Akasaka Ramen A.K.A very solid ramen

Ramen is definitely a must ‘hunt-and try’ in Japan. But to find a really good one to rave about, you would probably need the help of the locals.

We got the address of this really small ramen place along “busy-by-corporate-day-but-ghostly-by-night” Akasaka. Sis L got the recommendation from a good friend J who frequented Tokyo for work and she said we just had to make a trip there. Well let’s say, we weren’t disappointed and even set aside lunch on our last day for an absolutely must-revisit.

This little Japanese eatery is almost reminiscent of our old-school make-shift food stalls along the roads of old Chinatown sans the proper kitchen and a cash-register.

A simple plastic curtain shields diners from the sun and rain and a small little sign-board announces it's contrasting presence among it's commerical building neighbours.



The menu emphasizes it's simplicity, a couple of ramen choices and beer for the alcohol thirsty and water for the salt-invoked thirsty. At the top of the menu, is the clearly recommended ‘Prime-minister’ Ramen, the ramen of choice by the prime minister himself…What other ramen will we choose right?!

So we got ourselves all squashed together in a tiny four-seater, ordered our beers and enjoyed the warmth from the kitchen while we waited.

The noodles, are ‘slur-pee-lious’. Unlike some egg-noodles you get that turn soggy, fat and slightly bitter after awhile in their broth, this remained springy and really delicious. The soup was a pleasant pork-bone broth, with a touch of sesame oil, and a generous dollop of mentaiko. Good already on its own, top that with a dash of garlic, and the soup becomes even tastier and addictive.

Definitely on my top-five to try list for Tokyo.

2-12-8 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

http://www.kyusyujangara.co.jp/shops/akasaka.htm

For various addresses in Tokyo

Tempura Expeditions


Experiencing Tokyo would have been incomplete without Tempura. And we would most certainly be untrue to ourselves, if we hadn’t experienced Tempura in all its light battered variety and combinations. So that’s just what we did.

On the first night in Shunjuku, still acquainting ourselves with this multi-faceted district of a thousand coloured lights and train-station exits, we went in search for a small little Udon-Tempura shop.

60 minutes later and terribly lost, we approached a really kind-hearted Japanese lady, who walked us personally to the shop (which turned out to be 5 mins from our hotel!). Helping lost wandering tourists – part and parcel of an everyday business I suppose…

The little shop was made out of a simple udon and tempura station and quaintly furnished with wooden tables and chairs. Canteen style, you order your noodles and when you get your bowl, take a tray and proceed down the counter to select among the variety of tempura laid out.


We were cold, hungry and obviously beyond the logic of calculating the sharing portions, so we just piled them on! The mentaiko udon with a wet egg and generous slab of butter was probably the nicest of the udon available. G also had the daily special – a cheese and butter udon. Together with the freshly fried tempura, it was such a welcoming meal. And after slurping up the noodles, the hot-soup stations provide piping hot soup to wash down the entire meal.

The second stop for tempura was at a little soba shop within Asakusa when we stopped for lunch. This time, we paired the tempura with cold Zaru soba.
This little soba shop is tucked away on a quiet street, away from the buzzling Sensoji Temple and Shin – Nakamise activities.
Once in the shop, we were transported to old-school Japanese tatami dining. The menu was simple, limited mainly to Soba or Udon and a scant choice of tempura.
Exhausting our choices, we pretty much ordered everything listed on the menu. This wasn’t to say the quality of the prawns and vegetables were compromised. Unlike most tempura shops, the ebi prawns were probably the longest prawns, chopped and served on a tempura platter.
The noodles were also freshly made and springy to the bite. Mixed with the quail egg, wasabi and chives, the cold soba dipping sauce provided for a refreshing slurp interspersed with the occasional kick.

Taken twice with such heavy carbos, our next tempura stop, we wanted to the Tsunahachi Tempura chain and have a score of really good tempura. Considering the difficulty we had with the first udon and tempura shop, we thought we should try the one that was easy to find and convenient.
Perhaps it was the expectation, or the fact that it was located within Takashimaya and was acclaimed by few to be one of the better places to have tempura in Tokyo, whatever the case, I was sorely disappointed....

