About food in Japan

Hokusai (北斎), Japanese restaurant in Tokyo Disneyland

Some of you may plan to visit Tokyo Disneyland while you stay in Tokyo. Even the American theme park exists in your country, it will be interesting to visit the one in Tokyo and to see how they are different across countries. 

This will be one of the differences of Tokyo Disneyland from other Disney parks in the world. 

A Japanese restaurant is available in Tokyo Disneyland which will be celebrated for 30th anniversary from 15 April 2013. The restaurant is called "Hokusai" (北斎). Obviously it is named after the most famous block print artist in Edo period, Katsushika Hokusai. The Japanese restaurant has been operated since the park opening. Originally Restaurant Hokusai was designed for Japanese senior generation which were not familiar with Western style food like hamburger in early 1980's. Nowadays Japanese elderly people are also happy to enjoy any kind of Western food with their grandchildren. So the role of the Japanese restaurant has been changed for adding more dining choices in the most popular theme-park in Japan.

 

 

Restaurant Hokusai is located in World Bazaar which is the theme park's largest shopping zone close to the entrance gate.

Don't miss the sign board and entrance door on the ground floor.

The restaurant itself is on the upper floor.

 

On the upper floor, it is decorated in traditional Japanese style with some Japanese arts. The space is quite far from the world of Disney films. We cannot believe that it is in Disneyland!!  

 

 

The Japanese restaurant offers several different meal sets with each typical Japanese main dishe such as tempura, udon noodle and pork shabushabu (fondue). 

   
Udon noodle (left) and Chicken teriyaki with rice (right)

  

Sometime we can find a clue of Disneyland like this.

A piece of carrot in shape od Mickey face in udon noodle!!

Japanese traditional dessert is also available.

 

 

 

Enjoy Japanese traditional meal even in the Magic Kingdom! 

 

We will also report food for souvenir of Tokyo Disneyland soon.

Restaurant name: Restaurant Hokusai (北斎)

Location: World Bazaar, Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland official site: http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/en/index.html

 

Japanese tea salon - Toraya Akasaka flagship store(虎屋赤坂本店), Tokyo

As same with meal, Japanese sweets or confectionery is also unique and based on long tradition. We have introduced Japanese sweets and places to enjoy the delicacies time by time. For example: We showed beautiful small cakes in Japanese traditional style at "Wagashi (和菓子） - Shimizu (清水） in Kagurazaka" and reported traditional sweets making experience in Kanazawa, Hokuriku region on "Japanese Sweets making experience – Kanazawa (金沢)." As recommendable Japanese tea salon or cafe, we mentioned about a modern but sophisticated "Japanese Tea Salon - Higashiya, Ginza Tokyo" and a typical traditional style cafe "Takemura (竹むら), Japanese traditional sweets cafe".

A place to have Japanese traditional sweets is called in some different ways such as "Kanmi-dokoro (甘味処, sweets place)", "Saryo (茶寮, tea house)", "Sabo (茶房, tea place)", "Wa Cafe (和カフェ, Japanese style cafe)" etc. Some are very traditional and newers are modern and look like Western style cafe from outside. That might confuse you to know what it is. Anyway the best way will be to look at menu what they provide (many have menu with photos) and to look around space and what other people have. Whatever it is called, if many people are there and look happy with the place and sweets, you will also have a good experience. In central Tokyo, in general, comfortable tea rooms are likely to be busy with ladies on afternoon even on weekday.   

Toraya Akasaka flagship store (虎屋 赤坂本店) is also one of our recommendable tea salons to feel fine Japanese atmosphere. Toraya (虎屋) is an established sweets maker born in Kyoto over five hundreds years ago. In the past we posted two articles of units under Toraya chain brand,"Toraya Cafe, Roppongi (トラヤカフェ, 六本木)" and "Breakfast at Toraya Cafe Aoyama." They are newer and modern shops by the traditional sweets house. Now we come back to the original where traditional Japanese sweets are served.

Toraya Akasaka flagship store is located along Aoyama Street. It takes about 5-minute-walk from Akasaka Mitsuke (赤坂見附) station and not far from Hotel New Otani and TBS broadcasting center. As per Toraya's official site, the sweets producer has a factory just next to Akasaka Imperial Palace, in prime location close to the flagship store. Toraya's products have been provided on the Imperial family of Japan even since Edo period, when the family was based in Kyoto.

