Showing posts with label Tokyo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tokyo. Show all posts

Sunday, February 24, 2019

[Japan-Tokyo] コンビニ Konbini foods, are they as good as what others say?

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The term Konbini/Conbini/Combini コンビニ means convenience. Hence, konbini food simply means convenience store foods. Yes, food/snacks from stores such as 7-Eleven, Lawson and Family Mart, amongst others. Japan's combini culture is attractive as everything is so convenient. We all know that convenience stores in Japan has everything. Well, almost. But it does have things that most travellers would want/need in some point in time.

For me, that'll be foood~ and yeah, an umbrella too.

Family Mart @ Kinshicho

I bet you have heard about their fried chicken. And, you'd probably had eaten them too but pardon me for being late into the game. Haven't been visiting Japan for the longest time.

fried food counter at Family Mart

Nope, does not know what those words are but I knew what I wanted. A piece of that golden fried chicken square. Of course, I didn't know which was which because there were two that looked similar. So I just pointed to the one at the top tray.

Family Mart Chicken @  ¥180

Ate this baby as soon as I bought it. And, it was still piping hot! Of course, I was a tad famished by that time, which was close to 1pm. Oh boy, it was an amazing first bite. So juicy, tender and tasty! There were some fair amount of fats surrounding those meat, hence it could get oily. But so good eating it at 22 degrees celcius. Yums!

love at first bite

Also tried Lawson's version of the fried chicken (I got the spicy version) when I was in Nagoya but Famichiki was the better version, hands down. Reason being Lawson's version had slightly drier meat and slightly dough-y taste of the flour. Oily-ness level was almost the same for both.

Lawson's Spicy Fried Chicken @ ¥150

Having a Family Mart so close to the hotel (5 minutes walk) that I was staying in Kinshicho, meant I could do breakfast or a light dinner or midnight snack on a whim. Another combini food that got me intrigued, is the tamago sando (egg sandwich). I just got to try it myself.

I was at the store around 8am and bought an egg sandwich a cup of Family Mart's latte. The store has a small section where customers could sit and eat their food. The seats are facing the outside of the store, so one could watch the world go by while sipping coffee.

たまごサンド とコーヒー Egg sandwich and coffee
egg mayo sandwich on fluffy white bread

Lovely taste from the egg sandwich and loved the fluffy bread. Not too heavy but enough to fuel the first few hours of the day.

Another must-buy from the konbini would be the oden. Oden is a one-pot dish consisting of several ingredients, much like our yong tau foo. The oden in convenience store can be easily found at the front of the cashier counter. The styrofoam bowl (of two different sizes) and tongs to pickup the ingredients and ladle for the soup are all there. Self-service.

Let's take a look of what I had for dinner. It was my first time having oden so I think I was a tad excited to try. Went for 5 items and placed them all in the large bowl. Put in the soup and go to the counter to pay. They'd put on the cover for you and pack the sauce, if you need. There's hoisin sauce and yellow mustard in tiny packs.

Oden おでん

Had picked out daikon (because I heard that this is a must-have ingredient for oden), the tamago (hard boiled egg), two Nerimono (some kind of fish paste/meat paste item), and the Kinchaku (the one that looks like a fried beancurd pouch).

The daikon was expectantly soft and had absorbed the flavours of the dashi. Juicy and easy to eat. It was kind of hard to stop myself from drinking up all the dashi. It just tasted so flavourful.

I think I got a deep fried hanpen which is a type of fishcake but I was also confused because of the airy and fluffy texture that it has. It has seaweed in it, and everything about this piece was just so intriguing! Amazing. Oooh, the pockets of air in that piece was good to bring up more dashi with each bite. Just dip and bite. So goood!

半片 so good!
Here's a video of the oden feast.




Was kind of surprised when the weight of kinchaku was felt when I tried to pick it up with the chopsticks. Why was it so heavy? Took a bite and there was mochi in there! Wow. Unexpected but it was still a good combo, surprisingly.

Another surprise was the meatball piece. It had a cheesy center. So cool!

The only not surprising item was the egg. It was a regular hardboiled egg. I thought it was going to be a lava egg.

cheesy meatball

To end the meal, wash it off with with a Chu-Hi which is a shochu based cocktail. When drinking, might as well get a snack to go along with it. All in all, a very filling and satisfying meal, complete with an alcoholic drink and a 'dessert' of sorts. About $10 for dinner.

