The capital of Japan is a place of many faces. It’s
cool, fun, traditional, modern and vibrant all at the same time. You’ll have
neon-lit skyscrapers on one part and next thing you know, you’re in an area
with an old town charm of past decades. Just like this bustling metropolis, the
variety of food is massive! Everything from Izakayas, hybrid izakayas, ramenya,
sushi joints, tonkatsu house, burger joints and lots of soft serve! Tokyo will
keep surprising you with what it has to offer in regards of food. We ate and
conquered. Here's part 1 of what we had in Tokyo:
Musashiya
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| Me with the awesome Chef Takahiro |
I'm going to start with one of our favourite joints in Tokyo. We love our pork
and we love tonkatsu! The best tonkatsu I've had to date was from a family-owned
tonkatsu house in Shibadaimon called Musashiya. Even after being featured on TV
and all, Chef Takahiro and his family remains grounded and passionate about
what they do. From the service down to the food, everything was nothing short
of excellent.
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| Super premium tonkatsu |
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| Sexy fatty cross-section |
Their super premium tonkatsu meal
(¥2,650) consists of a huge slab of beautifully cooked hiraboku berk sangen
pork (from Tochigi) with rice, miso soup and cabbage salad. The pork cutlet was
perfection from the crunchy and flakey coating to the fatty succulent marbled
pork meat.
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| Special premium tonkatsu |
They took the same pork to the next level with their special premium tonkatsu meal (¥2,050). The pork was stuffed with
garlic, shiso and cheese! It made the pork extra juicy, creamy and super
flavoursome.
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| Motsu-ni |
Another outstanding dish was their Motsu-ni
(¥550). It is stewed pieces of pork entrails in a milky miso sauce. The
entrails were tender and rich but the miso sauce balances the dish with
subtle milky and sweet flavours. It’s a comfort-giving dish that is perfect
especially on a cold winter night.
The meatballs
(¥450) on offer were delicious and sweet with hints of garlic and ginger.
Musashiya
1-11-3 Shibadaimon, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Business hours:
Monday to Friday 11:30am to 2:00pm,
5:30 to 10:00
(deep-fried food last order 8:45pm)
Closed: Sundays and holidays (except Saturdays
only lunch 11:30 to 14:00)
Nearest Station: Daimon
35 Steps Bistro
We visited an underground (literally underground) Izakaya in Shibuya called 35
Steps Bistro. It's called 35 steps because the stairs that take you down to a
Japanese style tavern is roughly 35 steps. It's not easy to find so I
posted a photo of the entrance above. It is also located underneath Shibuya
City Hotel. Another thing that stood out was the energy of the staff, you can
tell that they enjoy their work. Plus points (domo arigatou!) for having an English menu!
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| Aburi-shimesaba |
We started with a complimentary appetizer salad with crunchy topping and sweet
yuzu dressing. This was shortly followed by their famous Aburi-shimesaba (¥924) aka flame
seared saba mackerel! The skin was smoky whilst the meat was fresh,
slightly oily and sweet. This is a must when you visit 35 Steps.
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| Kakuni |
It was followed by a super tasty kakuni.
It was not the usual pork belly meat kakuni but oh man! It sweet, succulent and
tender!
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| Kara-age jan |
Their kara-age
jan (¥819) chicken is not the kind that most of us are used to. It's more
like Korean-style fried chicken nibbles dressed with a tangy sweet soy and vinegar
glaze. It was awesome nevertheless.
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|
crème brûlée |
Last but not least, we also tried their crème brûlée (¥315). The final stage of the blow torching to caramelise the sugar
top was even done at our table! The sound of shattering caramel shard to the
lush custard was awesome.
If I were to recommend one izakaya to visit in Tokyo, it's 35 Steps
Bistro! Besides the prices being ridiculously cheap
for its location, the staff here was super friendly.
35 Steps Bistro
Address: 1-1
Maruyamacho, B1F Shibuya City Hotel, Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone
03
3770 9835 (Reservations also in English)
Hours
5.30pm
– 11.30pm daily
Nearest
station: Shibuya
Kaikaya By The Sea
Just like 35 Steps, this seafood themed izakaya is popular with the locals and
tourists. It's said that the owner Teruyuki Tange is well connected with some
of the best suppliers at the Tsukiji Market. Hence, all the seafood he gets and
serves at Kaikaya is guaranteed fresh and top notch. Kaikaya has been around
since 1985 and that says a lot about this place. They also have an English
menu! Here’s what we had:
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| Senyo no carpaccio |
The Senyo no Carpaccio (¥1,000) is
fresh fish with Genovese style basil paste with garlic, olive oil and balsamic
vinegar. This dish is all about freshness and highlighting the quality of every
produce that goes into it. Everything is exquisite from the delicate, fresh and
flavoursome hamachi to the dressing and basil paste.
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| Sengyo no ryoushi-fu takiba yaki |
Sengyo no Ryoushi-fu Takiba Yaki (¥2,300) is a whole fresh white fish drenched in flour and broiled then
served with sweet herb oil. It was super flavoursome and perfectly cooked.
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| Takana yaki-meshi |
The Takana Yaki-meshi (¥700) is fried
rice with pickled mustard leaves is one of the best fried rice I've had! The
pickled mustard cuts through all the rich parts of the fried rice. This makes
this rice the perfect pair with the Sengyo no Ryoushi-fu Takiba Yaki.
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| Hotategai no risotto okoge |
Their Hotategai no Risotto Okoge
(¥1,200) is a risotto pancake style Gorgonzola cheese risotto topped scallops! This dish was all about the awesome bold and creamy gorgonzola throughout
the risotto and complimented by the roasted nutty flavoured crispy bits from
the pan. The scallops were also tasty and perfectly cooked.
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| Ebi negi yaki-soba |
I also enjoyed their Ebi Negi Yaki-soba (¥1,200), which is stir-fried noodles with prawn
and leek. The combination of the noodles caramelised crispy bits, sesame oil
dressing and prawns worked a treat with the additional sharp and sweet flavours
of leek.
Kaikaya By the Sea
Location: 23-7 Maruyamacho, Shibuya, Tokyo
Business Hours: Weekdays: 11.30am-2:00pm,
6:00-11.30pm mon-fri; Weekends: 6:00-11.30pm. Reservations only on weekends, so
call: (03)3770-0878
Closest Station: Shibuya
Uobei by Genki Sushi
We also had sushi of course! If you want to try
amazing, fresh sushi on a budget, I highly recommend checking out the high-tech
sushi joint Uobei in Shibuya. Thanks to my homie Rockahenry for the tip! They
have the same offerings as Genki but for some reason, Uobei is cheaper. Just
like it's sister restaurant, it's also very popular that we had to queue for
over 20 minutes. Order three items at a time on a touchscreen infront of you
and your food is delivered in a high speed chute. Here’s the line-up (I tried
to note down the names as much I can):
Seared salmon with mayo & pepper (¥108)
Salmon with green onion and chilli oil (¥108)
Scallops nigiri (¥108)
Arrow squid with green onion and salt sauce (¥108)
Albacore Tuna with green onion and chilli oil (¥108)
Cheese croquettes (¥108)
Uni (sea urchin) sushi (¥108)
Tuna belly nigiri (¥108)
Horse Mackarel (¥108)
Uobei
Address: 2-29-11 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo
Opening hours: 11am-12midnight
Transport:Shibuya Station (Yamanote, Ginza,
Hanzomon, Fukutoshin, Denentoshi, Tokyu Toyoko, Keio Inokashira lines)
Sushi Ichiba at Tsukiji Market
A Tokyo sushi experience ain't complete without visiting one of the many sushi
houses at Tsukiji Market. It's in the same vicinity where all the Tokyo seafood
suppliers trade some of the best seafood in the world. So you are guaranteed
with fresh and top quality produce. Places like the famous Sushi Dai had long
queues, so we decided to randomly pick one without any. We ended sampling some
amazing sushi at Sushi Ichiba.
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| O-toro: Super tasty fatty part of the tuna belly |
I ordered a sampling plate that cost about ¥3,800.The fish to rice ration was
perfect. The rice was packed perfectly. Not too firm and not too loose.
Everything on the plate was fresh, plump and delicious. Even if the place was
small and the counter was narrow, the excellent sushi made up for it.
Definitely these are some of the best sushi I've had. Their delicious o-toro nigiri is the most exquisite item on the plate with its delicious soft, rich and creamy texture.
Word is that sushi places with shorter queues at Tsukiji are just as good as
the ones with long queues. So why waste time lining up for hours at a known
joint when you can get seats almost straight away at an awesome place like
Sushi Ichiba.
Sushi Ichiba
Address
Building #6 (opposite end of Sushi Dai)
5-2-1 Tsukiji
Chūō-ku
Closest station: Tsukiji
Ramen
There was also a lot of ramen in this trip. For
more info, check out my round-up post of all my ramen eats in Japan here.
Here are some photos:
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