Kochuan, Happo-en Park, Tokyo

This is basically a food porn post. While in Tokyo during the cherry blossom season, I went to a meal for my cousin's daughter's birthday at the very respected Kochuan restaurant inside Happo-en park.
We had our kaiseki meal in a traditional tatami room that overlooked the cherry blossoms in the park. The theme of the meal was Hanami.
We started with a nice glass of Sakura champagne, and the courses started coming.
This was a shrimp paste made tableside in broth.



This amazing dish was sea urchin, scallop and egg.
Bamboo shoots grilled and then served in the actual shoot.

Red bean and mochi.

108-8631 / 1-1-1-Shirokanedai, Minato-ku
03-3443-3111

Food Porn- Jangara Ramen, Harajuku, Tokyo

Spicy miso Kyushu style ramen from Jangara Ramen in Harajuku, Tokyo might just be one of my favorite foods. The fatty pork is unbelievable. For 150 yen, you can get an extra order of noodles to help finish off their amazing broth.

Neyn- One Year Only Doughnut Shop- Tokyo Midtown

In the super swanky shopping mall, Tokyo Midtown in Japan, we came across Neyn, a project involving running a store for only 1 year. In this case, they were a handmade gourmet doughnut shop. An interesting concept that would probably only work in Japan.
We tried the gâteau chocolat (chocolate cake) doughnut and the cake aux fruits - imagine French pastry chefs making doughnuts- each were lovely, not too sweet.

Food Porn- Jamón Ibérico de Bellota

Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, or Pata Negra, is cured ham from acorn eating Black Iberian pigs available from Spain. It has started to make appearances in gourmet groceries here in the US in the past year or so at about $100/pound. The taste is amazing, it is so fatty, that the meat melts in your mouth.
While in a department store in Japan, we came upon this stand that had more Jamón Ibérico I've ever seen- about a dozen full legs hung gloriously in a row.

Food Porn- Kanseki Meal in Nikko Japan

While in Nikko, Japan, the staff at the historic Hotel Kanaya recommended a local restaurant that served a special Kanseki style meal for us. They were also able to have a vegetarian course for Kelly.
The meal consisted of several courses including local vegetables, sashimi, tempura, rice with fresh wasabi, and a beautiful handmade mochi ball. One of the specialties of the region is yuba, or tofu skin.

It's worth your while to click on each pic to see them up close.

Shanti Soup Curry Dining

In Harajuku in Tokyo, we had lunch at Shanti, a soup curry restaurant. This kind of curry, I read, originated from Sapporo, Hokkaido, and consists of a light broth made of spring water and various spices with vegetables and various meats added in and served with a side of rice.
I got the special "Black-Eyed Peas" soup curry (yes, the named after the band). It had corn and black-eyed peas mixed in. The flavor was nice.
We had the option of getting the spice 1 to 10. I got a 6 which was really actually quite mild. The Japanese are not much for the heat I guess. We also got a nice side of fried naan with our meal.

Honoraly Harajuku Bldg.2F
3-26-11 Jingu-mae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
03-5772-6424

Super Takoyaki Balls in Tokyo

On our first day in Tokyo, we went to a section of town called Akihabara, aka "Electric Town", an area know for it's electronics and "otaku" stores. We walked past some food vans, and I immediately knew I wanted to try a cart that featured giant Takoyaki stuffed with 10 ingredients.

Normal takoyaki, consists of a ball of batter filled with squid, but these takoyaki advertised 10 items including squid, clam, sausage, cabbage, mashed potato, quail egg, mushrooms, corn, and 2 other things I could not identify (sorry). They were also about 3-4 times larger than the usual takoyaki- about 3-4 inches in diameter.
The ball is then topped with okonomiyaki sauce, bonito, and mayo. The cart offered alternate toppings like cheese, kimchee, and onions as well.
It was like eating a giant spherical Japanese hot pocket- yum.

McDonald's in Tokyo

Kelly and I were in Tokyo last week, and I've got a few upcoming posts from the trip, but I figured I'd start with some fun.
With Japan recently winning the World Baseball Classic, the Japan McDonald's was promoting the special McHotdog. Oddly enough, it was meant for breakfast!?!
I ordered it as a meal one morning with a coffee and hash brown. The McHotdog was actually a decent hot dog on a whole wheat bun with ketchup, mustard and relish.

I did not get the try to advertised McPork, which I'm assuming was a take on the Japanese Katsu style deep fried pork sandwich.
Kelly's favorite item was something we got at Narita airport as we were leaving Japan, the Green Tea Oreo McFlurry. It was pretty great- if they had this in the US, I would be in trouble- the green tea flavor complemented the Oreo cookie so well.

Doughnut Plant in Tokyo

Fougoo and I knew that there were Doughnut Plant franchises in Tokyo, but we were totally stoked when we found a branch a few blocks from where we were staying. Of course, we had to go.
The store had a lot of the same doughnut flavors from the New York store including the classic Tres Leches, the Chocolate Blackout, Vanilla Bean, and the Valrhona Chocolate doughnuts. I think the cake doughnuts were a little smaller than the ones you can get in New York, but the raised ones were the same size.





We were in Japan for the Golden Week, and the store had a Green Tea Fair special, featuring a raised Green Tea doughnut, and Green Tea and Creme filled doughnut. The store, unlike it's American counterpart, also made bagels and served lunch in addition to the doughnuts.







We got several doughnuts to try. It was very Japanese of them to individually wrap each doughnut we ordered in it's own napkin.
I quite liked the green tea doughnut- it had a nice sweet flavor and went well with the yeast doughnut. Fougoo wasn't too impressed with their bagels, but hey, who wants to order bagels at the Doughnut Plant.

Food and Design

In Tokyo, we went to the 21_21 Design Sight Museum in the new Tokyo Midtown area - the exhibit on view was Chocolate. Fascinating idea with chocolate as everything from the medium to the inspiration for design (Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures). Issey Miyake designed a chocolate collection in his Pleats Please line specifically for the exhibition, and I splurged and got a chocolate layer cake tank dress. I wore it out to Mother's Day dinner at Bookbinder's in Philadelphia, and my outfit ended up matching our dessert, Bookbinder's famous strawberry shortcake!

Lunch at Baker Bounce, Tokyo Midtown

In Tokyo, I went to the new uber-mall Tokyo Midtown, and had lunch at Baker Bounce. The place sells itself as American Diner food, and surprisingly, the burgers are good size and the prices aren't too bad.
I ordered the Egg'n Bacon Burger which was pretty darn good and while not quite like a real American burger was pretty good for a Japanese interpretation.
To drink, I had Wilkinson Ginger Ale, which came in a cool green bottle. I didn't realize that this is a Japanese brand of soft drink.

Ramen in Jiyogaoka

Personally, as exemplified by my lard ramen post, I prefer a heavy, rich, and fatty broth for my ramen. While in Tokyo, my cousin, took me to a ramen shop in his neighborhood one evening for guy's night out for ramen. Sorry, there was no English name for this place, and I can't translate the sign.
I got a bowl of ramen that consisted of a heavy miso soy broth that was the density of split pea soup. The noodles were firm and consisted of two types- one thick, one thin. Included were pork meatballs, seaweed, and a soft boiled soy egg. It hit the spot.

My cousin ordered a noodle with an even richer broth. It was more of a noodle dish for warm weather. The noodles were served cool with pork, a gently poached egg, and green onion. Then, the broth came as a side that he would dip the noodles into before eating. This broth was really rich with a thick layer of oil on top.

Additional: According to a poster, this place is called Buta Soba Dai Dai. Thanks for the info.