About food in Japan

Portuguese - Vilamoura

The Portugese restaurant Vilamoura is located in Ginza, just behind Sukiyabashi crossing.

Go down to the basement floor, fence painted in sky blue, corkscrews scattered and  Cataplana(local stew) pots hanged on walls, they will make you feel as if you were in  the European country.

The food and the selection of Port wine, Madeira wine would never disappoint diners there, rather they would be the reason to come to the restaurant time by time.

Japanese people can find some resemblance between Portugese dishes and own local food. One reason is similality of their ingredients such as seafood and rice, the other is historical link between these two countries date back to hundreds years ago.

Grilled sardine is one of them. Really simple dish but, to be surprising, it matchs with Portugese red wine.

My favourite menu is Grilled rissott with vegetables and cheese. 
We can not miss it particularly in winter.

 

Restaurant name: Vilamoura
Address:  Davinci Ginza Annex  B1Floor
6-2-3 Ginza, Tokyo
Website: http://www.vila-moura.com

Chanko-nabe (Sumo wrestler's pot)

"Nabe (one-pot dish)" is a typical home food of winter in Japan and is often shared with family or good friends. It is normally cooked in front of guests or dinners.

There are many variations in Nabe by ingredient and soup put in.
"Chanko-nabe" is one of them and is known as one cooked for Sumo wrestlers.
It means that "Chanko-nabe" has the heaviest in term of volume and ingredients in all kinds of nabe dishes.

What we found in the pot, Chanko-nabe...

Japanese leeks, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, deep-fried tofu, chiken, fish, shrimps, slice of bacon(which is rare to find in nabe), tofu, udon noodle

At Chanko-nabe restaurants, we can also taste other dishes probably popular among sumo wrestlers.

Left: Beef tataki(raw meat with spicy sauce)   

Centre: Salada with fried leek

Right: Fried shrimps

      

 

 

Restaurant name: Shibamatsu (芝松）

Address: 1-11-16 Midorigaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
Website:  http://www.shibamatsu.com
Located in quiete residential area. Just 1minute walk from Midorigaoka station on Tokyu Oimachi Line.

FOOD Japan network(FJN)

FOOD Japan network(FJN) was launched in Tokyo on 14^th February 2008 by people from agriculture and food-service industries and businessmen who have deep insight into food and cooking.

The organization aims at …

• Vitalization of local regions in Japan throgh fooding and its supporters; agriculture, forestry, fishing industries

• Promotion of Japanese food culture and community

 
And its three main activities are…

• Introducing promotion activities about food and agricuture

• Bridging agriculture producers and cookers

• Conducting marketing research about food culture, consumer trends

The　organization's name "FOOD" represents not only the English word "food" but also a Japanese word "fudo(climate)."　

So far, the website is Japanese only.

http://www.food-japan.jp
   

 

Hanasanshou (Michelin * in 2008)

Hanasanshou is located in Park Hotel Tokyo, a member of Design hotels.
The lobby and the Japanese restaurant, both are located on the 25th floor.

Celebrating the Michelin awarded a star,  the restaurant organizes special course menu using seasonal ingredients.

In the modern interior decoration, providing authentic traditional Japanese dishes from Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, it also has a good selection of sake, shochu.

For more photos, please check here.

Restaurant name: Hanasanshou (花山椒）

Address: Shiodome Media Tower, 1-7-1, Higashi Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-7227

Website: http://www.parkhoteltokyo.com