If you leant Hiragana (Japanese letters), you might wonder the logo expressing as "やらと" (Ya Ra To) opposite of "Toraya (とらや)." It implies the house exists since Edo period when people wrote letters from left to right, not in the modern way as same with Western world right to left. Yes, Toraya has used the logo for hundreds of years.

 

Toraya boutique is on the ground floor of the flagship store and the tea salon (Toraya Saryo, 虎屋茶寮) is on the underground floor. The building and interior are modern and clean. The tea salon is peacefully calm with graceful guests and staff as if it was on a tea ceremony.

 

Toraya tea salon offers some set menu including a piece of traditional sweets such as Yokan (羊羹, beans cake) or Nama-gashi (生菓子, fresh cake), the house's major product and green tea.

 

 

 

 

This is a set of Seasonal Yokan, the most-known Toraya's product

and Matcha (powdered green tea often sereved at a tea ceremony).

 

Seasonal Yokan at that time, the end of February is

"Kobai (紅梅, red Japanese plum)"

It's a way in which we appreicate the beauty of each season, through food and sweets.

 

The bowl of Matcha is with pictures of smiley Hina Dolls (ひな人形)

which are symbols of Girls' Festival (Hina-Matsuri, ひな祭り) on 3rd March.

Obviously the bowl is used only for limited period. 

Toraya changes even bowls by season.

The hospitality comes from the spirit of tea ceremony.

 

 Toraya Saryo (虎屋茶寮) tea salon has also units at Ginza Chuo main street, Imperial Hotel Tokyo, Isetan Department in Shinjuku. We guess the flagship store in Akasaka provides the most peceful environment and sublime atomosphere among them.

 

Name: Toraya Akasaka Honten (虎屋赤坂本店), Toraya Saryo (虎屋茶寮)

Address: 4-9-22, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Toraya Saryo Official site: http://www.toraya-group.co.jp/shops/sho04.html 

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****** Our recommendable accommodation around this restaurant *******

ANA InterContinental Hotel

Hotel New Otani Tokyo

The Capitol Hotel Tokyu

the b Akasaka

*************************************************************************

 

 

 

 

Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511, Akasaka (赤坂)

In some towns in central Tokyo, Akasaka (赤坂) will be a good place for non-Japanese travelers to hang out and freely to pop in a restaurant at own choice on the spot. 

 But today's our recommendation, Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511 is an exception of such on-site search, even though it is only 5 minutes walk both from Akasaka (赤坂) and Akasaka Misuke(赤坂見附) subway stations. The restaurant specialized in "Kobe beef"(神戸牛), as name shown, is located in quiet area where small office buildings and apartments stand along a narrow street, off from the town's main streets. Only those who already know the restaurant can visit it. It is not a place whichi is filled with tourists or strangers. 

So be ready with a map to visit the restaurant. It is also on undergroung floor. Don't miss the sign on one side of the street like this.  

 

After going through the entrance where we found a certificate of high quality beef provider, we recognized that the restaurant is very modern and bright with lighting and narural colors cloths, unlike a traditional steak house. 

 

 

Buy the way, we wonder why the restaurant name has a specific number 511. Remind you it is not 551, a famous  Butaman (pork bun) shop in Osaka. As per the restaurant's official site, 5 represents "A5" which is the highest quality rank of beef and 11 does the value of beef marbling standard. The restaurant proudly serves A5 rank beef with 11 marbling value.

We guess many of you are now curious about what are served at Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511 (神戸牛懐石511).   

If it is affordable for you, it will be good to visit the Kobe Beef restaurant on evening. The dinner courses with Kobe beef cost around Yen 10,000 - 13,000. 

But the reason we introduce the restaurant is the price for LUNCH.

Not all lunch set menu includes Kobe been though. We can taste the highest quality beef at less than Yen2000 during lunch time. 

 

For example, what we ordered,

 

Kobe Beef kalvi (rib) box (カルビ重) is Yen1500 per person.

 

Several pieces of kalvi  BBQ style beef are on top of rice.

