Exploring Niigata City

Niigata city was frankly pretty quiet and with absolutely nothing happening or open. We were wandering the Furumachidori, and wonder if we got to the wrong part of town or that they are closed because it is a week day ?

Walking along the tea street, we spotted a restaurant with "appealing carcass" of dried fishes. The restaurant (Ebi no Hige) was still not open and we were lucky that they responded to our knocking on the door and made a reservation for dinner at 5pm. Although we were only given a 2hr slot, we managed to tuck-in and tried majority of their specialities. The grilled nodoguro (Blackthroat Seaperch) was the highlight, perfectly grilled fatty fish. Sashimi Aori squid ( big-fin reef squid) was excellent. Niigata specialities like tare tonkotsu, suruten (shredded squid tempura), etc