Repeated reminding ourselves to preserve our dignity and observe self-control, we only ordered 2 tempura sets and a side order of sweet potato (naturally) and scallop tempura to share among the 4 of us.
Freshness is most definitely a quality that would never be lacking in Tokyo. But the tempura was honestly nothing to scream about. The skills and execution of the chef was unmistakable – the batter was light and the prawns and scallops just slightly undercooked perfection. But everything was just ordinary. The sweet potato was a little dry and the most disappointing considering that’s my ultimate favourite tempura ever.

I won’t be too quick to condemn Tsunahachi though. To be fair, they really do have a steady and faithful following of tempura eaters. But the next time, maybe we will try to locate the original restaurant in Shunjuku and experience the beginnings of this famous tempura chain.

Well 2 out of 3 still makes a solid tempura experience.

Mentsu-dan (Udon - Tempura)
7-9-15 Nishi-Shinjuku
03-5389-1077

Tsunahachi Tempura
Shinjuku Takashimaya 13F
(03) 5361-1860
OR

Tsunahachi Honten (original restaurant)
3-31-8 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
(03) 3352-1012

#2 Ultimate Sushi Experience - Sushizanmai @ Tsukiji

It seems only natural for us to include a mandatory visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market close to Ginza on this trip. But copious amounts of love for Hotate and Mentaiko and Otoro could not compete with the tiredness creeping up with all those late nights and heavy-duty walking. So, we didn't make the 4:30 am Tuna auction and the 5:30am standard auction. In fact, we didn't make it till all the fish had been sold, cut and laid on ice to be sold.

@ 7 in the morning, the fish market is already bustling with activity. I don't think we got to explore the entire market, but enough to whet our eager appetites for breakfast.

The first few shops we observed sold so much mentaiko! The mentaiko looked so fresh, L was starting to get tempted to buy her stocks now instead of at the airport when heading back. Apart from the common and expected sights, we also caught a few unexpected and surprising items being sold.
G pointed out these Wasabi roots to us and I probably have never given thought to Wasabi looking anything but the mushy green knobs at sushi counters.
Of course we saw plenty of seafood. Most of them prepared and laid out neatly for people to select their produce purchase for the day. Maybe it was the cold, maybe it was the cleanliness of the market, but I could literally smell the freshness of the seafood in the surrounding air. A pity our wet markets would never have such a fresh and varied seafood selection as such.


Fresh crabs for sale

Fish - fresh or sliced and neatly packed for shipping probably?

Fugu anyone? Prepared, sliced and packaged, they don't look threatening at all. But they do look absolutely pitiful in the ice boxes! (they are still alive, the few final breathes after the clean simple 'back-stab')
Yummy succulent scallops
With the early morning passing, and the glancing of several sushi shops scattered generously around the market and the tempting sight of locals tucking into sushi so fresh at 8 in the morning, made the locals' common idea of sushi at 8am in the morning, a very easy breakfast practise for us to consider adopting.

As they say, "when in Rome..."

We got into a Sushizanmai - a local chain of sushi restaurants with a substantial handful located within the epitome of fresh fish. Considering since fresh fish was just a door frame away, we trusted that the chefs must know their sushi. Thankfully, the assumptions were safely made.

Allocated counter seats and a personal attending chef, we ditched the menu sushi sets and starting keeping our chef busy. Of course we dove straight into the otoro, aburi-toro , uni and hotate sushi.

Takenly like a calm and professional chef used to attending to greedy tourists, he nods, repeats the order, takes it down and deftly gets down to it.

The semi-broiled fatty tuna is actually torched individually, providing each sushi with the much undivided attention and perfection. Such an important task naturally requires a work-station on its own. This was our chef in charge on solely blow-torching our tuna.

To be honest, I am certainly no sushi connoisseur. But the true test of fresh sushi comes easy when the sushi is indeed super fresh. Go for the Uni (sea urchin) sushi.
The sea urchin was so sweet. I was pleasantly surprised because I've never tried Uni before this trip and I didn't expect it to taste so palatable. And according to sea urchin devourer, G, this is exactly what good and fresh sea urchin should taste like.
We ventured a hard-core selection and ordered otoro sashimi. Though the fish was really yummy, I think the sushi was nicer... probably because with the rice, it makes the oil go down a little easier.

