A Food Travelogue: Tokyo and Yokohama, Part II

During our fourth day in Japan, we explored the hectic streets of Tokyo. I had researched for a place for us to do lunch while we were district-hopping around Tokyo, and found the perfect place--Maisen in the Shibuya. Maisen is famous for its Kurobuta (more commonly known as the black or Berkshire pork) Tonkatsu. Although Maisen is hidden behind the Omotesando Hills shopping area, it was relatively easy to find using our city map. 

The bottom level of Maisen consists of the bar area where most solo diners are seated; and the upper level is the seated dining area. My family and I were quickly seated upstairs, and I knew exactly what I wanted. 

We started out with the Korobuta Siu Mai (my parents' selection, above), which was decent, but not anything special.

My parents also shared the Katsu Don (above). While my sister went for the "regular" Tonkatsu, I went for the real deal--the Kurobota Tonkatsu! And it was perfection. 

The Kurobota pork was extremely moist and flavorful, and the panko breadcrumbs had the most amazing crunch. Maisen, of course, makes their own Tonkatsu sauces. My Tonkatsu came with its own sauce, which was a big deviation from what we're used to in bottled sauces and Japanese restaurants in the U.S. I could not decipher what ingredients exactly were in their sauce, but I would imagine that it had finely grated dikon, maybe some ginger, among other things. The sauce was sweet, savory, slightly tangy, and perfectly complemented the rich and crispy katsu. This was undoubtedly my favorite meal in Tokyo. 

After lunch, my family and I wandered over to the Meiji Jingu, where we witnessed an incredible part of the country's spirituality and history from the Meiji era. 

We finally made our way to the heart of Harajuku, where we sampled its immensely popular crepe from one of the packed crepe shops. 

Before heading back to the Tokyo Dome Hotel, we asked around for suggestions of where to have dinner, and were kindly directed to a nondescript ramen shop behind the Harajuku subway station. And, boy, were we happy to have found it! Like many ramen shops in Tokyo, there was the usual "vending machine" where customers conveniently order and pay for their ramen selections. 

After you purchase your ramen, then you are seated individually in a carrel stacked in rectangular arrangements. The servers operate in the center of the carrel arrangement, and you never see their faces! (See LMC's Mama above in a carrel about to dig into her rame.) It was a very anti-social dining experience, but the ramen was amazing! 

I really don't remember what I had ordered exactly, but it was even better than any of the Ramens we sampled at the Ramen Musuem. The ramen was one of the smaller noodles with a miso-based broth, a few slices of pork, and a generous sprinkle of scallions. Definitely, my second favorite meal in Tokyo--so much fantastic food all in one day!

On our last day in Japan, LMC, Pinnerton & Co. visited another must-see tourist destination, the Asakusa Namamise. After wandering around Sensoji, or the Asakusa Temple, I was excited to try some of the food vendors in the Namamise--and there were a lot of vendors!

We started with Amazake, or sweetened hot sake which is served during the winter season, then moved on to various kabidango, or sweets--they were all so good! 

 

 

 

Finally, we took departing photos at the Kaminarimon Gate. 

That's it for LMC's culinary adventures and travelogue in Japan. More traveling and good eats to come! 


Enjoy, 


LMC

A Food Travelogue: Tokyo and Yokohama, Part I

Pinnerton and I, along with our folks, traveled to Japan recently. Upon arriving to Narita, where we would be spending our first night in Japan, we were in need of a light lunch. We took a quick cab ride to the Aeon shopping center.

After walking around for a while, we settled on a casual Japanese restaurant--we were lured in by the nifty faux food.

The first dish we shared was some sort of rice bowl topped with chopped sashimi of salmon, tuna, and shrimp, as well as tamago, cucumber, and scallions. It was served with a warm broth that tasted like some mirin or rice vinegar. Light and refreshing.

The second dish was like a fish katsu in a hot broth. This one was very tasty. None of us had any idea of what either of the two dishes were called because we basically pointed to a picture on their menu and nodded. At least things worked out well so far with that strategy.

My first encounter with the amazing Japanese toilets. Among the nifty toilet technology, there were washing or spraying options to clean your tush and water sounds to facilitate your toilet experience.

The Japanese are definitely known for their efficiency and clever product design. They are also known for their emphasis on convenience. Case in point: ice in a cup. Genius, right? Why have I not seen this in American supermarkets? They also had sake in a cup among other equally intriguing supermarket or convenience store items.

After spending the night in Narita, we made our way to Yokohama to do some sightseeing, including the San Diego Friendship Fountain.

