When you live in America and you talk about Japanese food, you are often referring to Sushi and maybe a distant second would be Tempura that by the way would be done at the Sushi restaurant. Travel gives you the opportunity to not only explore new places but also taste it, in our trip to Tokyo we had the opportunity to go out and try many different foods for breakfast, dinner, and lunch. Now after exploring Tokyo food scene and being spoiled to really great food is tough to go back home and try Japanese food, since the bar is so high (LOL).
While sharing some of the great food we had in Tokyo, there is also an important aspect that adds value to a great food experience, and this is having it with awesome people; the experience of sharing food, and stories is the perfect recipe for enjoying what the city you are traveling has to offer. Below you will see our team dinner where we had great food, but even better great stories were shared. I am thankful of these opportunities since makes travel even better.
Let’s start with Sushi as is the most common dish in and outside Japan. Sushi places come in all size, shape, and form in Tokyo and would be very difficult to identify a good versus bad place since they are all full (I think they are all good), I was impressed by the variety of Sushi and the alternatives to select, like a set already defined or a la carte with as many as you want. All of them were great, but wanted to try ones that would be the first for me and in addition to the classic ones I had: Salmon Roe, Sea Urchin, Fatty Tuna. You can´t miss with your selection but would encourage to try any of the 3 that I mentioned earlier. If you are in Tokyo please try them, you will enjoy them and more important need to tell you that after going back home Sushi will never taste the same. Taste and flavor out of this world!!!!
One of the places to go and eat Sushi is the Toyosu Market, with a train line that goes there is easy to land there, is one must do attraction in Tokyo. You need to go early and see the famous daily tuna auction that starts at 5:30 AM, this is an impressive place where thousands of fish are being sold every day, you can also find Fruit and Vegetable sections plus other comestibles. The market was opened in 2018, it had some pushback from the people that used to work in the old market, now that is finished is clear the great business development it is. Where you can find more fresh fish than the market, inside the big building you will see Sushi restaurants were in some case they have lines as early as 6AM to eat their Sushi. The experience is unique so be ready to have sushi for breakfast at the market. One important thing you will notice is the cleanliness of the place a clear signature of Japan culture.
Second food that I would like to share is Yakitori, these small skewers that you can find most common made of chicken outside Japan. Here in Tokyo, you have full restaurants specializing in Yakitori made of many ingredients like Beef, Chicken, Pork, Shrimp, Vegetables also they sell Beers, Whisky, and Sake. These restaurants are very high on energy, the kitchen in the center makes it like a DJ spinning some music while everyone is dancing to their favorite tune. Like many restaurants in Japan, you take your shoes before you enter and get seated either on a table or in one of the sides of the kitchen (my favorite), then you start ordering from the menu the small portions while having a cold drink. If you like grilling on charcoal you will enjoy this place, the coal is named “binchotan” it gives a good smokiness and when they put the sauce you get a good amount of smoke that bring flavors to the skewers you ordered. Yakitori places can be a great way to start or end the night… Kanpai!!!
The last food I want to share on this post is called Okonomiyaki, a Savoury pancake that consist of: Wheat flour batter, cabbage, meat or seafood, sauce, and Japanese mayo. This tasty dish is done on a teppan (flat iron grill) in front of you, design to be shared by the group on the table with chopsticks. They have 2 versions wet or dry, we did the dry one and loved it, not only tasty but the combination of flavors and texture was out of this world. One thing that made the experience great was the location and that many locals eat there, for me when I travel is always cool to go and find the local jewels to spend time with locals. This dish was a complete surprise for me, I did not know it existed and was my colleague the person who told me to try it, for that Arigato gozaimasu Takada-san.
I am showing just a very small sample of the great food we tried during our visit to Tokyo, food is a great way to understand how rich a country is and what Japan showed to me is a truly rich and diverse palate of options. From hot to cold, rare to cooked, veggie to non-veggie you can get what you want in Tokyo.
There will be a future post on Tokyo food in the future, I hope this made you hungry to go and explore Japanese Cuisine. Thanks for reading the post, please share it and sign in to receive our updates; also follow us on Instagram, or Facebook look for #BORICUASLIVINGABROAD. Until next time….
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