When trying to choose a restaurant in Japan, it is not like in Manila where you can go to a Japanese restaurant and find all the kinds of Japanese food all in one place.  In Japan, most of the restaurants specialize in one kind of thing so it will either be a tempura, unagi, ramen, soba, shabu shabu, etc etc restaurant.  So there are times where it is difficult to choose a place that will please a big group of people

Rice Bowl and Soba

Unagi 

Tonkatsu – this restaurant was recommended by our friend Mykie who studies and lived in Japan.  This is no ordinary tonkatsu because it uses the highest grade of pork – KURUBOTA PORK

Ramen 

and gyoza! 

Soba – this restaurant had quite an assortment and it had soba to go with mostly everything.  They show how the noodles are made outside the restaurant to attract customers

What was nice about this place was that they showed the calorie count of every dish in the menu  

Only in Japan!! We normally see photos in the menu, in Japan, you can actually see mock ups of the dishes which look almost real from afar!  So this helps us tourists since we can’t speak Japanese, we just point when we order!  🙂 

Previous Entries:

Zakuro January 13, 2009

Pepper Lunch, Tokyo January 15, 2009

An Italian Cafe and Restaurant in Harajuku January 16, 2009

Tsukiji Market January 16, 2009 

 Kani Seryna January 18, 2009

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This is my first time to go to the Tsukiji Market.  We went in the evening so it was not as busy as it should be. It is a good thing we found a good restaurant which we all enjoyed!

Some photos and material taken from their website:  Tsukiji Market 

 There are many restaurants in the area…hmmm….

A few vendors still open…. 

Until we finally decided to eat here… 

Prices are much more reasonable! 

and so FRESH!!! 

I am not a sashimi person, so I ordered the Unagi which was cooked… WOW!! Still YUMMY!! 

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We were hungry and did not know where to eat and we saw this Italian place at the tip of the street in Harajuku

Dad read “Ostriche” on the menu board so he recommended this and we just followed.  Only to find out “Ostriche” meant oysters and not Ostrich like dad originally thought 🙂 Though the oysters we ordered turned out to be our favorite dish!

This was our not so private dining room which fit us perfectly 

Here is the owner and general manager of the restaurant. I was watching him and I noticed that everytime a dish would come out, he would go to this table and start garnishing the dishes

I found that an interesting touch by the owner…here is his working table 

with oils and garnishings 

Mr. Makoto Miyajima said that his restaurant is the oldest Italian restaurant in Harajuku 

I found another use for cork… as a spoon/fork rest 

2 pages of the menu were in English, the rest were in Japanese.  Good thing we always have our brother, Paul, with us who interprets for us and helps us communicate with the Japanese 

Salad- and of course the tomato is so fresh! 

We were so scared to order because we have not heard nor eaten in this place..so we ordered very little dishes.  We tried to order oysters and WOW!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! And they served it with a small toasted bread and mushroom on the side of the shell with this really delicious creamy sauce then sprinkled with parmesan cheese on top!!!!!!! We all loved it! THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!! We ordered again some more!! 

Calamares!! WOW!! Also very good.  The owner said that he uses everything NATURAL and ORGANIC! 

The pizza was also very very good!! We felt so bad ordering very little because the food was taking quite some time to prepare and if we ordered again, it would take more time again…but IT IS WORTH THE WAIT! 

ALL THE PASTAS WERE VERY GOOD!!!!! 

Here is our second batch of oysters!! YUMMY!! 

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 This is dedicated to my friend, Cecile and her husband Jeroen who own and operate Pepper Lunch in the Philippines 

I made sure we tried Pepper Lunch while in Japan so that we could compare.  Good thing there was one near our hotel.  According to Dinky and Dondi who were in Japan too, they ate in Pepper Lunch 8 times!  They were a group of 18! 🙂 

Of course just looking at the photos makes us hungry! Take note that the Beef Pepper Rice is 680 yen which is equivalent to P 384.00.  In Manila, Beef Pepper Rice is only P 198.00 which is half the price!  So go and eat all the Beef Pepper Rice you can here in Manila!! 🙂  

 In Japan, it is self service.  They have a machine that looks like a vending machine and you already choose what you like and press the buttons and pay!  What an invention!! They have many of these machines around Japan

