About food in Japan

Kuromon Ichiba (黒門市場), Osaka

Today's our recommendation for food lovers is from Osaka.

Kuromon Ichiba (黒門市場) is a local food market in Osaka city center. The nearest station for the spot is "Nipponbashi"  on subway lines, which is just one stop from Namba. If you do not mind taking a 10-minute walk or you prefer to take an option to save money for a subway ticket, the market is accessible even by walk from Namba, one of the major central area in Osaka.

From Nipponbashi subway station, take Exit No.10, the market street is less than a minute walk from the station.

Even though you are not so hungry, just go through the narrow local street, looking at what are sold there. You will find so many many stuff, mainly local food including fresh seafood, along both sides of the street. Small retail stores stand in a row.

 

 

At a look, that's a typical local shopping arcade in Japan.What is different for Kuromon Ichiba from other local markets is.... for last several years, the market becomes quite popular among Chinese speaking tourists. Then unlike other local shopping arcades in Japan, many local retailers place products appealing to the non-Japanese customers not only to local ones. That is the reason why, in Spring, we can find a box of luxury strawberry, including ones in white in front of a super market!! They are usually placed on shelf at the end of row, because such  luxury products are not what many customers are looking for.

 

Also you will find signs and information in English not only in Chinese and Japanese at many shops. The market has more welcoming atmosphere for international tourists and it is easy to go around and to enjoy some food with lower language barrier.

 

Sometimes tasting is offered.

 

Fugu, pufferfish is one of specialties in Osaka.

Fresh and boiled fugu are also provided.

 

 

Another point to mention is that the market offers eat-in space in the middle of the shopping street. The space is designed for international tourists who wish to enjoy take-away food from shops in Kuromon Ichiba. It's free to use and provides also restroom and vending machines and even wifi service as well as tables and chairs. Although some local restaurants are also available in the market, this will be a good option for those who visit the market out of lunch/dinner time and who would like to try variety of local food at reasonable cost.

 

I also got my lunch! at quite reasonable price.

 

 

 

Name of spot: Kuromon Ichiba (黒門市場)

Address: 2-4-1 Nipponbashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka-city

Official website in English: http://www.kuromon.com/en.php

Tripadvisor link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298566-d1896861-Reviews-Kuromon_Ichiba-Osaka_Osaka_Prefecture_Kinki.html

 

Good but reasonable Tendon(天丼) & Tempura chain, Tenya (てんや)

Some of you may already visited Tanya(てんや), a major tendon & tempura chain restaurant, in Tokyo or some other parts of Japan.

Tenya is a casual chain restaurant but their crispy tempura quality is good as much as what are served at up scale restaurants.

 

For those who are not familiar with the word "Tendon"(天丼), it means "tempura" + "don"(rice in a big bowl). Tendon is a rice bowl topped with some tempura pieces.

The ingredients of Tendon vary by restaurant and a restaurant might offer a few different tendon such as ebi(prawn) or kakiage (shredded vegetable tempura). 

At Tanya, your check won't be higher than Yen1000 per person in many cases. Each single tendon menu costs much less than Yen 1000.

 

At some Tenya units in central Tokyo, including one in Harajuku, English menu is available as above.

 

It will be easier to choose for international travelers from various tendon types and some set menu, for example with noodle.

 

As it may be a bit difficult to search on information in English, here we put useful information on Tenya's official site.

Menu in English: http://www.tenya.co.jp/english/menu/

They also provide seasonal special and these will be found only at each restaurant with photo images.

 

Restaurant units in major locations of Tokyo: http://www.tenya.co.jp/english/tokyo-locations/

Among their over 100 units, they will be easily accessible by international tourists.

 

They also have some international units out of Japan!

Thailand : http://www.tenya.co.jp/shop/oversea/thailand/

 

Indonesia : http://www.tenya.co.jp/shop/oversea/indonesia/

 

Find a nice Japanese Tendon in your country! We guess more international units by Tenya will be opened year by year.

 

 

    

 

Ninja Akasaka, Tokyo

To meet a Ninja and learn his/her magical method might be one of your dream.

There is a hidden spot in Tokyo, where we can meet some Ninja and enjoy nice dining experience as well.

Ninja Akasaka is located near Akasaka-mitsuke subway station in central Tokyo, not far from the official residence of Prime Minister of Japan. We often visit the area where we can find some other interesting restaurants such as produced Umaya by a Kabuki actor. But we have overlooked the house of Ninja for long years as the entrance exists almost in hidden location. Ninja Akasaka is on the ground floor of Akasaka Tokyu Plaza, where Akasaka Excel Tokyu Hotel is accommodated. The building can be found easily by anyone when they get out from Akasaka-mitsuke subway station. But it is not easy to find the entrance of Ninja Akasaka. 

Anyway, before looking for the entrance, we strongly recommend you make a reservation for Ninja Akasaka, because the restaurant is quite popular and is likely to be fully booked for every evening. Reservation is available from the official website here.

Well from here, it is our visit report....

Once we arrived at the restaurant, a couple of Ninja welcomed us and showed the way to our reserved dining table.

But on the way to the table, we were asked to take small training to be more familiar with the world of Ninja. Hahaha. Don't worry that was not so hard.

When we were finally seated, we got "a scroll" which is called "menu" in ordinary restaurants. To look at each of food descriptions on the scroll was fun, because most of them can never be found in any other restaurants. For example, "Shuriken star-blades grissini", Snow crab and grapefruit served "with a sword trick" etc.

At Ninja restaurant, we were also asked to have "another training to find a call bell hidden around our table." That was another fun experience even though it was too hard for us. Hahaha...　

We have not been enough trained yet to be a Ninja!

 

 

 

We would NOT like to tell you so much about this restaurant, because that may spoil your surprising opportunities there. So we won't tell you so much but it was really joyful moment for sure.

We will show you a few more pieces of what we saw there.

One of icon menus, "Shuriken star-blades grissini" .

 

Treasure box served as ...

 

A cocktail served by a bowl for "goldfish"

 

 Ninja restaurant hires cooks from different fields such as Japanese, Chinese, French etc.

So all the menu sounds innovative and interesting to enjoy the world of Ninja at the same time the food is in good quality. It also offers some alternative cuisine menu for vegetarians and other with food diet restriction.

Their Ninja have served some VIP guests from the world. And the plates satisfied even such people.

It's quite worth to visit  there (with reservation!!) for having one of exciting moments in Tokyo.

 

Restaurant name: NInja Akasaka

Address: 1st floor, Akasaka Tokyu Plaza, 2-14-3 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Official website: http://www.ninjaakasaka.com