About food in Japan

English menu for more hospitality!

This is a good news for non-Japanese people who hesitate to enjoy eating at local restaurants in Toky because of language barrier to understand their menu lists...

This week Tokyo Metropolitan government launched a new tool on its website for restaurants owners. Tokyo, one of the biggest cities in the world, aiming to become a successful candidate for Summer Olympic 2016, is keen to increase reputations for citizen's hospitality to foreign tourirsts.

As one of the measurements to raise the service standard, the governement provides a tool on its official website for small or middle size local restaurant owners who are unlikely to have sufficient language skills to organize their menu lists in foreign languages.
According to the website, by selecting formats, food menu from over 2500 sample, the tool helps with creating menu lists in English, Korean and Chinese (Simplified and Complicated letters). It also allows adding some explanations about Japanese food for those who are not familier with it.

I hope that soon you will see English menu at more restaurants in Tokyo and that you will feel more comfortable to enjoy there!

To go to the news source Tokyo Tourism Info, click here.
The list of menu examples created by the translation tool is here.

Tea or free gift? what you buy...

We are not able to imagine how many kinds of ready-made drinks available in Japan, whether in can or in PET bottle. Beverage makers face severe competition to get space on the shelfs of convenience shops across this country.

To attract both consumers and convenience shop owners, major soft drink producers are likely to attach a packet of small gift to their bottled drink products.

You will find something like this on a shelf of PET bottle drinks. A small plastic bag is hang from a bottle-neck.

The free small gift depends on the target of the drink.

Recently launched the promotion by Lipton must keep attention of Japanese girls and sweets-lovers. It offers original mobile phone charms collaborated with Belgium high-end chocolate shop, Pierre Marcolini. The charmes are in shape of miniature sweets by the chocolate brand; tablet, colourfull ice cream or biscuit..

They really look like real sweets apart from the size.

Yes, the size, as they are to be "a charm for mobile-phone", they are so small to eat

At least they are enough attractive to entertain people who find it with your mobile phone.

 

Related website

Lipton Sweets Collection : http://www.lipton-sweets.jp/

 

Italian - Ristorante La Barrique Tokyo

La Barrique is inherited its name from a Michelin star restaurant in Torino, Italy.

The unit in Tokyo is behind a private house in a quite residential area of central Tokyo. We went through a parking space of the neighbor to access the restaurant. Without having a location map, it is hard to identify where the restaurant stands.

The fine dining is accommodated in a house-like building. According to the restaurant staff, the building is a former residence of the restaurant owner.  The house with nice traditional wood decotration inside is finely transformed into an Italian ristorante with warm, homey atmosphere.

The excellent points of the restaurant are not only the interior but also the food quality and wide selections of glass wine and bottled ones of course.

Fresh seasonal ingredient are selected for dishes and "La Barrique course" offers several choices for starter, pasta and main dish, enough to make dinners feel hard to select just one from all eaqually attractive plates.

It is worth to visiting the house with table reservation and to traveling to the tranquil town.

Restaurant name: Ristorante La Barrique Tokyo
Address: 2-12-2 Suido, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo
Website: http://www.labarrique.jp

An-mitsu (あんみつ Japanese traditional sweets)

An-mitsu(あんみつ） is a Japanese traditional sweets. It could be a kind of "parfait" in Japanese style.

Literally "an"(餡、あん） is sweet bean paste that is often seen in Japanese traditional sweets. "Mitsu"(蜜、みつ） represents sweet syrup made from sugar.
So in a bowl of "an-mitsu", the bean paste and syrup are the biggest features. But we cannot miss also "kanten"(寒天、かんてん）, Japanese agar (gelatin jelly made from a plant) for an-mitsu.

