"monaka" in Sakana-machi, Morioka City, celebrates its 2nd anniversary! A gourmet review of the popular tenant restaurants! [Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture]

Monaka, a multi-purpose commercial complex that opened on July 11, 2024, at the entrance to the Sakana-machi shopping street in Morioka City, is already celebrating its second anniversary

While some of the gourmet-related stores we introduced when the mall opened have changed over the past two years, the restaurant tenants have remained as lively as ever since the mall opened

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

"Monaka" opens in Sakanamachi, central Morioka! Come meet Mona-chan! [Iwate Prefecture]

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/33460

On July 11, 2024, a new commercial complex called "monaka" opened at the entrance to Sakanamachi Arcade in Morioka City. It has one basement floor and four aboveground floors. Monaka's tenants, including a market featuring local businesses that support the local community, and delicious local gourmet food and sweets, offer something a little different from the large, national chain shopping malls, giving it a unique Morioka feel. In this three-part series, including this one, we'll introduce you to "monaka," which has been bustling with visitors every day since its opening, bringing a new buzz to Sakanamachi Arcade Shopping Street! "monaka"...

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Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

"Monaka" opens in Sakanamachi, the heart of Morioka! Introducing a store where you can find Morioka cuisine! [Iwate Prefecture]

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/33906

Monaka, a shopping complex that opened at the entrance to Sakanamachi Arcade in Morioka City on July 11, 2024, has been a huge success, attracting many customers from both inside and outside the city every day. The name "monaka" embodies the meaning of "mori" (middle) and "naka" (middle) of Morioka, and also incorporates the place names "Morioka," "Nakanohashi," "Sakanachou," and "Kanan" associated with the area. Following our article introducing the opening, we will introduce the unique tenants in detail. https://jp.neft.asia/archives/33460 The center of the first floor is Morioka's "kitchen," a bright and spacious food market...

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This article will introduce the interiors of these four restaurants and recommend some of the dishes we actually tried

Please note that the prices mentioned in this article are as of early June 2026

monaka celebrates its 2nd anniversary since opening

The "Food Marche" on the first floor, which sells fresh food and other items, is constantly visited by shoppers and contributes significantly to attracting customers to the Sakana-machi shopping street

While some of the takeout shops that were there when the complex opened have been replaced, four restaurants remain in Monaka and continue to thrive

Furthermore, monaka continues to evolve, with the opening of "Kentucky Fried Chicken Morioka monaka Store" on the first floor last September

A restaurant that has received high praise since it opened

The four restaurants we'll introduce here in Monaka—Italian, beef tongue, Hittsmi, and soba—are all affiliated with restaurants and food companies that have been well-known in the local area for a long time

It has attracted attention since it opened two years ago, and now each of the shops has become popular, allowing them to continue operating without any change in business

"CHATONS" - A cozy Italian restaurant

The shop's name, "CHTONS," means "kitten" in French, and the bright and spacious interior is decorated with many cute cat pictures

The interior is bright, spacious, and comfortable, creating a stylish and pleasant atmosphere, and it seems that the proportion of female customers is high

Even before relocating to Monaka, Chatton was a well-known and popular local Italian restaurant that focused on using locally sourced ingredients

This is a branch of Higashiya, a Wanko Soba restaurant located near Monaka. Originally, the restaurant was located across from the main Higashiya branch, but it moved to Uchimaru, and then moved again to become a tenant in Monaka

While individual dishes are the same price for both lunch and dinner, we recommend the lunch set, which includes a consommé soup with the rich flavor of meat, a baguette, and a salad with a citrus-based dressing

The lunch set includes a drink such as espresso or tea for an additional 150 yen after the meal, making it much more economical than ordering items à la carte

Roughly chopped hamburger steak (1,650 yen)

This hearty hamburger, a signature dish of Chatons, is made with 100% beef and contains no vegetables or binders whatsoever

The more you chew, the more the delicious flavor of the meat spreads throughout your mouth, making this a truly exceptional hamburger steak that reminds you that it is indeed a meat dish

 You can choose the sauce to put on your hamburger steak from demi-glace sauce, tomato sauce, or the restaurant's original mayonnaise and mustard-based hamburger sauce

Bolognese (1,650 yen)

This restaurant's top recommended pasta dish is a "meat pasta" that offers a meaty texture similar to a hamburger, thanks to the generous amount of coarsely ground beef and beef tendons

The beef is prepared using a generous amount of red wine and aromatic vegetables, and seasoned with spices, making it so appetizing that your appetite increases with every bite

The noodles are thick, like the "bigoli" used in authentic Italian Bolognese, and they hold up well to the texture of the meat, making for a very satisfying meal

Nougat Glacé (480 yen)

For those looking for a dessert to fill your "second stomach," I recommend "Nougat Glacé," which offers a fluffy texture and the delightful aroma of caramel

This ice cream originated in France and consists of meringue combined with fresh cream, honey, caramelized nuts, and dried fruit

"Gyutan Shokudo Yoshida Meat Shop" - Grilled aged beef tongue from a butcher shop in Miyako, Sanriku

