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Japan Part V: The Best of the Rest- Fluffy Meat, Iranian Food, Punk Rock Apartment & Scenes from Tokyo

This post concludes my five part series covering my recent trip to Japan (much to the relief of most of you, no doubt! Yes, this is a food blog, not a travel blog…..). I just wanted to use this chance to talk about the little adventures we had in between all of the big ones.

Fluffy Meat:

Menchi katsu

We did a very food-centric thing while strolling around in Kichijoi one day- we waited 45 minutes in line just to buy menchikatsu (fried meat ball) and korokke. Yup- as we were walking through the shotengai (shopping street) we saw a long line leading to a very small and worn butcher shop. I asked my friend Kazu what the fuss was all about and she told me that this particular butcher shop’s menchikatsu was considered to be the best and quite famous by word-of-mouth. You can guess what happened next. We waited, and waited, and I tried to get a peep at these world-renowned (ok, more like Tokyo-renowned) menchi. The air was filled with the meaty scent of frying beef and I could not wait to get my hands on one. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally got to the front of the line and I ordered three menchi and two korokkes (since meat shops are widely considered to make some of the best korokke as well). In my excitement, I forgot to ask for tonkastu sauce which was a serious bummer. Anyway, we sat down on the curb and dug out one of the baseball-sized menchi. I bit into it carefully (it was hot) and discovered a world of juicy and fluffy goodness. I’ve heard people describe meatballs as being “fluffy” in the past and never really got it until that moment. The meat WAS fluffy- it wasn’t dense and packed together like other menchi I’d had. This had glistening pieces of sweet onion and mounds of meat- just packed just well enough to form an airy ball. It was truly the best menchi I’d ever had. The korokke was good but really needed some tonkatsu sauce.

Fluffy menchi meat!

Iranian Food: Bol Bol Restaurant in Koenji

My friends Mayu and Chiba met at a Iranian restaurant called Bol Bol. He lived upstairs and was helping out when she walked in. Six months later, they were married. I had to go to this magical place where love blossomed for one of my best friends. Well, actually my friends just wanted me to go there and I was indeed curious about an Iranian restaurant in Tokyo.

Bol Bol lamb

When J and I walked into the small, second story space, we felt instantly transported back to Iran. Well, not really since we’ve never been there but it did feel like another world. It was decorated from top to bottom with various Iranian artifacts and we were greeted by Bol Bol-san, the owner/chef. He showed us to a large table and started cooking right away. We started with a light salad, followed by intensely flavorful lamb kebobs which he slipped off of a long, narrow sword, crispy-skinned chicken breast in a tomatoey broth, saffron rice, flatbread and a chicken curry-like dish. Everything was amazing and Bol Bol-san told me the story of how he arrived in Japan ten years prior. We mostly communicated in Japanese and just had a really great time. Bol Bol san was quite the host and showed us photos of parties that he’d throw at the restaurant. He even has belly dancers on weekends for entertainment. If you ever find yourself in Koenji, you should go. And bring a big appetite.

Bol Bol chicken

Punk Rock Apartment

Even though this has nothing to do with food, I just had to showcase my friend and “little brother” Ugo’s Higashi-Nakano apartment. I met him 13 years ago when we were both working at Tower Records in Japan- I didn’t speak a word of Japanese and he basically helped me learn the language during slow days at the register. He’s remained faithful to his punk and goth roots since then and has quite the record and toy collection to prove it.

Think he needs more stuff in there?

The Rest of the Best of the Rest:

The rest of the photos are just various scenes from Japan- things I ate, random people I saw, etc. I hope you enjoyed my Japan series and take a trip yourself sometime. I wouldn’t call Tokyo the most relaxing place to visit, but if you want an adventure-filled, fast-paced vacation, it may be the place for you.

Wanna go get some coffee at White Lover?

Little school girls

Negi Toro Don in Asakusa

Omu Rice in Asakusa

Boy at a festival

My old workplace….

Busy Shibuya intersection

Scenes from a crowded train

Kyoto trees

Shinjuku at dusk

Ladies waiting for a train

Doria, food of the Gods, in Nogata at The Apple Pot

Japan, Japan travel

Japan Part IV: Department store basements or “Depa-chika”

Since I went into my adoration for the Japanese department store basement floor earlier, I’ll save you the commentary this time. Let me just say that there is no grocery store as beautiful, tempting and vast as a Japanese depa-chika. No American chain can rival the selection of ready-made foods that a depa-chika has to offer. If you’re in the mood for something fried, baked, sautéed, raw, rolled, grilled, steamed or broiled, you’ll find it all in the DEPA-CHIKA! Whether it be at Seibu, Isetan, Marui or Mitsukoshi (the Grand Dame of all department stores), the basement floor is a food lover’s dream come true.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, tons of gratuitous depa-chika food photos for your viewing pleasure.