The highlight in Yokohama was probably the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum. It was a bit of a tourist trap with exhibitions about the history of ramen, but it was also a good place to sample various, unique types and recipes of ramen. Above is a nifty ramen vending machine in front of each vendor: insert money, choose your ramen, and grab your ticket and change. Again, efficiency and convenience are key.

The ramen man at Yamagata Ryuhanhai skillfully cooking the ramen noodles.

Yamagata Ryushanhai: miso-type ramen--chicken, pork, and seafood-based soup with medium-shaped noodles, topped with slice pork, and chili, miso, and garlic paste. This was the most amazing bowl of ramen I have ever had--the broth was extremely flavorful; the noodles were fresh and perfectly cooked; and the chili/miso/garlic paste added the last punch.

Kumamoto Komurasaki: tonkatsu-style ramen--chicken, ginger, and pork-based soup-- with thinner-shaped noodles, topped with sliced pork, seaweed, and a boiled egg. The broth was visibly cloudier and richer than the miso ramen. The bowl was also huge! Pinnerton and I shared so we were able to enjoy both types of ramen. I don't think I can have ramen state-side ever again ... It's just not the same!

I wish we could have gone to all the 9 vendors at the ramen museum, but unfortunately the tour must go on. We went on a boat ride then on the Hakone Ropeway (an aerial tram) to the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, where you could still see the remants of Mount Fuji's volcanic activity. Above is the Owakudani Boiling Valley--known for the "black eggs" (the eggs turn black when boiled in the hot springs due to the sulphur level), which is supposed to add 7 years to your life. We didn't make it there in time to consume freshly boiled black eggs, but we did purchase some pre-boiled eggs in a vacuum-sealed pack. My sister and I tried the black egg soft serve ice cream. It tasted just like any other ice cream, but hopefully its longevity benefits will still translate in the ice cream application.

A view of Mount Fuji.

After a wonderful stay at the Hotel Fujihana and a relaxing onsen (traditional Japanese hot spring) experience, my family and I traveled to Oshino Hakkai, where there were spring pools flowing from Mount Fuji. My camera ran out of battery so no picture from there--bummer! After checking into our new hotel, we went exploring around Tokyo and visited the Imperial Palace (above). Unfortunately, it is only opened to the public for a few days a year, and we were not so lucky.

While we were exploring Tokyo and its many famous districts, we made a stop at the iconic Herzog and de Meuron's Prada structure located in the Omotesando district. We also stopped by the Commes des Garcons flagship, but it wasn't opened yet. I tried finding the BAPE store, but we gave up after wandering the streets to no avail. Apparently, the store is purposely hard to find--well, they succeeded.

That's it for the first part of LMC's culinary adventures in Japan--way more food to come in the next travelogue including the BEST tonkatsu in Tokyo and amazing food vendors at the Asakusa Nakamise.

Enjoy,

Little Miss Contrary

A Food Travelogue: From Copenhagen to Helsinki

Hej! (That's "hello" in Danish and Swedish!) Last year, when my sister and I made our usual trip back to Bangkok, our wonderful, globe-trotting mother planned a whirlwind trip for us (and our Dad, of course) to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland in 9 days. The weather was relative mild and pleasant across the countries, except for our visit to Nordcapp (or the North Cape) in hope to see the midnight sun. I took about a million pictures from all of our sightseeing, but I will exercise restraint and share a little Scandinavia travelogue through its sights and cuisine.

We arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, and visited various sights such as the Amelienborg Palace and the famous Little Mermaid statute. After some sightseeing, we got on the Scandinavian Sea Way cruise line to make our way to Oslo, Norway. We enjoyed an expansive Scandinavian buffet on the boat, which included a variety of seafood, breads, cured meats, cheeses, desserts, and a whole bunch of other usual buffet items.

The cold seafood spread on the Scandinavian Sea Way.

Once we arrived in Oslo, we visited a Viking museum, which was really neat because they have exhibits of recovered Viking ships and other voyage objects.

The best part of Oslo was probably the Forgner Park, which contained the amazing Vigeland Sculpture Park.

After Oslo, we traveled to Sweden and spent the night in Karlstad. It was this quiet town and we stayed in this really cute boutique hotel that had the best buffet spread. All of their food items were local and/or organic. I had the most delicious local sausage and organic cheeses there!

We left Karlstad and made our way to Stockholm, which was probably one of my favorite cities on this trip. It was a large, urban city that reminded me of San Francisco. The following day, we wandered around Old Town Stockholm, and I attempt to find kringle to no avail. Above: I couldn't resist a little Lakka, or cloudberry, ice cream--yum!

After a whole lot of walking, my sister and I needed a snack, of course. We couldn't help but make a beeline to a street vendor, and got ourselves a "French hot dog." I don't know if the French are aware of this culinary invention, but it's pretty ingenious. It's essentially your choice of a hot dog stuffed inside a French baguette, condiments optional. We may have just been a little famished, but it was pretty tasty.

