Tokyo - Eating

Neither Nick nor I like sushi.  We've tried it several different times, by good chefs, at the supermarket, you name it.  It's just not really our thing.  And we haven't really been exposed to much Japanese food as the midwest is not the place to for that (other than what other people call good sushi).  So I was a little apprehensive about what we were going to eat in Japan.

What I did know was that I wanted noodles.  We stopped at this noodle shop.  There was a menu that had pictures to the right, we selected what we wanted and paid using this machine which was outside of the tiny shop.  Then we went inside to wait for our food and eat at the little counter.

I had soba noodles with some sort of tempura and egg.  Nick had udon noodles with tempura.  Yummmm.  I fell in love with soba noodles.  And I even managed to eat them with chopsticks.  The cook recognized that we are inept Americans and gave us forks as well.  Ever since coming back to Chicago I have been on a search for some soba.

Later that night we went to Harajuku.  We saw all the young girls in their crazy fashions and browsed through the shops.  Needless to say, I didn't buy anything as that style doesn't fit with my preppiness.  We also saw a Wolfgang Puck.  It's not all raw fish in Tokyo!

We did not eat at Wolfgang Puck.  We did eat at Harajuku Cafe Crepe.  Unfortunately we'd devoured most of the crepe before we thought to take a picture.  They wrap up these large crepes like ice cream cones and stuff them full of all sorts of deliciousness such as cheese cake, whipped cream, strawberries, and caramel.  It was so good that we stopped by again the next day.

I would have loved to have eaten in one of Tokyo's many Michelin starred restaurants.  Even though we love to eat, with our minimal time we didn't have the time to devote to a long meal.  Plus we might have fallen asleep if we didn't keep moving.

We got up early the next morning to go to the Tsukiji fish market.  What a great experience.  The Tsukiji fish market is the biggest fish and seafood market in the world.  We didn't actually eat here though.

We saw some crazy species of fish.  Huge octopus, eels, and other slimy sea creatures along with tuna and crabs.

As I said before, we're not sushi fans.  However, since then we've had a couple experiences with great sushi at a restaurant in Vancouver and several raw fish dishes at L2O.  I wish we'd hired a guide to show us around and take us to the famous sushi counters located at the market.

Our final meal in Tokyo was to be lunch at a wonderful bento box place I'd found recommended on the internet.  We never did find that little restaurant even with explicit directions.  Instead we ended up at another restaurant in the neighborhood where I had a wonderful dish that had chicken and a wonderful sauce and Nick had another noodle dish.  Both were excellent.  I was so impressed by all the food I had in the short time that I hope to be back in the future for a full culinary tour.