Umami bomb
Tsukemen hasn’t quite
taken off in the West in quite the same fashion as conventional ramen; but if
tsukemen was done in the same way as at Tsukemen Tetsu, I’d put some money on
it gaining siginificant popularity.
Looking at the picture
will immediately tell those of you familiar to making sauces and stocks that
this tsukemen broth possesses intense flavour. Made from pork bones and bonito,
the flavour is different to your average tonkotsu ramen broth: the fish adds
another umami dimension, not to mention that it’s highly concentrated in
comparison with conventional broths. Basically it’s an umami overload: sheer
deliciousness: perhaps too intense to drink on its own: hence the need for
noodles.
Tetsu’s tsukemen
noodles are in my mind a hybrid of an udon and a conventional ramen noodle:
chewy and slippery like normal udon but thinner and with enough texture to
allow the broth the cling on.
How to eat tsukemen:
Dip these noodles in the broth, and slurp away, and eventually, you will reach
umami nirvana. Add to that meltingly tender cha-shu pork belly pieces and an
expertly cooked “onsen” egg, and that, as you can imagine, is an irresistible
preposition.
I went to the branch
next to Shinagawa JR train station: probably a good bet if you need to fill up
before a long Shinkansen train ride.
Tsukemen TETSU
(Shinagawa branch)
Shinatatsu Ramen
Mentatsu Shichininshu
3-26—20 Takanawa
Minato-ku Tokyo
Opening hours: 11am –
11pm (Ramen plaza opening hours)
Price: Around 900 –
1000 yen
Kyoto Kaiseki
Hyotei, in Kyoto, a
400 year old former tea and refreshment spot for those on their way to Nanzenji
temple, was our destination to try kaiseki cuisine. Famous for their eggs,
whose recipe has not changed since the humble beginnings of this restaurant
centuries ago, Hyotei has since gained a reputation as one of Kyoto’s most
acclaimed Kaiseki spots.
As you enter the restaurant grounds, you are transported back in time: the gardens surrounding the individual dining rooms are serene, and the rooms themselves are distinctly Japanese.
The food at times was
memorable: highlights included takigawa tofu with uni, octopus eggs with a
sweet miso reduction, myoga (Japanese ginger bud) sushi, boiled prawns, octopus and kabocha (Japanese
pumpkin) in dashi jelly with shiso leaves, anago (conger eel) with wasabi,
julienned ginger, myoga and shiso and nasu (aubergine) cooked in dashi and a
superb fruit platter (including peach and kyoho grapes) with jelly and peach
sorbet. These definitely were worthy of the restaurant’s reputation.
But for some other
dishes, I wasn’t really blown away: they were nice, but when you’re paying
25000 JPY for a meal, you want memorable dishes for each and every course.
Maybe I didn’t quite appreciate the pure simplicity of some of the other dishes
such as grilled sweetfish with vinegar and whiter pepper leaves, nor the somen
with tilefish. Likewise, the eggs were delicious but not earth shattering.
Having said this,
considering the service, setting and some memorable dishes, I guess I would
recommend Hyotei to those in search of kaiseki in Kyoto.
Hyotei
35 Kugasawa-cho,
Nanzenji, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi
+81757714116
Closed every 2nd
and 4th Tuesdays of the mont
Reservations are
essential!
Hunter gatherer cuisine
Deer sashimi? Wild
boar yakitori? Probably not the first thing that comes to mind when looking for
food in Kyoto. But a visit to a hunter’s izakaya by the name of Okariba might
make you change your mind. Outside the restaurant
you are greeted by a humourous sign which sets the tone for the rest of the
evening:
The interior is most
definitely something straight out of the forest: it looks like a wooden hut,
with dim, incandescent lighting to give you that in-the-middle of nowhere feel.
Needless to say, the
food here is an honest, hearty affair: strong flavours, almost unapologetic in
its robustness. I’d strongly recommend you try the wild boar yakitori skewers –
moist meat, with just the right amount of charred-ness, topped with a
salty-sweet sauce.
