Blue Lotus

Shinjuku Gyoen

On Saturday we celebrated the opening day of the Fukutoshin Line, a new subway line that starts at Wakoshi (our nearest station) and goes all the way to Shibuya, a journey that used to require one transfer and a ride on the unpleasant Yamanote Line. Along the way it stops in Shinjuku Sanchome, close to the department stores of eastern Shinjuku as well as Shinjuku Gyoen, my favourite park in central Tokyo.

It was not an auspicious start, with the trains running about 15 minutes late and causing similar delays on the Yurakucho line, which shares tracks with the new Fukutoshin Line. The two trains shown above didn't budge for the 20 minutes we were waiting for our train, something I've never seen. The ride itself was interesting: for the first little while it was full of grumbling, pissed-off passengers, who were just trying to get where they wanted to go. They were replaced little by little with nerds like us, excited to ride a subway on its opening day. The atmosphere was closer to a line at an amusement park than a subway ride, with people laughing, smiling, and pointing out stuff like the neat design of the chairs in the new stations or the mistakes in the announcements (the Fukutoshin trains are operated by a single driver with no conductor to help, and our driver was having trouble getting the pre-recorded announcements right).

The ride was smooth until we neared Ikebukuro, since the train was using older tracks and established stations, but when it started going along new tracks and stopping at brand-new stations things got interesting. All of the new stations have a safety barrier and automatic doors, which means that the train must be perfectly aligned when it stops. And the driver undershot at nearly every stop, causing him to have to move the train forward several centimetres with a huge jolt that felt more like a rollercoaster ride than a subway ride. But the passengers--especially the kids--seemed delighted, and I've never seen such a happy and friendly crowd on a train or subway before.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of the new trains, which are pretty cool looking. The Fukutoshin Line shares trains with the Yurakucho line, and all we saw were the regular old type. Hopefully I'll get a picture someday, but I'm not going to be riding that line again until they work out all the bugs--Hideaki reports that the delays were even worse today, with Fukutoshin trains running half an hour late and Yurakucho trains even worse, causing dangerous crowding at major stations.

So back to Shinjuku Gyoen. Shinjuku Sanchome station has exits leading directly to Takashimaya and Isetan department stores, so we passed through Isetan's depachika (basement food market) on the way to the park to grab lunch. At the park we found a nice spot beside a row of lovely hydrangeas, above, and set up our picnic.

Our lunch consisted of a warm bento, five onigiri, and a salad.

The bento was gomoku okowa (steamed sticky mochigome rice with vegetables) topped with thin strips of omelet and slices of anago no kabayaki (sweet soy sauce-grilled sea eel).

Of the onigiri, these two were the most interesting: shake no oyako (salmon mother-and-child), with flakes of salted salmon and ikura (salmon roe)...

...and nitama(egg simmered in soy sauce). This one was such a neat idea that I'm going to try it just as soon as I can find eggs small enough--or maybe I'll make mini onigiri with uzura tamago (quail eggs).

We fell into our usual routine, with Hideaki taking a nap after lunch and me heading out to take pictures. The park is huge (I've never seen all of it) so I only covered a small section, but it's always impressive no matter what part I visit. The park was originally a private garden belonging to the Imperial family and wasn't opened to the public until 1949. It is especially popular during the cherry blossom season but really has something to see in all seasons. Summer is my favourite time to visit, because of the extensive lawns and wide-open spaces, both rarities in Tokyo.

 

And of course the hydrangea were lovely. These ones were less buggy than the ones in my area, but I did find this one little baby cricket. Cute, huh?

The plane trees were impressively huge.

These air roots surrounding the cypress trees were intriguing, and after a little research it seems they are called "cypress knees", and nobody really knows what their purpose is.

This is the Kyugoryotei, also known as the Taiwan-kaku (Taiwan Pavilion), built in Chinese style in 1927 as a gift from the Japanese community in Taiwan in commemoration of Crown Prince Hirohito's wedding (Taiwan being under Japanese rule at the time).

