(47) Eel Kikukawa in Kanda, Tokyo

Kikukawa in Kanda, Tokyo
Japanese spitchcock 2500 - 5000 yen

Sorry, but I did not know this word "spitchcock" and do not know whether this word is literally correct or not.
When I see other website like Google Image, this food appeared.

Eel is one of something special for Japanese.
Then, when I heard the news about the edge of extinction, I am sad.
This year when I heard glass eel (or juvenile eel ) comes back in number, I have some trepidation.

Anyway, spitchcock is one of my favorite food in Japanese food.

Of course, sushi is elaborate. To make just raw fish delicious, it would take excessive amount of time to take great care. But sushi does not look elaborate at all, just seems to cut and put on the rice. I would like to explain the technique of sushi in other chance.

On the other hand,

You can easily know spitchcock is what a great deal of time and effort would be devoted.

After splitting the body and removing inner parts (which are also required to be skillful), eel is repeatedly dipped in baste and grilled. On the top of that, in Kanto style, it is even steamed in the middle of this process.

Eventually, eel changes to crispy and tender and intensely flavored one.

I suppose you may have to wait for 40-50 min until eating.
While you are waiting, you enjoy the fin of eel or liver or simply grilled eel.

(48) Maze-soba MAZERU in Akihabara, Tokyo

MAZERU in Akihabara, Tokyo.
Maze-soba, or mixing noodle,700 yen.

Abura-soba and Maze-soba are almost the same.
It is what you mix thoroughly noodle and fillings (egg, vegetable, some toppings) and small amount of soup with high concentration.

Usually, the surface of noodle is made rough to absorb soup efficiently.
You enjoy good affinity of noodle and soup and fillings.

You can add vegetable, oil, and garlic according to your taste.

(46) Horse mackerel fry of Matsuwa in Ginza, Tokyo

Horse mackerel fry of Matsuwa in Ginza, Tokyo.

1500 yen.

This fry is one of the casual food, but sometimes smells fishy.

You should use very fresh horse mackerel.

Matsuwa's fry is soft and tender-crisp.

These casual food change to noble one.

It is valuable to eat it at least.

(45) Pork loin cutlet of Genkatsu in Ginza, Tokyo

Pork loin cutlet of GENKATSU in Ginza, Tokyo
1950 yen.

This pork loin cutlet, or Tonkatsu, is totally different from ordinary ones.
1-2cm pork is usually used for Tonkatsu.

But here they lap 10 thin-sliced pork loins and fry it.

So it is very soft and juicy (I think they are devising something).

They make a new method for Tonkatsu, mille-feuille type pork loin cutlet.

(44) Curry and Rice of Bondy in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo

Curry and Rice of Bondy in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo.
1450 yen...a little expensive.

This is also one of well-established curry shops in Jimbo-cho and, of course, Japanese style, sticky type of curry.
This area includes many famous curry shops.

It is the first one that provided curry and potatoes separately.
When potatoes are stewed together, they become mess without shape, beyond recognition.

This shop is also a previous winner of Kanda Curry Grand prix.
But I think it may be difficult to find the entrance, it is back of the book building.

(43) Deep-fried conger eel bowl of Hachimaki in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo

Deep-fried conger eel bowl of Hachimaki in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo
950 yen.

Jimbo-cho is a famous town for books.
There are many bookshops, especially antiquarian bookshops, so you may find a rare old book...

And some publishers are in the neighborhood, so past great literary figures went to restaurants around here.

This Ten-don shop is one of them.

Eye-catching menu is this, deep-fried conger eel bowl.

A long, whole conger eel that goes out from bowl is located with shrimp and vegetables.
Compared with eel, or Unagi, it tastes light, straightforward.

(42) Ramen Mansei in Akihabara, Tokyo

Mansei in Akihabara, Tokyo
Ramen topped with Chinese style spare ribs 850 yen.

"Niku-no-Mansei" is a restaurant that butcher shop runs.
It lay meat on the stock as a whole. Their profession as a butcher guarantees the taste of meat...which is what they want to say.

They provide grilled beef, steak, pork cutlet and sweets.
And one of them is this ramen.

Ramen itself is ordinary, but Chinese style spare rib is good.

