Feb-13 Ginza

Having slept a very long "recovery" evening from all the travel getting to Japan (and all the eating I'd done so far -- even without eating anything for dinner

last night) I work up and was ready to start my day.

I decided to take an early morning walk and around 6am I headed off back tothe Tsjuki fish market area with the plan to get (can you guess?) yet more sushi.

On the way I took a few photos of the banners they had up near the Kabukiza Theater I went to yesterday (not sure if they were up yesterday and I missed them

or if they went up after I'd left, but they were cool looking so I'm adding them here):

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Once I got to the market a few of the little sushi bar shops were open (as for them it was rather late I suppose -- I think they start around 2-3am in the morning!).    So I picked one

at random and ordered a very nice sashimi-don bowl for breakfast.    Here's the menu I had a chance to select while waiting in a short line outside:

And here's what it looked like looking into the shop - like most of these places it is just a very narrow hallway like bar

with just enough room to scoot past the other folks and sit down.   There were maybe 10-12 seats -- that's it!

I ended up picking out the rice bowl #7 which was:

So several pieces of tuna, a section of purred tuna tartar with scallions, uni

(sea urchin), squid, roe (probably salmon roe), scallops, crab claw, shrimp head, 

some tamago (japanese sweet omelet) and rice seasoned with seaweed and sesame

underneath.   There was also a little wasabe and daikon on top of a sliver of cucumber.

All of that came with some miso soup and tea (pictured in the back)

It was a very nice and filing breakfast, which didn't stop me from stopping by the

same 'dessert mochi' stand as yesterday and getting another "flower" mochi 

(flower design filled with sweet black aszuki bean paste -- yum!).   Todays choice

was a rose petal one:

Afterwards I wandered back to the hotel and got a small breakfast there too

(as I'd bought that with the room).   Similar buffet to yesterday (soup changed to an onion soup,

but everything else was about the same).    I put together a "healthy" plate (for the most part)

and had this for my "2nd breakfast":

salad (lettuce, onions, carrots, yellow pepper with a sesame vinaigrette dressing),

creamy avocado and tomatos, marinated cucumbers, marinated eggplant, 

"runny" scrambled eggs, chicken-rice, and another slightly fried apple pastry.

Also a glass of apple juice.

Going back to my room for a rest before figuring out the next adventure!

Okay, slept and did some computer stuff for a few hours and now it's time for

lunch.   Since I know I'm going out for a Tofu dinner with Jonathan and Mayu tonight

I thought I'd do something that I don't normally do and try for some type of

soba noodle lunch place.   So I hunted on the internet and found one about

10 blocks away -- figured an 8 minute walk will do me good.    The place

is "Sato Yoske Ginza" and is apparently well known (at least according to the web site!)

for really good Soba.   They also have tempura, which I like too, so I'm headed out

for a soba-tempura lunch.

I found the place without trouble, thanks in part to the iPhone's great mapping apps

(credit to Google maps that I phone was using -- otherwise who knows where I'd end up?)

I got there about 15 minutes before they opened (11;30am) so I took a picture out front

that you can see below and walked around the neighborhood to wait for them to open.

Once they opened I was quickly seated and given a chance to look at the menus.

Too bad no english version available, but I was able to explain that I was looking

for 'hot soba' and 'tempura'.   The waitress knew enough english to ask if I wanted large

or small, though I'm not sure that I ended up with small as what I got was pretty large

by my standards.    None the less I managed to eat it all, except for some of the broth

and the side of rice that came without me knowing it was on the way.

The lunch menus:

What I ended up getting:

And some close-ups of the above order:

On the left thin wonderful soba noodles, some fish cake looking like a carrot, some cilantro or other greens, and a second kind of noodle or item (more yellow) that I

couldn't identify.   There were also items on the main plate to add -- scallions and some type of fish paste that I really liked and some pickled veggies.  All went well

with the meal on the left.

On the right tempura.   Mushroom, some type of leaf or bell pepper type item, a very nice piece of white fish, and two large shrimp.   Small amount of seasoning to mix

with tempura dip on right of main platter.

All of which was very very good.   Total cost was JPY 1800, which is about $15.13 in US Dollars at todays exchange rate.   

On my way back to the hotel I stopped by the Sony Building which has four layered floors (small ones) with all their latest and 'just released' products,

as well as tributes to old products.    There were signs that said don't take pictures, though just about everyone appeared to be taking them anyway!

I didn't actually bother with taking any pictures -- lots of walkmen, playstation, TV's, cameras and the like.   And although I felt no desire to purchase the

"top" floor as you wind your way up the stairs to go through each section is actually a duty-free store where you can buy some of the things (headphones, 

etc).   I will say that I was impressed by the giant 4K TV (as in resolution of 4K, not $4000 in cost -- probably more!).    Super sharp picture on it, but

I don't think I'll be buying one soon (sorry sony!)

On the way back I did stop at TWO different pastry stores, because the items int he windows called out to me and said "you'd better get us and save us

for later tonight because you might be starving".   Who am I to ignore that not-very-little-voice?   Anyway, when I got back to the hotel I unpacked them and

took this photo to add to the site.  I will eat them later (well, I did take a SMALL bite of each once once the photo was taken just to be sure they tasted good!)

On the left some type of cinnamon/nut/glazed bread.

On the right a confectioners sugar coated almond pastry.