The deer sashimi –
melt in your mouth, fatty deer whose fat is slightly nutty and sweet – it
tastes like a gamey cross between beef carpaccio and iberico ham. When dipped
in the sweet soy and ginger dip – it is a mouthwatering preposition.
To counter-act all the
meatiness, a hoba-yaki is highly recommended. Basiscally, vegetables and
mushrooms, mixed with a sweet miso sauce, gently grilled atop a hoba leaf. The
result is a smokey-sweet moreishly additctive vegetable medley. Just try it for
yourself.
Tasty but not as
spectacular was the grilled salmon-trout but a good fish option nethertheless.
Actually, both the fish and hoba-yaki get an added taste dimension when mixed
with each other.
Prices are very
reasonable, especially considering how unique this place is and the quality of
the food: when all this is washed down with some beer, your bill will only come
up to around 2000 - 2500 yen per person.
Obarika
43-3 Okazaki
Higashitenno-cho, Sakyo-ku, Residence Okazaki 1F, Kyoto
+81757517790
Opening hours: Tues –
Sun 17:00 – 22:00. Closed Mondays
Affordably awesome sushi
Not many words for
this recommendation. Come here. Queue for a bit (remember to get a queueing
ticket). Get the chef’s special set (the one with loads of different kinds of
sushi, chawanmushi, crab salad), a steal at just under 3000 yen. Eat all and be
happy.
Best items: O-toro
(fatty tuna belly) sushi, hotate (scallop) sushi – highly recommend to ask them
to ‘aburi’ (flame sear) it, large prawn sushi, anago (conger eel) sushi, crab
roe salad. Also order a portion of mackerel sashimi, which is also sublime.
Umegaoka Sushi no
Midori Sohonten
7 – 108 Ginza, Chuo,
Tokyo, 104-0061
+81355681212
http://www.sushinomidori.co.jp/ginza.html
Miso + katsu = miso katsu
When I see a
restaurant whose logo looks like the following, I have no choice but to peer
inside and have a look.
And when I realised
they were serving miso katsu, a special type of katsu from Nagoya, I was only
left with one choice: eat here.
The food is simple:
juicy, deep fried breaded cutlets of various parts of a pig, doused in a what
could be one of the most umami-intense sauces I have ever had: red miso sauce.
And it’s not just made of red miso, there’s a pretty notable amount of pork
bone based broth in there, just to up the umami factor. Served with some simple
steamed rice and cabbage, and some miso soup or tonjiru on the side, and it’s
an addictively moreish meal.
It’s pretty hard to go
wrong here no matter which part of the pig you choose (my personal favourite
was the hire (fillet) tonkatsu - see below); prices are good too. They also have a souvenir
shop at this (Ginza) branch, definitely worth perusing if you like interesting
depictions of pigs on mugs or T-shirts.
Yabaton (Ginza branch)
2-11-2 Ginza, Ginza
Daisaku Building, Chuo, Tokyo 104 0061
Opening hours: Tues –
Sun 11am – 10pm (closed Mondays)
Price: Around 1500 JPY
per person
Dessert selection
After an intense dose
of umamified goodness (miso katsu, above), a sweet treat or several was due.
Akomeya, a restaurant-come-specialist food store, was next on my list.
To avoid making hard
choices, get the dessert platter. You get so many good things, for a pretty
reasonable price. Green tea and black sesame ice cream wafers, crème caramel,
sponge cake with green tea reduction and azuki bean puree, and warabi mochi.
Two highly memorable taste sensations here: the green tea reduction on the
sponge cake was excitingly intense and perfectly bitter sweet, and the warabi
mochi was had a transient texture from being chewy to silky and then
melt-in-your mouth. All excellent.
Akomeya
Opening hours:
11.30-2pm for lunch, 2-5pm for tea, 5-10pm for dinner (LO 9pm)
Price: Around 1000 JPY
per person
Sinful Steak
Again, I’m not gonna
write much here. Come to Asakusa Tsutsui for what I guess is Western-Japanese
fusion: expertly marinated and cooked sirloin wagyu steak on rice.