Different kinds of rice

The famous musk melon…..

...3150 yen each. That’s about $32 to you and me….better be a darn good melon!

Slices of juicy pork!

Piles of French macarons……

Large steaks of fish…………

Which one should I eat?

Gems of the sea

Everything tastes better rolled in panko and deep fried…

Er…I think they meant Royal Jelly but hey- Jerry works too.

JAPAN Part III: The Izakaya

Yes, you’ve heard me speaking in sparkling terms about the Japanese IZAKAYA many times before. I’ve lamented their almost non-existence here in the United States (well, Los Angeles anyway). Yes yes, there are a few, but it isn’t quite the same if you don’t take off your shoes and deposit them in a little wooden shelf or take a drunken train ride home from your outing. The real izakaya experience starts off with a hearty “IRASHAIMASE!” from the staff and ends with you and your friends either racing toward Shinjuku Station desperate to catch that 1:00 AM Yamanote Line or hunkering down for a few (or ten) more rounds until the first train at 4:30 AM. Ah, those were the days……

Why do I love the IZAKAYA so? Let me count the ways. First of all, it’s cheap but good eatin’. I love that you can get a little bit of everything. If you’re having one of those days where you’re craving a bit of sashimi, a nugget of golden fried shrimp, a grilled slice of salted beef, fried rice, potato salad and simmered tofu skin, well the IZAKAYA is where you’d go to get all of that and more. I have so many great memories from my outings to various izakayas. An izakaya in Shibuya was the site where my fish-hating friend Josh discovered that he actually liked fish when he was served a thick filet of yellowtail covered in grilled onions all sizzling on a cast iron skillet. What’s so special about Josh converting to pescatarianism, you say? Try hanging out for a year with an anti-fish person in Japan and you’ll get the idea. Josh, I love ya but your fish-hating days were rough on me and Miks. Anyway, an izakaya called Tengu (one of a chain) was where I’d spend many a Girl’s Night with my good friends Nozomi and Megumi, noshing on katsuo no tataki and pumpkin korokke. I can’t even count the number of work drinking parties we’d have in the private room of an izakaya in Shinjuku. If you haven’t gotten it by now, get it- I Heart Izakayas!

Naturally, I was eager to hit as many izakayas as possible on my recent trip to Japan. Now, dear reader, I must be honest with you. My drinking-until-the-first-train-days are probably long over (read: I am not 22 anymore) but I was excited to get back to my old haunts. I have to admit, I am usually not a fan of chain restaurants but the chain izakayas in Japan are quite good. More importantly, they all serve the same goodies and have HUGE menus featuring lovely, color photos which come in handy when you, er, read Japanese at the level of a kindergartner. In addition to the aforementioned Tengu, I also love Irohanihoheto, Watami, Uotami….the list goes on and on.

The first night we arrived in Tokyo, we hit an izakaya in Shibuya with my old boss/friend and coworkers. It was packed, smokey and loud- just like I remembered! We ordered hiyayako (cold tofu), korokke, Caesar salad with a soft boiled egg, yakisoba, sashimi and quite a few other things I can’t remember. Washed down with some ice cold reishu, it made for a great beginning to our trip.

Korokke

A couple of nights later we went out with my former schoolmate Marc in Shinjuku. We met him at the station and navigated through the crowds for about 15 minutes until we came upon an izakaya that he discovered through his coworkers. Since I met Marc at cooking school, I knew I could trust him and he didn’t disappoint. Like at many izakayas, we took off our shoes and were seated at our own private booth, enclosed by paper doors. Where in the States can you get ambience like that at super low prices? Nowhere, I tell you! Moving on….we ordered a million things and everything was delicious. They even had bi bim bap, served in the hot stone bowl! We ate delicate rolls of halibut sashimi topped with ponzu and ginger, a large plate of four kinds of sashimi, perfectly fried egg rolls stuffed with a mixture of mochi, kimchee and shiso leaves, tsukune (ground chicken) yakitori accompanied by the traditional raw egg yolk, salad and Japanese pickles. I know what you’re thinking- I’m a glutton!!! I can’t say I can deny that 100% but each plate at an izakaya is nice and small- the point is to eat a little bit of everything instead of a lot of one thing. Works for me!