The NTT Yoyogi Building wasn't around the first time I visited the park 12 years ago, and as I recall there were few buildings visible from inside the park. It was an odd feeling being in the middle of the city, just a short walk from the busiest train station in the world, and seeing nothing but greenery. Now, of course, this skyscraper is visible from most sections of the park, never letting you forget you're in Tokyo.

But tall buildings can be seen anywhere. Here's a view I like better:

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
03-3350-0151
11 Naito-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Open Tuesdays to Sundays (some exceptions, call to check schedule before going), 9am to 4:30pm (last entry 4:00)
Entry 200 yen for adults, 50 yen for elementary and junior high school students, children under 6 free 

Kua'aina

Good burgers are hard to come by in Japan, a fact that rarely bothers me as I've never much of a hamburger lover. But once in a while I'm hit with a craving for a great big juicy hamburger, made with beef on a substantial bun and loaded with toppings. And regular fast-food hamburgers, with their soft puny little buns and paltry reconstituted toppings just won't cut it--and a hambaagu (Japanese style bunless burger made with pork, beef and plenty of filler) won't even come close.

One place that is sure to satisfy such a craving is Kua'aina, a burger joint originating in Hawaii. It's not cheap but it is good, and if you've been in Japan long enough you're probably willing to pay a bit extra for a taste of home. Kua'ana has a few branches in the Kanto area but the one easiest for us to get to is a newer one in the Marunouchi Building near Tokyo station.

Unfortunately they have a really annoying system for ordering: diners line up outside the restaurant and then one by one are allowed to go to the counter to order. Why you can't just line up at the counter like a normal fast food restaurant is beyond me, and I hope they don't do this at all of their branches.

But once you've ordered and payed it gets better. Our onion rings (560 for a large order, which is larger than shown as we'd already eaten a few before I remembered to take a picture) and drinks came first, which was nice as few restaurants here understand the concept of "starters" and tend to send out food either all at once or randomly. The onions rings are tasty and have just the right onion-to-batter ratio. Not the best ever but more than good enough.

The fries are equally impressive and rank among the best I've had in Japan. They came with Hideaki's cheeseburger (850 yen for a 1/3lb burger with choice of 5 cheeses, can't remember how much the fries and drink combo was) and we considered ordering more but by then the line outside the restaurant had grown quite a bit longer. I also wanted to order a bubble tea (this is the only place I've ever seen it sold in Tokyo) and/or a Kona beer, but my mahi mahi sandwich (980 yen, choice of 3 breads) filled me up enough that it wasn't worth waiting in line for more.

And that's the problem with this place: they seem to expect you to make up your mind while lining up outside, based on a little (incomplete) printed menu. So once you're actually at the counter you kind of feel pressured to order quickly, and only afterwards do you realize you really wanted something else. Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, the food is good enough to keep bringing me back, so I'll just make sure to study the menu beforehand next time a craving hits. Or maybe try another branch. Either way I'm definitely getting the bubble tea.

The Kua'aina website's menu and shop list pages don't seem to be working, at least not on my computer, but a partial menu can be found on Guru-navi and a few pictures at Tabelog (all links Japanese)

Kua'aina Marubiru branch
03-5220-2400
Marunouchi Building 5th floor, Marunouchi Chiyoda-ku Tokyo
Open Monday to Saturday 11 to 11 (last order 10:30), Sunday and holidays 11 to 10 (last order 9:30)

つな八

On the weekend my husband had to be at Takashimaya to get measured for a shirt (his father game him a gift certificate for some tailer-made dress shirts), and since I had a few gift certificates of my own I came along and we had lunch afterwards. Called hyakkaten shouhin ken, these can be used at top-class department stores for almost any purchase, including food and meals, and are extremely popular gifts for any occasion. We are lucky to receive them from time to time but so rarely go to hyakkaten (fancy department stores like Takashimaya, Isetan and Mitsukoshi) that we have trouble using them. In fact, we couldn't even remember where we got these particular ones.