I got the steak don
set: mouth-wateringly tender wagyu atop rice smothered in a slightly salty
soy-based sauce: made even more delectable with a touch of butter. Whilst the
portion size is extremely generous, the unctuous taste of that beef will leave
even those with the smallest of appetites wanting more.
Akasaka Tsutsui
Izumi-Akasaka
Building, 2-22-24 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Open Weekdays 11.30am
– 3pm, 5- 10pm; Weekends 12- 3pm, 4.30-10pm, closed on punlic holidays that
fall on Monday
Price: 2000 – 3000 JPY
per person
Burning things can make them tasty
Previously I posted
about how superheated bonito and unagi over fiery straw can make them intensely
smokey and delicious; this post follows a similar theme: burning miso, and
using it in ramen, at Gogyo.
Your first sip of
kogashi (burnt miso) ramen might not quite blow you away. But take a few more
sips and you’ll taste a multitude of flavours from the charred miso, rich pork
bone and heaty garlic. As with most noodle soups, it gets better as you get
closer to the bottom: the flavour starts to exponentially intensify. Worth
trying for those who are ramen-inclined. And the gyoza are pretty tasty too.
Gogyo (Nishiazabu branch)
1-4-36 Nishiazabu,
Minato-ku, Tokyo
Open Mon-Sat
11.30am-4pm, 5pm-3am, Sun and PH 11.30am-4pm, 5pm-12am
http://noramennolife.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/burnt-miso-ramen-at-gogyo/A meal that will leave you speechless
Many people have seen
the documentary ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’. And doubtless that many of these people
will have been inspired to eat at the restaurant of the oldest man to hold
three Michelin stars. I was tempted but my friend recommended that I try
somewhere else: Sushi Imamura. As you can tell from the title, it was one truly
inspired recommendation.
Traditional sushi
meals are in my view the highest level of theatre. Firstly, a sense of
anticipation and suspense is created in the room as you keenly gaze upon the
box to see what fish or sea dweller the sushi master will bring out next. You
then watch and admire his skill in preparing the sushi with immense precision,
before getting a tad excited as he places it in front of you. You then proceed
to eat each piece of fish/seafood and rice in a graceful or otherwise manner. Finally,
you enjoy a speechless moment, often asking your co-diners not to speak to you in
order for you to reach a meditative state of food nirvana.
Such speechless
moments during this meal included (in order, from top to bottom):
-
Shirako: If
you don’t know what its is, I won’t tell you what this is in case it puts you
off eating it. But it tastes like a cloud. Just eat it
-
Seared
saba: smokey, meaty perfection
-
Squid:
Unbelievably fresh, silky and sweet
-
Chu-toro:
They didn’t have o-toro, probably because the quality wasn’t up to scratch. But
the chu-toro was so damn good.
-
Large
shrimp: Supremely sweet, unbelievably fresh
-
Uni:
Creamy, velvety, sweet… some of the best uni I’ve had
-
Anago:
Cooked, in a slightly sweet soy-based reduction. Melt in your mouth
-
Black
sesame ice cream: a universal crowd pleaser but this is the best I’ve ever had
The price per head,
including a small amount of sake, was approximately 14000 yen, which, for such
quality, is a steal in my view. Needless to say, reservations required.
Address: 5-8-13 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo
+81 (3) 5789-3637
Open Tuesday – Sunday. Closed Mondays. Call
ahead to reserve
Sumptiously superheated seafood
Burning straw instead
of charcoal gives a far higher temperature for cooking whatever you desire, 900
degrees Celsius to be precise. And high temperature for short durations in the
culinary world pretty much imparts smoky deliciousness upon anything the flame
is unleashed upon.
Warayakiya is an
izakaya in Roppongi specialises in the fine art of burning straw to sear your
food, a practice from the Kouchi prefecture in south-west Japan . This
video depicts this fine art in action:
Also indulge in the
seared unagi. Again, even though it looks like the chefs have burnt the food to
a crisp whilst cooking it, the result is again spectacular. Tender unagi,
marinated in a slightly sweet sauce, seared to perfection in that smoky
straw-based flame.