And of course a refilling of the kitchen after the early birds have had their fill. As we were about to leave, the waitress comes out with a new menu and the prices for the sushi were reduced from the time of 9am to 3pm. What a professional mark of the importance for the freshness of the food in this trade!
Sushizanmai
Everywhere within the Tsukiji Fish Market!

1st of 2 Ultimate Sushi Experience - Midori@Shibuya


How can one come to Japan and not max out on Sushi? Good thing, we approached our sushi eating missions with a 'two-pronged' attack plan - cheap and solidly good. So good our attack strategy, I think we ate enough tuna to shoot my 'Save the Dolphins -Don't eat tuna' cause to bits. So massive we 'burped fish' till the next day (pardon the disgusting details).

The first time we went to Midori Sushi at the Shibuya Mark City we were all prepared for a queue, but we most certainly were not expecting a snaking queue that was only growing longer, not smaller the whole 20 mins we were there.

Disappointed, we gave up and promised ourselves we would definitely have to come back. If even the locals were prepared to wait, we had too to.
The second time round, we planned ahead. Disneyland wasn't living up to being "Happy La-La land" - I suppose we overestimated it's 'feel-good' power it had on over-grown jaded adults - so we left early to make our way back to give Midori another shot.

This time round, at 8pm, 2 hours before closing time, we got in! And there were no regrets..

Like sharks on a feeding frenzy at the smell of fresh fish, we kept pointing at the various sushi available until our waitress told us to stop and hinted that their shop would be closing at 10.

Sheepishly we put down our menus and waited in anticipation for our sushi to arrive. In 20 mins, there was almost zero conversations from our table except for the occasional "oh..this is sooooo good" audible rudely from 4 fully-stuffed mouths.


We went straight for the highly recommended chef's choice - perfect with several selections of fatty to ultra fatty tuna, a huge slab of fresh Unagi.

Some California maki - Didn't really like this. Stick to the fish and seafood.


The Hotate sushi was probably the sweetest scallops I tried the whole trip. Plump and sweet and really super fresh. Of course we went for seconds straight after.

The Salmon Sushi was generously slabbed with a nice piece of fatty Salmon belly. Topped with the ginger, quite a interesting kick to having the usual salmon sushi.

As a separate note, with the likes of Oo-toto, Hotate and Fugu gracing us with it's presence at such reasonable prices compared to Singapore, I could finally understand why people always tell me that the Salmon was probably the cheapest fish served at a sushi table.


Mentaiko was also very freely available in Tokyo. At almost every meal, we had mentaiko in any possible form and places the Japanese Chefs could think of putting it. Since it's one of her favourites, Sis L went for the Mentaiko Maki. A little too hardcore and salty for me though.

And Finally.... Our coveted medium and ultra fatty otoro. So fresh and fatty, the slices simply melts in your mouth.. Oh, the reminiscence.... I want to go back to Tokyo!!!
We also had albacore - seared and semi broiled. Cooked, the tuna becomes even more unbelievably yummy. The combination of oily fresh meat with springy grilled textures rolled with the onions and the mentaiko toppings, all balanced with the rice base and kicked with Wasabi - HEAVEN.

To try other novel things on the menu, we also selected the roast beef sushi. Tasting a little like otoro, it would probably serve as a suitable alternative.

By the first round, I was already waving my chop-sticks in surrender. About time too as the waitress was going round taking last ordered - probably in caution at this greedy table. Greed of course kicks in and we finally wrapped up our sushi experience with a second round of almost everything previously ordered and left with sedated bellies and happy smiles.

Midori Sushi @ Shibuya

Mark City E., 4th fl.

1-12-3 Dogenzaka

Shibuya-ku, Japan 150-0043

Tel: 03-5458-0002

Be prepared to queue, unless you go at opening or close to closing.

Eating Our Way Around Tokyo#2 - Harajuku & Asakusa

Harajuku and Asakusa were probably the only cultural trails we embarked on. The rest were skyscraper and departmental scenic routes.

Harajuku is supposedly Tokyo's teenage capital, where Takeshita Dori - a 400 metre long street lined with shops, boutiques and cafes targeting the teenagers is located conveniently from the Harajuku station. Amidst the 'punk / funk' fashion are visitors to the beautiful Meiji shrine - a local's choice to conduct their nuptial processions and ceremonies.

