Back to the excellent Piscaria in Hayama for lunch yesterday, and we were very pleased to find it's as good as it ever was. Seafood with a Sicilian accent — and a very pleasant modern wood-clad house to enjoy it in. This is still my favorite Italian joint on the entire Shonan coast.
Lunch features a selection of half a dozen antipasti: four cold, plus a couple of freshly cooked fritti. The price of the set lunch depends on which of the pastas you pick — there are 8 or 9 on the regular menu, plus three or four specials of the day (including one risotto).
This was a delicate spagghettini with anago eel and fresh karashi-mizuna greens...
And this was a hearty casarecce with sardine and fennel (and raisins and pine nuts)...
Both were every bit as good as they looked.
Another reason why Piscaria is worth checking out is that it's a very pleasant dining room, on the ground floor of a freestanding house (it's Chef Izumo's home as well) that's modern but built with plenty of timber and traditional interlocking beams.
My wine recommendation: Luminoso, a Tuscan Vermentino (by the glass or carafe)
Meanwhile, here's the link to the original Japan Times review (from back in 2007)...
And here's the map...
The bus stop (from Zushi Station) is Hayama Motomachi; from there it's a one-minute walk towards the sea.