Again, not cheap but definitely
not unaffordable. Reservations recommended.
Address: 6-8-8 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
3-4 minutes from Roppongi station
Budget: JPY 3,500-5,000
Mon-Fri 17:00-5:00 (L.O. 4:00)
Sun 17:00-23:00
3-4 minutes from Roppongi station
Budget: JPY 3,500-5,000
Mon-Fri 17:00-5:00 (L.O. 4:00)
Sun 17:00-23:00
+81 (0) 3 5410 5560
Beef. On the barbeque
I was lucky enough to be taken to Ushigoro Kan
The desserts are pretty handy here too, the
yuzu sorbet (below, bottom) and green tea pudding (below, middle) were more than worthy of
their place with the top quality beef consumed during this meal.
http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13160330/
http://ushigoro-kan.com/
+ 8150-5872-3765
Address: 1-8-1 Ebisuminami, Shibuya-ku,Tokyo
Budget: JPY 5,000-6,000
Open: 17:00-24:00（Last Orders 23:00）
Peruvian in
http://ushigoro-kan.com/
+ 8150-5872-3765
Address: 1-8-1 Ebisuminami, Shibuya-ku,
Budget: JPY 5,000-6,000
Open: 17:00-24:00（Last Orders 23:00）
Two very different Ikebukuro Izakayas
A visit to these two very different
establishments in Ikebukuro will produce a great evening, I guarantee it. The
first is a very traditional izakaya by the name Teshigoto Ya. Stoop through an
entrance only 2 feet high, take off your shoes and head to the bar for a view
of chefs in action.
Notable dishes were the sashimi platter,
grilled chicken and beef intestine soup. All delicious, especially when washed
down with sake or umeshu.
Once you’ve had your fill, exit gracefully
or otherwise through that same 2 foot high chasm through which you entered and
proceed to ‘なら俺んち来る？’ , an izakaya which
sees tradition through the eyes of anime and manga.
This watering hole is all about the
ambience; walls covered in... well just look at the pictures to get an idea of
what’s in store. A must-do, in my opinion, is to challenge the waitresses to a
drinking game of pop-up pirate: if your sword makes the pirate jump out of his
plastic barrel, you buy the waitress a drink. Top class hospitality.
Teshigoto Ya
Iwata Bldg. 1F/2F,
1-33-3Nishi-ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
Mon-Sat 5:00pm-11:30pm;
Sun 5:00pm-11:00pm
03-3985-7182
なら俺んち来る？
4th Floor,
SI Consort Building, 1-36-4 Nishi Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
Directions
from website: “It is the fourth floor of a building of Yoshinoya opposite side
of Rosa Hall. And turn to the
right [3] Family Mart turn left Karaoke Hall on the road [2] KFC proceed to the
right and out of the [1] Ikebukuro Station West Exit. [5] Please contact us by phone If you
do not know.”
050-5877-5352
Open
Daily 5pm to 5am
Ramen as healthy as it is godly
Probably the most popular ramen outside Japan
Line up, curiously gaze at the ramen
‘vending machine’ ordering system, press the button with the big sticker next
to it (though good to check with a local that it is indeed the yuzu-shio ramen
that you are coming here to eat), pay, and wait for your turn at the counter.
Then the bowl of precision and
deliciousness shall arrive in front of you. Upon first sip of the soup, you
probably won’t be blown away. But have patience. Sip more soup, slurp more
perfectly springy noodles, chew on delicious grilled belly pork. At this point,
around a minute into your degustation, you will realize what I’m talking about.
Ever so slightly tangy and salty, the broth has a lip smacking taste sensation
which truly does excel. A steal at 850 yen. I easily could’ve ordered two.
+81 3-5795-0750
Address: 117 Bldg. 1F, 1-1-7 Ebisu,
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Hour: 11:00 am - 05:00 am
Sippin’ on sake
Visit a sake bar known as Kadoya and do
three things: chill with friends, have a drink and munch on fried
deliciousness. More precisely, drink fine sake slowly, savouring every mouthful
and eat crispy, fried to perfection chicken kara-age, and repeat until
satisfied.