Mochi kimchee egg rolls- YUM

We need something to wash all of this food down with!

Mixed steamed dumplings

We decided to really revisit one of my old stomping grounds- Nogata, where I lived for five years. During our stroll through the city we started to get hungry so we ducked into a small izakaya and had the most amazing saba (mackerel) simmered in miso, cold tofu with freshly grated ginger, Japanese fried chicken topped with grated daikon and tako (octopus) mixed with kimchee. Everything was just so fresh, tasty and again, cheap and the perfect match to the mug of ice cold Japanese beer that I ordered.

Saba miso in Nogata

Kimchee w/ cucumbers and cold tofu

On our last night, J and I hit Uotami in Osaka. It was great to see the familiar chain izakaya in a city that I had never lived in. We again took off our shoes and were led to a nice, quiet and dimly lit private booth. The mini gyoza, California roll (don’t laugh, we ordered it by mistake!), edamame wrapped in wonton skin, sesame chicken salad and an enormous tuna collar came in a flash and we dug in. Surprisingly, the California Roll was one of our favorites. It was coated in little bits of crispy rice which made it nutty and crunchy. As always, all of the food was satisfying and we had fun trying a bunch of different things. All of that food, plus an order of sashimi and mentaiko (spicy cod roe) wrapped in wonton + 2 bottles of cold sake came to just $40.00. $40!!!!!! I rest my case. Izakaya is KING.

Mentaiko-cheese wontons- don’t knock it til you try it!

California roll with KEWPIE!!!

Sashimi

Tuna collar

Hitokuchi (one-bite) gyoza

Edamame in wonton skins

In addition to the izakaya outings, we ate similar small-plate fare at an old-school yakitori house in Kichijoji where I had the best shumai (steamed dumplings) I’ve ever had. We also hit a yakiniku, or Korean BBQ place in Osaka and I’ve included a couple of photos of the gorgeous meat in this set since it sort of has the same theme.

Enjoy!

Meat for yakiniku (Osaka)

Best shumai EVER.

Yakitori in Kichijoji

Japan, Izakaya

BLOGGER TROUBLE!?

Apologies for not posting but I can’t seem to publish photos all of a sudden. This has been going on for 4 days now and I think it’s a problem with Blogger. Anyone else having this happen?

Stay tuned for more Japan entries….as soon as this problem gets fixed!

JAPAN, Part II: Ryokan

During our recent trip to Japan, we stayed at a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in the countryside near Fukui. The ryokan, famous for its onsen (hot springs), was a new experience for us and we really enjoyed ourselves.

We arrived at Arawaonsen station in the early afternoon after a two-hour express train ride from Osaka. The small town has many onsen ryokans and we took a cab to ours. The minute we walked in, we were greeted warmly by Japanese men in suits and ladies in traditional kimonos. As we were led to our rooms by one of the ladies, I marveled at the gorgeous Japanese gardens visible through the pristine windows. Everything smelled like light Japanese incense and the entire lobby area was decorated beautifully.

During our stay at the ryokan, one “attendant” was assigned to our party to assist us. She was the one who would set up the meal at the time we requested, as well as put our the futons at the time we wanted to go to sleep. At a ryokan, you always eat in your room, so we arranged for the four of us (my parents, husband and I) to eat in my parents’ room.

While we waited for dinner to roll around, we put on the yukatas provided for us and went down to the onsen (hot springs). Mom and I went to the outdoor rotenburo and just soaked in the nice, hot water while we watched the rain fall onto the garden. Talk about relaxing. After about 40 minutes we made our way back to the room where our attendant had started laying out all of the different elements of our dinner.

The dinner spread…and this isn’t even everything!

We were starving and my eyes were so busy checking out all of the little dishes filled with different kinds of Japanese food. I can’t even remember everything we ate, but all of it was very good. We had chilled snow crab legs, several different kinds of sashimi, thin sliced beef in a hot pot which we cooked ourselves, simmered Japanese vegetables, yuba (tofu skin) with bamboo shoots, fish cakes, miso cod, cold soba with dashi and grated daikon, chawanmushi, clear soup with tofu and a few other things I just can’t recall. I do, however, have to point out that someone in the area must have been having a sale on amaebi (sweet shrimp) because it showed up in quite a few dishes. Although we all love amaebi, we were pretty tired of it by the end of the meal.