Yoshida Meat Shop is a retail brand of Hamashoku Co., Ltd., headquartered in Miyako City. They wholesale beef tongue and other meats, and also sell directly at stores in Miyako and Sendai

This restaurant is the company's first venture into the restaurant business and is one of the popular establishments in Morioka, a city known for its fierce competition in the beef tongue scene, rivaling even Sendai

Some menu items are available for takeout, and frozen meat packs are also sold. The limited-quantity "Pulled Pork Sandwich (450 yen, 500 yen with a drink set)" is also very popular

The drink menu includes a variety of alcoholic beverages such as draft beer, highballs, wine, sake, and cocktails, and we recommend the "3-piece snack set" (500 yen) when enjoying them

The appetizers include four items: edamame, changja (spicy fermented seafood), mixed nuts, and "umesui," which is a mixture of shredded shark cartilage and pickled plum paste. The "Appetizer 3-Piece Set" allows you to choose three of these items

Beef tongue assortment (1,200 yen)

You can enjoy comparing all of the dishes offered at the restaurant: aged beef tongue, thinly sliced ​​beef tongue, aged pork tongue, and thick-cut pork loin

These meats are delivered directly from the factory to the store, where they are carefully aged and seasoned, resulting in a delicious taste that can only be experienced here

A set meal including rice, oxtail soup, and salad is available for 1,500 yen, with optional additions of grated yam (100 yen) and beef tongue stew (350 yen)

"Kutaya: New Morioka Reimen and Hittsumi" - where you can enjoy two local dishes from Morioka

This is the second directly managed store of Todakyu, a company headquartered in Ichinohe Town in northern Iwate Prefecture, and known locally as a manufacturer of soba noodles, cold noodles, and ramen

You can enjoy set meals featuring "hittsumi," a local dish from Iwate Prefecture, as well as "Morioka Reimen," a new style of cold noodles using a variety of toppings and different soups

Ramen made with Toda Hisa's Chinese noodles, as well as rice bowls such as roast beef bowls, are also very popular

The new Morioka Reimen, which allows you to enjoy the unique characteristics of the soup, currently comes in three varieties, two of which are only available during lunchtime

Additionally, there are vending machines inside the store selling Todakyu noodles and cold noodle soup, which you can purchase as souvenirs or to take home

Rich and flavorful oxtail soup cold noodles (990 yen, spices not included)

You can order it anytime, regardless of the time of day. The beef tail soup, seasoned with a sweet and sour sauce, has a deep flavor, and the cold noodles are delicious even without the spiciness (kimchi)

Sesame soy milk cold noodles (990 yen)

This cold noodle dish is only available during lunchtime

The soy milk soup, with its strong sesame aroma, has a refreshing and light taste, and is gaining popularity as a new genre of cold noodles

A breakfast set where you can enjoy "hittsumi"

Another local specialty, "hittsumi," is also a featured dish, and it can be enjoyed as part of the "hittsumi breakfast set" during their breakfast service

This "Hittsumi Morning Set Meal" is available as a breakfast menu item from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM and costs 500 yen (tax included), just one coin

After purchasing a meal ticket from the vending machine, a staff member will hand you a tray with rice, a small side dish (two slices of pickled radish and kinpira burdock root), and a bowl containing three or four pieces of boiled hittsumi noodles

You pour the broth from the large pot into the bowl yourself to make "hittsumi soup," and it also comes with a pack of natto (fermented soybeans), making it a very cost-effective breakfast set for 500 yen

The Hittsumi soup was packed with ingredients like chicken, shiitake mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms, carrots, and burdock root, and you can choose between a small or medium portion of rice, but the small portion was plenty for me

"Soba no Hana Hosouchi" - A reasonably priced and casual standing-room-only soba noodle shop

"Soba no Hana," like Chatton, is part of the Higashiya group, and there is also a store with the same name at Morioka Station

Unlike the main branches of Higashiya, "Soba no Hana" uses machine-made noodles instead of handmade ones, but you can enjoy Higashiya's soba at a reasonable price

The special tempura made with onions, carrots, and perilla leaves is highly recommended, as the sweetness of the onions really stands out

Initially, the shop was open from 8 AM, but now it opens at 10 AM to coincide with the opening of monaka

Kakiage soba (540 yen)

You can choose between "hot" or "cold," but this time I ordered "cold" so I could enjoy the texture of the soba noodles

The machine-made noodles have a firm texture and a distinct buckwheat aroma, and the large tempura fritters are crispy and satisfying

summary

In addition to the restaurants mentioned, Monaka also has cafes, confectionery shops, takeout shops, souvenir shops, grocery stores, 100-yen shops, clothing stores, beauty salons, and medical facilities, attracting many people, including those who use the nearby Morioka Bus Center

I often enjoy shopping and dining in the area because it's close to my home, and recently I've noticed that the area, including Sakana-machi Shopping Street, has become busier and more crowded

DaiwaConsilio

I'm a former Edoite (Tokyoite) who loves Morioka and the six prefectures of Tohoku, and I'm a big fan of history, gourmet food, travel, sports, alcohol, and choral singing.
I'll introduce you to interesting things, delicious food, and great places in Tohoku!