We had 10,000 yen worth, which is certainly a lot but rather hard to spend on clothes, since almost nothing is that cheap (at least not the clothes that I can fit into), and it seems silly to spend it on accessories or housewares that would be far cheaper elsewhere. So the logical thing to do was spend them on a meal, since hyakkaten often have very nice, but expensive, restaurants.

We decided on Tsunahachi, a tempura restaurant. We'd had a great meal years ago at the original shop in Shinjuku, which is over 80 years old--and shows it. The food was good and the atmosphere was cozy, but the interior was a bit dingy. It is so popular, though, that it now has branches all over, including a sleek modern one in Takashimaya. The prices seem a bit higher there than at the old place, but since it wasn't my actual money I didn't mind paying a little more for the location.

We chose the Edo-mae zencourse, one of the more expensive options. Sitting at the counter, we got to watch the chef cook our tempura and serve it to us straight from the pot, but unfortunately the lighting was a wee bit on the dark side and the pictures didn't turn out very well. So just try to imagine everything brighter, prettier and more delicious-looking.

The course started with kuruma ebi shrimp, the head (rendered light, crisp and fully edible) served first. The contrast of the plump, tender flesh and the crunchy exterior was wonderful. Not just with the shrimp, but every seafood item served for the rest of the meal; please tack the previous sentence onto all of the following descriptions.

Next was renkon (lotus root), then ika (squid). Some of the softest, most succulent squid I've ever had. The renkon was the only item of the meal that wasn't soft, but the root's own special kind of heavy crunchiness (think of a firmer, less watery water chestnut and you're close) did go nicely with the lighter crispness of the batter.

Myouga(ginger bud) was refreshingly myouga-ey (and if that doesn't make sense imagine the very freshest ginger you've had, refined and sweetened).

The cleverest dish was a large asari clam (the biggest I've seen) fried on the half shell. It was easier to eat than I thought it would be, as the clam had been cut up first. I'm not sure if being in the shell was the reason, but the flesh was incredibly plump and juicy, worlds apart from the rubbery fried clams we get back home.

Next, a refreshing orange jelly. I think. It wasn't on the menu and neither of us caught the description. Behind it are four different kinds of salt: regular sea salt, matcha (powdered green tea) salt, sanshou (prickly ash pepper) salt and yuzu citrus salt. It was fun trying all the different salts but, except for the squid and the scallop, the tempura tasted best in the traditional dipping sauce of soy-based broth (housed in the pitcher above) mixed with daikon oroshi (grated daikon radish).

I think this was my favourite of all: hotate (scallop). Cooked perfectly rare (this picture doesn't show the lovely pink centre), this was heavenly. It definitely went well with a squeeze of lemon and a tiny dip in plain salt.

Anago (sea eel), first its spine (very crunchy, I could eat these like potato chips) and then the flesh, cut in half. Very mild and tender.

The last tempura dish was ko-ebi kaki-age, a disc of small shrimp held loosely together by batter. This one had a mild taste and lots of crunch.

The course finished with rice, pickles and shijimi jiru(miso soup with tiny clams), or at least it did for me.

My husband got lucky: the chef overheard him saying he wished he could have his final piece of tempura as kaki-age don(a popular dish consisting of kaki-age over rice, with a slightly sweet soy-based sauce), so that's what got. Normally I don't like kaki-age don or tendon (the same but with regular tempura) as the sauce is usually too sweet and rich and tends to be poured on so heavily that the batter loses its crispness. But I regret not asking for this for myself as well, because the sauce was light and added with restraint.

The meal came to about 9000 yen (including two drinks), which is more than I'd want to pay for tempura, as good as this was. But we'll definitely be here again for one of the cheaper options.

