麵劇場 玄瑛 (Genei)

I was in Fukuoka last week and the first place my mom and I went to was Genei (麵劇場　玄瑛) in Yakuin. My mom and brother were raving about this place so I had always wanted to try. They are famous for their fish-broth soup based on hairtail (sounds weird in English...太刀魚ね).

Exterior.

Store name carved on the door.

The store has a '劇場' or theater theme, so the customers are seated facing the chef while he cooks the ramen.

I ordered the Shoyu Ago Ramen.

The al dente noodle went really well with the fish broth and it was really good, but it was a bit oily towards the end.

たん焼 忍 (Tanyaki Shinobu)

After randomly seeing Tanyaki Shinobu on tv, it was on my list of "to go to" restaurants. Finally made it out over the weekend.

They specialize in Beef Tongue dishes and have been around for 30 years. It's about a 5-10 minute walk from Yotsuya Station and is hidden on a street that has nothing, literally. While I was walking there, I immediately knew this was the place because of the crowd outside of the restaurant.

Exterior.

This was when we left the restaurant past 9PM. When we got there around 6:30, there were much more people waiting outside. It's super tiny and it was beyond packed. We sat in the back tatami room, squeezed together (there were 5 of us) to share a small table with 3 other people.

ゆでタン　Boiled Tongue

This is what they are known for. The tongue was so soft and tender, it was almost like eating roast beef. You add wasabi, which is just like adding horseradish. Loved it.

タンシチュー　Tongue Stew

This was really delicious. It was more western flavor-wise, so they give you some french bread to dip into the sauce.

塩漬け（上）味噌漬け（手前）たん

Cured Tongue in Salt (up) and Miso (in the front)

They were both really good and I thought it tasted similar to Proscuitto. I personally liked the salt one more. It went so well with the sliced onions and lemon.

大根煮込み　Simmered Daikon

味付けが優しくて、大根の甘さが出てて美味しかった！

トマトスライス　Tomato Slices

The tomato tested so refreshing in between eating the meat.

豆腐煮込み　Stewed Tofu and Pork

For anyone that likes tongue, I highly recommend this restaurant. Not only is it delicious, you can also get an authentic Japanese dining experience and everything is reasonabally priced.

石頭楼 (Sutourou)

Last night, we went to 石頭楼 (Sutourou) in Roppongi. It was so hard to find, hidden in a residential area inside of an apartment complex. Supposedly, they used to be a members-only restaurant and you needed an invitation to eat here. The only thing they serve is the Sutou Hot Pot course, which is a Taiwanese-style stone hot pot.

Vegetable & Seafood platter for 5. (Plus a platter of pork and beef that's not pictured)

They first heat up Sesame oil. Then they lightly cook the pork and beef before adding all the vegetables and seafood. The servers will do all the cooking for you.

Then the veggies, seafood and the meat are added.

Ready to eat! They give you two dipping sauces.

This was my first Sutou-Pot experience and I really enjoyed it. It was unlike any other nabe I've had but it was super tasty and very fragrant.

You can choose Ramen or Ojiya at the end. My friends chose the Ramen. The noodle was alright, but the soup needed a little more flavor and it was a bit oily for me. (Didn't finish this)

Comes with homemade Almond Jelly (杏仁豆腐) at the end. The texture of this Almond Jelly was really to my liking but it could have had a little more Almond flavor.

Halibut Acqua Pazza

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a fantastic deal on a pack of Halibut and wanted to try making something new. After browsing through recipes, I made a really simplified version of  'Acqua Pazza'. Most of the recipes called for clams or some other seafood but since I didn't have any at home I skipped it. The result was a major success! Couldn't believe how flavorful and delicious it was and the best part is that it was so easy to make.

I felt like eating it again today so I went to go pick up some Halibut. (After browsing recipes online, I guess any type of whitefish will work.)

I diced an onion, clove of garlic and 2 mini potatoes. Bought some cherry tomatoes and a jar of organic Kalamata Olives today. (Last time, I didn't have very many ingredients so I did it plainly with onions, garlic and carrots for color and it worked great.)

