Jp Food Diary: Dec 27, 2011

Sometimes you just want to hole up in your room and just watch anime/blog while eating junk food which is what I did for most of the day – rice crackers and BOSS coffee.

Jp Food Diary: Dec 26, 2011

Quick and early lunch at Sushi Misakimaru Hiroo which was pretty average and Umeoka Ginza beats them hands down in terms of freshness while charging similar prices. The fish in the Kenzaki set (JPY 950 plus extra JPY 200 to substitute the miso soup with the Aosa seaweed soup) seemed a bit tired and even the colour was not as appetising though it’s still much better than anything you can get for this price back home in Singapore. Main drawback of this place is that, unlike Umeoka, they don’t serve sets for dinner so an evening meal will be much more expensive. Also their non-smoking hours are only from 1100 – 1400 hrs.

Jp Food Diary: Dec 24 & 25, 2011

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and best wishes for the New Year

Jp Food Diary: Dec 23, 2011

C&D recommended the Akasaka-Mitsuke branch of Yu Soba but I chanced upon in Hiroo so I finally managed to try it yesterday just after it opened at 11am; in addition, it being a public holiday Friday (Japanese Emperor’s birthday), this was the first time I have not seen this place packed to the rafters. This was the first time I have ever eaten soba which is yellowish, thick cut and served with vinegar and chilli oil and the various toppings… like cold ramen or tsukemen. I purchased the tickets, via the vending machine, for a normal size (JPY680), negi-goma (JPY 100) and shiro-negi (JPY 100). But the texture and the taste of the noodle is definitely buckwheat soba… very strange but also very nice. The high schooler seated next to me at the counter was also initially wondering – is this really soba? But after a few mouth-fulls, he was telling his friends that this was umai, maji umai (delicious, really delicious!) Another great C&D recommendation!

Jp Food Diary: Dec 22, 2011

Heard so much about Izuei Honten’s unagi (eel) that I went to Ueno for an early lunch; had some trouble finding the place because I made a wrong turn after coming out of Ueno Park so I had to ask for directions from a mawari-san (patrolling police officer) who did knew what I wanted even before I could finish my question! Went to the more modern Shinobazutei branch which is just 70 metres or so away from the more traditionally styled original homebase Honten and had a view of the lotus lake. Ordered the service lunch set (limited to just 20 a day apparently) for JPY 1,890 consisting of a single unagi on a bed of seasoned rice, with a cold salmon and bonito flakes and vegetables starter, pickles and hot clear soup. The colour and consistency of the unagi was more like anago (which is wild rather than farmed) and together with the subtle seasoning which did *not* massacre the eel with a double sweet and salty combo, this was very enjoyable unagi. The service lunch portion might be too small for most people though and larger portions at this restaurant start at around JPY 6,800 and can cross JPY 10,000. On the way back to Ueno Tokyo Metro station, I passed the koban (police box) at the corner of Ueno Park and saw the policeman who gave me the directions standing at attention there – thanked him with a quick bow which he acknowledged with a curt head tip of his own.