Saio Rinne Tries a 5,000-Yen Kamaboko and Decides a 100-Yen One Will Do

YUMENOS — Saio Rinne of YUMENOS opened a Friday-night drinking stream on Oct. 30 by tasting a 5,000-yen kamaboko, a steamed fish cake, and concluded that a 100-yen one would serve him just as well as a drinking snack. “It’s delicious, but I’m fine with the 100-yen one,” he said after the first bite.

He praised the pricey fish cake’s smooth texture and strong fish flavor, and said it was plainly different from the cheap kind. Eaten plain, though, it was not worth the money as a snack. Dipped in wasabi soy sauce it came out ahead, he said, and he called the wasabi the one pairing that gave it a clear edge. Eaten with shiso, the herb muted the fish taste. His verdict was that it suits New Year’s or an anniversary rather than an ordinary evening of drinking.

The spicy mapo eggplant he had cooked before the stream, flavored with Sichuan peppercorn and chili oil, overpowered the delicate fish cake, and he admitted it was the best thing on the table. He also opened a canned smoked-sardine product that is no longer made, and said he hoped it would return to shelves. Over the evening he went through two bottles of sake.

Chat steered the talk toward regional food. A thick-cut fried tofu from Tochio in Niigata, which viewers raised and Rinne looked up on stream, led him to say he would buy some. Viewers also pointed him to a chicken rice bento from Fukuoka Prefecture, and he in turn recommended a Tochigi gyoza, 30 pieces for 1,200 yen, which several viewers said they ordered during the stream. Five Super Chats came in during the broadcast.

Rinne said he would drop in on another streamer’s broadcast for about ten minutes on Halloween, post a song cover at 7 p.m., and hold a Halloween chat stream. Asked what costume he would like, he said he had often been told a vampire would suit him, but that he would rather wear a pumpkin head.