Floating off the coast of Kagawa prefecture, Shodoshima Island produces 90% of all the olives grown in Japan. 

This time we visit a certain restaurant and discover some local gourmet dishes characteristic of the Island. 

To convey the deliciousness of olives, Inoue Seiko-en olive garden opened Café Chuzaemon within its grounds.

Built on a slope with views down to the sea, sunlight pours into this olive field surrounded restaurant. 

Here’s a gourmet dish characteristic of Shodoshima Island that you can order at Café Chuzaemon!

It’s the locally well-known “hishio-don” rice-bowl. (Hishio refers to the paste that is left after making soy sauce.) 

Shodoshima Island has prospered in soy sauce production since the Edo period; there used to be as many as 400 soy sauce brewers standing side by side here! 

As it’s served by various restaurants on the island, this local gourmet rice bowl made using soy sauce and its fermenting mash was named “hishio-don“. 

Café Chuzaemon’s version of the dish is topped with oven grilled local vegetables seasoned with lashings of olive oil, as well as somen noodles wrapped in sea bream and deep fried in olive oil. The special sauce made with Shodoshima Island’s soy sauce fermenting mash is the finishing touch. The sweet and salty flavor along with the taste of ginger just makes you want more!

The set also comes with a unique Japanese-style soup with a sprinkling of olive oil, and… what is this ingredient?! 

The correct answer is “fushi“. (“Fushi” is what’s leftover when making somen noodles.) Along with olives and soy sauce, the shop also uses Shodoshima Island’s famed somen noodles in this way.

And of course the salad also needs olive oil! (The green fabric covered bottle.) 

With Shodoshima Island’s cozy sea breezes a treat not found on the menu, the terrace seats offer fine views over the Seto Inland Sea! 

Smiling wonderfully, the staff pose in front of the olive garden. If you try Café Chuzaemon’s olive oil enlivened dishes, you will surely feel like smiling, too!  

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

Café Chuzaemon
Location: 2267-5 Ikeda, Shodoshima, Shozu district, Kagawa prefecture (inside Inoue Seiko-en olive garden)
Open: 11:00~17:00 (On weekdays meals are served until 15:00. Evening use is possible upon advance reservation)
Closed: Tuesdays (open everyday from April thru November)
Tel: 0879-75-0282
http://www.inoueseikoen.co.jp/cafe/ (Japanese)  

Setouchi Finder Photo-writer: Izumi Furukawa