About food in Japan

M & C cafe - Cafe in a book store

Maruzen (丸善) is one of the established book store in Tokyo. The flagship store is in the shopping complex Oazo, situated in a central business district and just in front of Tokyo station. The large book store occupies four floors of the shopping center and offers huge selections from books both in Japanese and non-Japanese languages, stationery to art gallery. M&C Cafe on the 4th floor is also one of the book store services.

The cafe's specialty is Hayashi rice (ハヤシライス) which is considered that the book store's fonder made the name for the first time in Japan. The hayashi rice is cooked carefully according to the cafe's traditional recipe. The stew is made from several kinds of vegetables and is served after cooked for long hours.

I ordered "Hayashi Ome-rice" (Omelet with rice and Hayashi sauce over it) to enjoy two best Yoshoku (洋食) foods at the same time.

The cafe is a good place to take lunch or a break with a cup of coffee during shopping and strolling in the book store. In addition, one side of the cafe is facing to Tokyo station and railways through a large window of toe-to-ceiling height.

Enjoy the traditional Hayashi as well as the view of running trains in Tokyo at the book store cafe.

Related story: Yoshoku (洋食)- Kurofune-tei(黒船亭)

http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/blog/2009/01/yoshoku---kurof.html

Cafe name: M & C cafe

Address: 4th floor Marunouchi Oazo, 1-6-4 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

YEBISU bar - エビスバー

Yebisu beer is one of major Japanese beer brands considered as one of the highest quality beer. To be the proof of that, the beer brand is sold at a bit expensive price at super markets. People are likely to purchase the Yebisu beer cans only for special occasions such as birthday party or any kind of celebrating events. If you prepare Yebisu beer when you invite someone to your home, guests would feel special welcome.

Yebisu beer was born 120 years ago, in 1890. Sapporo Breweries LTD. who produces Yebisu beer, opened "Yebisu bar" in Tokyo by celebrating the 120th anniversary of the brand beer.

I visited the first bar unit in Ginza, where five different versions of "draft" Yebisu beer welcome guests.

Yebisu, Yebisu the black, Kohaku Yebisu (琥珀　amber), Yebisu Staut creamy top and Silk Yebisu...

Only by the fantastic beverage choices, beer fan must be excited. All food menu are also selected and created for the best match with Yebisu beer. I found different icons with each food menu. The icons suggest with which kind of Yebisu beer the food plate has the best "mariage". Food menu is mix of Japanese and Western. Some of them are made by original recipe. Others are cooked with Yebisu beer!

For example, what I ordered....

Kyo(Miyako 京) style Fish and Chips: It looks normal? Sea bream (鯛 tai) is used as ingredient of the British menu. Sea bream is known as fish that Yebisu (God in Japanese local belief) holds. 

A small bowl of pink color sauce made from Shibazuke (しば漬け, Japanese pickeles) is served with it.

Cream cheese: dipped in tamari (thicker) soya sauce and coated with seaweed powder

It can't look like cheese any more...

The amount of bill is not so expensive as much as the beer brand image.

That must be a good experience to enjoy taste of Japanese fine beer together with unique excellent food.

Restaurant name: Yebisu bar

Address: 1st floor Yamashita build. Corridor-gai, 8-2 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

Related Website: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/yebisubar-g/
Sapporo breweries LTD. :  http://www.yebisubar.jp/

Ochazuke (お茶漬け) - En (えん)

Ochazuke (お茶漬け) is very casual meal or snack traditionally prepared in Japanese home.

Typical recipe is a bowl of rice with some topping such as a few pieces of salmon, pickles, sour plum or seaweed and added tea as soup. It is often served as light and last food after a long lasting day.

The stereo-type of Ochazuke scene is one for a dad who has been back to home after a tiring big party with lots of alcohol drinks. He finishes his long day with the homey cozy food. The cooked rice does not have to be warm, as hot tea makes it warm in the bowl. His wife only needs to add ingredients as well as boiled water or tea to a rice bowl. That is an instant light meal. Instead it had been rare that we have Ochazuke out of home until we see this casual, "fast food" restaurant.

Dashi-chazuke "En" (だし茶漬け　えん) is specialized Ochazuke menu but provides several selections of seasonal fresh ingredients to  be added to your Ochazuke bowl. Whether it is seafood, vegetables or others, they are fresh and high quality ones. Another point making thier Ochazuke different from what we have at home is "だし"(dashi, Japanese traditional soup stock) prepared professionally by the master chef and poured into the bowl. Here Ochazuke is upgraded from homely light meal to something more than fast food. It is a healthy and right choice for lunch or breakfast maybe.

"En" runs its unit at Narita International Airport. Here I had special Ochazuke exclusively available at this Airport branch - Ochazuke with Eel ...the fish is normally available at upscale restaurant.

 

Let's try a bowl just before leaving from Japan.

