Food, Food and More Food

I have a big pile of food pictures that I want to talk about.  I'm just going to pile them all into one post.  Each week or so, I go out with friends to eat at a restaurant we've never been to before.  Below is just a sampling of what Tokyo has to offer.

First up, is a regular izakaya in Gotanda, called Doma-Doma.  It is a bit more upscale and pricey than those 270 yen ones I blogged about before.  Each drink and dish has its own price, and it can get a little overwhelming at the end when you see the receipt.  Most of the food is regular izakaya fare, but what I wanted to show here is something different and a bit unique to this izakaya.

What do you think this is? At first glance it looks like beef no?  Its bright red and a bit fatty.  This dish has caused much controversy in Japan.

It is whale meat.  What kind of whale I'm not sure, but it is.  It is considered a delicacy here in Japan because it's a bit rare.  There's even a restaurant in Shibuya that's famous for its whale dishes.  Whaling in Japan is legal, but only for scientific research.  After all the science-y stuff, they then sell the meat to consumers.  I have been wanting to try whale meat for a long time.  Yes, whales are awesome, but it is a Japanese culture that dates back hundreds of years.  Some people think eating cows are wrong, some people think eating pigs are wrong.  I think it's important to be open-minded, especially when you're in another country with a unique culture.

Anyways, we each got one piece of whale meat because it's so expensive.  It really looks like beef doesn't it? The texture is soft and bit chewy, and the taste was fishy and fatty but its not like anything I've ever tried before.  It was really interesting, but I can't make a fair judgement based on one piece.  I am planning to go to that restaurant in Shibuya to try more whale dishes.

Just to give you an idea, 4 of us ordered about 3-4 drinks each and ate our fill of food.  In the end, we each paid 3500 yen.  That's about 45 CAD.  We just kept ordering dish, upon dish upon dish.  Its easy to keep wanting to order because the dishes are so small...


Next up is Pho in Shibuya!

I had a mad craving for pho!  I even went so far as to make chicken pho at home.  It was my first time!  Even though I'm sure it didn't taste authentic, it did have that nice spices and chicken-y taste to it.  I even bought hoisin sauce and imitation rooster sauce.  It totally hit the spot.  But one day when we convinced a friend to play hooky, we decided to go eat pho after shopping.  I knew there were a couple of vietnamese restaurants in Shibuya, but I wasn't sure exactly where.  We found this one small place, 6 floors up a building, with real Vietnamese people working!

I saw bun bo hue, and I was pretty much sold.

It came with a salad roll and a dessert.

First taste was just like what I remembered.  But I think I just missed pho way too much, because upon closer taste tests, the flavour was lacking and it wasn't spicy.  The meat was overcooked, and it had too much of that tendon stuff in it.  It seemed like it belonged in taiwanese beef noodle soup, not in bun bo hue.  Oh, and no toppings on the side.  They added bean sprouts to it already.  OH! And no hoisin or rooster sauce.  Disappointment...
It was still a good meal though.  I didn't expect much from a Vietnamese restaurant in Tokyo anyway...

Next up is Samgyeopsal!

There is a samgyeopsal restaurant in Vancouver that I've always wanted to try, but never got around to.  Basically it's a korean pork dish.  Pork belly, lettuce, red pepper paste, green onions, garlic, kimchi, and two dipping sauces.  I love it! It's a meat lovers dream!

The first time I went, it was about 1900 for 2 people.
First they prepare the grilling apparatus.  It's just a cast iron plate heated on a portable stove.
The waiter comes over and plops down a whole kimchi, uncut and lets it simmer on the hot plate.
The whole thing has to be put at an angle to let all the fat drip down, past the kimchi and into plates.

That's all the fat that dripped down at the end of the meal

The waiter tends to the meat for you, so you don't have to lift a finger.  Once its ready, they cut it up into bite size pieces and you take them directly off the grill and assemble a wrap.

Dip the meat in one of the sauces.  Put it on the lettuce wrap along with garlic, kimchi, green onions and hot peppers (I omitted the hot peppers).  Then, the only right way to do it is to stuff the whole thing in your mouth!  Delicious! Each time you chew you taste something new, like the garlic or kimchi or green onions.  It is really awesome.  I do love it, but you can't eat it too often I guess.

We also ordered toppoki and a kimchi soup as well, for the 3 of us.  We were pretty stuffed afterwards.  The toppoki was really good.  It is just rice cakes in a red pepper paste sauce with some vegetables.  This one also had eggs on the bottom!

We went to Shin-Okubo, another JR Yamanote Line stop.  This is like the unofficial Koreatown of Tokyo.  Korean people, restaurants, grocery stores, and idol shops everywhere.  If you want korean food in Tokyo, just get yourself here and wander until you find a restaurant that tickles your fancy.  There are TONS!

My food ramblings will end here for now.  I still have so many more, but that'll have to wait.  I can only talk about food for so long before I get ravenously hungry.

Ja ne!

PS: Sorry for the bad quality pictures.  I hate bringing the DSLR out when I'm shopping and stuff.  For now, the cell phone camera will do...