One of my favorite #tonkatsu restaurants in #Tokyo is @katsukichi_official. My first time to visit the #Marunouchi branch in the Shin Marunouchi building on the 5th floor. The Hiyashi Katsu Don is a large bowl of rice topped with a warm fried pork cutlet topped with a slippery grated mountain vegetables, okra, myōga, cucumbers, shiso, and umeboshi. This is all topped with a chilled umami-rich broth. An unusual combination that works. The restaurant has been serving this dish for 23 years. Try it, if you can. The last photo is the view from the seventh floor overlooking Tokyo Station ..read more

At Haneda Airport near Terminal Three is the Villa Fontaine Hotel with an onsen hot springs @izumitenkunoyu. The location is ideal if you have an early flight or a late arrival into Tokyo. The room is basic but I am mostly here for the onsen and for a bed that is near the airport so I am not traveling either late at night or early in the morning. The onsen is big and has several baths both indoors and outdoors. The onsen for women overlooks the industrial area of Kawaski so there are factories. It also has a view of Fuji san if the weather is good. The baths do close daily from about 10 a.m ..read more

Northeastern University has a fabulous summer program on the Food of Japan. Professors Susan Ito and Jared Young have put together a syllabus packed with lectures with speakers including my mentor, Elizabeth Andoh.  I had the great pleasure of speaking to the students. Ideally we would have done a market tour together, but my tours are limited to two guests. Instead, I brought the supermarket to the class. The group will have a kitchen during their stay in Kyoto so I brought my favorite ingredients to jumpstart meals and some ready-to-eat items like yakitori in a can and tinned seafood ..read more

Tips on reading Japanese recipes on packages. Here are four different packages of #ramen. The pack comes with straight dried noodles, a dried soup package, and a small seasoned oil packet. Two key points: Look for 分 (fun) how many minutes to boil the noodles. Look for ml for how many milliliters of water to boil the noodles. The water will be used for the soup so don’t discard it. Directions for these four packs are very similar. Each pack here contains two portions. The directions are for one portion. In a pot bring X millimeters of water to a boil. 470 ml is two cups. Add the noodles and ..read more

Honmura An is a charming soba shop with handmade buckwheat noodles and a tempting menu of side dishes. It’s all good. Today was a fabulous avocado salad (900 yen) thinly sliced onions, smoky katsuobushi flakes, and a shiso and tart ume dressing. Nukazuke rice bran pickles (850 yen) that are pleasantly sour and crunchy. Soba tofu (800 yen) was a dense buckwheat tofu with a sweet thick soy sauce.  Tip: inquire if there is a seasonal soba. Today at Honmura An it was a refreshing shiso (1,500 yen). The noodles are made by hand in the front of the restaurant.  @honmura_an is a sho ..read more

Chefs Michele Abbat and Guillaume Bracaval A delightful vegetarian meal at @esttokyo at the @fsotemachi. The cuisine is mostly made with locally sourced Japanese ingredients. Chef @guillaumebracaval masterfully creates dishes that showcase the seasonal vegetables. Highlights include a corn flan accented with a gazpacho-inspired tomato sauce and sweet corn kernals. Roasted potatoes thinly and accented with black truffles. Tartly pickled zucchini with a sweet concentrated tomato paste, cheese, and nasturiums.  The last savory course is a tofu cheese with a creamy espumant ..read more

No When working at Nihonbashi Takashimaya I sometimes would have lunch at Yoshinozushi Honten. The sushiya dates back 140 years. Yoshinozushi is famous for being the restaurant where fatty tuna was first called toro. It is a fifth-generation restaurant. When I was going about 20 years ago there was a young apprentice, Takuya, who was delivering tea and taking orders. Today Takuya works behind the sushi counter. I was so happy when he brought me my lunch order.  At lunchtime diners can choose either nigiri zushi or chirashi zushi. The scattered sushi is a bed of rice covered with a vari ..read more

Kakigōri shaved ice is one way to make Tokyo summers bearable. Matcha and azuki is a classic combination. Some sweetened condensed milk to make it richer. Umezono is a famous traditional sweets shop in Asakusa. This branch is in the Nihonbashi Takashimaya department store, on the 7th floor, in the kimono department. I was surprised to discover that this shop was here. I used to work in the store and had walked through the kimono section a few times and somehow never noticed there was a cafe.  Nearby is a branch of Sukiyabashi Jiro. The famous sushiya from the documentary Jiro Dreams of ..read more

Fantastic cha no yu tea ceremony exhibit at the Nihonbashi Mitsui Memorial Museum. Fascinating to see pieces used by tea master Sen no Rikyu. Included are a few National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties. Tea bowls. Bamboo tea scoops. Water jars. Tea kettles and more. Many items from the 16th and 17th c. Some from the 12th to 13th c. Tea scoop used by Sen no Rikyu. There are a few informative videos (in Japanese) about the rich history of the Mitsui family and its collection of tea ceremony pieces. The exhibit is in the Mitsui building next door to Mitsukoshi department store. Near ..read more

Nattō soba Natto soba and tamagoyaki at Yabu Soba. The 130-year old shop makes the buckwheat noodles from scratch in the first floor atelier. The soba had a rich texture. Loved it with grated mountain potato, natto, nori, shiso, and green onions. The tamagoyaki is made with cream. Yabu Soba is near the boisterous Ameya Yokochō Market in Ueno. Yabu Soba Taitō-ku, Ueno 6-9-16 ..read more