Shinjuku Tsunahachi (English webpage here)
Takashimaya Branch
(03) 5361-1860
13th floor, Takashimaya Times Square
5-24-2 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Open daily 11 to 11

梅香家常菜

During our Golden Week visit to the in-laws in Osaka one of our many lavish meals was at Meishan Kajousai, a Chinese tofu restaurant in Senri Chuo run by the Ume no Hana chain. I've never been very impressed by the popular Ume no Hana, but this was our second time at Meishan Kajousai and both meals were fantastic.

Hideaki's parents treated us so I'm not exactly sure, but I think we had the Ah Lee course for 3500 yen. There are more expensive courses but this was such a huge amount of good food that I can't imagine wanting more. Unfortunately almost two weeks have passed since then so I may have misremembered some of the details, and the names of dishes and ingredients are an odd mix of Japanese, Chinese and English (how do you properly describe Chinese food eaten in Japan, in English?), but this is what we had:

The course began with an appetizer of tomato, kikurage (jellyfish) and yama-kikurage ("mountain jellyfish", a wild vegetable), and cold tofu topped with pitan (century egg).

Next came spring rolls with shrimp and green beans and a clever take on Thai shrimp toast: fried triangles of bread topped with tofu.

Then, har gow (shrimp dumplings) and tofu shiu mai dumplings.

Next up was a do-it-yourself wrap with savory ground pork and lettuce; it was fun to eat but also the weakest dish.

And then the best dish of all: a savory egg custard with shiro-kikurage (white cloud ear mushroom), very simple but perfectly flavoured.

We really enjoyed the ebi chili (shrimp in chili sauce) on our last visit, and this time it came with beans, nama-fu (chewy wheat gluten), and ginnan (ginkgo nuts) stuffed in little cups of fried bread.

One of the house specialties is mabou doufu (tofu with spicy pork sauce), and they offer three kinds: red, black and white. We chose black and white, with the black being a typical Japanese style mabou doufu, and the white a mild version with soy milk and more ginger than spice. By this time we were stuffed and sadly couldn't finish these.

Normally red rice and soup come at the end, but when we had ordered we were given a choice paying a bit more for fried rice or ramen. Had I known how stuffed I'd be I would have stuck with the regular rice, but I foolishly chose fried rice with takana (pickled greens). From the one bite I tried it was very good, but I just couldn't finish it. Likewise for the very nice egg drop corn soup.

The course was supposed to end with annin doufu (almond jelly) but we begged for mercy and were given a little scoop of ice cream. I wish I could remember what flavour it was and what it was topped with, but I do remember that I managed to finish it (there's always room for ice cream).

Meishan Kajousai
06-6873-8488
Senri Chuo Life Science Centre, 2nd floor
Shin Senri Higashi-machi, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka
Open daily for lunch from 11:00 to 4:00 (last order 3:00) and for dinner from 5:00 to 10:00 (last order 9:00)

Golden Week

I went spent the (roughly) week-long spring holiday called "Golden Week" with my parents-in-law in Osaka, and seeing as I've been back in Tokyo for a week I thought I should get around to posting about it.

My time was equally divided between playing with my niece Marya, eating enormous meals (including three buffet lunches, and if that doesn't sound exciting then you've never had a good Japanese buffet), and convalescing from yet another cold. Or whatever this thing is. Hours before I was to ride the night bus to Osaka I came down with the exact same sore throat and fatigue as I got last month (and New Years, and now), and knowing I was likely in for a bit of unpleasantness I considered canceling the whole thing and staying in Tokyo. But I figured I'd be better off being miserable around family than being miserable alone, so off I went.

I laid low for a few days, canceling my plans for a day trip to Kyoto and even going to a clinic for some meds. My first visit to a doctor in Osaka, and if that one experience is enough to go on it seems the waiting-time-to-consultation-length ratio is even worse there than in Tokyo. About a two hour wait (including the wait for meds and payment), and 90 seconds with the doctor. True, longer waits are typical during holidays, but I've never been brushed off so quickly by a doctor before.