Jiro, the legened of Ramen world

Have you ever heard the name of JIRO?
* Sorry, but I could not completely filter, so this map includes other ramen shop...

Unless you have experienced it, you should.

It is a name of Ramen shop of the legend in this world.
Daring setout and yellow nameboard are its trademark.

With a focus on Tokyo, it is spreading widely and rapidly.

But it is not organized INC.
The owner of original shop teaches them and lays ingredients on stock together.

So it is quite different from franchise ramen shop like HIDAKA-YA.

People, especially men, have a lot of memory of Ramen JIRO since almost all men went to the shop repeatedly in their school days.

After you buy cheap ticket, you will be asked "How about?" or "Do you want to add garlic?" or something.
You can add vegetables, oil, soy sauce and, of course, garlic.

Amount of foods shop owners add will become a conversation pieces.

(41) Roast beef bowl of Botan-tei in Ochanomizu, Tokyo

Botan-tei in Ochanomizu, Tokyo.

1)
Roast beef bowl
1050 yen.

Botan is tree peony.

This restaurant is famous for beef tongue stew.
I did order this bowl, since I love roast beef and have never experienced it.

Sauce is made based on soy sauce and matches roast beef.

I regret I did not order large size.

2) 
Beef tongue hamburg with grated Japanese radish, sliced Japanese onion, and mustard.
Unique texture is enjoyable.

(40) Pork Cutlet of Imo-ya in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo

Pork Cutlet of Imo-ya in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo.
800 yen.

Imo means potato, whose derivation of name I do not know.
Since my school days, I have been going to Imo-ya. Around 2 decades.

Although they stand firm in casual price for students, they raised a price by necessity due to consumption tax.

First of all, scarcely do you enter the restaurant when you will be asked, "Tonkatsu desuka?", which means "do you want Tonkatsu (Pork loin) ?"
The chef is very abrupt, I suppose it is because they are very busy. Do not care for it.
There are only two menu: Pork loin or fillet cutlet.

If it is OK with you, say yes. If not, please HIRE-KATSU.

I always keep my way and order to eat from my school days.

First, I eat the edge of  cutlet which is full of fat.
This is one of my favorites of this food, while I know we should eat vegetable (cabbage) first.

Second, add sauce bit by bit.
Some people add it to the whole cutlet, but I do not recommend it, because cutlet gets dampened.

I put sauce on half of it, and then add to the remaining half with mustard.
Both will be good when served with rice.

Finally, put pickles of Japanese radish on rice as you like.
You will find it in the silver box on the table. It is refreshing.

(39) Pork Bowl of Pork University in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo

Pork Bowl of Pork University (Buta-Daigaku) in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo

This school has prepared several courses:

Regular 630 yen

Large size 780 yen

Bachelor's course 990 yen

Master's course ?

Doctor's course ?

When you go up higher academic grade, amount of pork increases.

Pork with Teriyaki-taste is delicious and juicy and well-roasted.

How to eat, according to owner:

1. Eat it plain

2. Add soup into meat rice

3. Add condiments into soup and meat rice

(38) Kama-age Udon of Marugame-Seimen in Ochanomizu, Tokyo

Kama-age Udon of Marugame noodle company in Ochanomizu, Tokyo.

Which means 'Hot and fresh udon from boiled pot.

290 yen + 300 yen for ginger pork.

This word noodle company, or Seimen, has some old and traditional impressions.

This day's special is with ginger pork.

Both are good, putting it on udon and ordering rice to eat with.

(37) What a conspicuous name! ("Curry is drink" in Akihabara, Tokyo)

"Curry is drink" in Akihabara, Tokyo

1)
Black meat curry
850 yen.

This "curry is drink" is the name of this curry shop.
I hear the owner wants to put an eye-catching and conspicuous name.

But this curry is really of good taste for the playful name, a typical Japanese style, thick one.

Buy ticket (Black or red curry, 200/300/400/500g), you can top three side menu like potato salad, fried onions and Japanese pickles we often eat with curry for free (0 yen).












2)
Red chicken curry
780 yen

Compared with Black, it is a little moist.
Tomato may be a seasoning food.

