Gator Girl – Out of the Swamp

Throughout Tokyo I found that there are so many wonderful places to eat. I have already written about a few great experiences that were more sit down, fine dining style restaurants. What was just as delicious were the small local places that I found just walking around.

Xvin – Shiodome

There was a wonderful Chinese restaurant that was near my hotel. I love Chinese dim sum for breakfast and Xvin offered that. Plus the view out of their window was amazing.

    

Sumidagawa Bar – Asakusa

This was a neighborhood bar that I walked by after visiting the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. It was a small place where all the tables were outside. They welcomed me with an appetizer of soy sauce quail eggs. I got to taste Japanese plum wine for the first time. I also got chicken “meatballs” on a stick.

       

Tiger Gyoza Hall – Asakusa

Also located in Asakusa was a dumpling restaurant. They served several different varieties. What I learned was gyoza are Chinese not Japanese. They were pan fried and the filling was fantastic. They were very similar to dumplings that I have enjoyed in the states.

      

Melonpan Bakery – Asakusa

One of the foods I learned about before arriving in Tokyo was melonpan, which Westerners call “Melon Bread”. It is a sweet bun that has a crisscross pattern on top. It’s a cross between a sweet roll and bread. It is great on its own, but I found a place that took it one step further. They sliced open the melonpan and put vanilla soft serve ice cream inside. This was AMAZING! It was a giant ice cream sandwich.

       

Street Food – Akihabara

Located in the area called Akihabara, where all the anime stores are located, I found a street vendor who was selling fresh pastry with cream. You could watch them make the pastry right there on the sidewalk. It was delicious hen it was served warm. Plus the design of the fish was cute.

    

    

Getting to explore a new city is exciting. Being able to visit Tokyo was a once in a lifetime experience and I was extremely fortunate to go.

Enjoy!

T

 

 

For lunch in Japan there are so many different choices if you want sushi. I decided to try Hina Sushi that was inside a large shopping mall that I was visiting.

    

While their menu was huge, I wanted to keep it simple for lunch. I simply ordered a sushi lunch platter. It was chef’s choice of an assortment of sushi and rolls.

It was perfect because I got to try different fish I normally would not order. The rolls had salmon roe on them that added a unique flavor.

I recommend exploring sushi by allowing the chef to make the choices. This allows for a more adventurous experience.

Enjoy!

T

Toraji is a Korean BBQ in the lively area of Tokyo called Shinjuku. The restaurant, with its modern décor, offered different meal options for large groups to an intimate dinner for two.

What makes Korean BBQ so fun is that you actually get to cook the food yourself on hot coals in the center of the table. They have to pay attention or you can burn yourself.

There was an assortment of meats that were chosen for the table. The shrimp and prawns were my favorite. Freshly grilled and dipped in their ginger sauce was the best. I also ventured out of my comfort zone and tried beef tongue and beef cheeks. These were extremely tough pieces of meat and were difficult for me to chew. I am glad that I can say I tried them, but I will stick with the filet going forward. That was my favorite meat of the night.

The kimchi appetizer was amazing. It was so fresh and there was great heat to it. It also came with pickled cucumber that were not quite like pickles. They were sweet and sour tasting. The fresh pickled ginger was also perfect to help cleanse the palette in between bites of kimchi.

The salad was fresh and a perfect way to start the meal. They put a sesame ginger dressing on top that was different from anything I have had before. It was very sweet.

They also served a fried rice that was the perfect accompaniment to the meats.

No meal would be complete in Japan without sake. However, I forgot to write the name down in English so the label is all I have to go on.

If you are in Tokyo and want to try something a little different, try Korean BBQ at Toraji.

Enjoy!

T

I experienced one of the most unique dinners while in Tokyo. It was recommended to me to try the Ninja restaurant because it is a really popular place. There are only around 22 tables so you need to make sure that you make a reservation in advance. The weekends are usually the hardest time to get a table, so if you can visit during the week that would be best.