Restaurant name: Dashi-Chazuke En (だし茶漬け　えん)

Location: Terminal 1 Central Building 4th floor, Narita International Airport (close to Departure area)

Website: http://www.dashichazuke-en.com/

 

 

Macrobi cafe

Japanese have great parties with tons of traditional food plates, box during new year holiday. Days after the joyful moment, ladies start thinking a change and loosing their weight as soon as possible...

Macrobiotic cafe might be a choice to help such ladies being back to a good shape.

"Macrobi cafe" in Shinjuku offers small portions of food, called "Suhi cake", made by genmai (brown rice 玄米) but look like a piece of cake. Plenty of choices such as mix of vegetables, pork cutlet, traditional Japanese ingredients are given for topping on genmai cake. Wether it is lunch time or tea time, the small piece in colors with sweet taste will give you delight of eating and of filling stomach. 

Restaurant name: Macrobi cafe

Address: 3rd floor In the Room Shinjuku, 3-1-26 Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku, Tokyo

*It is announced that the interior shopping complex "In the Room"(the cafe location) will be close at the end of February 2010. I am not sure how the cafe will go or not. At least I am sure that similar type of cafe will appear in somewhere Tokyo again soon.

 

焼鳥 (yakitori, chicken sate) - 鶏繁 (Torishige)

Only a month from my last visit of another yakitori restaurant, AKira, I had a chance to enjoy yakitori at a typical restaurant specialized in the menu. 鶏繁 Torishige is located in Shimbashi, the town known for "holy land" of サラリーマン (salarymen, Japanese businessmen). Yes, Yakitori restaurant is one of the most favorite dining experience for that sort of people. After a full day of hard working, they gather, have grilled chicken with beer and chat with their colleagues or friends for stress release. The price is modest so they can often have the opportunities.

Torishige is one of well-known restaurants in the area. We knocked the door of the restaurant just around its opening time 17:00. We know otherwise we could not get a table. It was Friday evening on December, party season. Around 19:00, all seats were occupied and these seats did not become empty until late 21:00 or later. The interior, seating style are very typical Izakaya restaurants.

Here we can try different parts of chicken. The yakitori chicken are made char-grilled by master chef. They have to be eaten as soon as arrived on the table. The best way to enjoy fresh and hot skewers there.

 

 

What we cannot miss here is a bowl at the end of the dinner.

Minced chicken seasoned with soy sauce filled a bowl on top of rice.

We can have same menu at mum's home or at some restaurant. But here the taste is unforgettably great!!

 

Restaurant name: Torishige Sohonten (flagship)

Address: 2-9-17 Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Website: http://www.torishige.com

Related story -鶏（とり、chicken) - 焼鶏　あきら　(grilled chicken Akira)

http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/blog/2009/11/%E9%B6%8F%E3%81%A8%E3%82%8Achicken-%E7%84%BC%E9%B6%8F-%E3%81%82%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89-grilled-chicken-akira.html

Gonpachi (権八) - the most famous Izakaya in Japan

Finally I had a chance to visit Gonpachi. The three-floor Izakaya building looks like "kura"(蔵, traditional style storehouse with a few small windows) and is located on the corner of Nishi-Azabu crossing.

The restaurant is well-known for the casual dinner meeting arranged by Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister of Japan at that time for the president of United States, Mr. George Bush.

 When I visited, the lower two floors were already occupied by dinners even it was not a weekend evening. We took a table on the third floor, where it serves also Sushi menu and where we found calm and cozy place. Japanese traditional works, paper slide doors, wood curving decoration, bonsai trees on the courtyard garden...the modern building is thought-fully designed and converted to a traditional style house.

The restaurants offer typical Izakaya menu such as "edamame"(枝豆, boild soybeans), Yakitori (焼き鳥, grilled chicken) and variety of Japanese dishes made with fresh ingredients. It also provides wide choices of Japanese sake, shochu with English words.

The last surprise was the amount of money we paid at the end. It was not expensive at all and nothing different from any other casual Izakaya everywhere. Considering the location, services provided by trained staff and quality of food, it has good value.

Related story -Izakaya Top10 by British newspaper

http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/blog/2008/03/izakaya-top10-b.html

Restaurant name: Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu

Address: 1-13-11 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Website: http://www.gonpachi.jp

鶏（とり、chicken) - 焼鶏 あきら (grilled chicken Akira)

Not only beef and raw fish, chicken also has been often used in Japanese cooking for long years. We cook chicken in many ways, from raw as sashimi (!! very rare case) to fry, grill or minched dumpling. Yakitori (spitted chicken) is one of the most popular menu at cheap Izakaya restaurants, and the dish well matchs with a glass of beer.

Akira is also called Yakitori restaurant but their Yakitori is not like what we see at other restaurants. The casual restaurant in Marunouchi Brick Square (the newest commercial complex in the business ditrict) is specialized in traditional chicken dishes. Here we can find wide selections of chicken plates and different regions of chicken from legs, wings, skin, bone to heart! every parts we can eat... and they know the best way to enjoy the food.