Snow crab
Sashimi assortment
Bite of maguro?

Even after all this food, rice was offered but we declined since we were just completely stuffed. We did, however, thoroughly enjoy the light dessert offering. It was a soy milk pudding with a green tea gelatin topping capped off with just a small spoonful of anko and served with a sesame meringue cookie. It was so good that we asked for the recipe, and found out that the “secret” ingredient was steamed and mashed sastumaimo, which is a Japanese sweet potato. Very interesting. I just bought all of the ingredients for this and plan to try it this weekend.

Three-tiered tray containing various goodies.
Bamboo shoots and yuba
Soy milk pudding w/ green tea gelatin

The next morning, we had breakfast in my parents room again after soaking in the onsen. This time the meal consisted of some lovely ika somen (squid cut into thin strips like noodles), grilled fish, Japanese potato salad, thinly sliced ham, crab ochazuke (soupy rice), sashimi and an onsen tamago which is a very soft boiled egg (my favorite!). Everything was delicious and once again, we were totally full! I don’t see how the average Japanese person can eat that much food, but I suppose they must since most of the ryokan’s clients are indeed Japanese.

Breakfast, anyone?
Various delights including an onsen tamago
Ika somen and grilled fish

As always, I took tons of photos- mainly to remember the beautiful arrangement and plating of everything. The care that goes into making everything look so gorgeous is really astounding.

Our room

My husband and I behind my parents in our yukatas.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed the whole ryokan experience. I highly recommend it!

Japan, Japan travel

JAPAN, Part 1- Baked Goods

Finally getting around to posting after a nice, long vacation to Japan. I have to say it was one of the best vacations of my life. We did everything possible in the 10 days that we had and ate our way around Tokyo, Osaka and a one-night stay at at ryokan in Fukui. I took no less than 400 photos (I am half-Japanese, after all, and you know how we love to take photos!) so I plan to break up Japan Eats report into several stages.

Stage 1 is my Ode to Pan. Pan is bread in Japanese (and Spanish, coincidentally) and Japan is filled to the brim with some of the best toast, pastries and sandwiches on the planet. There is a French bakery on almost every corner and no less than three in almost every depa-chika, which, literally translated, means department store basement. Most major department stores boast a basement filled with everything your foodie heart could ever desire. Counters piled high with designer cookies (that actually taste good), glass cases showing off fat Chinese dumplings and sticks of yakitori shiny with sweet soy glaze, salespeople waving numerous samples of the latest juice or wine in your face….it’s all so overwhelming….yet you feel like you’ve died and gone to Food Heaven. So many choices and not enough stomach space to even accommodate 1/100 of all that the store contains. My eyes would dart back and forth between the perfectly fried, panko-coated korokkes and the freshly baked blueberry loaves dripping with still-warm icing. What on earth is a girl to do?

Well, what my stomach couldn’t hold, my camera certainly could so I simply snapped away at anything that looked good, which was….well…..everything. I’m sure some of the salespeople thought it was strange that I was taking multiple photos of a single yakisoba roll, but I had to share with you, faithful readers (if there are any of you left after my long absence!) all of the beauties that lie within the Japanese depa-chika. Well, maybe not all of them in this single post but we will start with what I consider to be one of the stars, if not the star, of the whole depa-chika show….the gorgeous and plentiful bread.

Break me off a piece of that!

Of course, a bakery isn’t the only place you’d find fantastic bread in Japan. Just go to any kissaten (coffee shop) for breakfast and most offer several “morning sets,” each offering some variation on an egg, coffee and a nice, thick slice of buttered toast. Ah, the thick Japanese toast. For those of you who have been to Japan or have been a the Japanese grocery store, you know the wonder that is The Thick Japanese Toast. Crispy and buttery on the outside and mochi mochi (soft and chewy) on the inside, it’s one of my all-time favorite things to eat and the base of the namesake of this blog. I did order tuna toast once, but unfortunately it wasn’t the best version of my beloved dish since it had way too much cheese on it. Yes, sometimes there is such a thing as too much cheese.

An extra gooey version of tuna toast

Anyway, please enjoy the photos of the lovely pan and pastries. More Japan reports to come!

Department store baker, busy at work.

Mo-ning seto!

Sugar toast, salmon sandwich and fried egg (with perfectly medium-runny middle!) sandwich

Perfectly organized

Bread w/ cheese and ham inside…mmmmmmm

Sticky sweet goodness

Are you feeling full yet?

So much bread, so little time….

Japan, Japanese shopping

UPDATE!

