Tokyo Food Diary

I have such fond memories of our short trip to Tokyo a couple months ago, and I already know we will definitely go back again. Even though it's a busy city and we packed in a lot during our four days and four nights, I felt relaxed the whole time we were there. It's such a cool place to chill. The people are so nice and polite, the food is delicious (I didn't have one bad meal!), and there is just SO MUCH to see. Food, fashion, culture, beautiful people... what more can you want in a great city?

Here are just some small snippets of food we had while we were away. Hope you enjoy, I certainly enjoyed smelling and eating it all!

Our first Japanese meal was at our friend's local Sushi Train restaurant:

A simple, fast, made to order train. We visited this place straight off the plane. I absolutely loved the self-pour Green Tea refills and how everything was so fresh, and quality not compromised despite the low price. Here's small sample out of the 20+ dishes we selected.

And also this soul warming crab miso soup

Eating sushi in Japan has probably ruined eating sushi anywhere else for me now. Everything is so fresh, value for money and a true example of high care and value placed on the quality of seafood. Including this highly prized higher 'fatty' grade Tuna

We also visited another one (called Midori) that required lining up!

This place was slightly different in that it had TWO train lines! One for the normal go around sushi & side dishes, and another above for trains that come straight to you after you custom order! Fabulous!

Ramen and Udon Noodles:
Ramen is one of my all time favourite meals. This restaurant is listed in the Top 50 things to do/eat in Harajuku and is called Kyushu Jangara. The thick brothy soup was outstanding, noodles bouncy and fresh... it was the perfect mid-shopping snack! I could have done with another bowl!

Cold Udon Noodles with side dishes & beautiful dipping sauce, Curry Katsu Udon, Clear broth Duck Udon, gotta love guys that carry your shopping, the Udon bowl was bigger than Jase's head! These were from a restaurant called Tsurutontan in Roppongi. The noodles were so good, I even had to buy a dry pack to take home!

Fine dining:


Beautiful Sake glasses and a couple of dishes from our fancy One Michellin Star Tempura degustation dinner at Hatanaka. There must have been at least 14 dishes, the restaurant was small, quaint and the food was absolutely delish. I turned the tempura fish dish around so that I could get a better picture (don't they look so cool like they're frozen in swimming motion?), and the waitress came and told me it has to be turned back around (in the way she had laid it on the table), as this added to the whole theatrical experience! The Japanese are SOOO into the full experience of taste AND presentation of food. This was definitely one example to the extreme!

Delicious street food & snacks:

We tried Onigiri / Rice balls where the filling is on the outside! These are called Nikumaki. Oh and we had to grab custard filled donuts too :)

Takoyaki in Harajuku (these guys were so cute and happy making hundreds of these things)

We also enjoyed Crepes, Shaved Ice, Danish Pastries - lemon filled & apple filled -, the Infamous Calbee brand chippies in Harajuku, Sake in a Cup, and I had multitudes of chilled canned coffee -the black can brand contained a fat blocker ingredient... not sure if it worked but the Japanese do think of everything marketable!

A place where you can get a quick rice bowl meal for $3-5 .... seriously...o.m.g. Why don't they do this in Oz or NZ? This place was called Matsuya.


Of course these aren't photos of EVERYTHING we ate, but if I posted that all up here, you guys would think I'm more of a crazy food photo taking lady than I already am (I think I took at least 50 photos at the Seibu supermarket and sweets & desserts counters) :) I could have sat there eating at these places for days! Ok I better stop talking about it now, because it's making me sad and want to go back so bad! We came home with a suitcase full of snacks which we are still ploughing our way through.

For all you peeps that follow my life in pictures on Instagram, you will have noticed that we have adopted a wee pup called Bailey Buster Lee :) He is one clingy, furry, cute monster at the moment, and aside from being a little sleep deprived, and low in energy from toilet training (characteristics of a first time 'mum' I guess?)... we love him to bits!

I'll post up some pics of him soon, meanwhile if you want daily pics that fill in the days in between my non-blogging days, follow along @mialovespretty.... here!

Happy Friday!!
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