First, I sprinkled some salt on both sides of the Halibut and then I lightly seared it with just a little bit of Olive Oil.

After searing both sides, I added:

1/2 cup of white wine

 1/2 cup of water

all the vegetables (1st picture)

 and put the lid on.

After maybe 5-10 minutes, all of the flavors will mix together, making a full-flavored sauce. Add some salt and pepper.

Plate it, sprinkle some chopped Parsley (I used Italian Parsley), drizzle some fine Olive Oil... and EAT! Super easy to make, healthy and so tasty!

Sakura Sakura

I've blogged about Sakura Sakura before (here) but we went back a couple of times after. They recently started to offer lunch courses.

Entrance.

Decor. The restaurant is a renovated home that is 110 years old!

We ordered the 2,000 yen course.

This is a great, authentic place to get Kyoto cuisine. The portions are perfect and the presentation of each dish is so delicate.

Rosemary Crackers

Recently, I've been SO into these Olive Oil & Rosemary crackers. Had them for the first time at my friend's house and I went to go look for them the next day. They are so addicting!

I've never seen them in OC...

At 110 calories a pack, it is the perfect snack. Good thing they come individually wrapped... portion control!

Cables

It's been really cold lately but Tokyo has been blessed with clear, blue skies.

Rainbow Koffle Cafe

Every Saturday, we go to the Ark Hills Marche, a farmer's market in Roppongi 1-Chome to stock up on fruits & veggies for the week.

After going to a couple other farmer's markets, this one is my favorite. It's larger than the others, the variety is incredible and a lot of them are organic. My Mom is an organic food nut which naturally rubbed off on me so when I came to Tokyo, I was shocked at how expensive organic produce was (easily 3-4 times the price, compared to OC). At the famer's market, it's more afforadable and of course the best part is that you get to chat with the famers themself.  

Food/drink trucks make random appearances here. We had seen and tried this Koffle truck before and it was back this week!

Koffle is a waffle that is made from rice flour, Kome-ko in Japanese.

KOme + waFFLE = KOFFLE!

I ordered the plain with powdered sugar. It's freshly made and it's crispy on the outside and chewy (mochi texture) inside thanks to the rice flour. It's so simple and a great morning snack.

Davis

I've blogged about Davis before, but my sister took great shots of our dinner that I wanted to update them here. The food, ambiance, service... I cannot find a single negative thing about this charming restaurant. Drooling just looking at these pics.

Sangoan (三合菴)

I hadn't had soba in a while. We found Sangoan (三合菴) through Tabelog and decided to walk there to make the 11:30 opening. We got there 5 minutes past and got the last table.

 

My order: Tempura Soba (Usually it comes with Shrimp, but said that Tsukiji market was closed so they changed it to Scallop instead.) The Scallop Tempura was so sweet and fluffy. It was perfect with a pinch of salt.

お蕎麦も硬さがちょうどよくて、とても上品な味付け。

His order: Natto Soba

I'm getting this next time.

After we ate, there was already a line outside. The interior was very zen and minimalistic. The store was so tiny that I felt a bit awkward having a conversation.

Daiwa (大和)

My sister and I had lunch at Daiwa Sushi in Tsukiji. We went a little before closing (1:30PM) on a weekday so we only had to wait 10 minutes, which is nothing for this place. We debated whether to try a new place but ended up going here. This place is awesome and the fish cannot get any fresher than at the largest fish market!

Started with the Sweet Shrimp and Toro.

Ended on these: Yellowtail, Tuna, Egg Omelet, Anago and Tuna & Salmon Roe Rolls.

We were too busy eating to capture what came in between these.. Oops.

Paris S'eveille

Paris S'eveille in Jiyugaoka  is still my favorite patisserie. (I've blogged about it previously, in my old blog here and here.) I've had a lot of cakes and desserts in Tokyo, but I have yet to find a place that I like more than this place. Their cakes are pure genious, a work of art. An added bonus is that their breads and tarts are equally delicious.

I just wanted to share these pictures that my sister took when we went there on her visit last November.