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*EDIT 8/7/13*
I totally forgot about these places we tried in Asakusa!! It's my favorite place to visit in Tokyo!
This place had a window in the front where you can see a guy making noodles. Totally cool! So we had to try it.
Soba Set (cold soba with mini tempura rice bowl) 1,200Yen~ Great texture, very refreshing.
Japanese Udon (served cold with dipping sauce) 700Yen~ I think I like cold udon better than cold soba! The udon in Japan is always cooked to perfection. Nice and chewy. And cold noodles are great for a hot day!
Pork Dipping Noodles 880Yen~ I wanted tsukemen, which is dipping ramen but this wasn't what I expected since I've tried it elsewhere last year. It was still good, but didn't satisfy that craving I had. haha. TONS of noodles... I couldn't finish it.
Chow Mein (fried noodles) 850Yen~ Basically yakisoba. I liked that it had a lot of veggies in there. Good flavor too!
Melon Cream Soda
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This year I didn't do much research at all for
food spots. There are too many good food
everywhere so we just walked around and looked
at different places and narrow it down from
there! Tough choices sometimes since
everything looked great. Especially when
you're hungry! hehe.
Here are some places we randomly ventured
into in Tokyo...
First day in Tokyo, we stopped in Shinjuku
station to pick up our JR passes and just
walked out in search for some lunch. We found
this underground udon place, Hanamaru. Appears
to be a chain, and I went to a very similar
style udon restaurant in Hawaii and it was
awesome. It's cafeteria style where you grab a
tray, pick up the tempura you want, then order
the noodles and they make it right there and
give it to you to check out. Seating is
community tables, first come first serve.
I got the Cold Udon with Pork and a Soft
Poached Egg (small for 399Yen~) The noodles
were cooked PERFECTLY. The texture was
amazing. So chewy! I liked that it was in more
of a sauce instead of full on soup. It had
tons of flavor, and so many different
textures. I topped mine with some tempura
crumbles. The egg was amazing, soft and runny.
The bf got a Hot Udon with Pork (small for
399Yen~)
Also got Octopus Tempura 147Yen~ and a Salmon
Rice Ball/Triangle (Onigiri).
First meal in Japan, and it's easily one of my
favorite meals of the trip. Simple but done
perfectly... YUM!
For dinner the first night, I don't even know
which area we were in... We saw the signs and
pictures outside of Za-Watami and was lured
in. haha. Later, I also realized this was a
chain because I saw it everywhere! It's an Izakaya which is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. We had to
take our shoes off at the door and put it into
little cubbies. Fun! :)
We started with some cocktails. We ARE on
vacation after all. hehe.
Cassis & Orange 499Yen~ Easily one of my
favorite drinks. I discovered it last year in
Japan. It seems to be a very common drink in
Japan. It's like juice, so it's good for
people who don't really like the taste of
alcohol.
Bf got this Mango Yogurty Cocktail thing.
Looked really pretty. But since I'm allergic
to mango, I can only appreciate its
presentation.
We got these little appetizers that came with
our drinks. (We realized after that they
charged us for it!! What?!?)
Apparently a lot
of places in Japan have a "sitting fee". I'm
assuming it's to cover the rent of the space?
Not sure, but we were so confused why our bill
was so high so we asked the waitress. Her
English was very limited and ended up just
removing the charges because she saw how
confused we were. haha. These apps cost as
much as the cocktails!!! Whoa!
I wanted some veggies so we got a Salad. So
pretty, and bigger than I expected. Topped
with a crab salad and soy sauce dressing on
the side. It was delicious. So fresh and crisp
and the creaminess from the crab salad paired
perfectly. I didn't even need to use the
dressing. My favorite item of the night.
5 Skewer Combo 699Yen~ We had
Chicken, Chicken & Scallions, Chicken Hearts,
Scallions, and Okra. We also added a skewer of
Mushrooms. Not the best yakitori I've had but
still pretty tasty.
Butter Corn 349Yen~ The picture on the menu
looked better than the actual product.
Could've used more butter. haha.
The 2nd day, we visited the Tokyo Skytree.
Which is pretty cool. You gotta wait in pretty
long lines but it's got a great view at 450
meters from the 2nd observatory. We wandered
into one of the department store's restaurant
level for dinner. Found a tonkatsu place that
didn't have such massive lines as some other
places. Saboten Tonkatsu. Staff's English is pretty limited (as was most places), but they had English menu.
Bf ordered the Saboten Combo (pick 5). He picked
Barley and Rice, Pumpkin Salad, Side of
Chicken Cutlet, Side of Asparagus Roll, and
Pork Loin Cutlet of Kenbiton (a higher quality
of pork) 1,680Yen~
With the meals we also got
unlimited shredded cabbage, rice and miso soup. SO. MUCH. FOOD. The tonkatsu was fried to perfection. Juicy and moist on the inside,
nice and crispy on the outside. There was just
enough fat on the pork to give it moisture and
flavor. My bf loved it so much. He's had
tonkatsu in Dallas before but never cared for
it because it's usually thin and dry. This is
the real deal! It also came with sesame seed
with pestle and mortar.. You grind the sesame
seeds and then mix it with the tonkatsu sauce.
NOM! The pumpkin salad was yummy as well, I
could've just had a tub of that.
I wanted to try something different and got
the Mizore Combo (Pork loin cutlet with Mizore
sauce which includes chopped scallion, bitter
orange juice, grated white radish, and
grapefruit) 1,350Yen~ Very interesting. The radish and citrus gave the fried cutlet a level of freshness. I also loved the barley & rice. A little nutty and difference in texture.
