On my last day in Ehime, I visited Aka Kichi for lunch for the first time. It took about 1.5 hours by car from Matsuyama, passing through the Shimanami Kaido to Hakata Island. The restaurant is small, with only about five seats, and it offered a luxurious experience with a series of unique dishes centered around white fish.The meal started with a delicate jelly made from hamo (pike eel) eggs. The deep-fried tengijikadai (sweetlip) was fragrant all the way to the bones, and the three-vinegar dish of tachiuo (beltfish) had an irresistible fluffy texture. The grilled anago (conger eel) was incredibly rich in flavor, while the grilled skin of the shiro-amadai (white sweetfish) was impressively crispy. The simmered abalone was tender, and the sashimi of shiro-amadai, thinly sliced kijihata (grouper), and kijihata prepared in a Chinese style allowed me to savor the fish in various cooking methods.The nigiri started with swordtip squid, followed by tai (sea bream), houbou (boar fish), kisu (whiting), and eight pieces of tengijikadai, along with shiro-amadai, managatsuo (mackerel), oudo shrimp, akau (red sea urchin), and anago. This restaurant is a rare find where you can encounter unique white fish that you can only taste locally, and despite being my first visit, I left feeling highly satisfied.
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