Served in a box with salad, miso soup and a tiny plate of dessert.

 

The thin sliced beef is very soft and flavored with a bit sweet BBQ sauce. The volume and quality are much more than sufficient, considering the price we paid. 

Great to taste Kobe beef at such reasonable price!!!

 

The restaurant offers other attractive choices of lunch set, including Kobe beef hamburger steak, Kobe beef steak and Japanese beef(out of Kobe brand) at less expensive price.

 

Restaurant name: Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511 (神戸牛懐石511)

Address: B1 floor, Dear Plaza Akasaka 4-3-28 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Official website: http://www.a511.jp

View Larger Map

****** Our recommendable accommodation around this restaurant *******

ANA InterContinental Hotel

Hotel New Otani Tokyo

The Capitol Hotel Tokyu

the b Akasaka

*************************************************************************

 

 

 

 

Site access reports of our blog "About Food in Japan" upon 5th anniversary

We are proud to announce that our English blog “About Food in Japan” (http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp) has produced over 300 posts since its launch on February 2008, a few months after Michelin red guide for Tokyo was published for the first time.

 Celebrating the 5^th anniversary, as below, we are pleased to present site access report for our blog.

＜Basic Information＞

 Period for reported data:　2nd May 2010 to 1st January 2013 (total 32 months)

Data taken through：Google Analytics

Website URL：http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp

Total posts：313

Contents proportion: 60% restaurants, bars and café, 20% sweets and food, 15% news and events, 3% introduction of tourism destinations

 

＜Overview of site access＞

Total page view during the period：51,562

Total unique user during the period：46,206

Site accessed from ：144 countries or regions

 

 Top 10 countries or regions from which the site was accessed the most

No.1	Japan
No.2	United States
No.3	Singapore
No.4	Australia
No.5	Hong Kong
No.6	Thailand
No.7	Malaysia
No.8	United Kingdom
No.9	Canada
No.10	France

*Proportion – No.1 Japan 37%, 2^nd U.S.A. 17%, 3^rd Singapore 8%

 

Accessed users’ language

No.1	English
No.2	Japanese
No.3	Chinese
No.4	French
No.5	Korean
No.6	Spanish

* Proportion – No.1 English 71%, 2^nd Japanese 14%, 3^rd Chinese 3%

 We found that a lot of site users are accessing from Japan. Considering the fact that 71% of access users are English version users, majority of users from Japan would be non-Japanese who stay temporary or reside in Japan.

 

Share by posted contents category

Contents category	No. of articles posted	Share in articles posted	Share in Page view
Restaurants & bar	159	50.8%	40.3%
News*1	39	12.5%	12.6%
Café, tea salon	33	10.5%	11.4%
Food (except for sweets)	33	10.5%	8.1%
Sweets	29	9.3%	24.6%

*1 － “News” includes information about publishing products, events or trends related to food.

Analyzing variance in shares between in articles posted and in page views, it seems that accessed users has high interest in “Sweets” category.

 

＜Report by articles posted＞ 

Here we have top 5 or 10 ranked articles listed as below.

The rankings are based on average page view per day (total page view /number of days since posted) for Restaurants & bar category or  total page view during the reporting period for all other categories.

Click the tiles on the list to move to a listed article.

 

Restaurants & bars

 It is our policy to select and introduce service providers with high quality, good service and excellent in cost performance from user’s view point. With such conditions, we see various types of restaurants ranked, casual or upscale, non-Japanese etc. In any case, they are top of our recommendation as well. 

No.1	Ootoya - real Japanese home-style dishes
No.2	Standing Sushi Bar Uogashi Nihon-ichi in Shinagawa Station
No.3	Umaya (うまや), Kabuki actor produced restaurant, Akasaka Tokyo
No.4	Waketokuyama (分とく山) - Japanese (Michelin 2011 **)
No.5	Japanese breakfast set at inexpensive price
No.6	Bills, the best breakfast in the world
No.7	Udon (うどん) - Tsurutontan, Roppongi (つるとんたん, 六本木)
No.8	Kimukatsu キムカツ - tonkatsu (とんかつ, pan-fried pork)
No.9	Cafe MUJI - simple but good quality like its products
No.10	Katsukichi (かつ吉), Shibuya (渋谷) - Katsudon (カツ丼, deep-fried pork bowl)

 *Based on average page view for each post

 

Sweets

We confirmed that Rusk "Gouter de Roi" by Gateau Festa Harada is quite popular with two related articles ranked.