We ordered our favorite the Beef Pepper Rice 🙂 The difference again is that here in Manila they even have nice paper around the plate so that it won’t splatter on you and with instructions on how to cook it.    But the taste is the same!! YUMMY!!!  Of course, I asked James to ask for extra butter.  James said ” battah”!   butter with japanese accent 🙂  Finally they understood after pointing several times at the butter.  Then they gave us so much.  They did not have a button in the machine for extra butter so it was FREE!! Yay!!! and I am probably the only customer they encountered who asked for EXTRA BATTAH!  🙂    

The style of eating in the one we went to is like a bar….I guess it is for people who really just want to eat in a hurry and go. Many places are like this in Japan. They are not like Filipinos who eat in batches of 14 people like us 🙂 ( but not that evening )

and we face the kitchen while eating… 

Conclusion:  We are spoiled here in Pepper Lunch Manila.  So enjoy it here!!  No need to go to Japan to eat Pepper Lunch!  

They even provide cologne when exiting the store so you can spray yourself after 🙂 

Previous Entry:  Pepper Lunch May 16, 2008 [email_link] 

 Some very Parisian excitement in Tokyo

After London, Monaco, Geneva and Lausanne, Ladurée continues its’ journey and opens on one of the most beautiful avenues in the world: “Ginza”.

David Holder, the President of Ladurée, has wished for several years that our House could blossom in Japan.

Following a meeting with the President of Mitsukoshi, an iconic department store in Japan, David Holder decided to open his first Ladurée Tea Room. 

(Taken from website of Ladureé )

The girls made sure we tried Ladureé in Tokyo…so we braved the long lines.  

The first time we went there, we backed out just like many other customers did….. and later on realized that we had to really try it.  So I lined up by the back stairs of Mitsukoshi department store and waited for 30 minutes and called my Mom and sister when it was already near our turn.

Previous Entry:  Ladureé May 28, 2008 

I wish I had taken more photos, but they were strict about it…so this was all I could take of the pastry counter 

1 Macaron costs around P 158.00, expensive but it is the BEST in the world!  🙂

Loved the mini chandelier… we stayed in one of these tables 

It would have been nice to stay by the window facing Ginza street… 

So sorry about the menu- it was a bit tiny than usual…plus no English, just French and Japanese 

It was worth the wait to spend time with the girls…. 

We just shared the Afternoon Tea for 2 persons 

And took home some macarons for the others 🙂 which came in beautiful boxes  

Ladurée Ginza Mitsukoshi

2F, 4-6-16 Ginza Chuo-ku

Tokyo 104-8212

Tel : 03-3563-2120 

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When in Japan, we do mostly window shopping and you cannot imagine how much our eyes buy by just looking at all the many things to see.  Japanese really spend a lot on packaging and presentation.  In the department stores, there is one or two floors of food in their basement.  And WOW!  The food just looks all so YUMMY!  For Philippine standards, their products are expensive but to them, it does not seem so.  It is always jam packed with people…

Their pastries always look so pretty and so good to eat!! and with all that FRESH FRUITS! 

Bakeries like these are all over Japan and they have a great selection of breads…  

This looks like a flat bread with cheese!  Looks YUMMY!! 

And many food to go counters… 

UNAGI ( Eel) 

Tempura 

There was a long line going around the escalator – really long line!  I went to see what they were lining up for and it was this!  I wonder what it is.  It looks like a Brazo de Mercedez?  It looks like cream inside a roll…I was so curious what it was but had no time to line up!  The line seemed to never end 

These are our favorite Yoku Moku rolled cookies- it is like lenguas de gato but rolled.  Then this Almond leaf – it is a crispy cracker with sugar and almonds on it! YUMMY!!!! 

OH MY GOSH!! FROZEN YOGURT!!!! Of course we had to get some!  This was a gelateria and yogurt place so they were selling also gelato 

Interesting frozen yogurt!!! with fresh fruits and then syrup lined on the sides 

And WOW!!! Look how they display their fresh vegetables!!!! It’s a work of art!!!!  And the vegetables are so nicely packaged and you won’t see a single speck of dirt on them! They look so perfect! 

And their seafood and meat section…also WOW!!! 

Look at those gigantic crab legs! 

Sashimi to go- looks soooo fresh! 

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Dad and Mom’s favorite Shabu Shabu restaurant in Tokyo 

Wine brought by James all the way from Manila, just pay corkage

We ordered more of the lunch courses which were complete meals already… 

Their tomatoes are so red, juicy and really FRESH!! 

Quito ate all the beef already before I could take it, so this is just the cooker and cooking a few of the vegetables

Sorry about the menus, the hardest to take photos of.  Especially in Japan where they think I am spying on their restaurant…how do i explain my website to them?  🙂 

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