In addition to these three main ingredients in an-mitsu, other attractive filling maybe added; fruits such as a pice of orange, strawberry or cherry, cream (like one in the photo), "shiratama"(dumpling). Then the sweet bowl is "upgraded" to something with more attractive names - "fruits an-mitsu"- "fruit cream an-mitsu"  or "fruit shiratama an-mitsu" etc etc

Mihashi in Ueno is a traditional sweets house known for the an-mitsu and other traditional sweets. Eat-in and take-away for some products are available.
It is located just a stone throw from the Ueno park.
Why do not you take a break with the traditional sweets after enjoying Sakura (cherry blossom) at the famous park?

Cafe name: Mihashi
Address: 4-9-7 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://www.mihashi.co.jp

 

Mos burger - モスバーガー

Mos burger is a casual hamburger restaurant chain in Japan.

I wonder if we should call it  "fast food".  Like the global giant, McDonald's, we can find typical menu such as hamburger, fried potato there.  However speed of preparing food is not their priority. The chain is proud of making a hamburger by hand after a client orders it.

Price is not its sales point but quality and safety of ingredients are. At some units, you are able to find name and place of farmers on a black boad in front of the restaurant. These on the listed are who raise lettuce and other fresh vegetable for the Mos burger unit.

You could have to wait for your order for longer time and maybe have to pay a little bit more at Mos burger than at other firstfood restaurants. Instead you will surely get a fresh and tasty hamburger.

A three days ago, the "slow food?" restaurant chain celebrated its 37th birthday.
The first unit opened in a residential area of Tokyo in 1972 and the company added 100 units within 7 years from the first one opening.

Now there are over 1000 Mos burgur shop across Japan and 100 more in Asian countries/area such as Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Its first and still the most famous product is "Mos burger"(Yen320). Meat sauce(like Bolognaise sauce) and chopped onion between a slice of tomato and hamburger are unique points.

My impression was "It is fantastic" when I had it for the first time and I was a high shcool student. I do not know how many times I ordered the product since that time...

Mos barger is also known as the first restaurant which offered "Teriyaki burger" and "rice burger". Both are now often found at other restaurants and even on shelfs at convenience shops or supermarkets in Japan.

A point to be kept in mind is another uniqueness of the chain.
It rarely opens the restaurants in a prime location, for example area around major train stations such as Shibuya, Shinjuku or Ginza. It rather exists in residential area or a place a bit far from a train station. Don't miss a sign of another "M" logo in red!

Restaurant name: Mos burger
Website: http://www.mos.co.jp

 


   

Les MIGNARDISES - small sweets

"Les MIGNARDISES" is French words not Japanese. It is the name of a sweets shop and according to the shop information, "Les MIGNARDISES" means "small sweets".

What I got is surely French traditional sweets, macaron. If it is only that, I have no reason to bring the Les MIGNARDISES specialty here. The size is unusually small, almost 2cm diameter. That is what we can find only at the shop in Daimaru Department store in Tokyo.

 

How impressive it is... Nine flavors of small pieces of macarons are lined up in a rectangular white box. The colours of the nine flavors make gradation from white to brown. The flavor names are also enough attractive; White chocolate lavender, Caramel vanilla, Cacao 41%, Chocolate rose, Cacao 80% and so on.

The size is not enough big even for a bite but, when I put a piece into the mouth, the taste is never as small as its physical size. It is rather more complex and sophisticated...in other words, the macaron has a fine world in a small piece.

Shop name: Les MIGNARDISES
Address: 1st floor Daimaru Tokyo, 1-9-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo

Ekiben(駅弁 station lunch box)

What is this...?
It is in the shape of the first version of "Shinkansen"(Japanese bullet train) which eneded its work on November 2008.

The answer is LUNCH BOX

The box is filled with small pieces delicacy, roast beef, conger eel, shitake mushroom, octopus, carrott, sliced egg cakes and vinegared rice beneath of these delicacy.

It is an advantage of bento(lunch box) meal that we can enjoy variety of dainty at a time little by littele. The volume would not be enough for big eaters. Instead, even a young child would eat it up.

