Howard 12 February 2010 Around the World, Japan, Japanese 19 Comments  Print This Post  Email This Post

I’ve been to Japan three times and I always seem to find something new to enjoy each time. The first time was in 2004, when we didn’t eat sushi or sashimi at all. I then went again in February 2009 for the Socceroos vs Japan match and I ate raw chicken and cod sperm. During my most recent trip in January 2010, I had monkfish liver and spent a ridiculous amount of money on a dinner which on cost terms is on par with a dinner at El Bulli, but more on that in a future post. This is a long post with lots of photos, 56k users beware (do you still exist ? ).

Tokyo

We spent our first two days in Tokyo before heading to Sapporo. We wanted to take it easy and have a quick bite to eat while enjoy the laid back atmosphere of Ginza on a weekend. It seems that they close off the entire main street, equal in size to George St in Sydney.I was walking through from alley to alley checking out stores selling suits which were way out of my price range ($5000 to $10,000 AUD) when I saw six business men walk into this restaurant. Without even thinking I dragged Linda with me into the restaurant and much to our relief it was a restaurant specialising in tonkatsu with english menus.

Left to right: Ginza, Typical restaurant layout, Tonkatsu sandwich, Tonkatsu w/ rice

They offer different types of pork, we chose the most expensive one on the menu which is a type of veal which takes 15 minutes to cook. The result is a moist and very thick piece of pork, covered lightly with a panko crust. The crust was very thin, but very crunchy. The rice set meal cost us 2700 yen which was roughly $32 at the time, so it’s not exactly on the budget eats side of things.

Las Meninas, Koenji

I’m not lying when I say that I’ve had some of the best Spanish food in Tokyo. What makes this statement even more ridiculous is that the restaurant is in a suburb called Koenji, which is considered to be in the “burbs” and not to mention the restaurant being run by an English man from Newcastle in the UK.

This restaurant is very hard to find amidst the narrow alley ways all occupied by hole in wall eateries and bars. But once you walk inside you realise that this is the type of place which Sydney is missing. It’s small and simple, but has a warm and ‘hole in the wall’ atmosphere. It feels almost as if you are walking into someones kitchen in an apartment as there is one long communal dining table in the middle and low slung tables and chairs towards the side. At the very front of the restaurant is the bar which barely sits six people.

Up there is owner-chef Johnny Miller, an absolutely top bloke who whips up every single dish on his menu behind a tiny open-kitchen in front of the bar seats. There is a menu with the usual Spanish food such as chorizo and paella, but if you want a good feed all you have to do is tell Johnny how hungry you are and he will create enough dishes to fill you up based on whatever he could pick up from the market on that day.

Left to right : Jamon, mixed plate, seafood paella, koenji alley way

The jamon is freshly sliced, you tell him when to stop when he is slicing it. We wanted to try a few things so he created a sampler dish consisting off marinated egg plant, Quiche with kewpi aioli and slices of some sort of salami. The flavours were amazing, the most simple combination of food had me in heaven. Linda and I could sit there all night just eating the sampler dish and knocking down a few jugs of sangria.

Tokyo is a long way to travel for Spanish food. But Johnny Miller produces awesome food regardless of whether it is a bar snack or a main dish. I’ll definitely come back with a few more people next time to try out what else he has up his sleeve.

Henri Charpentier

Left to right : Plaque, mini petit fours, disection picture of desserts, toilet entrance via secret door

In Sydney, we are still missing a dessert salon which is open till late. In Japan, there seems to be a few and one of them is Henri Charpentier. They call themselves a boutique dessert salon and they not only sell cakes for takeaway, they also have a downstairs restaurant for dine in off an ala carte menu.

Bombe Alaska

I thought it was pretty neat when they cooked the bombe alaska at the table.

Left to right : bookshelves, creme brulee, bombe alaska, hot chocolate

Scattered around the dining area are shelves with books for your reading disposal. They also have a larger bookshelf with so many books that they need a ladder with wheels to reach some of them.

In terms of the desserts, they were bloody amazing and on a different level to dessert which you find on most restaurant menus.

Pierre Hermé

left to right : espresso, millefeuille, vanilla tart

No visit to Tokyo is complete without  a visit to Pierre Hermé. My favourite thing to buy every time is the vanilla tart, an absolute winner every single time.

Aoyama

Aoyama was on my to-go list because of the A.P.C, one of my favourite clothing brands. We didn’t expect to eat anything because we had already planned to goto the Spanish place above. True to form, we stumbled upon a very cool looking coffee cart which churned out impressive coffee for Japanese standards. I say Japanese standards because the coffee I’ve tasted is generally poor, we have it pretty lucky in Australia for good coffee.

On the way to A.P.C we stumbled upon a le cordon bleu cafe where we stopped for a coffee break. To go with our espresso we had duck liver pâté with freshly baked baguette. The café looks like an extension to the actual school as there were classes being run right next door to where we were eating.

Sapporo

Sapporo is famous for their King Crab, therefore it is a must try. The claws are huge, I’ve never seen anything like it before. Each claw cost nearly $30AUD each, but there is enough meat in each claw for a main meal. There are numerous restaurants which serve this local delicacy, we asked our hotel and they recommended Sapporo Kani Honke Susukino.

If you are into Ramen, make a visit to the ESTA shopping centre where they have a level dedicated to ramen restaurants. They call it the hokkaido ramen hall of fame and I can see why because the ramen I had there was one of the best I’ve had in Japan.

Left to right : Typical izakaya, smoked bacon in cherry blossoms, bakery, yakitori

Japan has an amazing array of food ranging from michelin star places to hole in wall izakayas.  Even though I’ve visited three times, I’ve barely touched the surface of Japan and I’ll most likely find myself back in the near future. But in saying that, my next travel priority is Europe. I’ve traveled to most parts of South East Asia, I need a change.

My next two posts will be at a few restaurants I went to in Sapporo and Tokyo, one of which hurt my wallet but made my stomach very happy. Stay tuned.