I ordered a semi-boiled egg, fried onions, and potato salad.











3) BLACK again

Large-size (400 g)... To much for me.

(36) DanDar Mien topped with Chinese-style spare ribs of Hashigo in Ginza, Tokyo

DanDar Mien topped with Chinese-style spare ribs of Hashigo in Ginza, Tokyo

1000 yen.

In Japan, the name of this dish is pronounced as 'TanTanMen' or 'DanDanMen'.

This is originally derived from the western area of China, Sichuan or Chengdu.

It is use with various kind of, a lot of spicy red pepper.

As we can know the taste of Indian curry, this ramen is also 'spatial' taste.

First, it tastes just hot and spicy, but getting used to it, you will find it consist of sweet, sour and spicy ones, 3-dimensional one.

(35) Miso noodle stew of Misonikomin in Ochanomizu, Tokyo

Miso noodle stew of Misonikomin in Ochanomizu, Tokyo
800 yen.

This style is typical in Nagoya, middle area of Japan, where people feel miso as something special or probably it is a kind of soul food.

Miso is used in Udon, Tonkatsu and so on.

This miso noodle stew is very faithful to Nagoya's one.

After you finish eating noodle, you should absolutely add this soup to rice.
One of my favorite!

(34) Salty Ramen of Ikina-Issho in Akihabara, Tokyo

Salty Ramen of Ikina-Issho in Akihabara, Tokyo
730 yen.

Ikina-Issho means 'a wonderful life' in Japanese.
This ramen shop is famous for both Salt and Miso (fermented beans paste) ramen.

The menu board says that soup stock is made with chicken, pork and vegetables.

It is transparent and clear taste, but when you concentrate the soup in your mouth, you will find it more lush, with rich taste of chicken and pork and fresh one of vegetable.

The noodle is narrow with light snapping texture.

(33) Beef Barbecue set of Kyojo-en in Ueno, Tokyo

Beef Barbecue set of Kyojo-en in Ueno, Tokyo

1000 yen.

This beef barbecue restaurant is located in Korean Town, Ueno.

All the shops and restaurants around Korean town are shabby, so you may take a lot of grit to enter this area and this restaurant.

I ordered lunch set, which included grilled beef, rice, kimchi, lavor and pickle.

Meat was tender and delicious.

It was bargain.

If you want to enjoy the different atmosphere from Tokyo, some people might like here.

(32) Gyu-don (Beef over rice Bowl) of Sambo in Akihabara, Tokyo

Gyu-don (Beef over rice Bowl) of Gyudon-shop Sambo in Akihabara, Tokyo
650 yen.

The history of Gyu-don or Beef-over-rice Bowl may have a long history, I suppose.
Over 500 years ago, soldiers ate beef sauted on the spade, one of farm tools interval of war.
Of course it is different from nowadays Gyu-don, but I think it is a root of this food.

I think you can see manay Gyu-don shop all around Tokyo such as Yoshino-ya, Matsu-ya and Suki-ya.
It is casual and one of the most popular Japanese food especially for youngsters because it is cheap, fast and good.

But you may notice the beef in this bowl of these shops does not taste good for beef, which is full of fatty parts.

The Gyu-don of Sambo in Akihabara is a little different from ones of these shops around you.
It includes many parts of sarcolenma structure, or muscle fiber structure.

You will enjoy the taste of beef and also find the taste of beef fit soy sauce well.

(2)
I could not help going there again.
I sprinkled SHICHIMI on the beef and rice.

Pink one is SHOUGA.

(31) Chicken White Soup Ramen of Kagari in Ginza, Tokyo

Chicken White Soup Ramen of KAGARI in Ginza, Tokyo
880 yen.

Kagari is the top-ranked ramen shop in Ginza and you will see a long line in front.

The secret behind the popularity of this shop is clear and savory CHICKEN WHITE SOUP, whose taste of ramen is recent hip thing.

This soup is extracted from chicken foot, or 'Momiji'.
Its quality depends on the quality of chicken, if you use broiler meats, it must cause the stinky soup.

I have often experienced these stinky CHICKEN WHITE SOUP or TONKOTSU-soups, whose causes are to use broiler meat.