Lunch box sold at train stations are called "ekiben(駅弁)". On Shinkansen line, we can find different ekiben at each station, which is made with local speciality of different region.
It is a good idea to try different lunch box at each destination to travel.

The shinkansen lunch box is sold at Shin-Kobe station in Hyogo prefecture, in commemoration of the first version Shinkansen "retirement".

After it is finished and is brought to your home as a souvenir of the Shinkansen journey, you can display the box like this! by turning the package into a sign board.   

Related story: bento
http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/blog/2008/06/bento--launched.html

Sanbancho cafe

It is located on a calm small street just behind busy Yasukuni-dori in central Tokyo.

By time, the cafe restaurant offers different type of use.
For business people in the area, breakfast and lunch on weekday are peaceful break time. On the evening, it will be a good place to chill out with pasta, pizza and glass of wine, after a whole day hard work. A few times in a month, live music events are taken place on the evening time.

On Saturday, it is a nice stop for lunch and tea time while people stroll in the area, Chidorigafuchi of Imperial Palace and Yasukuni shrine. Dogs are also allowed to take a break there with their masters. For the second cup of coffee and tea, it offers at a half price, except for lunch time. So enjoy reading a book, chatting with friends as long as you want, but do not worry about your drink run out from your cup!

What I had ... a special Saturday lunch plate with a cup of carrot soup. The tasty food is not simply "cafe-food" rather it is professional work. We cannot ignore the point.

Another thing we cannot miss to check is "Yao Sanbancho", small vegetable market held in front of the cafe. You will be able to find fresh seasonal organic vegerable there.

Smokers seats are also available at the cafe. It is kind to everyone...

Cafe name: Sanbancho cafe
Address: 28-4 Sanbancho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://sanbanchocafe.jp/

   

Chinese -Shanghai Dining Jogenro(状元楼)

Jogenro is an established Chinese restaurant in Jiyugaoka, sophisticated residential district.
The restaurant features "Old Shanghai" and the interior concept is based on the theme "fusion of mysterious Chinese culture and modern European architecture".

When we go into the restaurant, we feel as if we were invited to a mansion of a rich person in Shanghai, from the space separated into small pieces and interior decoration, art objects placed there. Art-nouveau lamps are hung from ceiling in the terrace room.  It is rare to find such a romantic Chinese restaurant...

   

Of couese, the interior decoration is not a single reason to be a diner of the restaurant.
Menu with pieces of "sharks' fin is one of the must there.
Xiao Long bao as well..

 

Drink is also "hard-to-choose" iteam from variety of Chinese liquor and tea selections.

Restaurant name: Jogenro
Address: 1st floor Mochida Building, 1-29-17 Jiyugaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://www.jogen.co.jp

Yoshoku (洋食) - Kurofune-tei(黒船亭)

The word, Yoshoku(洋食) originally means "Western-style" dishes. Traditionally we refer dishes introduced by Western countries collectively as Yoshoku.
Now "Yoshoku" is independently a group of dishes whose origins are from Western countries but have been developed in Japan after that. They are not French, Italian nor American any more, even though some of them are still similar. They are different from traditional Japanese menu but could be considered as "Japanese" from the eyes of non-Japanese people.

Kurofune-tei(黒船亭), located just a stone throw from the Ueno Park, provides typical Yoshoku dishes for decades. The speciality is "Hayashi-rice"(ハヤシライス) and the sweet stew made of demiglace sauce is served in a heated earthen pot, after it is cooked for ten days by the restaurant chef who has a half century career in Yoshoku cooking.　

Another dish recommendable is crab croquette. This one is made of real crab...

Other dises available at Kurofune-tei are omerice, beef stew, humburg steak, cabbage rolls. All are regarded as Yoshoku. 

Related story  - Omerice(オムライス)

Kurofune-tei offers a half portion size for some of their menu at a half price.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono are also on its guest book.

Restaurant name: Kurofune-tei (黒船亭)
Address: 2-13-13 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://www.kurofunetei.co.jp