Horohoro-don and Gyo-ice: There’s No Escaping Fish, Even at Dessert
Around Enoshima, even the fish eat shirasu.
Many visitors to Enoshima, an island off the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, come to eat shirasu, tiny whitebait. According to Enoshima Koya, a restaurant on the mainland side of the bridge, the local fish eat it almost every day; at certain times of year, their stomachs can be packed with it.
The restaurant’s website ranks the options: boiled shirasu over raw, and local fish over both.
I ordered Horohoro-don (ホロホロ丼), one of the restaurant’s two signature dishes.
A bowl in two stages
Horohoro is a Japanese mimetic word for something that flakes apart softly; don is short for donburi, a bowl of rice served with toppings.
Soft flakes of smoked fish were piled generously over the rice. The restaurant smokes the fish itself, flakes it piece by piece and seasons it with browned-butter soy sauce. The name had prepared me for the texture, but the smoke was what stood out first. It came through clearly without masking the flavour of the fish itself.
A little wasabi gave individual mouthfuls a sharper edge whenever I wanted a break from the richness.
Alongside the bowl came broth, which gave me a reason not to finish all the rice straight away.
Pouring the broth over the remaining rice and fish turned the dish into ochazuke—rice served with tea or broth. The smoked fish that had filled the bowl now flavoured its gentler, soupy finish.
Then I ordered ice cream.
Vanilla, with qualifications
The dessert was called Gyo-ice (魚イス / ぎょイス). Gyo means “fish,” and ice comes from ice cream.
Begin with fish, end with fish. That, according to the restaurant, is the Enoshima Koya way.
There was a choice of matcha or vanilla. I chose vanilla, a flavour whose reputation for predictability was about to be tested.
The name had told me to expect fish. It had not quite prepared me for the skeleton.
A scoop of vanilla ice cream arrived dusted with fish powder and topped with wasabi. Behind it stood a fish-bone cracker, complete with tail, as though something had made a particularly unsuccessful attempt to swim through the dessert.
The vanilla was there, but it was no longer getting most of my attention.
The cracker was not a garnish. The restaurant’s instructions are to dip it into the ice cream.
So I did. The cracker brought a crisp, salty crunch that worked unexpectedly well against the sweet vanilla. The fish powder added a savoury note, while the wasabi—already useful with the smoked fish—provided a sharp contrast to the creamy ice cream.
I had underestimated vanilla. This one had a backbone.
Location
Restaurant
Enoshima Koya (江ノ島小屋)
Near Katase-Enoshima Station, on the mainland side of the bridge to Enoshima
2-20-12 Katase Kaigan, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-0035, Japan
Practical Information
- Dish
- Horohoro-don and Gyo-ice (ホロホロ丼・魚イス)
- Associated area
- Enoshima / Katase, Fujisawa
- Opening hours
- 8:00–20:00 (last orders 19:00), with the dinner menu beginning at 16:00
- Serving hours
- Horohoro-don is on the daytime menu; rice bowls are served until 16:00.
- Closing days
- December 31, January 1 and occasional irregular closures
- Price when checked
- Horohoro-don: ¥2,490; Gyo-ice: ¥680 (last checked September 4, 2026)
- Phone
- +81 466-29-5875
- Official menu
- Enoshima Koya breakfast and lunch menu
- Tourism information
- Enoshima–Kamakura Navi — hours and contact details (Japanese)
Information last checked: September 25, 2026 (Horohoro-don serving hours and price, plus tourism-listed opening hours and contact details).
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