This shop and ones I introduced do not seem to use this broiler meat (I do not confirm this to chef...), I suppose.

Being topped with asparagus and roast beef, you will find a good combination with them.

(30) Salty Tsukemen of Oboroduki in Ginza, Tokyo

Salty Tsukemen of Oboroduki in Ginza, Tokyo.
800 yen.

One of the representative Tsukemen shops in Ginza is here.
If you are bored of soy-sauce or miso tasted ramen or tsukemen, this Salty tsukemen should be recommended.

As for Tsukemen, the link is here.

The noodle is probably the chewist and the smoothest for tsukemen.
There is a slice of Sudachi, a kind of Japanese citrus fruits, which is often used in authentic cusine. After you enjoy the plain taste, squeeze it on noodle.
The taste will change.

Many seafoods are floating in the salty soup (I think it is more salty than marine water), such as octopus, scallop adduptors, shelffish and so on.
All of them are boiled nice and tender.

Finally, of course, you should attenuate soup with liquid to enjoy its taste. If not, very salty.

(29) Fermented beans paste (Miso) noodle stew of Tamacho in Tokyo Station

Fermented beans paste (Miso) noodle stew of Tamacho in Tokyo Station.
950 yen.

This is a kind of Udon bowl.
As I introduced the other day, Udon is tasted with soy sauce or salt.

But in Nagoya area, the middle of Japan, fermented beans paste udon stew has been uniquely developed, which is because Nagoyaen people like fermented beans paste, or miso.

I suppose MISO is one of the most difficult things to get used to for Western people.

In the same way as cheese, miso has a variety of tastes and flavors, but common things are salty and strong-tasting like anchovy.

Especially in this Nagoya's Miso noodle stew, they use the very strong tasting miso, Hacho-miso.
Dried bonito flake should be accentuated against it.

On the top of that, the center core of noodle is traditionally left more than Al dente, so you may feel it is undercooked.

Miso and the remaining center core.
First, you may feel embarrassed.

But once you know its deliciousness, you will get hooked on it.

(28) In heavy rotation for my lunch! (Daishi in Ochanomizu, Tokyo)

Ramen of Daishi in Ochanomizu, Tokyo
650 yen.

(1)
I think Ramen shop owners are always tempted by their hesitations that they should change tastes or use more salt or fat.

It is because that youngsters who are the most frequent customers love and want the rich and salty tastes for ramen.

To sell more, some owners are strengthening more and more, following many customer's request.

But Daishi's owner's policy is not what other owners do, he overcomes the temptation.

His ramen never goes to excess. He goes for a golden means.

His policy makes meal a completely representative Tokyo ramen.


(2)

He also provides to us several limited-time products.

He creates interesting, delicious ramen like Tomato-taste, Tom Yam Kung taste, Korean taste, white stew taste...and so on, combining several other countries' food.

I think all the meals are delicious and it will not disappoint you.

The right picture is Kochijan taste Tukemen.

(3)
The season of October 2014:
It adds Backfat ramen as a limited-time menu.

It is heavy and oily for me...

(4)
This is Tsuke-men.
According to Manual, you can customize it.

First, you enjoy plain one.

NEXT.
This instruction says that a fourth of pasted Japanese apricot and honey are mixed in the spoon and added into Tsuke-men soup.

Japanese apricot and fish flake make good harmony.

(5)
MIso-Ramen.

Good degree of salt.
Good texture of ramen, carrot,  and cloud ear mushroom.

(6) Spicy Miso-Ramen

A cake of orange color in the center of ramen is spicy-butter.
You eat ramen, melting it.
Diced cloud ear fungus has good texture.

(7) Dandan noodle

Collaboration between Red pepper and Sichuan pepper.

(8) Pumpkin Potage Ramen 

I guess everybody wonder whether it is delicious, it tasted much better than I expected.

As the side dish, slices of roast of canard, fried onion and mushroom were served.











(9) Hashed beef with Tsuke-men.

(10) TOMATO-BAZIL TUKE-MEN

It was not very delicious for me.

But someone said she/he likes it.

(11) Ramen

It is unusual for me to catch a cold...I have some nausea...

But, the ramen soothes me...

2015.12.18