The restaurant which ticked all our dietary requirements was called Zen. How Zen is that! Everyone was happy – Bert had steak while Bella had the largest okonomyaki I have ever seen.
Thursday (losing track of days so I think that was yesterday) started well and just got better and better. After breakfast, B&B went to the seaside with a friend of Bert’s for the day. Husband was in a very good mood – he loves the Toto washlet system. I have yet to brave it although I pushed a button on the panel hoping it would play music but just got a lot of hot air. We were a little early for our meet time with Michelle, our guide for the day, so we went to a cafe which overlooked Shibuya crossing. Husband again happy as he sat counting the porsches and generally watching cars. This was good for me as I was hoping that my love of looking at food and eating it wouldn’t be too much of a drag for him.
I had been recommended Culinary Backstreets by the lovely Annie B who put me in contact with Fran Kuzui. I booked the tour easily through the website. We met our local guide, Michelle, at Shibuya station and headed down to the basement of the Tokyu department store – most department stores have food halls in their basements – helps with logistics when delivery van turns up. We started with some very fresh sushi – octopus, tuna, and eel, accompanied by a lot of ginger – it was fantastic.
Michelle then gave us a tour of the food store. I love supermarkets and this one was probably one of the most interesting and very high end. We saw meat – including wagyu beef, many types of fish, fruit, veg and cakes. Everything looked so fresh. She steered us through all the good bento boxes – provided some ideas for us to take on our train ride on Sunday to Kyoto.
The stand-out crazy stuff was the gift fruits – square melons, heart- shaped melons, melons that cost 26,000 yen (over £200). Oh, and the plastic fruit, which really confused Husband. Can you spot which are real and which are plastic?
I bought some yuzu juice and saw the actual yuzu fruit – was like a line but Michelle explained they were usually more yellow.
The abundance of food was amazing – some top tips for vegetarians – try the aubergine with miso or fried tofu stuffed with rice…
We had lots of free sample tasting as we walked around with Michelle and then we took the train to Kichijoji, a suburb of Tokyo which was just outside the 23km ring around central Tokyo. It immediately felt more of a neighbourhood than a frenetic city.
Our first stop was at a rice cracker shop – Michelle explained that it was a family shop that had been handed down through the generations and was one of only a very few left that handmade the crackers. We were warmly welcomed by the owners and were even given access to the kitchen where we saw the crackers being baked over a grill, turned frequently to stop them scorching, then when dried, plunged into soy sauce and then placed in wooden boxes in a drying cupboard. We weren’t allowed to take photos in the kitchen but we were photographed with the owner and her daughter. I was like a kid in sweet shop. I have never tasted such good rice crackers. Husband was very swift and sure in his choices, taking advice from the owners on what to buy. I was a little more dithery – but ended up with four packets of assorted loveliness. I hope I can save them until I get to England but no promises!
Michelle was really knowledgeable and a very good raconteur – she took us on to a little place where we were served fugue! I was so excited. It was served with daishin, spring onions and miso soup – and we are still alive to tell the tale 🙂 it was accompanied by a cup of sake too!
We continued waking around the streets, stopping off here and there. It really felt like a lovey place to live – maybe like Richmond or Kew, with less green.
We then met Miso man – who was a fantastic character. Michelle explained his story – among other things, he was learning to ballroom dance. His English was very good and he was very funny. He makes miso – we tried 8 different types – some made with barley, some soya, some mixed. We then were able to choose which one we liked best and he made it into miso soup. Fantastic! More snacks followed – including some pork which had been marinated in red wine and miso, and some walnuts that had been fried in a syrup and miso – had to buy some of that to take home (may not get home though…)
A fab visit and somewhere few tourists will know about. That’s why I love going local with a guide.
Next stop was a wagyu beef ‘patty’. There was a long line, as Michelle explained they only sold their patties freshly cooked, so while she queued, we wandered into a tea shop (bought some more matcha tea) and a kitchen shop (bought two bowls and some lovely plates). We then ate our meatballs standing by the side of the road – wow, they were delicious.
As we wandered along, Husband spotted a Patrick trainer shop and his eyes, which had been closing through jet lag (obviously) lit up and we made a diversion from food talk to trainer talk. He tried on a pair and was hooked. The guy in the shop was very helpful, spraying the new shoes with waterproof stuff, and everyone was happy.
We then made our way to a great street bar which specialised in chicken yakitori. We were able to stand with the locals – and had some beer with our delicious chicken wings. Gizzards and other chicken bits were also available but not really my thing!
For pudding (!), Michelle took us to an older part of town which consisted of little alleyways and small shops. We had a red bean curd fish cake – cake as in a waffle-type not potato. My experience of red bean anything wasn’t great so was cautious when I bit into eat – but I think my taste buds have matured considerably and I thought it was delcious. The moulds used by the baker were on display, with their own special Buddha!
Our final stop was in a bar where I had some sake and Husband had more beer. We took the train back to Shibuya and within minutes of hitting the pillow, Husband was out cold. I struggled to stay awake just to say hi to the kids and then fell into a very deep sleep. What a fab day! Thanks to Michelle and the great team at Culinary Backstreets!
Snoo's kitchen 