I am just leaving Japan now but I promise to post soon- I took way too many photos and ate tons of great food. It may actually take me a year to blog about all of my experiences but I will try my best to get it all out. O tanoshimi!

See you on blog very soon!

-TAG

Vacation Mode

I haven’t blogged in the last few days because, although I don’t leave until Friday, my brain is already in complete vacation mode. I have two more days at work before taking off to Tokyo and Osaka for 10 days, and all I can think about is about seeing my Obaachan, hanging out with friends, eating loads of great food and consuming lots of beer and sake.

Needless to say, I haven’t really been cooking this week since we have to eat what we have in the refrigerator….which isn’t really a lot. The other night, this was dinner:

Chinois Chicken Salad

Chinois Chicken Salad is probably one of my all-time favorite salads on the planet. I first got a taste of it at the Wolfgang Puck Express on 3rd Street Promenade when the artist management company I used to work for had an office there. I probably ate it every other day for a month before finally trying the other stuff on the menu. For “fast food,” that place has truly good food- from the wood-fired pizzas to the delicate pastas and, of course, this perfect salad.

Another lets-clean-the-fridge-out meal was this:

Baguette with tuna salad and tomatoes + smoked turkey & pepper jack cheese. Sometimes I just love to eat like this, especially in warm weather.

So yes, I have been kind of lazy in the kitchen department but I’m just preparing myself for the okonomiyaki, doria, katsu donburi, sushi, tuna toast (ah yeah!), kari kari cheezu, kabocha korokke and other goodies (I know, that is A LOT of food!) that I will be consuming over the next 10 days.

I will try my best to post about my Japan eating adventures while I am there, but that probably depends on how much sake I have;). If anyone reading this lives in Tokyo or Osaka and has any “must eats” they’d like to share with me, I’d appreciate it!!

Matta ne! See you from Tokyo!

Chinese Long Beans

These hearty, long beans have been a favorite of mine at Chinese restaurants but I had never purchased them myself. On my maiden voyage to 99 Ranch Market in Monterey Park last weekend, I saw these among the many unfamiliar vegetables and quickly put one bunch into my basket. On a related note: I need to look into getting a very authentic Chinese and Thai cookbooks. The assortment of spices, fermented tofu, fish, vegetables, chilies, snacks and other items at 99 Ranch Market just completely, utterly boggled my mind. I wanted to buy everything but had no clue what 80% of the stuff was so I figure I’d better do more research before buying a bounty of products. Any cookbook recommendations would be appreciated.

Since I had never made the long beans before, I looked up several recipes and basically learned that they can be prepared like green beans. I combined a couple of the recipes that sounded good and ended up with steamed and then sautéed long beans with crushed peanuts and onion. It was seasoned with only a slight amount of soy sauce, garlic and a touch of rice vinegar. It was delicious and I just loved the meatiness of the long beans compared to regular green beans.

Long beans with peanuts

With that I served some teriyaki’d beef tenderloin (another purchase at the market- $5.00 a pound!), a simple salad with goma dressing and some sliced sourdough baguette. I know the last item doesn’t sound like it would fit into the bunch but it went quite well with the savory steaks since we didn’t serve rice.

Teriyaki tenderloin

If any of you have any great recipes for long beans, please share the wealth!

Cooking

Biscuits ‘N Eggs

The other day, J and I had a total hankering for something carby. We wanted anything in the bread family but alas- there was not one member left in our house. No tortillas, no bread of any sort….not even any crackers. When he jokingly suggested that I make some bread, I just looked at him like he was bonkers and snorted, “Er, yeah…just make some bread right now?” Maybe in an alternate universe where bread could be made in 10 minutes. We wanted bread and we wanted it now!

After another run-through of the pantry, I realized that I had some Trader Joe’s (no, I don’t work for them!) Buttermilk Pancake and Baking Mix. Score! I also had some buttermilk leftover in the fridge- score #2!! I quickly mixed the two and added a nice handful of green onions, a pat of butter and a generous scoop of grated parmesan. Ten minutes in the toaster oven at 400 degrees and presto- I had my carbs!

Piping hot green onion & parmesan drop-biscuits

The biscuits were extremely light and fluffy and the tang of the parmesan mixed with the freshness of the green onions was absolutely addictive. I cut the biscuits in half lengthwise and topped each with a medium poached egg and a dollop of salsa. Breakfast heaven!

Poached eggs make anything taste better

There is no greater motivator than a major craving!

Baking