Shunbou is the Japanese restaurant at the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi. The Grand Hyatt has several Japanese restaurants including Roku Roku for sushi and Keyakizaka for teppanyaki. Shunbou features seasonal kaiseki dishes as well as comfort food like curry udon. It is kid-friendly and a great option in the Roppongi area. Entering the restaurant seasonal…
Month: October 2016
Keisuke Fugu Ramen
Fugu, a fish that has many names: torafugu, pufferfish, tiger blowfish, blowfish, porcupine fish, or globefish. Regardless of what you call it, you probably know that it is the fish that one could die from if it is not handled properly. Nowadays fugu farmers in Japan have figured out how to raise poison-free fugu. As for…
Shikaku-mame Winged Beans
Shikaku-mame 四角豆、literally square beans, are also called winged beans. Shikaku-mame is a crisp green bean with slightly bitter notes that can be blanched, sautéed, or fried as tempura. I came across a package at Tsukiji Market for 100 JPY ($1 USD). I asked the shopkeeper her suggestions for cooking and she suggested ohitashi-style and sautéed. Rinse…
Gotta Get – Sesame Seed Paste and Oil
Who doesn’t love sesame? Everyone I’ve spoken to on our tours all go crazy for this (and for yuzu). I first came across Here are three of my favorite sesame products for the Japanese pantry. The nerigoma sesame paste on the left is what I use the most. Mix simply with some sugar and soy…
Chef Bruno Menard at Imperial Hotel
Aiste Miseviciute of Luxeat is a friend who put chef Bruno Menard on my radar. My first time to try chef’s cuisine was at a wine dinner at the Imperial Hotel with Don Melchor wines. I was taken in with not only the cuisine, but chef’s fine touches on the dishes to pair them with the…
Meruhenk Sandwiches
Japanese sandwiches are my go-to meal when I am on the run, even before onigiri rice balls. Meruhen is my favorite sandwich shop and if I am not near one, then some of the convenience stores like 7-11, Lawson, or Family Mart, also has great sandwiches. The sandwiches are built on crustless pain de mie (white bread)….
Nagano Gotta Eat – Oyaki
While traveling in Japan it is essential to try the local cuisine. Nagano is famous for soba, Nozawana (a pickled leafy green), basashi (horse sashimi), some insect dishes like inago (grasshoppers) and hachinoko (bee larva), and my favorite oyaki. Oyaki are stuffed dumplings. The dough can be made from flour or buckwheat. It is stuffed with a…
Nagato Cheese – Nagano
There are a handful of Japanese cheese producers that I am a big fan of and one of them is Nagato from Nagano. It’s on the top of the mountains, the air is clean and crisp and there are cows. For this Minnesota girl, it was like visiting a friend’s home growing up, but with…
Marutaka Miso – Suwa, Nagano
In Suwa, Nagano we came across this lovely Marutaka Miso shop. The shop celebrates its 100th anniversary for making miso since 1916. The area is famous for Shinshu miso, made from soybeans and rice. There is also a kome kōji miso, made with extra kōji (aspergillus oryzae) that is aged for a longer time resulting…
Nunohan Ryokan – Suwa, Nagano
When deciding where to stay while traveling in Japan there are many considerations for type of stay. When we can, we try to stay at local ryokan inns with onsen hot springs. Nunohan was put on my radar by a friend who lives in Suwa, Nagano. We loved it. The ryokan is kid-friendly, had lovely cuisine,…
Suwa, Nagano Sake Breweries
A short trip from Tokyo is Suwa in Nagano. The city of about 50,000 people sits on the shore of lake Suwa and has mountains nearby. We love coming here as it is one train from Tokyo, as the air is refreshing, and Nagano is known for good sake and food, particularly soba. We are…
Tsukiji Wonderland
Tsukiji Wonderland is a documentary on the world’s largest fish market. As Tsukiji Market was scheduled to move to Toyosu on November 7th this year, this movie was a chance for the director to capture the market to share with the world. The movie currently being shown in Tokyo is only in Japanese with a…
Kinukatsugi Satoimo – Boiled Taro Root
Kinukatsugi are small taro root. All of these fit in my hands. I had been served this in the past and wanted to try them at home. There is a lot of dirt on the skin, so they need to be washed and scrubbed thoroughly. Then a slice is made on the top 1/5 to…
Food Sake Tokyo Radar – 2016 October
On top of our radar is the Tsukiji to Toyosu move which has been put on hold. I am trying to keep readers up to date on our blog. It’s changing by the hour and I’ll do what I can to update things here: (2nd link) https://foodsaketokyo.com/2016/06/21/need-to-know-tsukiji-move-to-toyosu/ https://foodsaketokyo.com/2016/09/01/tsukiji-toyosu-move/ There is a new documentary movie out…
Tomiya Soba in Suwa, Nagano
While in Suwa in Nagano we happened upon this local soba-ya near Suwa station. The noren (curtain outside the shop) that said teuchi (handmade) soba caught our eye. Nagano is famous for growing soba buckwheat so we try and eat as much soba as we can while in Nagano. During our visit in spring there is…
Nodaiwa
I first came across Nodaiwa while working at Nihonbashi Takashimaya. The fifth-generation unagi-ya has a branch at Takashimaya. Here is the fifth-generation shokunin, Kanejiro Kanemoto-san. Details are in Food Sake Tokyo, my book. I just wanted to share these photos of the storefront and the lovely Kanemoto-san. http://www.littlebookroom.com/products/food-sake-tokyo
Midori Sushi
Midori Sushi is a sushiya chain, popular both with locals and tourists, that is known for its basement bargain prices. When we query our preschool son to pick what to have for meals out, it is often sushi. Our go-to place is Choshi Maru which is in our area. Choshi is a famous fishing port…
Food Sake Tokyo 