About food in Japan

Kushiage(skewered and fried) - Hantei

"Kushiage" means food skewered then fried.
"Kushikatsu", skewered and pan-fried pork or beef is the most popular kind of Kushiage. Not only meat but fish, shrimps, vegetables are often used as ingredient of Kushiage.

Today I visited kushiage restaurant in Nezu, Bunkyo-ku.
Now it is rare to find a restaurant specialized in kushiage menu.

As soon as we ordered lunch course menu, the table was set
by a waitress. A small dish of starter,  a glass filled with stick-shaped vegetables(carrot, cucumber and Japanese radish), a bowl  stuffed with pieces of cabbage and three kinds of spices plate(miso, salt and sauce for fry)...made us excited for what we were going to have.
                                           

The first dish is shrimp and ginger. Pan-fried shrimp is not rare in Japane but we can never see the one wrapped with "shiso"(Japanese basil). It is a good idea! We can imitate the way in home cooking... A stick ginger fry cannot be found any other place, maybe... Actually ginger was a speciality of this area long ago as the name shown.(Yanaka ginger)

Even though it was lunch time, I could not stop ordering alcohol drink with this nice pan-fried food. What is wonderful at kushiage restaurant is that all fried food were fresh and just taken out from a fryer by the skillful chef. Finally we had 8 kinds of kushiage and a bowl of rice followed.
At the end of the course, seasonal flavored ice cream is served. This time, it was sakura"cherry flower" flavor! It was the last surprise for us. It is difficult to find sakura flavor ice cream even in this country!

Restaurant name: Hantei (はん亭）

Address: 2-12-15 Nezu, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo　
Website: http://www.hantei.co.jp
*The restaurant's building is registered as a cultural heritage.

Izakaya Top10 by British newspaper

Izakaya is a category of the food service industry in Japan.

It is a type of restaruant but in between a restaurant and a bar.
It is a place where we can enjoy eating and drinking at the same time.
Izakaya has casual atmosphere like "pub" in England but it has not only wide selections of alcohol drinks but also variety in food. 

It is where ordinary people  are likely to go with their colleagues  after  a long day of work to  chill out. Welcome or farewell party for peers in office are likely to held in Izakaya.
Another occasion at Izakaya is relaxing time with an intimate partner.

It is everywhere in Japan, particulaly in live downtown area. It is not hard to find one around a terminal station.
There are some chains of Izakaya, while some independent Izakayas try to differenciate themselves from the biggers by offering innovative original dishes.
The reasonable ones charges around YEN2000 per person. On the other hand, others could charge four to five times as much  in turn of high quality food, nice presentation of dishes, rare cups of Sake and their attentive services.

A writer of a newspaper in UK picked up his Top 10 Izakaya in Tokyo.
The list called attention of Japanese people in the food service industry and it is regarded as a discerning choice and good observation by local specialists.

Here are full list of Top 10.
Just to remind you, I have never visited either. I hope that I can go to some of them and report the experience on this blog...

1. Teyandei (てやん亭） in Nishiazabu - Horse meat is one of its speciality.
http://www.teyandei.com (site Japanese only)

2. Buri in Ebisu - The most casual style! "cup SAKE at standing bar"
http://www.takewaka.co.jp/buri/   (site Japanese only)

3. Aburiya Fu-do(炙家　風土） in Aoyama - Selected fresh ingredients are carefully roasted
http://www.wid.co.jp/tenpo/fudo-aoyama/

4. Bistrot 35 steps（三十五段屋） in Shibuya - To be in the bustle space, has to down 34 steps from ground then go one step up.

No official website found.

5. Yui-an （結庵） in Shinjuku - Enjoy breathtaking night illumination  from the 52th floor
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/fl/en/g002213/

6. Ikkon (いっこん） in Akasaka - Traditional Japanese in modern Japanese interior

http://r.gnavi.co.jp/fl/en/g079202/

7. Tsuki no shizuku(月の雫）  in  Ginza - Tofu is its speciality, a major chain Izakaya
http://www.tsukino-shizuku.com/tsuki_shop02.html  (site Japanese only)

8. Seigetsu (霽月) in Kagurazaka - Typical cozy Izakaya in warm folk wooden decoration
http://www.teshigotoya.net/seigetsu/index.html

9. Gonpachi (権八） in Nishi-Asabu - Well-known for casual dinner for which President Clinton was invited by Mr. Koizumi, Japanese Prime Minister at that time
http://www.gonpachi.jp/en/nishi_azabu/home/location

10. Galali (がらり） in Omotesando - Modern Izakaya in former folk dwelling
http://www.gala-e.com/galali.html

The original article : http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/feb/26/tokyo.food

Karintou

Karintou is a traditional Japanese sweets.
The stick-like shape is made of flour and sugar glazed after fried.
The crisp texture and simple sweetness have attracted many people
from young children to elders for years.

It has some variety by ingredient dusted; brown suger, honey, sesami, peanuts...

A traditional Karintou house has more unique original flavour.
It made us surprised by introducing innovative version of Karintou,
transforming the traditional sweets to salty snack, which matchs with beer rather than with green tea.

For example, "Kimpira gobo"(left packet on picture), inspired by same name traditional spicy deli menu of burdock roots. The texture is surely Karintou but the flavour is really burdock with hot pepper. The other one is "Negi miso"(Japanese leek and miso paste).

                      

The traditional Karintou house opened a new branch inside of JR Tokyo station recently.
Known for the unique flavour of Karintou to many people, the small boutique becomes too much popular that its producing and selling capacity can not catch up with.
Long que is always there and the shop limits number of packets to be purchased per consumer so far.

Shop: Nihonbashi Nishikihorin
Website: http://www.nishikihorin.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.