4-2-15 Nishi-Azabu
Minato-ku Tokyo
東京都港区西麻布4-2-15
Open 5pm til 5am
Tel: 0364275771
Soba-licious
To most, the buckwheat
noodle might sound like a bland object on which to carry a more potent sauce or
to be drowned in a meaty, heavy stock. But to the Japanese, proper soba is a
true art form more than worthy of eating in its independent form. And I tend to
agree with them, after a visit to this former New York based eatery based in Roppongi.
Honmura An focuses on
the highest quality, freshly prepared soba, which can be eaten plain with a dipping
sauce, or accompanied by flavour enhancements. What I mean by flavour
enhancements is, not anything artificial, but luxurious ingredients which not
only allow the crisp, refreshing flavour of the noodles to stand out but also
provide them with additional oomph. My oomph factor came in the form of the
freshest uni (sea urchin), chopped spring onions and seaweed, plus the
obligatory soba dipping sauce.
Mix this together and
you have something truly outstanding: sweet and creamy richness of the uni,
earthiness of the spring onion and seaweed, all brought together with chilled,
refreshing soba with the right amout of chew. A must.
Recommended
accompaniments include grated mountain yam, whose gooey texture is strangely
addictive, and their fried chicken meatballs, whose mustard accompaniment might
sound a tad European but whose precise, delicate execution is uniquely
Japanese. All in all, not Tokyo’s cheapest soba hangout, but probably one of
its best.
7-14-18 Roppongi, Minato-ku
Tokyo , Japan
+81-3-57726657
Business Hours Weekdays: 1200-1430 (last order), 1730-2200 (last order)
Sat, Sun & Holidays: 1200-1430 (last order), 1700-2130 (last order)
Closed Mondays and 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of the month
Business Hours Weekdays: 1200-1430 (last order), 1730-2200 (last order)
Sat, Sun & Holidays: 1200-1430 (last order), 1700-2130 (last order)
Closed Mondays and 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of the month
Midnight pork overload
I think I went to this
place after several cups of glorious sake at Kadoya described above. And I
think they’re open until daylight. Sake clearly blurs the memory a tad.
But what I do remember,
undoubtedly, was that this was top quality tonkotsu ramen. Amazingly loaded
with the umami overtones of pork bones, this ramen broth is seriously addictive
stuff. Springy noodles, juicy pork belly, plus the usual side-kicks, make this
ramen a formidable late night friend.
And now I remember the name, Kohmen.
Home Cooked
As an avid cook, I decided to gain some
home-cooked gastro-immersion via a cooking class. I could look up recipes on
the internet and cook them without guidance, but since I had some time on my
Saturday afternoon, I decided to sign up for Yuka’s Japanese Cooking in order
to gain some further insight into the Japanese home-cooking scene.
I was fortunate enough to be the only
student and of course that equals lots of attention and plenty of opportunities
to fulfil one’s culinary curiosity.
About a week in advance, I requested that we cook Gyoza, Nasu No
Dengaku, and ginger and sesame pork; homely, comforting dishes.
With some of Yuka’s expert touches, the end
result was just delicious. And the portion seizes were more than generous.
I forgot one key thing: she makes amazing
home-made miso (below). Try it in many of her dishes, or, if you’re like me,
taste a bit of it on its own.
Tempura-tation
Just a little bit of
history to start off this post. Deep frying was introduced into Japan centuries
ago by Portuguese traders, but at that stage it certainly wasn’t an art. In
typical Japanese fashion, deep-frying was fine tuned into the art form that we
know today: tempura.
If you’re still not
convinced that deep frying is an art, then you should get yourself to Ten Tei,
in the Ginza district. It’s by no means cheap
(around 5500 yen for a multi-course meal), but you’ll understand why when a
tempura master delivers you round after round of crisp perfection.
