Top 5 Foods For Our Japan 2017 Trip

This was a tough post to write, and I imagine this is what it must feel like when a parent is asked who their favourite child is. When we went to Europe, we took photos of every different meal we ate, because I knew that I was going to want to recreate some of them. It's pretty much the only thing we've uploaded to Facebook from our honeymoon, which I caught some flak for, especially from mum, who kept insisting that we should go and see things like the Eiffel Tower (which we did do). But food is what I love, and it's what I think about a majority of the time, so I apologise in advance for this post.

#1 (pictured above) - Magikarp Taiyaki, Akihabara (limited time availability)
I mentioned that boulangerie was the first French word I learned in France. Well, taiyaki is probably the first Japanese word I learned in Japan. It's basically a pancake in the shape of a fish, with some sort of filling inside (usually red-bean paste). They're normally shaped like this:

But kawarimi told me that for a limited time, you can get some shaped like the Pokèmon Magikarp at certain stores, and since it's one of my favourites, we had to go and get some! Unlike the taiyaki you can find in Australia, these are actually filled with quite a lot of red-bean paste, so you don't end up with a heap of pancake flavour on its own.

#2 - Yakitori donburi - Isehiro (伊勢廣 京橋本店), Tokyo

Edit (2019/03/23): This place seems to have changed owners or something, as they're now in a new location, and the food doesn't seem to be as good as when we had it in 2017. It's a pity, because the people currently there seemed really nice.

Charcoal-grilled chicken on rice. There's a bit of a wait before you can get your food, as they cook the chicken as you wait, but that just means the smell has time to build up your appetite. The bowls only seem to be available at lunch-time, but you can also buy just the skewers, which is what they do in the evenings, where they encourage you to also drink alcohol. The chicken was amazingly delicious, and given how much it was (roughly 1400 yen), it was really good value.

#3 - Katsudon Curry - Hinoya Curry, Tamachi

Spicy, yet not too spicy. Curry with a crumbed pork cutlet. It was so delicious that we ended up eating there 3 of the nights we spent in Tokyo. It was only on the final night that we tried speaking to the chef and we found out he's super nice, and he loves what he calls "house music", but it seems like 70s and 80s music. It's amazing that he learned to speak English just from listening to music. The atmosphere in the restaurant is great. It's a tiny place (I think it only seats 8 people), and everyone sits at a countertop where you can see into the kitchen, so it's not really somewhere you can go for a chat, but the food is so good that you're unlikely to have to wait for long. He also taught us a word タタミゼ(tatamiser), which seems to be the French equivalent of a weeaboo (a derogative term used to describe someone who is tooooooooooooo into Japanese culture, to the point of arrogance).

#4 - Musk-melon flavoured melon-pan (bottom)

When I saw something like this in an episode of Yakitate!! Japan, I thought it was the greatest idea ever. Melon-pan is usually called that because of the shape, and has no melon flavour normally, but in Odawara, we found one that had melon cream inside (except it was inside the bun, not used to hold the two parts together).

Such a good flavour. The bread was so soft, and the melon cream inside gave the whole thing a sweet melon flavour that made it so deliciously addictive. Now that I've found some melon essence, I'm going to try recreating this at home.


#5 (the thing in the red/black bowl next to the bowl of rice) - The chanko-nabe we had with the Sumo - Chanko-ba, Asakusa

I was surprised that I liked this as much as I did, as I'm not really a fan of soup, but the broth was nice, and it was a good balance of meat and veggies. I can understand why the sumo eat it every day now!


Honourable mentions:

The shabu-shabu meat from the all-you-can-eat BBQ meat place (Nijo, Kyoto). Thin pieces of meat BBQ'd to a juicy piece of deliciousness.

Katsudon (Zuicho - Shibuya, Tokyo).
This place is so small, that they only seat 8 people, but when we were there, we were 8th in line for the restaurant. Even though it was about a 15 minute wait, nobody seemed bothered by that in the slightest. They only serve one dish, so when you walk inside, you are only asked "small, medium or large?". And you can taste why, they're good at what they do. The katsu was nice and moist, and the sauce they put on it was delicious. It also comes with a meaty miso soup, and some tea. If I wasn't biased towards taiyaki and melon-pan, this dish would have been 3rd.

Boiled rice (Yashino Pax, Hakone)
Yep, I'm just talking about that bowl of rice in the top left corner. I don't know what it is about slightly burnt rice, but it's delicious. At this restaurant, when you start your meal, they light a fire under the bowl of rice. By the time that beef dish is served, the rice should be done cooking and be ready to eat! The beef was good, too, but doesn't rate nearly as highly as the rice.