The Day the Jellyfish Became a Cloud

There is a restaurant in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture that my friends escorted me to when I spent a week at their house. Most of the customers at this restaurant are there only because someone they know told them about the place and probably had to show them how to get in. This isn't the sort of restaurant you can just stumble upon unless you are into breaking and entering, then maybe you might just happen to try and break into this perfectly innocent looking Japanese style home, go around to the backside of the house to discover a very foreign and very decorative door. Only then do you begin to get the idea this place is a restaurant. The smell of flavorful spices begins to give hits hidden secret away. Even the name of the place, which is written on the right side of the entrance gate, wouldn't make you think of eating. Kurage ga Kumo ni Naru Hi, "The Day the Jellyfish Became a Cloud." This place embodies the Japanese word "fushigi." Fushigi represents the strange, the weird, the mysterious. Everything, from the name to the menu to the decor, is fushigi. The atmosphere that is created completely compliments the menu, Thai food.

A bit pricey, and the mood lighting doesn't make for great Instagram images, but the food is delicious, fresh and beautifully plated. Yet again there is a fushigi element to this place. If it is your first visit, then you don't get the whole menu. You receive a lovely little wooden phone charm that is you marker for how many visits you have had to the place. It is a point card, if you will.

My friend's charm. They had come a few times.

And after our visit. Notice the extra stamp. The mystery continues surrounding this place. I really want to know what the final stamp says.

Your seat placement is also decided by how many times you have frequented the place.

When I visited we were nicely placed near a window with this little fellow looking out.

And our chopsticks sat on this little guy

So how do you find this "fushigi na restaurant" that doesn't seem like a restaurant? Well, that is part of the fun of going to this place so I will leave you with only the address and good luck. It is easiest to find on foot, but that is okay because the place doesn't have a parking lot. 

The address is 

2-6-5 Nagamachi, Kanazawa 920-0865, Ishikawa Prefecture

My friends took me here in their car and we walked about 5 - 10 minutes from a parking area, but just looking at the map, it doesn't seem too far from Kanazawa Station. Good ol Google Maps gives everyone with internet a chance to visit this place, but for those who really want to try their hand at finding it the old-fashioned way, then here are some written directions.

Go straight from the West Exit of Kanazawa station for one block.

Turn right at the Hotel Hinode.

Continue straight for about 20 mins.

You will eventually begin to follow the canal. That is when you know you are getting close.

Once you pass the Seirei Hospital on your left, you will take the next street on the right. The Day the Jellyfish Became a Cloud will be on your right.