No.1	Rusk "Gouter de Roi" - Gateau Festa Harada
No.2	Omiyage (お土産) - Rokkatei (六花亭） from Hokkaido
No.3	GOUTER de ROI White chocolate - GATEAU FESTA HARADA
No.4	Kobe pudding (神戸プリン)
No.5	Grom - Italian gelato

  *Based on total page view during the report period for each post

 

News (publication, events and trend etc)

4 out of 5 ranked articles are related “Michelin” restaurant guide which must be paid attentions by a lot of site audience.

No.1	Michelin Guide Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe 2011
No.2	Michelin Guide Tokyo 2012 published
No.3	Michelin Guide Hokkaido will be issued in Spring 2012!
No.4	郷土料理（Kyodo ryori, local specialty） - JAPAN'S TASTY SECRETS issued
No.5	Lineup for Michelin Guide Hokkaido 2012

  *Based on total page view during the report period for each post

Café, tea salon

Apart from Rose Bakery collaborating with COMME des GARCONS produced by a Japanese designer Ms. Rei Kawakubo, all ranked are made by international brands. We could not see name of any Japanese traditional sweet producer or green tea café on higher rank, in spite of the interesting option to spend time in Japan. One reason of this result would be, unlike Izakaya, no unique and fixed concept and a word representing such cozy places. We will consider more opportunities introduce some Japanese tea salon or café near future.

No.1	Cafe restaurant by Mercedes-Benz, Roppongi (六本木), Tokyo
No.2	Laduree, the French patisserie finally arrived in Tokyo
No.3	Rose Bakery in COMME des GARCONS, Marunouchi Tokyo
No.4	FIAT cafe - Italian cafe in Aoyama, Tokyo
No.5	Belgian bakery cafe - Le Pain Quotidien

 *Based on total page view during the report period for each post

 

Food (except for sweets)

No.1	Butaman (豚まん, pork bun) 551 HORAI (551 蓬莱), Osaka
No.2	Dairy products from Hokkaido - Machimura Farm (町村農場) at Marunouchi
No.3	Ekiben (駅弁, Box lunch on board) at Tokyo Station
No.4	Ekiben(駅弁 station lunch box)
No.5	Takara no fu - 宝の麩 ("Treasure" instant soup by Fumuroya 不室屋)

 *Based on total page view during the report period for each post

 

 

About this blog “About Food in Japan” (http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/):

About food in Japan is a blog in English for those who are planning to travel in Japan, non-Japanese people who are living in Japan and all who are interested in food culture of Japan!

We also has Facebook and Twitter accounts for more frequent update and news.

Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/aboutfoodinjapan

Twitter account http://twitter.com/aboutfoodjapan

 

For more information about English blog “About Food in Japan” site owner, Food Tourism Japan Consulting, please visit here.

 

Our contact:

Food Tourism Japan Consulting

Email:  foodtourismjapan.info■gmail.com　(Please modify ■ into @ .)

 

All rights reserved by Food Tourism Japan Consulting

Castle Town Odawara (小田原)

Odawara (小田原) is a castle town in Kanagawa prefecture, situating between Tokyo or Yokohama and Hakone Hot spring resort (箱根温泉地). It takes only 35 minutes by Shinkansen or about 70 minutes journey even by JR local express trains (Tokaido Line) from Tokyo. It must be the most closest castle town from Tokyo, apart from Edo castle or Imperial Palace in central Tokyo.

 

Odawara Castle is 10 mintes walk from Odawara train station, following the town's main street to the castle gate. 

 

Top floors of Odawara Castle is accessible as exhibition halls and observation deck. So going through to the castle garden, climbing up to the top!!

 

At the garden surrounding Odawara Castle, on February, you will find plum (Ume, 梅) blossoms which is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Odawara Castle for local people. The weather is still cold on the month but it is a sign of coming Spring.  