In Stockholm, we stayed at the coolest hotel called Clarion Hotel Sign. When I first heard Clarion, I was sort of like eh, lame, just another hotel chain, but I was very pleansantly surprised to find a fun and modern, boutique-style hotel ... AND the home of Marcus Samuelsson's Aquavit Grill & Raw Bar. We couldn't afford the time in our schedule (or money, for that matter) to eat there, so I just admired the restaurant and menu from afar. The next morning, my family and I ate breakfast in the hotel, and lo and behold--Marcus Samuelsson sitting there, presumably with his wife, eating breakfast a few tables away from us! He seemed caught off guard that anyone would recognize him. After I profusely apologized for interrupting his breakfast, he kindly obliged for a photo-op. The photo on the left is Pinnerton with Mr. Samuelsson. So cool, huh?! While were were in Stockholm, we also visited the incredible Stockholm City Hall where the Nobel Prize banquets are held.

A display of the table-setting for the Nobel Prize banquet.

After a fantastic time in Stockholm, we took the Silja Line ship to Helsinki, Finland. From there, we immediately flew Ivalo, then rode in a bus for several hours to Honningsvag, Norway, which was a sleepy but the most populated town closest to the North Cape. After dinner at the hotel in Honningsvag, we took yet another bus ride to the North Cape. I was so excited to see the midnight sun to only find out that visitors have about 10% chance of actually witnessing it, but the North Cape was still eeriely lit at midnight. The picture above is the globe at North Cape.

Even though we didn't get to see the midnight sun, we enjoyed a little champagne and caviar to celebrate the journey.

The next day, we traveled back to Ivalo where visited the Sapmi park, which recreated the Sami culture, and we saw a bunch of reindeers! And for dinner, we ate them! Well, not the reindeers that we saw, but we really did enjoy a local delicacy of braised reindeer, served with lingonberry sauce and mashed potatoes. It was surprisingly not too gamey and tasted pretty good because it may have been braised with a good amount of butter. The lingonberry sauce complemented the reindeer meat really well--just like turkey and cranberry sauce! Oh, the Finnish also enjoy bear meat because we saw canned bear meat at the airport. I almost picked one up but wasn't sure how it would make it through customs.

We flew from Ivalo to Helsinki and spent our last day there. We only spent a couple of hours sightseeing, but there really isn't much to see in Helsinki. We did visit the Sibelius monumental park, which was created in honor of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, most famous for Finlandia, Opus 26. Our bus driver played the piece for us since none of us had heard it before. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, "Die Hard 2" ended with Finlandia because the director was Finnish. Interesting factoid, eh?

Before we departed, we also visited the Temppeliaukio Church, which is a truly unique site because it is a church built into a giant rock (and is supposed to have amazing acoustics). Everyone was so exhausted after this trip because our schedule consisted of very long bus rides and just non-stop traveling. And as much as the cuisine of Scandinavia was intriguing, we couldn't wait to get back to Bangkok and the flavors of Thai food!

Enjoy,

Little Miss Contrary

Coming next: LMC's culinary adventures in Tokyo and Yokohama!

LMC's 24th Birthday Dinner

Happy belated 2009! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. I usually don't make new years resolutions, but I do resolve to blog more often because I love taking photographs of my culinary adventures and sharing them with the world! So, let's get to it. Among the events of 2008, I turned 24. For the occasion, Mr. Tall and I went to George's Ocean View Terrace in La Jolla. The Terrace is comfortable and casual, whereas the George's California Modern, located below, is much more formal.

We had been there once before when I was mad at Mr. Tall (neither of us seem to remember what it was about). He took me there--and everything was forgiven and forgotten. Like our first visit, Mr. Tall planned it so that we would be dining during sunset. By the way, reservations are highly, highly recommended because there is always a long wait to get a table since the Terrace area is quite small. Mr. Tall and I were seated right at the edge of the Terrace with the most beautiful view of La Jolla Cove. As we basked in the spectacular sunset, we started with the Charcuterie Plate with La Quercia prosciutto, Pecorino Crotonese, fig mustard, and grilled bread. Mr. Tall and I unanimously agreed that this was the best starter we have ever eaten at a restaurant. I realize that's a big statement, but everything about this charcuterie plate was perfection. The prociutto and cheese were excellent, the fig mustard was absolutely divine (with huge chunks of figs)--putting all the elements on the perfectly grilled levain was simply foodgasm.

