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?
Café Restaurant Gusto, or from its direct translation Café Resutoran Gusto, is something I’ve been meaning to try for a while. This restaurant gives me the same feeling I get from eating at IKEA, possibly because of the lighting and the self-serve drink bar. It also helps that they serve typical items found in western cuisine – steak, burgers, pasta, potato, soups, salads, and a variety of desserts. Albeit, with a Japanese twist.
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.
Located in the popular Shinjuku district, Shinokubo houses a large Korean community in Tokyo. As with other Koreatowns in the world, you can expect to find a number of restaurants, grocery stores, and products from Korea. Say you’ve landed in Tokyo but a part of you wants to feel some Korean vibe. No problem. This post will introduce what you can expect to see at Shinokubo’s Koreatown in Tokyo, including a restaurant visit.
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.
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