Have A Sizzling Chicken Leg! Kagawa’s Top 5 Gourmet Items, More Than Just Udon!

A chicken leg that will leave your eyes wide and mouth watering!

The first thing you should try is the chicken leg. That is to say, a chicken thigh seasoned with secret spices and roasted for a crunchy texture.

You get the chicken on an aluminum plate. When you grab the chicken by the bone with your napkin and take a good bite into it… your mouth fills with hot, steamy juices. It’s very good! The meat is also tender, which is guaranteed to go well with beer!

You may choose from the soft and tender “chick” chicken or the chewier “mother hen” chicken, but I would recommend the easier to eat “chick” chicken for first-timers. When you’re done eating, there will surely be some meat juices and oil left over on the plate, you can sop those up with a rice ball and enjoy it this way! Although it makes for a very high-calorie meal and it may not be healthy, all I could think after eating that oily rice ball filled with chicken flavor was, “delicious!”

Although I was focused on eating my meal, when I looked around, I saw men and women of all ages happily eating chicken, smiling and having a good time, which in turn made me happy.The chicken leg is originally a Marugame city local delicacy, so its official website lists famous restaurants where you can eat chicken legs, and also sells tie-in products. In any case, this is an outstanding chicken that goes well with beer, so go try it!

Ikkaku, Takamatsu Location Ordered: The Chick (870JPY), the Mother Hen (980JPY) *They deliver countrywide

A good meal after drinking, Tsurumaru’s curry udon

After filling my stomach with chicken leg, I went strolling around Takamatsu to sober myself up… when I discovered a restaurant that opens at 8:00 p.m., Tsurumaru Handmade Udon. When you talk about Sanuki style udon, you think of the chilled bukkake udon, served with thick broth and grated giant radish, but here you have a well-known restaurant that serves curry udon!

In Kagawa, udon is the staple food, not ramen. It seems that curry udon has become popular recently though. At Sanuki, a lot of people eat oden (a clear broth stew) while waiting for their udon. When I entered this restaurant, lo and behold, I saw some heated receptacles with oden in them. They brought in my curry udon and I took a slurp! The soup is spicy, but also has a gentle sweet taste to it, it was so delicious I wanted to drink every last drop! They call that flavor the “Udon Master’s Curry Udon.” Of course, the noodles were chewy and springy! They go really well with the thick soup. I was supposed to be full from my last meal, but before I knew it I finished it all! People really do make extra room for tasty meals.

They’re open at night, and feel no need to be competitive with their prices (udon with no trimmings usually goes for 200 JPY around here, but the curry udon this restaurant serves costs 700 JPY!). It attracts not only a lot of tourists but a lot of locals as well. If you’re going to spend the night in Takamatsu, this is a culinary gem you don’t want to miss!

Teuchi Udon, Tsurumaru Ordered: Curry Udon 700 JPY

Breakfast in a tranquil setting... Ritsurin Park’s Asagayu

Ritsurin Park is a well-known tourist spot in Takamatsu, recognized by the Michelin Green Guide - Japan, and is a rarity because it opens at seven in the morning. There are a number of teahouses within its spacious premises, but at Hanazonotei you’re able to have some of their famous asagayu (rice porridge). This asagayu is not your ordinary porridge; they also serve it with cooked vegetables, flame-broiled fish, and other small dishes, making it a meal fit for a king. The menu and types of porridge change with the seasons, this time I got chagayu (tea flavored porridge). The porridge is served on the thick side, so you really feel like you’re eating it instead of merely sipping it. When it reaches your mouth, you get a gentle, lingering aroma.

Hanazonotei faces a lake, and I was able to enjoy the beautiful garden backdrop as I ate my meal. Because I came to this restaurant early in the morning, it wasn’t filled with very many tourists, and I was able to bask in the quiet atmosphere and listen to the cicadas. It somehow reminded me of when I used to visit my grandmother in the countryside as a kid. They only serve asagayu until 10:00a.m., but It’s definitely worth it to get up early and eat it while you can!

Hanazonotei (inside Ritsurin Park) Ordered: Asagayu, 1260 JPY (requires a reservation for parties of two or more)

Cute-looking, yet lightly textured! Sanuki’s bridal oiri soft serve ice-cream

The road to Konpira Shrine is known as “Konpirasan,” and along the way you get to enjoy many gourmet dishes starting with udon. Among those items is the ever popular “bridal oiri soft serve.”

“Oiri” is a candy often used as gifts in wedding ceremonies held in the western part of Kagawa Prefecture. They are made with rice and are considered to be good-luck charms. Now, those oiris are used as toppings for soft serve ice-cream. Oiris that are associated with good marriages are also used with these soft serves, and they are said to bring happiness (maybe)…

I was able to choose from two flavors of soft serve that I felt were kind of weird: soy sauce and Japanese sugar. The soy sauce flavored soft serve was salty to, or rather it tasted like the sauce on mitarashi dango (sweet soy sauce glazed dumplings). Since Japanese sugar is used in fancy Japanese confectioneries, the Japanese sugar flavored soft serve had a distinctively refined, sweet taste. You had the light, crunchy oiris that went together with the velvety soft serve. Together, those two textures played a merry harmony in my mouth. Along that road, you also have straight-from-the-pot udon (!) soft serve, honey soft serve, and other unexpected soft serve flavors. So for those of you who have a strong stomach, come along and do some comparative eating!

Various shops along the Konpira Shrine road, such as Kananoya

Ordered: oiri soft serve (350 JPY, ordinary soft serve with 50 JPY added oiri topping)

785 steps to the main shrine! During my break, I treated myself to some Kamitsubaki shaved ice!

The Konpira main shrine is famous for its endless stone steps you have to climb in order to reach it. Halfway through, I thought to myself, “I think I need a break…” just when I happened to stumble upon the Shiseido parlor Kamitsubaki. There is an underground floor that has a proper restaurant where one can enjoy meals, and on the ground floor there is a self-service cafe. There was a heat wave that day, so I decided to treat myself to some shaved-ice at the cafe in order to cool down.

I have to say, a Shiseido parlor always offers up a lavish presentation! On top of the soft, fluffy shaved-ice you have a rich, velvety vanilla ice cream. Furthermore they include crushed strawberries and tastefully sweet syrup. Ujikintoki (green tea and adzuki bean flavor) and a novel white peach shaved-ice are also available, each of which scream “delicious!” Other menu options include pudding a la mode and some light meals, making it a perfect spot to take a break from your shrine visit all year round.

Shiseido Parlor, Kamitsubaki

Ordered: shaved ice (730 JPY)