Mikawaya Ajiwai Ebisen Ikabon Squid Crackers

Ebi senbei production began in the Mikawa region of Aichi around the middle of the Meiji era, and Mikawaya Seika — which takes its name from that region — has been working in that tradition for over a century.

Ikabon applies the same craft to squid rather than shrimp.

Squid is ground into the dough, and the crackers are finished with amadare, a sweet soy glaze that Japanese confectioners use across the savoury-snack category.

The seasoning is the thing to understand here.

Amadare is built on soy sauce and sugar, but Mikawaya rounds it out with katsuo dashi and kombu, so what could easily be a flat sweet-salty coating instead carries the same bonito-and-kelp backbone that underpins Japanese cooking generally.

The company’s own description is amasugizu karasugizu — neither too sweet nor too sharp.

Against the squid’s own mineral savouriness, it produces something closer to grilled surume with a glaze than to a confection, and it is a flavour that sits far outside what most Western snack aisles offer.

The texture is a hard, clean pari snap rather than the airy shatter of Mikawaya’s Ebi Mangetsu discs.

These are denser crackers with more to bite through.

At 135 g this is the large bag, sold in a deliberately bright package, with a 120-day shelf life and nothing that melts. Beer is the obvious partner; sake works as well.

About this item
Item Name : Ajiwai Ebisen Ikabon
Brand : Mikawaya Seika
Item Form : Starch Cracker
Number of Items : 130g (Pack of 1)