Food Glorious Food, Hot Mayonnaise and Mustard. Well, not quite! These meals were not taken from a scene out of Oliver, but from the other side of the world – Japan. At first, I was going to do what I normally do and write about each of the restaurants I ate at in great detail, that was until I misplaced some of my notes and before I realized just how many photos I had taken of food in Japan. I’ll start by saying that Japan is a foodie heaven!!
I’ll start with one of my favorite meals, which was just off the main drag of Kyoto. Here, we sampled everything….well pretty much everything.
Let’s move onto the meals at both the Otani Hotel and the Keio Plaza Hotel, both of where I stayed at the beginning and end of my trip. They had out of this world buffet breakfasts every morning. Even if you’re not an adventure seeker when it comes to food, give up the American / western buffet that many Japanese hotels offer and head straight to whatever Japanese restaurant they have open.
You might think I’m kidding when I say that all the above photos were in fact….breakfast. The truth is — I’m not. The plates just kept coming and….coming. The variety is simply astonishing and I tasted more diverse flavors than I had in years. It was hard not to go back for thirds and fourths because there was simply so many fun things to try. Imagine dumplings, soup, Chinese mustard, Chinese cabbage pickles, string bean with sesame, Japanese pickles, sauteed burdock and braised vegetables on your morning plate, just to name a few. They also had plenty of fresh juices, including carrot and coconut.
Now onto my favorite part of the city for food – the Fish Market. Truth be told, most people who know Tokyo well sent me to other parts of the city for dining, such as Omotesando, Shibuya and Shinjuku (btw, I did come across some great noodle bars and finds there). They gave me recommendations of more modern restaurants and 4 and 5 star ones they thought might appeal to me as a foodie. Where I found my passion however was on the little streets in and around the Fish Market, which can be best assessed by subway. Simply take the Hibiya Line (gray) east and get off at TSUKIJI.
When you exit the metro, you won’t see much since there’s not much there and frankly, the only reason you’d venture out here is for SEAFOOD. Hang a right and just walk straight for 5-10 minutes and you’ll hit a bunch of restaurants down narrow alleyways to your left. I went back several times so tried four of them if I recall and went back to the first one TWICE. (I can’t find my check stub anywhere to tell you the name of it, another reason I can’t do a standalone restaurant review, however it is the restaurant that notoriously has the longest lines on the corner of a street, about a block or so off the main drag). It’s not hard to miss. You can also ask any local, “which is the busiest sushi restaurant on a corner in the fish market area” and they’ll likely know.
I sat at the bar of course and for five minutes or so, just observed what everyone else was ordering. It appeared that I was the only westerner in the place (always a good sign), but that also meant that English was limited. After an hour or so, an American sat down next to me with his Japanese girlfriend and we chatted for awhile. Before they arrived however, I had a field day with more fish and sushi than any one person should eat in an evening.
The below dish wasn’t mine but something my neighbor to my left ordered and the reason I highlight it first is because as I took a photo of the fish, he began to move a bit. “Yeeks, he’s alive,” I said. While her English was limited, my neighbor understood me and smiled. She glanced over at me and shrugged and said, “Not for long.” Yet…it was already served up to her and she was about to dive in. Yup – that’s how fresh it is.
The sushi was incredibly fresh as well as the salmon roe and shrimp.
Below is an amusing video from my new favorite place in Tokyo — the owner had apparently just caught a fish and they brought it in to let everyone know that the owner had just caught this gigantic fish they were about to dump into the large glass fish tank behind them. While it’s all in Japanese, the essence of it is a celebration praise to the owner for catching the fish. They clap a lot in sushi restaurants, and always clap and shout as you walk into the place, as if you’re their long lost friend and you haven’t seen them in years.
Sushi everywhere was great. Some of the Ngiri options I sampled that I don’t get an opportunity to try in the states included squid legs, rock seaweed, crab paste, amberjack, gizzard shad, sea eel, snow crab and Tori-gai. All of these were priced between 98 cents and $1.48 each. For $2.50 each, you could order horse clam, minced tuna with green onion or a salmon roe hand roll. They also had fermented soybean hand rolls for $1.20 and prawn with cucumber hand rolls for roughly $1.50. In other words, while everyone told me that dining would be more than double what it is in the states, I proved those rumors wrong again and again. It wasn’t just inexpensive to eat in the fish market but at countless other sushi bars throughout the city.
Other fun options I tried included a cod roe hand roll, sea urchin hand roll (this was $5.00), a blue fin tuna hand roll ($2.50) and more popular items like Flounders Fin, Surf Clam, Horse Mackeral, Squilla, Sweet Shrimp, Scallop, Sardine, Flounder and Squid, all which were priced at $1.98 each. Rarer items like Ark Shell ($2.98) was on most menus, as was Sea Urchin Roe & Abalone which you can sometimes find in the states depending on what city you’re in and how much you’re willing to spend.
