About food in Japan

nakata.net.cafe - where to enjoy World Cup 2010 South Africa

Hidetoshi Nakata, a former Japanese football Player, opened a unique football cafe until the end of World Cup 2010 in Harajuku. This is the third attempt for him to provide an option to enjoy world class football games at a cozy place, followed the last two World Cup in Japan-Korea (2002) and in Germany (2006), where Nakata played on the pitch.

After he ended his career as a professional football player, he traveled around the world then across Japan. He discovered a lot of fantastic food and traditional products, while he is traveling in Japan. The cafe is a place not only to enjoy football matches but also to discover "the beauty of Japan".

How nice isn't it?

If you are traveling in Tokyo during World Cup games, visit the cafe to support your favorite team and also to enjoy high quality Japanese pork, sake, eggs and other ingredients.

Restaurant name: nakata.net.cafe

Address: 1-22-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Nearest station: Harajuku

Official website: http://nakata.net/jp/cafe/

大きな地図で見る

Takara no fu - 宝の麩 ("Treasure" instant soup by Fumuroya 不室屋)

Can you imagine how this small box (about 5cm square) makes you happy?

 From the shape like a "treasure box", it is called Takara no fu (宝の麩, treasure of gluten cake). The product is made by Fumuroya (不室屋), the traditional producer of "fu"(麩, small pieces of gluten cake). Yes this is something to eat at least.

Surprisingly this cube is converted to "instant soup" with boiled water. Soup stock powder, dried vegetables and gluten cake are inside of the small box.

On the official website of the fu house, we can find the story, how this product was born. More than ten years ago, the owner of Fumuroya sent his children to abroad for study. The parents worried about whether their children could have healthy and well-balanced food diet outside of Japan. The mother created the small gluten box and ingredients of soup stuffed into it. The mom-made Japanese instant soup was shipped to the children and the children sometime shared them with Japanese people living abroad. It became so popular to be made as commercial products of the house finally.

So let's see how the box transformed to a cup of instant soup. It has some variation of soup. This time it is "Kaga miso" (加賀味噌　miso from Kaga region, near Kanazawa).

First, place the square box at the bottom of bowl.

Add miso paste and pieces of seaweed (packed in the product)

and make a small hole in the center of gluten box.

Pour boiled water....

Wait a moment and you will see the gluten box is dissolved gradually and made unshaped by hot water.

Finally the square shape disappears but only a yummy Japanese soup is there.

Now ready to eat!

   

Another version of Takara no fu soup, Hitohira (a piece of flower like the shape of gluten box): flower shape gluten cake, pieces of cherry blossom flowers

 

After delighted by the magic, enjoy the hot soup by the traditional food producer as well.

Shop name: Fumuroya 不室屋

Address: 2-3-1 Owari-cho, Kanazawa city, Ishikawa, Japan

Official website: http://www.fumuroya.co.jp

The products by Fumuroya are also available at some major department stores in Tokyo and Osaka.

For example...

Tokyo - Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Ikebukuro Seibu

Osaka - Osaka Takashimaya, Umeda Daimaru

Related story: Museum cafe (this is about the cafe in Tokyo, operated by Fumuroya)

http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/blog/2008/08/museum-caf---su.html

［加賀麩不室屋］おもてなし(754846/286)

Kimukatsu キムカツ - tonkatsu (とんかつ, deep-fried pork)

Tonkatsu (とんかつ), deep-fried pork cutlet, is a popular main dish in Japan. Something similar can be found in other parts of the world and the Japanese version can be liked by non-Japanese people as well.

Kimukatsu (キムカツ) is one of the best restaurants for tonkatsu in Tokyo. The way of cooking tonkatsu by Kimukatsu is known as "millefeuille" of meat. Like the French pastry pie cake "millefeuille", 25 pieces of pork thinned are piled up and become a piece of tonkatsu pork, while it is just a piece of pork meat at ordinary tonkatsu restaurants. After it is cooked in oil at Kimukatsu restaurant, the piece of tonkatsu is still soft and the juice of pork meat is kept in between the each slice of pork. That is the biggest difference of tonkatsu by Kimukatsu from any others.

   

Yes the restaurant knows how to make the best tonkatsu even with the fact that they need to take great amount of time and care to prepare the menu. For food lovers, it worth taking time to go to a unit of Kimukatsu restaurant and to try the tonkatsu!