Enjoying the nature plants and looking at the castle from different sides, don't give up going up to the castle top!! 

 

We also found monkeies at the castle park just before the castle main tower... 

 

 

 

 

It will be a good half-day exercise to climb up to the castle top and walk around the castel park.

 

The reward of climing up exercise is

the VIEW from the TOP of Odawara Castel

 

 Odawara town, Pacific Ocean and mountains

You will find Odawara town's unique location

in narrow area between Ocean and mountains.

It was strategically choosen by former Samurai governors.

 

The exhibition halls inside the castle main tower is also recommendable to spend around 20- 30minutes to watch the interesting collections from Edo period. Cultural works, folk objects at the exhibition will tell you tradition and life of Japanese in Edo era. 

After enjoying the beautiful shape of historical castle, let's find FOOD or Sweets in Odawara.

Japanese traditional sweets have been often cultivated by local governors as a part of rich local culture.

Here we introduce two most interesting sweets souvenir in Odawara.

 

Firstly from the souvenir shop on the top floor of Odawara Castle,

Buke Yokan (武家ようかん, Samurai family sweet beans cake)

  

Each different family emblem with name of Samurai

is attached to each box of Yokan.

As it has tens choices of Samurai name and emblems,

even if you don't know each of them,

it must be fun to look around the variaties of emblems and colors.

 

Next our finding is from a small local sweet boutique, called Fugetsudo (風月堂).

It is less than 5 minutes walk from Odawara Castle and along one of the town's main street.

Fugetsudo is a popular name for Japanese traditional sweet shops. You could find a shop with same name in other towns. The most famous one is in Kobe and sells "Gaufre" cookies. Each of them is different and not a chain affiliate. Just for your information.

 

 

 

Castle Monaka(城下町もなか, Joka machi monaka)

by Fugetsudo Odawara

Amazing small piece of Monaka (sweet beans cake with shells)

in shape of CASTLE!!!

It's a great Japanese art work,

which you can bring back to your country.

(have to keep in a box, so as not to be broken though)

 

It will be an interesting full-day excursion to go out from Tokyo by Shinkansen or local JR train and to walk around Odawara Castle as well as the old town surrounding the castle, discovering traditional products like above.

 

Odawara Castle  

Nearest station: Odawara (JR and Odakyu lines)

View Larger Map

 

Shop name: Fugetsudo Odawara (風月堂)

Address: 1-10-20 Honcho, Odawara-city, Kanagawa

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Origami x Sushi

One day we were very excited with a product sold at a major stationery shop, ITOYA, in Haneda International airport. That is not edible but related to the most famous Japanese food, SUSHI.

 

Origami (Japanese traditional folding paper toy) set for SUSHI

We had no way but to buy and bring it to our home. 

Opening the Origami pack, we found several different types of origami papers and an intruction guide in Japanese for each different origami.

 

    

 

Can you imagine? this paper will become a piece of TUNA!!

 

Seeing many straight and diagonal lines drawn on Origami papers, we felt it difficult to make Sushi pieces by our own hands. But it was not right. It was not so hard as we imagined. 

 

 

Finally we made several pieces of SUSHI with Origami!!!

  
Look yummy?!

We wish so...

 

Origami Sushi set is available at a branch of ITOYA (a stationery store) in International flight terminal, Haneda International Airport and at its flagship store in Ginza.

 

Shop name: ITOYA (Haneda Airport)

Location: 4th floor Edo Market,  International flight terminal of Haneda Airport

Website: http://www.haneda-airport.jp/inter/en/premises/tenant/5200100012600000/index.html

 

Shop name: ITOYA (Main store, temporary location)

Address: 3-7-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (just behind Matsuya Department store)

*Until 2015, the flagship store has been under renovation and it is currently operated in temporary location.

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Restaurant Pachon (Michelin *), French, Daikanyama Tokyo

Restaurant Pachon is situated in Daikanyama (代官山) which is just one stop from Shibuya. The town Daikanyama may be not well known among international tourists, while it is known for independent fashion boutiques visited by young people who would like to catch up with the latest trends.