Luckily the meds worked, which is a good thing because Marya is tireless. She had to go a park every day, and not just a dinky local park but great big special far away ones, full of playgrounds and vast spaces to run around in. She has very specific ideas about what each adult accompanying her should do, such as as who has to race her, who pushes her bike when she's not using it, and who carries the bags. Luckily she's still into the game called "you guys sit still and watch me while I do stuff", so we did get some rest occasionally.

Marya and her mom headed back to Tokyo before we did, and we were sad to see them go. Marya, on the other hand, couldn't wait to say good-bye, so excited she was about riding the "kinkanten" (shinkansen, or bullet train). To help cheer us up, Hideaki drove his parents and I to Kyoto. It wasn't the full day of sightseeing I had originally planned, but I was glad I got to go after all. After a very nice lunch (buffet #2) at the Miyako Hotel we headed to Toji Temple, home of Kyoto's iconic five-story pagoda.

It is 55 metres tall, making it not only the tallest pagoda in Japan but the tallest wooden building in Japan. But not the oldest: although the pagoda was originally built in 826, it has burned down several times over the centuries, and the current structure is a mere 364 years old.

There were some special exhibits that day, with access allowed to a few areas that are normally closed to the public. So (for a steep fee), we got to enter the normally off-limits pagoda and see the statues and paintings inside. Other buildings (the temple actually consists of several buildings) housed treasures associated with Kobo Daishi, founder of esoteric Buddhism and builder of the pagoda.

The gardens were nice too, and full of spring flowers in bloom. But most impressive was this egret, who made a splashy landing in one of the ponds and chugged down a few fish.

And finally, no trip to Osaka is complete without takoyaki (octopus dumplings) or okonomiyaki (savory pancake), so we made sure to have both for lunch. We followed with some yakisoba (fried noodles), but even with that and a big mug of beer this was probably the smallest meal we had all week. Now that we're back home we're trying to eat a bit less to try to balance things out. Not a huge problem though, at least in the takoyaki and okonomiyaki department: they just don't make it right here.

Lots more pictures in my Golden Week album.

Golden Week begins

Today was Showa no Hi, the birthday of the former emperor Showa (Hirohito's posthumous name). Why exactly we celebrate his birthday I'm not sure, but this was the first of four public holidays that make up Golden Week and I'm not about to complain.

Hideaki and I made a visit to Kichijoji to run some errands and while we were there had a quick lunch at a Chinese place called Kisshousaikan. We both had lunch specials, with me getting kurozu no subuta (sweet and sour pork with black vinegar) and my husband had pork stir-fried with matchstick potatoes. Both were excellent, and the potatoes were a surprise as I'd never had them cooked that way before, and had no idea what they were when I first tried them (I hadn't heard my husband's order), thinking maybe they were zasai pickles or bamboo shoots. They were soft and giving but had a slight bit of a firm crunch left: very nice. Both our lunches came with egg drop soup, zasai, salad, rice and annin-doufu (almond jelly) with mango sauce, all of which are surprisingly good, considering they are usually afterthoughts with this kind of set lunch.

On the way home we stopped at Planetes for a treat to bring home. My raspberry tart got banged up quite a bit on bumpy ride home but Hideaki's "chocolate royal", while arriving home a bit worse for the wear, stayed mostly intact. It contained three rich layers of chocolate, plus the chocolate fans and gold leaf on top: very decadent. My tart, while not much to look at, was super and had the perfect crust. Really, it's mostly the crusts that I buy tarts for--if they just sold empty crusts I'd buy them by the dozen. Not that I mind the filling though (and besides, if I only bought the crusts I'd miss out on the raspberries, and lord knows how hard they are to find in Tokyo).

So about this Golden Week. The holidays don't all run together, so unfortunate should like my husband are back to work tomorrow for three more days until the holidays resume, but a few lucky folks like myself have the whole week off. I'm headed tomorrow to the in-laws in Osaka, where I'll hopefully be able to keep you updated with a moblog post or two.

