About food in Japan

Korean - Sosonje

A Korean Restaurant, Sosonje(素饍齋) opened in Tokyo a few months ago.
It is a branch of a famouse upscale restauran in Seul.

The menu is not something like typical Korean food that we know.
The owner offers much more homey, mother's food of Korea.
Vegetables are the main ingredient here and that make us feel having very healthy food. The majority of dinners are ladies who pay much attention and treat as their important issues on their health and beauty...

I went to the restaurant on lunch time.
On the third floor of a small building,  it is bright with sunlight and warm cozy space with, antique objects natual wood and eath colors furnitures.

With pepper, spicy food, defenitely you will become more energetic, when you leave this restaurant!

Restaurant name: Sosonje (素饍齋)
Address: Wester Azabujuban 3rd floor, 1-8-12 Azabujuban, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Mame(豆）- Mamegen

Mame(豆）= beans.
Japanese not only cook beans as meals but also eat as salty snack or sweets for tea time.
Mamegen introduce you a lot of ways to have beans.

The traditional beans shop was established in 1865, Edo era. For over a century, its products have been attracting many people in central Tokyo.

Here are examples of beans products;
Salty snack - peanuts with shrimps flavor, broad beans with black pepper, peanuts cheese, soja with wasabi flavor, peanuts with sour plum
Sweet snack - peanuts or soja sugar frosted, almond with honey, peanuts with cocoa powder etc etc...

Photo 1: Cheese nuts(peanuts cheese)

Cheese is not Japanese traditional ingredient of course. But it is a good and modern combination.

Photo 2: Ume-lakka (peanuts with sour plum)

It looks like real "Umeboshi"(traditional sour plum pickles) but it is made of peanuts and coated with wheat sour plum flavor.

Photo 3: Hanamame (fried broad beans)

This is a traditional salty flavor and good match with beer.

Mamegen offers other Japanese traditional snacks and sweets.
All are packed in small size and sold at small price. Then they are good as a sourvenir or  small gift from Japan.

Shop name: Mamegen
Shop address: 1-8-12 Azabu-juban, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://www.mamegen.com

STARBUCKS new style shop opened

STARBUCKS Japan opened a new style unit in Tokyo.

Majority of total 27 seats are cozy sofa or arm chairs. The concept image is a relaxing space like a lounge in hotels or airports.
The shop is located next to the taxi hall of Roppongi Hills, a newly developped complex building. Unlike other commercial area of the building, the floor is very quiet and not so many people are walking around. Without asking a staff on the floor, I could not have found the store.

It is a hideaway in Roppongi Hills! (To be honest, I did not want to tell to anybody...)

The uniqueness of the new STARBUCKS is not only the seating.
The shop can offer coffee by a pressing pot.
As per STARBUCKS, the serving way extracts full flavor of coffee beans.
Coffee by a pressing pot is available at  some of other STARBUCKS units.
But time available and beans for the serving way are limited.
Here you can choose one from a wide selection list at any time.

After several minutes from my order at the counter, my coffee was brought to my seat by a pressing pot with a cream pot, sugar pot and a sand clock on a tray.  It requires four minutes to wait after a boild water is poured in the pot.
The sand clock tells us when the coffee is ready.
The smaller cup with the logo mark is another offer from the shop. A sample menu dripped in normal STARBUCKS way. Then I could compare how different these two coffee tasts were.
The longer I had to wait to get a cup of coffee but the better one I could get.

Cafe name: STARBUCKS Roppongi Hills WEST WALK Lounge

Address: 1st floor, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

58% of food service companies plan price raise in 2008

Nikkei, a Japanese major financial newspaper conducted a survey on food-service companies. According to replies from 328 companies, 58% of them are planning to raise their price for whole menu (13%) or for a part of them (45%) in 2008. Those who are considering price increase are mainly fast-food or table service upscale restaurants, while the ratio of companies planning price raise is minority among family restaurant chains, go-around sushi(kaiten sushi) chains.

In 2007, 53% of food service companies had increased their price and two major reasons of their advance were increase in food cost and labor cost.

The newspaper pointed out that the difference in corporate actions by food service category reflects different pricing strategy but both in order to attract more customers.

The survey was fully reported on Nikkei MJ, dated on 14th May 2008.

From mothers all over the world - newsDELI

NewsDELI is a casual restaurant providing variety of international foods in deli-style.
On October 2007, it launched a seriese of deli food called "Present from mothers all over the world" and it is introducing home cooking meals from various countries.

For example, what I had this time are...; Mousaka from Greece, Cuscus salad from Tunisia etc

It offers more than ten of deli selection in the showcase as well as drinks such as international brand beer.

Restaurant name: NewsDELI Yurakucho 
Address: 3-6-11 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://www.news-deli.com/

Museum cafe - Cafe Sasyu Kanetanaka

An upscale Japanese traditional restaurant(Ryotei) produced a cafe in Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The terrace is a cozy place to have lunch or tea in Spring, Summer or Autumn after you visit the museum or the garden, when the weather is nice.

The cafe has a few kinds of lunch set menu, a combination of noodles and/or rice bowl with small side dishes. Of course the food quality is surely by the upscale restaurant, while the price is not too expensive as a cafe menu.

    

What I chose is a set of noodle "feicui" color with a piece of canard and a rice bowl with chicken "soboro" and scrambled egg.

The modern interior in the green environment is unique as a place to serve Japanese traditional plates.

The coffee cup was a little surprise for me. The one is normally for matcha(Japanese green tea).

The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum has a nice garden to walk around or to spend a sunny holiday afternoon.

Cafe name: Cafe Sasyu Kanetanaka (茶酒　金田中）
Address: Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Museum 5-21-9 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo