Oishiiii

And the winner is.... not telling! The best meal of the last two weeks was tonight, in a cute area I discovered in Tokyo this trip. Attention to detail is this: You sit down at a place with no english menu and ask the people who don't speak english to bring you any 3 dishes. Every dish is presented so that you don't want to ruin it by eating it, and every ingredient on the plate, bowl, cup tastes great on its own and put together is even better. Everything put in front of you is explained by the waiter or chef with a japanese - english dictionary, even though they can barely speak english. Wow.


Of course I forgot my camera but here are some quick snaps from my blackberry.

Soup and Tofu

Sashimi - Bonito, Horse Mackerel, Squid

Fish Broth - Steamed Bass, Shitake, Chicken

Chicken

Japanese Bean Ice Cream

Green Tea and Grapes

Under the Yurakucho Railway

Whether I'm staying at a 40 buck per night hostel and asking how to get to a restaurant where I will spend 400 bucks on dinner, or I'm at a 400 buck per night hotel and asking how to get to a beer joint underneath a railway track, I always get strange looks from hotel staff. Now I have a thick skin for that kind of judgement and I do what I want cos yes, sometimes I'll feel like fois gras and sometimes I'll feel like a Big Mac, so to speak.

Wandering around underneath the Yurakucho railway track on a sweltering Tokyo evening is an interesting experience. I saw my first homeless japanese person while the smell of miso and garbage wafted around me. I peeked into one Izakaya after another while trains clattered across the track above, trying to decide where to eat. In the end I settled on a place where some old guy was clapping at me to come in. I sat at the wooden bar with a big draft Asahi and ordered tofu, sashimi and korrokke. The waiter told me that was enough for 3 people but I didn't care....and ate most of it. Mmm. The rest I took for the sleeping homeless guy on my way back. Itadakimasu!