The Food Pursuit
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Truth be told, this is the first time I ate sushi in Japan since I arrived over a month ago. Itamae Sushi in Roppongi, which apparently opened this past February 16, caught my attention with its presentable, grand entrance, food wax displays, and by having a store name written in English. Roppongi is a popular area for foreigners so they seem to know how to cater to the crowd. This location is opened 24 hours, which always deserves a mention because you never know when you need a quick sushi fix, right?
There’s a perfectly good reason this restaurant is called Hokkaido Ramen. Quite simply, Hokkaido’s largest city Sapporo is known for its miso ramen. Actually, each region in Japan seems to have its own specialty. A bowl of Sapporo ramen is normally topped with corn, pork, and of course the most distinguishing ingredient, butter. Passing by Hokkaido Ramen in Shinjuku, I decided to try out the restaurant.
Izakaya is one of those places that the Japanese working class gathers at the end of a day. As a brief summary, it’s mainly a place for drinking alcohol which is a favorite after-work activity for white collar folks, possibly to relieve stress. You may know this already and you may also know that many of these salarymen are found sound asleep on subways or streets in the wee hours. They’re either too tired to drag themselves home, are knocked unconscious, or missed their train home, in which case they may also choose to spend the night at a 24-hour McDonald’s or karaoke establishments – something I’ve observed during my short stay thus far. But, you may not know that some of these places may provide a great dining experience as with, or maybe even better than, any other restaurant in Japan.
When was the last time you wrote an exam? Do you remember what it felt like? Were you trembling, tired, anxious, or hungry? Who knew that on vacation would I encounter that familiar setting, while eating ramen? The difference is instead of bringing your A game, all you need to come with is an empty stomach, and money of course. Ichiran ramen shop is what I’m talking about. It’s exciting just writing about it.
Another item on my list of must-tries that I mentioned way back when I started talking about food in Japan was yakiniku. The thing I like about yakiniku that we might under appreciate is that most have us cook for ourselves. We go out to eat expecting others to prepare the food and place it in front of us. Yes, I like to be pampered. But sometimes, cooking our own food on the table we eat from is just as fun. The idea that food cooked ourselves tastes better, I truly believe that, and we get to choose how we want it. We see it come fresh off the grill onto our plates. All those reasons and more make yakiniku a favorite in my books.
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