The Montpellier-born chef, Monsieur Andre Pachon, has run the upscale French restaurant Restaurant Pachon  as its owner chef at Daikanyama, Tokyo for almost 30 years since 1984. We could say that he is one of the pioneers who introduced authentic French cuisine in Japan. As Restaurant Pachon maintains Michelin star (*), his fine French cuisine is appreciated by local people even this modern day when so many Japanese cook have leant in France and a plenty of French restaurants from casual bistro to luxury exist in Tokyo.

Let us tell you the experience at such established French restaurant by French owner-chef.

After we were welcomed by the receptionists, beautiful antique-taste plates were waiting for us on a table. The interior decoration is quite classic as if we were invited to a traditional "manor-house" in Europe. If your visit is in Winter, a "real" fireplace will also welcome you. It is rare to be found in Japan. 

We ordered a lunch course with starter, soup, main dish and dessert and some wine...

 

Starter, carpaccio of mackerel

It's interesting to try fish Aji(鯵, mackerel) which is often used in Japanese cuisine but not so often in French. As same with green beans served as amuse-bouche, the plate remind us Spring season.  

Main dish, Cassoulet in Aude Pays Cathare (for 2 people)

It is a specialty of Restauran Pachon as well as traditional cuisine of Languedoc region in South France. It is cooked meat and beans in a traditional earth pot. All ingredients are well cooked in the traditional cooking tool and it has very soft texture. It is a good choice especially in Winter, as it keeps our body warm.

 

After such traditional and authentic French plate, we were also delighted by beautiful spring colors. 

Seasonal Dessert,

roll cake with yuzu (Japanese citron) cream and mango flavor ice cream

 

After the joy of citrus flavour, we also enjoyed a few pieces of petite fleure. 

 

In addition to historic French dish like Cassoulet, as the proof of his long experience in Japan, the chef is good at taking Japanese ingredients in his work at the Michelin-awarded French restaurant. What we tasted and visually what we saw all surely has the value for the restaurant guide's evaluation.

 

Restaurant name: Restaurant Pachon

Address: Hillside Terrace B, 29-18 Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Website: http://www.pachon.co.jp

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TKG arranged versions

Through our two last posts, we believe you have already leant the simplest Japanese food, TKG or Tamago Kake Gohan (rice with raw egg). Today, in addition to the traditional style, we introduce TKG arranged with food ingredients which are maybe more familiar for you.

Such TKG arrangements are introduced in a book published 5 years ago "365days of Tamagokake Gohan recipes(365日たまごかけごはんの本)". The book suggests many different and some unusual ways to enjoy (might be not for some though) TKG, rice with raw egg.  

The recipe book is actually available in English from the same publishing company but it is sold only through the Japanese version website. For those who can order it in Japanese, please clieck here.

 

Inspired by such unusual recipes from  "365days of Tamagokake Gohan recipes(365日たまごかけごはんの本)", here we also tried a few of newer types of TKG.

 

TKG with typical Italian ingredients, Tomato & Parmesan cheese & Raw ham

 

 Not bad, salty taste of raw ham is well matched with raw egg.

It can be like Italian rice dish, risotto.

 

 

TKG with butter, "nori"(海苔, seaweed) and soy sauce

  
a bit arranged with butter and seaweed 

 from the most popular way just with soy sauce

We could not feel butter taste so much as it was melted by the heat from cooked rice

but surely butter gives sweetness and subtle flavor

to the Japanese traditional food. 

 

 

TKG with canned tuna, cheese, mayonaise and soy sauce

     

Although we did not try this time, green leaf vegetables, mushrooms and fish or seafood such as salmon and shrimps will be also well matched with raw egg.

Try and find your own original TKG recipes!!! 

Try TKG (rice with raw egg) at Haneda Airport

Following our previous post introducing TKG (Tamago Kake Gohan, rice with raw egg), this post brings you an option to try the simple Japanese food at a casual restaurant.

Uchino Tamago Chokubai-jo (うちのたまご　直売所, Stand of our eggs from a farmer) is accommodated in Terminal 1 of Haneda International Airport where it is mainly used for domestic filghts operated by Japan Airline group. The casual Japanese restaurant is close to Keikyu train station and monorail gates on the underground (B1) floor.

It opens from 8a.m. to 9p.m. and is available even for breakfast to quick dinner if you would.