Late afternoon I was joined by Jonathan, a friend I met in Hawaii who lives in Japan.   We hopped on the subway and met his 

girlfriend Mayu and headed to a dinner they had kindly arranged as a "unique dining experience".    Spoiler alert: They did a GREAT job!

We went to a restaurant called "Tokyo Shiba Tofuya Ukai" located at the base of Tokyo Tower.   

We were greeted as we walked up the hill and led into a garden path leading down to the front of the building:

And to the front door of the building itself (here Mayu is leading us in as well)

The place is a huge building with many hallways and antique items.

One section has the "hardware" used to make Sake used many years ago, including

some rather large sake barrels!   Check out how big they are:

I hope we are all thirsty!

We (Jonathan, Mayu and myself) were led into our own private room:

The view outside of the room was to a beautiful garden complete with Coy pond

The multi-course meal menu was presented to us after a few questions were

asked about choices we could make (type of base used in miso broth for example).

Here's a photo of our menu for the night:

And the courses that we ate:

Bamboo Shoots with Vinegar Dressing, Sea Eel and Butterbur Scallop, Rape Blossom and Clam.

The eel and scallop were actually "integrated" into the dish on the red circle in the lower right.  A slightly 

crunch almost rice-cake like base.   Really amazing texture and taste.     The bamboo had shrimp and this

very cool "rolled up" green bean that almost looked like ferns from a rain forest the way it was curled up.

The second course was deep fried tofu coated with miso.   There was also some tamago on the plate.    This came with a condiment dish of onions that we were

told to add to the top of the fried tofu.    Wonderful texture and flavor -- almost like bagel with lox and onion, but without the bread component!    Later we got to see

how this was made (scroll down to end of meal when we walked past the outdoor chef making them)

Third Course: Hot Soup -- boiled milt and turnip.  

A nice soup dish with "interesting" components that I wasn't familiar with.   Turns out "milt" is somewhat like "rocky mountain oysters" 

for the fish world!    A soft custard like texture, the picture on the far right is the milt which is the male sperm sacs of the fish.   Who'd have known?

Yes, I still would have tried it if I'd known "up front" what it was, but all in all it worked with this dish.    The item in the middle was mochi-like and

I think was the turnip refined down to this ball of somewhat glutenous texture.   Also quite good with this soup.    Good for a cold winters meal!

The Forth Course: The one of the left was the regular menu and was crab on top of a steamed rice ball.   The one of the right was roe on top of the steamed rice ball for Mayu to accommodate

an allergy she had.

Fifth Course:  Sashimi.   We believe the fish was amberjack and it was absolutely amazingly fresh with the perfect "firmness" in texture and 

light flavor of a yellowtail variant.    Served on a bed of ice.   There was a dipping sauce on the side, though it was hardly necessary given the

perfection of this fish.

Sixth Course: Tofu boiled in a hot pot of seasoned soy milk.    

Super Silky perfect tofu in a wonderful almost creamy sauce.    Super soft and wonderful.   Came with a little bit of dark soy that one could

dribble on to add more flavor as well as a very small condiment dish of tiny "hair like" dried seaweed that could also be used to add a ton of 

seaweed/sea salt flavor to the tofu.    Amazingly delicate dish!

You can see a video of our server preparing this for us below:

Seventh Course: Charcol-Grilled Beef.    

This one is a call out to our mutual friend Marty (who loves his beef dishes!)    Wow!   Super tender meat grilled medium-rare to a perfection.

Came with a sweet sauce you could add on top which brought out even more flavor and a side dollop of wasabi as well as some greens.

Did I mention the beef was amazing!   It was from Saga, a district in Japan known for great beef.

Eigth Course: Steamed Rice with Ricebait, Dark Miso Soup, and side of pickled veggies.    I was pretty full by the time we got to this 

dish, so I must admit that I didn't eat that much of it for lack of room in my stomach!   But nice rice with flakes (almost hair like slivers)

of some type of fish and other seasonings along with a strongly favored dark miso soup with more tofu in it.

Final Course:  Dessert!    Fresh orange segments that had been marinated in a wonderful honey.    This was actually served with a small

3 pronged dessert fork.

As we finished dinner we asked to walk the garden area, which was surrounded by private rooms that looked out

into the garden like the one we had dined in.   In the middle of this area was a cooking/grilling area that the 

waitresses would approach to get things for the guests.   We were able to get this great picture of the chef

preparing the wonderful fried tofu coated with Miso that we'd had for our second course.   He was really

churning these out in large volume.    It was rather cold outside, but the heat from the grill made it comfortable in

this work area.

For contrast I'd taken a picture of Tokyo Tower, which is just above this restaurant,  when we'd entered and then

the shot on the right when we were leaving (at night).   You can really see how Tokyo Tower lights up!

We actually walked around the gardens a little more and then up to Tokyo Tower, but decided to pass on paying to ride up 

to the top (it was really cold out and I only had a sweater -- silly guy coming from a warm climate).    Here are some 

photos of the rest of the garden/coy pond and the christmas tree like display outside of Tokyo Tower.   One thing to note

as the circles on the ground near the christmas trees are actually areas with sensors, so when anyone walks into a circle music for that

area starts up.   It's very fairy-land like in nature!  (Note: some of the photos I took a little earlier as we walked in so I used them as 

they off the garden are better than the night photos)

Light up trees around base of Tokyo Tower

Alas, it was too cold of me to stay out any more so my friends took me back to my hotel

and we parted ways (hope to see you both in Hawaii again sometime soon!).

I went back to my hotel room -- tomorrow I travel to Taipei!