I was really excited for this dinner. It’s a multi course meal that I needed to place an order for when I made the reservation. Luckily the subway station was near my hotel, so it made it very easy to get to there.

When I got to the front of the mysterious restaurant, I did not even see a door. I saw a red curtain on a wood plank wall. As I walked up a gentleman came out with a clipboard and asked for my name to see if I was on the list. After about 30 seconds of waiting outside I was allowed to pass through the mysterious curtain.

The room was very dark and a person latterly dressed as a ninja helped me navigate through this dark place. I went up stairs, down stairs, over a draw bridge (seriously this draw bridge came out of the wall!) and then finally up another set of stairs to what felt like a roof top table. I could look down and see other rooms that had tables.

  

The interesting thing about this is I never went outside. All of this movement was inside the building. I truly had no idea where I was in this restaurant. I was afraid to even visit the ladies room for fear of not being able to find my way back to the table.

Since I had to pre-order everything before I got there, all I had to order when my ninja waitress showed up was a cocktail. I ordered the “Cleopatra”, which was a blend of sparkling wine, slushy ice, and this interesting jelly with gold flecks in it. It came on a spoon and I had to mix it in the wine. It was sweet and very delicious. I ended up having two.

 

Now started the different courses from the Yamato Spirit Menu.

Course 1: Shuriken Star-Blades Grissini

These were cute black ninja star crackers that came on this stick tree. On the side, in the shape of a ninja star, was a Pâté like spread. It was rich and paired well with the crackers.

  

Course 2: Today’s Special

The special this day was a tomato gazpacho. It had some crispy garlic on top, along with a few croutons. It was refreshing.

  

Course 3: Turban shell bombs

This was a conch shell with the meat inside. The garlic butter that it came in was amazing.

  

Course 4: The Mystery Dish

I would describe this as a ninja croquette. It was a creamy rice and sweet corn covered in a black breadcrumb and fried. It was a little strange when it came out on the plate, but one I cut it open and tasted it, I was in heaven. I could have eaten several of these.

  

Course 5: Vegetable cocktail

The vegetable was fresh green beans sautéed in soy sauce and garlic. It was covered in a whipped Japanese stock that had a foamy texture.

  

Course 6: Special stone-boiled soup

This was a Japanese bouillabaisse. It was amazing to watch them prepare this soup at the table. All the raw ingredients are chopped up and went directly into this hot broth that was in a black kettle. Once everything is in she placed these giant hot stones directly into the soup. Within seconds the broth is boiling. Then she places thin strips of pork directly onto the rocks and the meat starts sizzling. Within a few minutes the soup is ready.

  

Course 7: Ninja style Cream Puff

This was a black pastry filled with a sweet cream. The pastry was sweet despite the dark color of the dough.

  

Course 8: Sherbet Candy

This was an ice cold piece of candy that came in a small metal dish. As soon as I touched it the candy started melting. It was a great palette cleanser before the meat came out.

  

Course 9: Meat of the day

There was a great flank steak this night, It was cooked perfectly at the medium temperature. It was tender and had nice steak seasoning on it. It came with a small casserole side that was scalloped potatoes.

  

Course 10: Sushi and Sushi Rolls

What I was not expecting was the sushi to come out after the main course. The assortment of tuna, salmon, shrimp, and spicy tuna roll were extremely fresh. Which I expected being in Japan.

  

Course 11: Dessert

Dessert was so cute, it was ice cream and a chocolate cookie that was in the shape of a frog sitting on a lily pad. It was so cute I hated to eat it.

  

Right before dessert came out, another ninja appeared at the table. He pulled out a special box and began preforming several different magic tricks. He was very talented and fun. He even left me with a souvenir.

If anyone has a chance to go to Tokyo I recommend you make reservations for the Ninja Restaurant. It’s a once in a life time experience. It’s over the top creative and that is exactly what I expected out of Japan. You can see their menu options on their website: www.ninjaakasaka.com

Enjoy!

T