As the restaurant's name shown, "a stand of eggs directly from a farmer", food with fresh eggs is its specialty at the casual first-food like stand. Actually the main menu choices are only two, Tamago Kake Gohan (TKG, rice with raw egg) and Oyakodon (chicken and egg rice bowl). All others are side dishes such as miso soup, drink and, cake and pudding made with the high quality fresh eggs. The shop is operated by Akasaka Umaya upper scale Japanese restaurant, introduced on our another blog post, which features selected fine food from Kyushu region. 

If you still...mind raw egg, Oyakogon (chicken and cooked egg on top of rice in bowl) will be the better option. Otherwise, we recommend that you try a few raw eggs came from a certain farm in Fukuoka and kept fresh and at high hygenic standard. 

Two bowls of rice and two eggs, two small condiment dishes are included in the set menu Tamago Kake Gohan at Yen 500. Miso soup with nori (seaweed) is an option at + Yen 100. 

   

On the counter table, two bottles of soy sauce are offered as seasoning for raw egg. One is especially made for the simple menu, rice with raw egg, and another light taste sauce made from bonite stock.

 

    

We also found black pepper mill and Japanese red pepper with 7 spices (shichimi togarashi, 七味唐辛子) provided for seasoning. These spices could be good to adjust to more familiar flavor for you. Some locals also take the option. 

 

Oyakodon (親子丼 chicken with egg on top of rice)

is also a good alternative

if you are not able to take raw egg TKG.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With these condiments, spices and pickles, enjoy two bowls of rice with two raw eggs.

Then you will become the fan of TKG !!

 

Restaurant name: Uchino Tamago Chokubaijyo

Address: B1F Terminal 1,  Haneda International Airport, 3-3-2 Haneda Airport, Ota-ku, Tokyo

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TKG (卵かけご飯, rice with raw egg)

TKG is a relatively new abbreviation of a Japanese word. Some Japanese people maybe still don't know it.

TKG represents Takago Kake Gohan, rice with raw egg. It is very simple food, cooked Japanese rice (Gohan) topped with a broken uncooked egg (Tamago Kake). 

  　

 

In many places out of Japan, people won't take a raw egg. In Japan, we often eat raw eggs. The two most popular ways to take an raw egg is with rice as above and as dipping sauce for Skiyaki (beef hot pot). You might alerady experience either way in Japan.

Because of the food culture to have a raw egg, in Japan, egg producers, food distributors and retailers etc all care the preserving condition of eggs enough cool in fridge and keep appropriate hygiene standars for taking without cooking. As long as eggs are appropriately treated in Japan, they are edible raw. So don't worry!! Eggs served in Japan are not same with ones in your country, which are considered taking after cooked.

 

TKG or Tamago Kake Gohan, is one of the most popular ways to have rice in Japan.

It is often served for breakfast at Ryokan and hotels as well as as a part of teishoku (定食, set menu) at casual local restaurants across Japan.

The cooking way is very simple and usually made by a diner. 

1. Break egg shell and pour whole egg to a small bowl.

 

2. Add one or two spoons of soy sauce to it.

 

3. Mix them well and pour the liquid to rice in another bowl.

  

An alternative way to prepare Tamago Kake Gohan is to put an egg, soy sauce on a rice bowl directly and mix them all. A short video on below link shows the process. 

http://www.ajinomoto.co.jp/aji/egg/generator/#

Just a remark for you, spice like salt is added after soy sauce on the movie. It is "Ajinomoto", artificial seasoning or a main product of the site operator. Ignore that as it is not necessary actually.

 

 

 

For a last few years, the simplest cooking food, Tamago Kake Gohan has been looked backed and re-evaluated by younger generations. Then the abbreviation TKG was born. Some people select fine quality eggs to prepare the best TKG. Soy sauce developped especially for Tamago Kake Gohan can be seen at some selected grocery stores nowadays.

As a series of TKG or Tamago Kake Gohan, we will introduce modern ways to enjoy it with additional condiments and a restaurant where you can find a nice bowl of TKG!

Don't be afraid and try Tamago Kake Gohan if you can find it at your accommodations or restaurant you visited in Japan!!

  

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