Horoyoi ほろよい
seasonal snack of butter sweet potato crackers

I love konbini foods so much, I got to have it again and this time with onigiri.

breakfast in bed - oden, onigiri, juice and coffee

Being a noob in onigiri unwrapping, it was a mess once I got it wrong. Amazing how the seaweed stayed crispy. Lovely flavours and good for breakfast.

mentaiko onigiri 

Yes, I love my convenience store foods and drinks for its adequate selections, affordable pricing and fuss free.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

[Japan-Tokyo] Tendon Tenya 天丼てんや @ Asakusa 浅草

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After we were done with the sightseeing at Asakusa, we actually walked back and forth for about, I think at least 2 km before deciding on the place to rest our legs and to appease our growling tummies. Reason being, we wanted to check out the stretch of restaurants and to have our own top pick before putting it to vote. Yeah, just 3 of us in the party and already it was complicated. Oops.

Sensō-ji 浅草寺 at night
Kaminarimon 雷門

Ok, so what did the long walks yielded? Shermaine's friend Johan decided to try Tendon Tenya. Yass to fried tempura rice bowl!

Tendon Tenya looks like a fast food joint and it has upstairs seats as well. Often times, the ground floor would be filled up hence, the staff would try to usher the guests to the upper floor. We got ourselves a table downstairs because too tired to climb up and down the stairs. The wait for a table was about 10 minutes.

shopfront
drinks menu

We ordered more or less the same thing. The basic tendon has prawn, okra, pumpkin, squid and white fish for just ¥540. Additional toppings like scallop cost about ¥130 each. The scallop was pretty small hence, may be more worth it to add white fish meat for just ¥100 per piece.

delicious tendon 天丼 with miso soup
Tendon with maitake mushrooms, okra, prawn, and squid with additional scallop @ ¥720

The food was delicious, the sauce was minimal but I think it was adequate to flavour the rice. The deep fried tempura was not the crispy crispy type but overall it was still delicious. Loved the maitake mushroom!

For drinks, we drank up the complimentary cold roasted tea that's available on the table. Self-service ya.

iced tea

Tasted good, reasonably priced and fuss free.

Tendon Tenya 天丼てんや

Address: 〒111-0032, 1-9-2 Asakusa Taito-ku, Tokyo
Contact: 03-5828-5918
Business Hours:
Weekdays: 11:00~23:00
Saturday: 10:00~23:00
PH: 10:00~23:00

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

[Japan-Tokyo] Had the Best Meal at Shokudo and Teishoku Restaurant 定食 稲 @ NIshikasai Edogawa

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This shop was really an unexpected find that is of a hidden gem that we chanced upon at random. Shermaine (@littletinysun) and I were on a vacation in Japan during autumn last year.  I stayed in Kinschicho for the first two nights and Edogawa Ward Natural Zoo was nearby. Visited the small attraction (which by the way is worth visiting) and after which, we went around looking for lunch. Wandered into a nearby mall (AEON) and almost settled for lunch there but it was a tad too crowded during the peak lunch hour.

As we were walking back towards the Nishi-Kasai train station, we saw a few restaurants and decided on this small shokudo. The shop is nearby Sunny Mall, which is right across the street.

Sunny Mall Nishi Kasai
directions from Nishi-Kasai station (credit to Google Map)

The shop serves set meals (teishoku) and the menu looked simple enough with a few rice and noodles items. I had the set meal of the day which happen to be the current shop favourite; the buta shogayaki (豚の生姜焼き) rice set with stir-fried ginger pork while Shermaine ordered oyakodon.

Observed that the other diners are locals. While the menu only consists of Japanese words, the shop itself has pictorial menu at the counter as well as on the glass at the back wall.

interior

There is one lady staff that would take orders from the table where you are seated and will bring the food to the diners. Payment is made after the meal at the cashier counter. Cold water is complimentary and the flask with cold water is already at the table so help yourself. The kitchen seemed to have 3 staff working and hence, we got our food rather quickly. Very efficient.

buta shogayaki set 豚の生姜焼き @ ¥750

tangy pickles
onsen tamago
delicious stir-fried ginger pork
My set meal came with rice, stir-fried pork with shredded cabbages and potato salad, pickles, onsen egg and miso soup. All these for just  ¥750 (~SGD9.50). Wow, that's value for money!

