We had one of our best meals of our trip in this tiny izakaya in Hida Furukawa called Makkun, run only by the chef, his wife and his mother-in-law. We were told by our Airbnb host that this was his favourite izakaya but they didn't speak an ounce of English. But since we had a friend who took Japanese lessons before we decided to take the plunge. They weren't kidding about the no English at all but man the food was sooooo good and reasonably priced. We had the okonomiyaki, tamagoyaki, pork belly with ginger, tofu steak and maguro gyoza and fried sweet potato.

That fried sweet potato was mindblowing - it was coated and fried like a potato chip and seriously soooo good. The tofu steak, a local specialty, was also insanely good with a savoury sauce topping the soft tofu. Even the simple dish like the tamagoyaki was perfect. And the chef's wife, who was the hostess, was so friendly and earnest despite the language barrier and play-acted for us her toy retractable knife. Such a great experience in this small town (compared to the more touristy Takayama) - we really felt almost like locals!

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