We both finished our food. I'm shocked. haha. But it was too good not to. Can't get quality like this in Dallas that's for sure...
Another lunch we had was close to our hotel at Nippori Station. It was inside another hotel. We didn't realize it was a smoking establishment though. Bleh!! We ate quickly and got on with our day. haha.
Keeping it light, we got the Yakisoba 680Yen~ and I got a small salad 380Yen~ The food was good. Too bad we couldn't stay long to savor it.
This next location is pretty cool. I specifically hunted this place down. I always wanted to try the live octopus... where the tentacles are still moving and stuff. Wanted to do it in Korea but didn't know how to order, and didn't find it in Japan last time. I found out that this dish, called Sannakji, is a Korean dish, so we went to "korea town" outside of Shin-Okubo station. We basically walked around and looked for pictures and signs outside for the octopus. Only found 1 location. So here we go...
We asked for it at the door and the waiter showed us the menu. As soon as we ordered it, we see him go to one of the many fish tanks and pull out a live octopus 2,000Yen~. Pretty quickly we had a bunch of squirming tentacles in front of us. How cool! It came with sesame oil and chili paste to dip.
The octopus itself doesn't have much flavor so all the flavor comes from the dipping sauces. The texture is the most important. It was definitely fresh! haha. The sensation is a new experience. You can feel the suction cups sticking on your tongue and inside of your mouth. I'd recommend chewing thoroughly before swallowing! Don't want them to stick to your throat. We enjoyed it. And had fun battling the food. haha. It was a feat just to pick the things up, since they suck on to the plate. :P If you are adventurous, I'd recommend trying this at least once. The picture doesn't do it justice. But if you google Sannakji, you can see them in action...
We also got Jap Chae to supplement our dinner. haha.
Next day, before we headed off to Osaka, we had a quick lunch at Ranmen in Tokyo Station.
Soba, Tempura and Rice 950Yen~
Katsu Don and Soba Set 950Yen~
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
I went to go check out the new conveyor belt sushi place inside Stonebriar Mall a few days ago with a bunch of friends. It's located on the first floor atrium area under the theater. I was pretty excited when I saw it going in. We don't really have conveyor belt sushi here so I was really hoping it'll be good.
Wasabi
2601 Preston Rd
Frisco, TX 75034
(469) 995-1104
wasabisushi.com
Price: $
It's a cute set up with lots of bright colors. Each color plate indicates a different price from $2.50 to $5. It took us awhile to get situated but then we started perusing. I was already disappointed. The selection didn't seem that great... quality, eh, options, eh, quantity, eh. haha. The cheaper plates had tiny rolls and didn't seem that great. The more expensive plates weren't much better.
I finally got the Tyson Roll (topped with crab and seaweed salad) $5~ Trying to get the most bang for my buck. The portion was ok, but quality was meh.
Salad (with ginger dressing) $4~ I also got this to get some veggies in. It was bigger than I expected which was good. I liked the ginger dressing. But the cucumbers were old... ew..
Salmon & Avocado Roll (topped with tobiko - flying fish roe) $4~ My friend got this. It was decent, but the rolls were fairly small.
Another friend got the Sake Spritzer (blend of sake, grapefruit, ginger and lime) $6~ Bleh... no one liked this. It was watered down. :(
The other stuff weren't really worth documenting. Ultimately, the quality wasn't good and it adds up very quickly. Not cheap at all. None of my friends were full and ended up spending quite a bit of money. We totally hit up Cheesecake Factory after that. hahaha. Btw.. the new S'mores cheesecake? FANTASTIC!!!!!!
Quality of Food:
Service:
Ambiance:
Value:
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
Last weekend I stopped by The Life House in Rockwall. A friend of mine had recommended it and I happened to be close by.
The Life House
506 N Goliad St.
Rockwall, TX 75087
(469) 264-7962
http://www.thelifehousetx.com/
Price: $
It's an old converted house. There's actually quite a bit of seating inside and free wifi! The place smelled pretty good when I walked in.
It was later in the day so they were out of most of their baked goods so I tried some of what they had left. They all looked so good. The guy behind the counter was super friendly and explained to me that they bake all their stuff in house. Everything is natural and they also do gluten free. Even the syrup they use for the drinks are natural and made in house. I love places like these!! :)
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie $2~
It was a thick and dense cookie and it was just out of the oven. I dug into it before I even started the car! haha. One of the best oatmeal raisin cookies I've ever had. Quite substantial too! Need to get more!
Cherry Berry Vegan Oatmeal $3~ (right) It was like a stiffer consistency of oatmeal in a cupcake liner. haha. It wasn't too sweet and had tons of oatmeal in it. I warmed it up in the microwave when I had it. It was ok... The oatmeal cookie was wayyy better!
Ambrosia Empanada (goat cheese, coconut, tropical fruit) $2~ (left) Now... I don't like goat cheese and I don't like shredded coconut, but the guy talked me into it. haha. He said they get really good goat cheese and there really isn't any coconut shreds inside. I do like the flavor of coconut so I gave it a try. It was like a homemade pop tart. hehe. Best to put it in the toaster oven before eating. The flavors were very mild so the goat cheese didn't bother me. I could sense it, but wasn't too bad. Very light sweetness, it went great with tea! My second favorite out of the bunch.
I really wanna go back and try their breakfast. And more fresh baked goods. :) And the people are so friendly!! If you are in that area, definitely go check them out and support local businesses.
Quality of Food:
Service:
Ambiance:
Value:
Overall Experience:
~~ CHOMP CHOMP~~
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