I was also quite impressed when Shermaine's oyakodon arrived. Served piping hot with steam coming out and all, the egg was cooked to a nice smooth golden yellow wobbly but not watery. My goodness, don't get me started on the generous chunky pieces of chicken in that bowl. Super worth it!

oyakodon set 親子丼 @ ¥700

closer view


Here is a video of the food (sorry that it was vertical):



There are condiments placed on the table and one of it was the spicy garlic chili oil. It is very flavourful and good to eat with the rice. Very appetising.

garlic chili oil 

Overall, we were more than satisfied with the experience at 定食 稲 for its value and tasty food with generous portions.


定食 稲

Address: 5 Chome-8-16 Nishikasai, Edogawa-ku, Tōkyō-to 134-0088, Japan
Nearest station: Nishi-Kasai Station (28 mins from Tokyo)
Contact: +81 3-3680-4034
Business Hours:
Daily: 11:30~15:00. Closed on Wednesdays.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Shodoshima Daigi Ginza Core 小豆島 大儀 銀座店 - 銀座コア

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It was by chance that we stumbled upon this shop. Wanted to eat sushi buffet at Tsukiji Tama Sushi but unfortunately we arrived without reservation and by the time we queued, the buffet wasn't available. Wandered around Ginza Core and chanced upon this udon shop.

The shop has various condiments and somen packs displayed at its store front and we were greeted by the proprietress, an elderly lady. Decided to dine there and sat ourselves down. The place was rather quiet and we were the only customer at that time.

Japanese menu
quiet shop
Wet towels and hot tea were served immediately while we pored over the menu. Request for an English menu and it was rather easy to order. Just point at the picture!

English menu
Was feeling famished so ordered a Tenzaru set. The shop only has udon or somen, so make your choice. Friend was having the Gyuniku Udon so I got myself a somen.

Gyuniku Udon ¥1274.40 (incl. tax)

Was very happy with my choice of the somen. It was very good. The noodles were cooked just right and retained its bouncy-ness. Cold somen dipped into the soy sauce and sometimes eaten with minced daikon, ginger paste or spring onions. So yums!

Tenzaru Somen ¥1566 (incl. tax)

The tempura portion was rather generous too. It had prawn, brinjal, white fish, sweet potato, ladies finger, and asparagus.

天麩羅
素麺

It was a happy meal! ごちそうさまでした!

Shodoshima Daigi 小豆島 大儀 銀座店 - 銀座コア

Address: B1F Ginza CORE, 8-20, 5-Chome, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Business Hours: [Mon-Sun]11:00~20:00 (Last Order 19:30)
Website: http://www.ginza-core.co.jp/shops/gourmet/gourmet_09.html

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Tokyo Eats

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When I was in Tokyo Dec 2009, the weather was cold, and it made one crave for a bowl of steaming hot ramen! We were staying at the Monterey Hanzomon Hotel, and nearby was a soba stall manned by an elderly couple. The joint is self-service, and you buy the ticket from the vending machine outside of the restaurant and then pass the slip of paper with the name of the dish that you ordered to the chef, and he'll prepare it for you. Seating is limited but there were two tables to eat while standing.


yasai soba


The yasai (vegetable) soba was very affordable at 290 yen only ;)

I wanted to try ramen but didn't have the chance till stumbled upon a stall in Asakusa. It was also those vending machine type, so one basic bowl of chashu ramen was just 300 yen or so.


ramen at Asakusa


As we were travelling with kids, we ate alot of fastfood. Macs in Tokyo, do not have plastic bag. Only paper bags are available. And remember to separate the trash before throwing them into the correct bins!


no big breakfast, but got muffins and stuffs


pokemon~!


need no further introduction...


juicy pork patty with peppery taste


at Yoshinoya Harajuku, with kimchi side dish


beef bowl


Tried Gindaco, and it most certainly didn't taste like the one in ION...


yummy tako balls!


with custard fillings


The most expensive dish that I ate was at Tsukiji. Ordered a sushi set that cost 800 yen. Haha, ya.. not THAT expensive ok.


sushi set


maguro


with some fats


lots of these tamago in Tsukiji.. the ones with mentaiko not bad


On most days, we da bao those cheap bento box from our neighbourhood shop.


fried chicken cutlet rice, for only 390 yen!


crispy cutlet!


stir fried beef bowl (chinese style)


think this one is like those new year bento.. but the fish wasn't good...


Maybe next time, can go for those more luxurious eats? Haha!
 
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