Memorable highlights
were… well just about everything was juicy, crispy, light and definitely not
oily. The shiitake mushroom (no pic unfortunately) was pretty much born to be
enveloped tempura batter, so that’s definitely not one to miss. The fish
courses put most fish and chips restaurants to shame. And their tempura sauce
is just immense, mainly because the sauce itself is customisable with the
option to add as much or as little freshly grated daikon to the sauce. My
recommendation: add loads of daikon.
But the king of this
meal was undoubtedly their ten don (below): baby shrimp, exquisitely fresh and
oozing sea sweetness, housed by a light batter and drizzled upon with a
slightly sweet tempura sauce, which was brought to the next level by the
addition of some yuzu juice and zest, all atop perfectly cooked rice.
Address: Shinbashi Kaikan
Building , B1 floor, 8-6-3 Ginza,
Chuo-ku, Tokyo ,
104-0061
Tel: 03-35718524
Closed Sundays
Budget: 4000 – 6000
yen
The purchase of expensive fish at ungodly hours
In my view, a visit to the Tsukiji Market
Frozen Tuna Auction (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html
) is a must when in Tokyo. Yes, you basically need to get there by 4am at the
latest to secure a spot to view this spectacle, and yes in the winter it can be
rather freezing at this time of night, but it is an attraction like no other.
Unlike say the Tokyo
Tower
The first time you set eyes upon the frozen
behemoths that are bluefin tuna, you will undoubtedly be impressed, not only by
the size of each one, but also by the sheer number. Outside the auction houses strange
vehicles drive around seemingly chaotically with tuna balanced precariously on
their rears, a complete antithesis to what is going on inside, where the
auction is carried it in true Japanese fashion; calmly, efficiently and
effectively.
You’ll be finished by around 6am, at which
point you already may be behind another 100 hungry customers (= 1.5hours or
more???) keen to get their hands on cheap, delicious sushi at Sushi Dai. But if
you’ve been to Sushi Imamura (see separate post) or simply can’t be bothered to
queue for ages, just wonder around the market. There’s a fair bit of delicious,
cheap sushi on offer, as well as an array of hot snacks.
A great coincidence
By complete luck, I
happened to be in Tokyo
on the same weekend as the Japan Food Festa 2013 (2nd – 3rd
Nov). Tons of interesting food stalls, not just selling food, but promoting
concepts such as sustainability, tourism and even allowing students to cook-off
against each other in a culinary war of tastyness.
Just wondering around,
I deliberately stumbled into a plethora of free samples: tuna ham, preserved
oysters, radishes, spring onion oil, crab butter, to name a few.
I also stumbled into
some good value dishes such as the Japanese equivalent of dan dan mian and tonjiru,
a miso-based vegetable and pork broth. Just damn good.
So either follow my
example and just let the gods decide if the Japan Food Festa will occur during
your visit to Tokyo ,
or plan it in advance. I’d recommend the latter. http://www.foodfestival.jp/event.html
Peruvian in Tokyo
As you can tell from my posts on Peru Tokyo
Bepocah, near the Harajuku district, is
definitely a worthy flag bearer of Peruvian cuisine. The ceviche del dia
tradtional (fish of the day ceviche, causa de rocoto con pulpa de cangrejo
(cooled potato cake infused with hot red chilli, filled with crab meat) and
tiradito (request for scallops = conchas = hotate) are my standard trio of
starters at any Peruvian restaurant. All top quality.
The anticuchos de corazon (grilled skewered
beef hearts) are sublime; charred on the outside and tender on the inside,
served with three delectable sauces: crema de aji Amarillo
Finish with tarta de aguaymanto (meringue
esque pie flavoured with the sweet and sour aquaymanto fruit) and lucuma ice
cream. Apologies for being so dictatorial with my recommendations.
2-17-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Phone: 03-6804-1377
Reservations highly recommended
Open: Monday to Thursday 17:00 - 2:00 (L.O.
1:00); Fridays and Saturdays 17:00 - 5:00 (L.O. 3:00)
Closed: Sundays and one Monday per month
Budget: 5000 yen
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