For our entrees, Mr. Tall went with the Penne Pasta with Braised Lamb--braised lamb shoulder, artichokes, roasted tomatoes, peas, olives and minted ricotta cheese. He really liked the dish but said that the he could have used less of the ricotta cheese because it was a bit overpowering to the rest of the flavors.

I was in a seafood mood, so I ordered the Mediterranean Seafood Stew with calamari, clams, mussels, and "fresh fish" in a boullabaisse-style brother, served with grilled levain and rouille. I really enjoyed the stew--the seafood was fresh, the broth was very flavorful, and the rouille, the usual garnish atop a boullabaisse, just pulled everything together.

I think the dessert offerings vary. That night Mr. Tall had a banana, chocolate, and pecan tart, and I enjoyed a decadent warm chocolate cake topped with vanilla ice cream. Both were yummy! It's worth mentioning that the Terrace had a quite extensive list of wine by the glass. With our server's recommendation, I went with the Albarino from Condes de Albarei in Rias Biaxis, Spain. It was such a lovely and light white wine that went very well with the Seafood Stew. Mr. Tall, not being a big fan of wine, enjoyed a white beer of some sort. All in all, I had a fantastic birthday dinner, and George's Ocean View Terrace is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego. If you want a casual yet refined dining experience, and an amazing rooftop ocean view to boot, then make a date for George's.

Enjoy,

Little Miss Contrary

Coming next: a little food travelogue to Scadinavia and meeting Marcus Samuelsson!

SDRW at CH1VE

The saying about law school goes: "They scare you to death your first year; work you to death your second year; and bore you to death your third year." So far, that's pretty accurate. That's really no excuse for blogging about July's culinary adventures in October, but I guess I prefer to rock this retro-blogging thing. This past summer I worked full time as a law clerk at a civil litigation firm, actually got paid, but didn't exactly have the greatest time. Nonetheless, there were many moments this summer definitely worth remembering.

During the San Diego Restaurant Week in July, Mr. Tall and I visited Chive, located in Gaslamp Quarter. I am usually skeptical about Gaslamp restaurants as more often than not they fail to impress and overpriced, but Mr. Tall and I were hopeful about Chive since it was voted by San Diegans as Best of the Best of moderately priced restaurants, tied with Jsix at Hotel Solamar (also located downtown). Chive is one of the three San Diego restaurants under the directin of restauranteur Tracy Borkum. The urban, minimalist decor is pleasant but not particularly impressive--and not as innovative as its cuisine. The small-plate or tasting-style menu, created by Chef Joe Magnanelli, is contemporary American. Many food critics and bloggers usually cringe at the concept of "contemporary" or "fusion" as it usually translaters to "confusion." However, Chive was far from confused. Its usual menu offerings consist of “Small Plates to Begin” (appetizers), “Medium Plate to Share” (entrees), “Extras for All” (side dishes), and “Sweets to End” (desserts).

Mr. Tall and I perused through Chive’s Restaurant Week menu and decided on our three-course choices as well as an additional medium plate to share. From its regular menu offerings, the Crispy Duck Spring Rolls was the first to arrive. Perched on a bed of watercress salad, the crispy spring rolls, filled with duck prosciutto and drizzled with wasabi cream, was surprisingly light and delicious. Mr. Tall’s first course was the Sweet Summer Corn Soup, brought in a cast-iron kettle and poured into a bowl tableside over candied lemon yogurt and smoked maple bacon. The soup had an amazing essence of corn and its flavor brightened by the refreshing lemon yogurt. My first course was Chive’s signature Beet Terrine with goat cheese, toasted hazelnuts, and port gastrique, topped with micro-arugula and a taro chip. The terrine was as beautiful to look at as it was to eat—it is a must-try dish.

Mr. Tall’s next course was the Korubuta Pork Tenderloin with Japanese cabbage cake dumplings, Fuji apple compote, and black bean preserve.

This had an obvious Chinese and Japanese influence; the pork was not overcooked, and the dish was well executed as a whole.

My second course was a Pan-fry Salmon with mushroom and fingerling potato mash and topped with wilted Chinese broccoli and a tart cider reduction. The salmon was slightly undercooked, but the other components had a nice balance of flavors to help redeem the dish.

Finally, the “Sweets to End” were Rice Pudding topped with green tea crème brûlée and fresh berries and Bittersweet Chocolate and Hazelnut Mousse Torte.

Both desserts were enjoyable but nothing particularly spectacular. All in all, for an unpretentious contemporary American dining experience, Chive is a unique eatery among the dizzying choices of steak houses and Italian restaurants in the Gaslamp District.

Enjoy,

Little Miss Contrary

Coming (soon): LMC's 24th birthday dinner at George's Ocean Terrace and Scandinavian culinary adventures--and meeting Marcus Sameulsson in Sweden!