In addition to normal tonkatsu menu, it offers several ingredient can be found inside of tonkatsu; such as cheese, garlic, black pepper, sour plum and Japanese herb shiso etc. 

Shredded cabbage is the most typical side dish for tonkatsu.

It is known that vitamin in cabbage works well against deep-fried oily food in your stomach, after you have both. That is why the restaurant serves a bowl of cabbage first.

 

Tonkatsu with a piece of fried shrimp.

Jucie pork "millefeuille" inside of crispy pan-fry coating.

 

 

It also offers lunch box with tonkatsu. That is an option when many people are making a queue and waiting for the best tonkatsu there.

 

Restaurant name: Kimukatsu Ebisu (main unit)

Address: 4-9-5 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Map

 

大きな地図で見る

Grom - Italian gelato

The 9th of May is considered as "the day of ice-cream" by Japan Ice Cream Association.

Why it is the 9th of May? the date is the anniversary of the first biggest promotions made for Ice Cream in Japan in 1964, the year when Summer Olympic Game was taken place in Tokyo. On the beginning of May, the temperature is going to rise and the weather becomes better with more sunshine. It means that it comes to the good condition to start promoting Ice Cream in Japan.

Well, what I am going to introduce is not exactly Ice Cream but is Italian Gelato.

The Italian gelato shop Grom was born in Torino in 2003. The very best product is made of carefully selected fresh highest quality natural ingredients including fresh milk in the region's traditional way of production. Soon it became so popular in the city that people made a queue for it. (Yes, in Italy, not in Japan) The gelato producer won the "Master of Food" award  from Slow Food Organization and the Province of Torino. Now they have own orchard to harvest high quality seasonal fruits for its gelato products.

The store opened in New York in 2007 and the low-fat, low-sugar healthy dessert attracts New Yorker as well.

Probably no need to tell more stories to imagine a long queue was seen at the gelato shop when a year ago in 2009, it arrived in Shinjuku Tokyo.

The first unit in Japan is located on the ground floor of Shinjuku Marui department store. It has some seats and counters to taste the Italian sweets. More than 10 kinds of gelato are always available. Some of the flavors change season by season.

A plus point is that the shop opens until late evening 23:00. So it is still available as the fantastic end of meal even after you enjoy dinner in Shinjuku area.

The second unit in Tokyo will be open in Harajuku on June 2010.

The shop name: Grom

Address: Shinjuku Marui Honkan (Main building) 1F 3-30-13 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Official website: http://www.grom.jp

 

En (えん) Japanese Natural Store - food select shop in Marunouchi Tokyo

How it is nice if you are able to get delicacies (ごちそう, ご馳走, gochiso in Japanese) across Japan while you are staying in Tokyo Here at En Japanese Natural Store (えん 日本のご馳走) in very central Tokyo (just in front of JR Tokyo station), wide selections of local specialties, delicacies of Japan are available.

Please do not miss a chance to discover fine delicacies of Japan, which are rarely found at other places in Tokyo. 

Time by time, season by season, their products in the store may be different. But surely the selection will make you delighted every time and  you will never leave the store with empty-hand.

They are what I bought today...

• Mametabi (まめたび) and seasonal product Haru-Fuji (春富士, Mt. Fuji in Spring)

    

by Sen-ya (煎屋) - hand-made traditional senbei producer in Saitama prefecture

Website (Japanese version only) : http://www.sen-ya.co.jp/

• Black pepper beans

 

by Hanayakko (花奴) in Tachikawa-city, Tokyo

Website (Japanese version only) : http://www.8785.co.jp

• Okaki (おかき= senbei) new taste "onion-garlic"

by Ryogoku Azuma Arare Hompo　(両国　東あられ本舗)

Website (Japanese version only) : http://www.azuma-arare.co.jp/

• Shiso chirimen (mixed dried whitebait fish, seaweed, Japanese basil and sesame, excellent topping for rice)

 

Shop name: En Japanese Natural Store (えん　日本の御馳走)

Address: B1 floor Shin-Marunouchi Building, 1-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Website (Japanese version only) : http://www.gochiso-en.com/

まめたび煎餅☆15枚セット