Wishing you all a week as golden as mine!

Kisshousaikan (Japanese link)
0422-41-0628
Uchida Building 3rd Floor, Kichijouji Minami-cho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo
Open daily 11:00 to midnight (last order 11:00)

Patisserie les Planetes (Japanese link)
03-5933-1233
5-8-20 Oizumigakuen-cho Nerima-ku Tokyo (Also outlets in Omiya and select Tokyo department stores)
Open 10:00 to 7:00, closed Wednesdays

Out

Another round-up, this time featuring stuff I've been eating out.

Last month I had a nice coffee and book swap in Kichijoji with Ms J, a commenter on this blog. Among the many coffee shops in the area we chose a place called medewo & dine, which has an odd name but turned out to be a nice place: spacious and bright, with the tables so far apart that we didn't even notice we were in the smoking section. The lattes were good too, and came decorated with the cutest latte art I've ever seen. I thought maybe the rabbit was for Easter, but it seems to be a regular design. I hope I get the sneezing cat next time.

Earlier this month a friend and I couldn't find a cheap dinner in Shibuya, so we settled for our regular standby Tenya, a fast food chain specializing in tempura. They now have ochazuke (rice with hot tea), which is a favourite food of mine. It's quite common at izakayas or other drinking places, but not normally found at fast food type shops so I was pleased to see it on the menu. This is ume-chazuke, topped with chopped kari-kari ume (crunchy pickled plums), nori seaweed, shio-kombu (salted kelp), arare (rice puffs) and mitsuba (trefoil).

The seasonal tempura came with takenoko (bamboo shot), sakura ebi kaki-age (a large disc of tiny pink sakura shrimp with onion and mitsuba), hanpen (fish paste), green beans, and shrimp. It was good, especially the kaki-age, and not a bad deal for 970 yen.

We were in Shibuya, by the way, to work out at a fancy gym that we had a trial coupon for. Called Wow'd, it had great views: that's Shinjuku up above. The place was full of nice new equipment and thin young women in expensive outfits--I felt a bit conspicuous in the crumpled and ill-fitting gym clothes I'd found stuffed at the back of my closet. .

We tried a belly dance class (harder than I thought) and a great stretch class, and during those two hours not once did any of the other women talk to each other. The complete silence while waiting for the classes to begin was especially creepy, and if I had been alone I would have fled.

Another cheap fast food place is Ringer Hut, specializing in Nagasaki champon: stir-fried vegetables and seafood over noodles. On a recent visit I got the Nagasaki sara-udon set, with the stir-fry served on crunchy fried noodles and a side of gyoza. It's not the finest food I've ever eaten but it's tasty, filling, healthy (at least compared to a burger and fries), and very cheap: the set only cost me 680 yen.

After my disappointing Fillet-o-fish a few months back I've been on a quest for a good fish burger. At Mosburger I finally found it.

A generous fillet, properly crunchy, with a toasted bun and the right amount of sauce (just mayonnaise and onions actually). The cheese is just as unnecessary as it is on the McDonalds version, but you get a whole slice here. Strangely, there was also mustard on the bottom, which I thought would be weird but tasted alright. The fries could have been a bit crispier but were piping hot and properly soft and fluffy inside. At 590 yen for the burger, small fries and a drink, it's only slightly more expensive than McD's version. Which means there is no reason for me to ever set foot in a McDonald's again (at least after 10:30am: I still love their breakfasts).

My first official visit to Tokyo Midtown (a year after it opened-- can you tell I don't get out much?) was with Shan, another person I met through this blog (and also at the eGullet get-together earlier this month). We lined up to get into a trendy cafe, something I thought I'd never do. But this was no ordinary cafe: this was the sit-down section of the Jean-Paul Hevin chocolate boutique.

The line wasn't really all that long, and it gave us time to figure out what we wanted as every single thing on the picture menu we were given looked fantastic. By the time we sat down I had settled on the above chocolate tart with an espresso (I'd forgotten that espressos at fancy cafes come with a little chocolate or two, so I got a bit of a chocolate overdose). It was so, so good that I won't even bother describing it, because I know I won't do justice to it. Suffice to say that whoever this Jean-Paul guy is, he knows his chocolate. It cost me 1200 yen, which could got me a lavish meal for two at any of the fast food joints above, but as special treat it was completely worth it.

medewo & dine (webpage in Japanese only)
0422-23-8208
2-13-6 Kichijoji Hocho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo
Open daily, 11:30 to 11:30 (last order 10:30)

Tenya (webpage in Japanese only)
Locations throughout the Kanto area, shop list here (in Japanese)

Ringer Hut (webpage in Japanese only)
Locations throughout the Kanto area and western Japan, shop list here (in Japanese)

MOS Burger (webpage in Japanese only, but corporate site and Singapore site in English)
Locations throughout Japan, shop list here (in Japanese)

Jean-Paul Hevin Tokyo Midtown
03-5413-3676
Tokyo Midtown Galleria 1st Floor, 9-7-4 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Open daily 11:00 to 9:00
Other locations in Japan listed here

eGullet get together

On Friday I met up with five other members of eGullet, an online food site with a very active forum. This was only the second time the Tokyo-based members had organized a get together and because I'd missed the first I was really glad to have been able to make it this time.

We ate lunch at Sasanoyuki, a famed tofu shop in Uguisudani that for 317 years has operated not only as a restaurant but as an official supplier to the Imperial Family. With such a pedigree you'd expect the place to be expensive, but the prices are surprisingly affordable, with courses running from 2000 yen to 6500 yen. All but one of us went with the cheapest option, which was this:

From bottom right: two dishes of ankake-doufu (tofu in a thick, sweet soy-based sauce garnished with mustard); a simmered dish of sweet black beans, koya-doufu (spongy freeze-dried tofu), and koma-toufu (a special kind of tofu that has been previously boiled to produce air bubbles); goma-doufu (sesame tofu); ganmodoki (deep fried tofu dumpling); momen-doufu (cotton tofu) with a dip of soy sauce, thinly sliced long onion and grated ginger; and a little dish of edamame-doufu (tofu made with fresh green soybeans), takenoko (bamboo shoot), ikura (salmon roe) with uni (sea urchin) sauce.

The meal finished with pickles and uzumi-doufu, which is a variation of ochazuke (rice with hot tea). Rice was topped with tofu resembling soboro (flavoured minced meat) and thinly sliced fuki (butterbur), and finished with thin strips of nori seaweed and hot dashi (Japanese stock). The 2600 yen course was the same, with one additional dish and dessert.

Next we took the subway to Ginza and had dessert at the Pierre Marcolini Cafe. The place is divided into two take-out shops and two sit-down cafes offering the famed Belgian chocolatier's chocolates and ice creams. We had wanted to sit in the chocolate cafe but ended up in the ice cream cafe as that was the only place our group would fit. I was hardly disappointed at loved my dessert: a scoop each of banana and caramel ice cream, topped with a chocolate decoration (which wilted by the time I got around to taking the picture) and two crunchy caramel decorations. This is not the kind of dessert I need to make a habit of, as it cost about 1300 yen. But for a special treat I'd gladly go back, and maybe even wait in line for the chocolate cafe.

Sasanoyuki (Japanese/English)
03-3873-1145
2-15-10 Negishi, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Open 11:30 to 9:15 Tuesday to Sunday (holiday Mondays are open, Tuesdays following holiday Mondays are closed)

Pierre Marcolini (Japanese only)
03-5537-2047
5-5-8 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Open Monday to Saturday 11:00 to 8:00 (last order 7:30), Sundays and holidays 11:00 to 7:00 (last order 6:30)

Easter

This morning I grabbed my trusty glue gun and put together a quick present for my niece Marya: a basket of chicks.

