and I was able to go to two of them. One was in Tsuchiura station and it was nice. But my favorite was the beer garden in Hitachi Naka city.
The beer garden was at the Hotel Crystal Palace and the outside was really beautiful. I had a great time cooking up some BBQ and drinking with the wife and some friends. I did get bit by mosquitoes but it was still a lovely time. The place even had live music which went great with the night time atmosphere.
I highly recommend checking this beer garden out next summer if you want to have a good time with some friends.
If you want to read about the Hitachi Naka Beer Garden, here is the link to the Ibaraki Eats post:
Most Fun Place!
The Ishioka Ostrich Farm
The most fun place I have visited this year had to be the Ostrich Farm in Ishioka city. This place is a family friendly place with so many animals to see and feed. I saw ostriches (of course), goats, sheep, dogs, cats, horses and many more animals that you can interact with. I had a lot of fun feeding the animals as well. I did hurt to feed the ostriches though. They are rough and ready to injure your hand to get their food.
Let's not forget the food, I got to try ostrich meat! The ostrich on a stick was OK but the ostrich burger is outstanding. I almost had two of them.
If you have a family and are looking for something to do on the weekend, I highly suggest the Ostrich Farm in Ishioka. I guarantee you and your family will have an amazing time and it will not break the bank.
If you want to read about the Ishioka Ostrich Farm, here is the link to the Ibaraki Eats post:
Best Sweets
Mustache Cafe
I have had a lot of good desserts and sweets this year. The Drunken Duck's cheesecake is fantastic. Daigo's apple picking farm, Toyoda Apple Farm's apple pie is amazing. The kakigori at the ice factory near Ami town was awesome. Last but not least, the delicious tarts in Tsuchiura station. All of these sweets and desserts were great. It was extremely difficult to choose which was the best one I had this year.
But then I remembered a place I went to in Kashima city. It had a mustache on the sign and it had a really damn good brownie ice cream. The Mustache Cafe was great. The sweets and desserts were amazing. The pancake with the cheese sauce was incredible and the ice cream, oh man, I remember it being very creamy and the mustache cafe being very generous with the amount of brownies in it. The wife really loved this place too and cannot wait to go back next year.
Check out the post on the Mustache cafe here:
The Biggest Surprise!
Drool Dinner
The biggest surprise for me this year is Drool Dinner. I had somewhat of an idea what I was walking into when I went there. But I had no idea the burgers were so amazingly delicious. The menu surprised me as well. So many cheeses to choose from, so many ways to customize your cheeseburger. This place is cheeseburger heaven I tell you. The staff surprised me as well. All female staff, as I stated when I first wrote about this place, is very rare in Japan. Especially at a burger place. The other thing that surprised me was their hours which do not allow me to visit as often as I want. Of course, the biggest surprise was how the burgers tasted. The burger angels at Drool Dinner are masters of their craft. I honestly have kept thinking about their burgers and when I can go back. Hopefully, I will be able to visit Drool Dinner sometime in early January.
I am having an inner struggle though. I love Hi-5 Burgers and I love Drool Dinner. But which is the better burger? I keep debating myself on this topic and I have yet to reach a conclusion. If anyone has tried both, I would love to hear your opinion.
If you want to read about Drool Dinner, here is the link to the Ibaraki Eats post:
Well, that is a wrap for 2020. This year has been...interesting. I hope that next year we can all travel more and get to try all the delicious food that Ibaraki has to offer.
I really want to thank the readers and everyone who has come up to me this year and has told me that they follow the blog. It means a lot to me. I set out to do this blog because I was stuck at home and thought about all the restaurants in Ibaraki that must be struggling right now. I wanted to shine a spotlight on them to get them some more business and keep them going. I hope this blog has helped those places in some form or another.
So Happy New Year my fellow Ibarakians! I truly hope you have a great New Year and that 2021 brings you lots of luck, love and delicious food.
Enjoy!
Quick announcement, Ibaraki Eats will be taking a two week break and I hope to come back to you with a new post sometime in the third weekend of January. See you then, and Happy New Year!
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