While of course sake is available on every menu and I sampled quite a few, there were also some other fun options to try as well, such as Nigori Apricot Liqueur, Nigori Plum Liqueur and straight Plum Liqueur. You could also get cocktails like Lemon Sour Highballs, Green Tea Highballs, Fresh Lemon mixed with Sour Highballs, and even a Johnnie Walker Black, which was funnily listed next to a Japanese whiskey they called Fujisanroku. Needless to say I didn’t try either.
In several places, I splurged for the top quality sea eel, which was $5.00 for one, still a steal when you consider how much they charge for 2 unagi ngiri in the states and its freshness can’t even come close to what I experienced in Japan time and time again, even from a sushi chain.
Speaking of chains, I tried the ever so popular SUSHI ZANMAI, which was started by Mr. Kimura, I was told by a dentist who sat next to me at one of their 53 chain restaurants he owns. This very same dentist managed to get me to try some new delicacies as well and who am I to argue? There wasn’t anything I ate in Japan that I didn’t love. He ordered me Kinki fish burned (Abuni). You could get seared and cooked fish as well as massive oysters on the half shell. YUM!!
While not every chain matches up to the quality of the fish I had at his Yushima location (in the north of Tokyo in a somewhat residential neighborhood), some of them despite how tacky they looked from the outside, had fresh fish and sushi galore once you poked your head through the doors. The below sign was taken on one of the main drags in the Shinjuku district, which is where I witnessed the Shinjuku Eisa Matsuri Festival this past summer. Before and after the parade and festivities, I gorged myself on sushi, noodle dishes and everything in between. There are tons of options to choose from in Shinjuku and it’s hard to gone at any of them.
Below is a noodle place I popped into in Shinjuku on another night. You can obviously get more than noodles here – note the bowl I ordered to the left on the table. It was packed fish roe (tons of it), tuna and salmon sashimi and was only about $8-10.
You can also order more traditional dishes as well if you want a night off from sushi. This was not the case for me but I did try some other options as well.
Salads are also fresh and delicious.
Below is another great find, Uotaru Restaurant on Kasuga Street in the Yushima district of Tokyo, which is in the northern part of the city. I didn’t see any tourists in the restaurant or on the streets.
My friend Todd suggested Cafe5.net, which is off one of the busier streets outside of Shibuya Square. Roughly a ten minute walk from the main subway stop, Cafe5.net is not easy to find. The place is located in what looks more like an office building and doesn’t post any external signs but its address for the record is Shibuya Udagawacho 3-12, Tokyo, Monostep II/5F. After going up an elevator, you walk directly into the restaurant, which has a very small seating area in the main part of the restaurant and only one large table for groups to the left of the bar. Below is an example of their modern fusion fare. Amasaki pickled vegetables and Kyoti vinegar.
It’s apparently known for its saki and since I said I was curious to sample something I might not otherwise find in any American city, that’s where we headed. Truth be told, these selections might be available in the states, but regardless, they were delicious. We tried Azakura, which was lightly filtered and from the north side of Japan. We also tried Kaiun, which is from the OKA Pref and is a fully filtered sake.
The below shot is the only foodie shot included here that was not in Tokyo. Since I was on a whirlwind tour around Japan, I spent more time tasting in Tokyo than I did in the north. That said, I had my fair share of delicious meals throughout the country, Kyoto, Nagasaki and Mazuri included. Below is a mochi rice ball with chestnut and served with a green powder tea that I had at a fabulous find called Sakakobo Taro (www.sakakobo-taro.com) in Kanazawa. It’s essentially a sweet shop and tea house and while they have a couple locations, this TAROU & sweet shop was located right next to the Samurai House in Kanazawa.
While the below video doesn’t cover any restaurants per say, it DOES cover food, seafood that is and lots of it. Have a listen to my incredible foodie experience on the ground at the Kanazawa Fish Market. I was in heaven and if I had been there for longer, there’s no telling what I would have tried. Note that the beginning of the video is a tad blurry but it clears up the moment I start walking around the market.
While this video doesn’t show Japanese food per se, it was part of an experience I had on a Princess Cruise ship that was sailing around the coast of Japan. The coverage captures a tradition they do on every cruise around the Baked Alaska, something all the chefs and sous chefs dance to in the dining room, together with the guests. It’s very entertaining and was a boat load of fun.
I discovered this place not far from Asakusa Market in the northeast part of the city. And, I pulled what I had been doing since I arrived in Tokyo. I sat down and just kept ordering until I was so full, I couldn’t move and then waddled out of the place as happy as a clam.
One rare day, I had a salad. It tasted foreign and I was annoyed frankly that there wasn’t a sushi place around the area. This modern cafe was in Omotesando, which is fairly central and a known shopping area of the city.
Below was my last meal in Tokyo — between Yushima and Nezu in the north, both easily accessible by subway. (the green Chiyoda line)
For more posts on Japan, see our Japan section and on Tokyo, visit our Tokyo Japan / top things to do in Tokyo section.
Note: I was hosted by Princess Cruises for my cruise around Japan, however all of the restaurants I ate at in Tokyo and Kanazawa I paid for and discovered them entirely on my own. The only meal that was hosted by Princess was the one in Kanazawa (the top photo). All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