I had originally planned to give her some pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs) but it's been so long since I've done them that all the eggs I made ended up being practice eggs, either cracked or not good enough to give away. Maybe I'll have better luck next year.

Hideaki and I met his sister and her family for brunch at Roti, a restaurant in Roppongi. I ordered eggs benedict, because someone had to-- it wouldn't be a proper brunch without them. The other grown-ups ordered steak and eggs, a burger and fries, and a spinach and feta omelet.

Marya had the fluffiest pancakes ever, of which she took two bites before moving on to her dad's fries and four bananas from the breakfast bar. We were all happy to help finish off her pancakes, not that our own food wasn't excellent: it turns out Roti does a very nice brunch, and since Tokyo is sadly lacking in brunch places we'll definitely be back.

They also do desserts well too, and this blackberry crumble was good enough to keep us away from the nearby Stone Cold Creamery which we'd originally planned to visit for dessert.

Then it was back to Marya's place where we spent a few hours decorating eggs. We were all concentrating on our eggs so hard that there are no pictures of us at work, just the finished eggs.

Then it was time to play. Which of course means watch Marya play, but unlike last time she deigned to let us help put together the train tracks, and Hideaki was even allowed to touch the train a few times. Progress is definitely being made, and in a few years we may actually get to push the train around for a lap or two. It's such a cool train track set that we joked about buying a separate one for the adults so we could play too, but I'm guessing Marya wouldn't stand for that.

Then we all went out for a dinner of soba, a nice way to soothe our tummies after such rich food for brunch. I had tsuke-toro soba, which were cold buckwheat noodles with a dip made of soy-based sauce, grated yam, raw egg and and nori seaweed.

We were then given a bag of Easter goodies and sent on our way, and when we got home we had some of them for dessert:

Hot crossed buns! I didn't think it was possible to find them, but apparently the bakery Andersen carried them for a few weeks before Easter, or at least they did at the Aoyama branch. Thank you sister-in-law!

eGullet foodblog highlights

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was busy with an intensive foodblog last over at eGullet last week. I hope you went and had a look, but just in case I didn't here are some of the highlights:

I was lucky enough to find whole scallops on Monday and broiled them on the half-shell with wakame seaweed, ponzu (citrus soy sauce) and butter.

The scallops were served with homemade tofu; miso soup; bamboo shoot rice; rapini dressed with soy sauce and katsuobushi (bonito flakes); and kimpira of lotus root, young burdock root and carrot.

The next dinner was rice with ume-shiso-shirasu (pickled plum, perilla leaf and baby sardines); clams steamed in wine; tamago-yaki (thick rolled omelet); broccoli and new potatoes dressed with ponzu; and cabbage with katsuobushi.

Here is leftover kimpira; cabbage, wakame and cherry tomato salad; tara no kasuzuke (cod marinated in sake lees and white miso); spinach simmered with fried tofu; tonjiru (miso soup with pork and vegetables); white rice; with shirasu and mentaiko (spicy cod roe) for rice toppings.

On Friday night we went all out and bought two kinds of wagyu (Japanese beef) and some kurobuta (Berkshire pork) to use for shabushabu.

Here is a close up of the most expensive beef, to show you the lovely marbling.

This is udo, a kind of sansai (mountain vegetable). Like most wild spring vegetables it is pretty and has a fresh, delicate flavour.

These wagashi (Japanese sweets) tasted as good as they looked.

On Saturday we had lunch at Kantarouzushi, our favourite sushi restaurant. I took this picture when I was halfway done the appetizer of maguro (lean tuna) and toro (tuna belly) to show the marbling.

Our lunch was omakase (chef's choice): ikura (salmon roe), tobiko (flying fish roe, not really visible), tamagoyaki (thick omelete), tekkamaki (cucumber and tuna roll). Front: o-toro (the fattiest and best grade of toro), hirame (flounder), ama-ebi (sweet shrimp, raw), chuu-toro (medium grade toro), unagi no shirayaki (salt-grilled eel), kani (crab, cooked).