Harajuku Train Station

The majestic natural solid wood gate way to the serene Meiji Shrine

Collection of Sake hung just before the final gravel pathway to the Meiji Shrine.

When we were told the Meiji Shrine was conveniently located at the Harajuku station, we weren't expecting a close to 500 metre gravel trail leading up to the expected shrine! Pleasant as it was to walk and admire the preservation of it's natural surroundings, we were left panting for breath by the time we came close to nearing the final gate-way announcing it's calm and beautiful presence.

A refreshing sight!

One of the many brides preparing for their wedding procession at the Shrine.
The Japanese wedding march-in. - No accompanying music and BYO: bring-your-own large entourage

Little nook within the shrine to leave a token and well-wish


After witnessing 6 wedding ceremonies proceeding all simultaneously within the Meiji Shrine, we were ready to pick up where we left off on our food trail. Off we headed towards Takeshita Dori and Omotesando Hills.


Takeshita Dori - the street for Tokyo's quirky youths. Pity I didn't see any outlandish fashion.



Along the way, B brought a chocolate and strawberry crepe to tide the hunger pangs.

Takeshita Dori is lined with several crepe-making carts, creating such inviting and heavenly smells to make the walk more pleasant.


A quick pit stop for sushi along Omotesando Hills turned out to be a one-hour rest on the feet and a treat for our tummy. Our first taste of Hotate and Toro (fatty tuna belly) this trip.

With the sun setting at 4pm, it felt like dinner-time really soon. While heading back to the train station, we chanced upon a sight beyond resisting. Part of a German St Marc Cafe chain, I had to try a choco-cro. The smells were drawing and I have always had an extreme soft-spot for a decent croissant.

Choco-Cro chain at Harajuku. This little pit-stop can be found at several districts and train stations across the City. Just look for the orange circle and cartoon croissant icon.

The limited edition Christmas croissant - fresh chocolate filled croissant dusted with chopped almonds.
Oh, absolute yum!

*****

Contrasting this would have to be Akasuka. A town, 45 mins away from the busy central districts, it's one of those quaint cosy towns preserving the atmosphere of old Tokyo.

Kaminarimon - the first and larger of two entrance gates leading to Sensoji Temple and 5-storey pagoda
I would have to say the walk up to this shrine was less painful then the one for Meiji. For one, they were smart enough to bang on the tourist dollar and adequately flanked both sides of the street leading up to the temple with little stalls selling visitor trinkets, food stuff and little toys.


Freshly grilled rice crackers

Toys and memorabilia

So focused on detail, even the shutters of an unleased stall must fit into the theme

Nakamise - the lively shopping street leading up to the Sensoji temple

The Sensoji temple - where locals and tourist alike, flock, to pray, snap a photo and grab some holy smoke.


The five storey pagoda adjacent to the Sensoji Temple

Heading backward - and food sampling time...

Our first pit-stop - sweet Sake! More like for Hubby G and Sis L, who could never resist a cup of sake. This was a little too sweet though. It felt more like dessert.


When Hubby G and I spotted this, the first thing was - Japanese Macaroons! Well we had to give it a try! We bought the most unique one and that was the sesame coated one.

Again it was a little too sweet, though the crispy skin was a light chewy batter. It encased a sweet red-bean filling that was really interesting. Wonder what the peach and strawberry one would have had...
A short pit-stop before dinner usually stretches into at least an hour long affair where we tend to over-eat just to rest those tired legs and back. But we extended this pit-stop for good reason. G had heard about this little restaurant serving really good eel rice. "The eel rice experts" he purports. And since we made it our mission to eat different things everyday, we had to detour to Akihabara to have this checked off the 'must-try' list.
The Unagi experts in Akihabara

There is supposedly 4 ways to have the unagi rice.
1) Separate the 'bucket' of rice into 4 portions
2) Eat 1/4 in it's natural fragrance and sweetness
3) Mix the second 1/4 with Wasabi and leek
4) Mix the third 1/4 with the soup provided
5) Find your favourite way and have a second portion!

Oh, experts indeed. Strange as most ways sound, we ended up slurping each grain up.
Of course pit stops for us won't qualify as pit-stops unless we ordered other things.


Freshly rolled Unagi omelette and Grilled Unagi

UNASHO

8F Yodobashi Akihabara

(next to JR Akihabara Station)