Furaibo is said to be one of the famous chain restaurants that serves up one of Nagoya’s most famous specialty food: tebasaki – deep fried chicken wings seasoned in a peppery soy-based sauce and coated with sesame seeds.
I seriously underestimated their popularity, thinking that since it is a chain restaurant it should be easy to dine there….In fact this was our 2nd attempt visiting a Furaibo outlet – 1st was for dinner at another outlet (a huge one actually) but they were fully booked for the WHOLE EVENING…
We only spent 1 night in Nagoya area so we had to squeeze in a late lunch to try this specialty food before we head over to Kyoto. We dragged our luggage in Nagoya Station Building and found this rather tiny outlet. Queued for 30 mins – despite the fact that we were the first in the queue at an odd non-peak timing…before there were available counterseats for us.
So what’s so special about these fried chicken wings? First, the wings probably came from a specific species of chicken that has rather lean wings – they have little meat. Secondly, they were fried to a crisp finish and lightly coated with a savoury sauce, seasoned with salt and pepper, topped off with a dash of white sesame seeds.
Personally I found it less “sticky” and less “gluey” than the Korean type of soy sauce fried chicken as the version here was more dry and crisp.
Other than the wing tips, we also tried the Furaibo Bowl which comprised of the meatier chicken cutlet sitting over a bed of rice underneath.
Overall the wings made perfect beer snacks and we saw several lone travellers pop-in for a quick meal or folks coming by to order takeaways. But the key question – would this have made in into the “Must-Eat Food” in Nagoya? I doubt so…
My only other souvenir to remember Nagoya city in this short stopover – Starbucks Card.
Other Photos Taken Earlier:
Took an overnight flight from BKK to Nagoya, got some rest onboard the JAL flight.
Breakfast was served before arrival and I was happy with the Japanese breakfast options. Though comparatively I felt that ANA food was better than JAL’s…
After checking into our hotel (in Toyota city), we headed to our first sightseeing spot for the Autumn Foliage season – Korankei Gorge. This place is known across Japan as a place to go and see autumn leaves – the good thing is it’s still not too crowded with overseas visitors. Partly cos it is quite inaccessible due to limited transport options and the long travelling time to the outskirts of Nagoya.
I was certainly wowed and impressed by the vibrant colours as it’s my first Momiji Matsuri (autumn leaves viewing) experience.
The gorge was covered with largely blazing red leaves interspersed with some green ones, with a flowing river adorned with a red bridge linking both sides of the riverbed.
The festival feel was strong as there was an area dedicated to serving street food and filled with many vendors. I tried this local snack – Goheimochi Grilled rice cake with sweet miso sauce which was freshly grilled upon order. Yum…
Also tried this huge sized Yakiguri (roasted chestnuts). The flesh is more yellow in coloured and it’s more moist than the ones we get in Singapore. I initially had plans to stay at the gorge till sunset where there is night illumination. Unfortunately we were too tired by late afternoon and decided to return to our hotel (which requires a 45 mins mini-bus ride that runs on limited schedule of 1 bus per hour…).
On our 2nd day, we made our way to another outskirt area – Obara. This place requires 1-hour bus ride from Toyota city (even further than Korankei). Actually this was the key reason why we planned a short stay in Nagoya. However this place was outshone by the impressive Korankei that we visited the day before instead. Obara’s key feature was their Winter cherry blossom (Shikizakura) viewing. This species of cherry tree bloom once in Spring and again between Oct to Dec. I think when the Sakura blossom are at its peak, the mountain should look a lot more pinkish that what we saw.
Visitors get to see a blend of Sakura and Autumn foliage.
The weather was somewhat better than the day we visited Korankei. Could you believe that the photo below was taken at a capark lot meant for coaches?! Don’t even need to hike into the woods or mountain.
It was not the perfect leaves but I managed to piece this in less than 5 mins. Look at the different shades of colours, from yellow to orange to red. =)
We set our sights on Obara but left impressed with Korankei instead. Nagoya (or rather Toyota city where we stayed in) is probably not as touristy as other major cities of Japan. While we enjoyed our off-the-beaten-path gems that we uncovered, the cons were the lack of information in English on websites, the folks here seems to be less conversant in English (compared to Tokyo/Kyoto) and transportation via public buses to the attraction sights can be very limited and therefore super packed. But for the fabulous views at Korankei, I would say it’s definitely worth it!!!! I think Korankei has set such a high benchmark for Autumn foliage viewing that it was hard to find another location that could beat them.
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