Its main attraction is "grill yourself" style food. Fresh chicken meat, minched chiken dumpling (tsukune), vegetables are full on plates and all were grilled and eaten up by us! 

Several bottles of seasoning are set on the table; salt, two types of soya source (sweet or dry), local pepper paste etc. We can select one depending on food and our favor. For grilled chicken, maybe salt is the best to taste the fresh, fine quality meat.

At the end of the nice dinner, we cannot miss a kind of traditional chicken food in Japan.

"Raw egg with rice" (卵かけご飯) 

In Japan, we often have raw egg with rice. But at this restaurant, of course the home-like food is also someting special. The egg provided is "Versaille" brand from Kyushu region. (rarely available and must be expensive) It is very fresh and high quality one.

Put a few drops of soya sauce into the egg bowl, broke and mix it well. Then put the egg sauce on a bowl of rice. It could look like cheese risotto.

Anyway I recommend trying this in Japan, if you have never had raw egg

Restaurant name: AKira Marunouchi

Address: Marunouchi Brick Square B1 floor, Park Building, 2-6-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Galali (がらり） - Izakayaka (居酒屋）

After a half and a year since my last post about Izakaya top 10 by a british journalist, finally I had a chance to visit one of the top 10 Izakaya in Tokyo.

Galali (がらり） Aoyama is located in tranquil residential area behind Aoyama street or chic fashion area Omotesando. The two-floor building, which had been a traditional style local house, is not easy to find without information.

The bottles of sake and shochu are waiting for dinners' order on the shelf. Several different flavour of "salt" are also welcoming guests on the wooden tables and counter. The restaurant suggests enjoying the salt with food provided there. That tells us...the food must be relatively simple (never with thick sauce) but enough high quality.

We ordered some typical Izakaya menu as well as speciality of the restaurant.

Sashimi plate cannot be missed for a gathering at Izakaya.

Tsukune (つくね, chicken dumpling) is a specialty of this restaurant.

Another chicken plate, grill ... can never do cooking more simple but the juicy taste is even unforgettable. We can recognize the good quality chicken carefully cooked by the chef.   

At the end of the fantastic meal, do not forget ordering a rice ball

That is the best way to enjoy "the taste of fine salt"

Surely I will come back and this is the right choice as the top 10 Izakaya in Tokyo.

Restaurant name: Galali Aoyama
Address: 3-6-5 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://www.gala-e.com/galali.html

Related story: Izakaya top 10 by British newspaper
http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/blog/2008/03/izakaya-top10-b.html

Ganko Sushi Osaka (がんこ寿司）

My report from West part of Japan continues here.
I believe that Osaka is a place where we can have nice and fresh food, especially in casual style, at reasonable cost compared with ones in Tokyo.

Ganko (meaning "stubborn") sushi is one of the examples. The major restaurant chain in Kansai region including Osaka and Kyoto is well-known for its icon, trade mark of the Sushi chef face with the lips in a straight line. Its first sushi restaurant was born in Osaka almost a half century ago. Its main business is the Sushi restaurant, casual but not Kaiten(rolling-around) style.

 

I visited a unit in Namba central area on the side of a major shopping archade and found a very long Sushi counter where fresh seafood ingredients and several Sushi cook masters were stand-by.

The lunch set includes a plate of Sushi (above but they are not all of them) plus another plate of tempura. The price is reasonable considering the quality of food and the volume provided. It is something difficult to find in Tokyo.

I would like to come to Osaka again to enjoy food...

 

 

Restaurant name: Ganko sushi Namba Honten
Address: 3-1-15 Namba, Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka
Website: http://www.gankofood.co.jp

 

 

Wagyu (和牛 Japanese beef) - Meat Yazawa

Hamberg and steak...it is not really considered as Japanese food. The menu is still quite familier for Japanese nationals and what is provided at the restaurant Meat Yazawa is surely Japanese food.

Beef cattle raised in Japan is called "wagyu(和牛, Japanese beef)" and among Japanese it is considered as the highest quality of beef. At restaurants or supermarkets, if you have choices in origin of beef, you will find that the Japanese beef is the most expensive. Even among wagyu, it is also categorized by quality and the price differs by the quality. Needless to say, famous brand beef such as Kobe, Matsuzaka is the highest quality among wagyu brands but Japanese beef even from other parts of Japan is still expensive compared with imported ones for example from Austraila and United States.

Meat Yazawa is originally a meat packing wholeseller and it runs a restaurant on the Meguro riverside in Gotanda. The restaurant is proud of serving only the highest quality (A5) beef there. However the price is surprisingly inexpensive and that attracts a lot of people enough to make a que line in front of the restaurant.

At a corner of the restaurant, trophies and plaques, as the proof of high quality beef breeded, are displayed.

According to the information at the restaurant, they recommend medium-rare cooked hamberg, because it is the best way to taste the high-grade meat.

With the egg york, it was an unforgettable plate...

Restaurant name: Meat Yazawa
Address: 2-15-13 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagwa-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://www.kuroge-wagyu.com/my/