fatmanfoo

Trying a different sort of blog post... instead of a restaurant review, I'm gonna recommend one single item that I feel stands out in a specific category, whether it be a drink, snack, main dish, or whatever... so here we go. I'll call them Jerome's Picks. Today's choice is : Aburi Engawa あぶりエンガワ Aburi Engawa from 活寿司 Katsu Sushi in Ikebukuro Seibu This is the torched fin portion of white fish such as hirame or karei  (flounder). It's not always on the menu everywhere you go, but if you do see it, try it.  If you don't see it, ask for it-  there is always a chance that they have it. Why am I recommending it?

A little while ago, a friend of mine brought me to this interesting coffee shop tucked away in the backstreets of the trendy Omotesando shopping area. Apparently, it was recommended to her by her hairdresser. http://ooo-koffee.com/menu/ http://ooo-koffee.com/about/ As you may garner from the interesting and somewhat minimalist website design, it is kind of a unique spot and you can tell that a lot of effort as been put into designing the details. The place itself is not a traditional coffee shop. One might call it a coffee bar, but then there is the fact that it seems to be in someone's living room.  And that living room is a Japanese-style tatami mat room, complete with a counter equipped with an espresso machine. As a result, there is no real place to sit- there are a couple of stools outside in the garden but a lot of customers drink standing or do take out orders. This is what it looks like: I wish my living room had one of these. And this is what the coffee lo...

It is perhaps not a well-known fact that burgers are quite popular in Japan. Now, I am not talking about the big fast food chains (Mcdonald's, Mos burger, Freshness burger, etc.), which are popular in their own right, but 'gourmet burgers'. These burgers can unfortunately run on the expensive side (around and upwards of 1000yen), but this is a function of the ingredients used to make them, such as buns made in house, self-smoked bacon, and organic vegetables. I've visited a number of these gourmet burger joints, but one that I frequent more often than others is FIRE HOUSE ( http://www.firehouse.co.jp/the_burger.html ). I must admit, this is mostly because of its proximity to my workplace, but they do have seriously good burgers. They have a nice selection of burgers and sandwiches for when you need your 'fix'. Their plates come with a choice of fries or chips (and a gherkin) and their menu also includes soup and salad items. The restaurant itself is on t...

Continued from my earlier post about Bon-chan, The yakitori itself was also good, as expected. It might not have been the best that I have ever had, but it was well-seasoned and each skewer was skillfully grilled and beautifully plated. We started off with the negima (ねぎま), chicken thigh meat with Japanese long onion between the pieces of meat, and proceeded to have liver, neck meat, heart, gizzard, ginko nuts, cartilage, cartilage and meat meatballs (tsukune, つくね). We also had bacon-wrapped cherry tomatoes, and shishitou(ししとう), a small type of green pepper. When you order at a yakitori place, you generally have the option to get each skewer seasoned with salt(shio, 塩) or with a sweet sauce (tare, タレ), although some places offer more flavours. Often you can also find additional seasonings in a small tray on your table, usually some kind of spicy seasoning, some soy sauce and other kinds of spices which you can dip your yakitori in.  Personally, I like to go with salt ...

As far as blog posts go, this is one of the main topics that I will be covering- my experiences with food in Japan and Tokyo. For the last few years, I have been based in Tokyo, and it has been a great opportunity for me to learn about and experience Japanese food culture.  Having spent several years working at a Japanese restaurant before arriving in Japan, I was under the impression that I knew a lot about Japanese food. Upon my arrival here, I realized that my understanding of Japanese food culture had been limited - how food is thought about, its availability and quality, the pains taken to procure ingredients, how and how much food is marketed, were all a real eye-openers. One hears that prices of food in Japan are high, but that is definitely not always the case. Many items can be found at a reasonable price, although that being said, there is no upper limit to how much you can pay. Living in Tokyo has also opened my eyes to foods from many other countries. Almost everyth...