131. Tokyo - Jojoen for Yakiniku and Abalone Porridge / 叙々苑 (Tokyo: Shibuya-ku, Ebisu / 東京都: 渋谷区, 恵比寿)

After landing at Narita Airport, I took the train into the city, checked in at the Westin Tokyo, and met up with Ken, my good pal who happens to be fluent in Japanese.  If you ask him, he might tell you his Japanese is shoddy, but he is just being modest.  He can make fun of any gaijin in Tokyo using nihongo... and that is clearly the true sign of being fluent in a language.  Right.

Ken's parents took us out to Jojoen (叙々苑), a popular chain of yakiniku restaurants across Japan.  The Ebisu location of the restaurant is located on the top floor of the Yebisu Garden Place, which is a stone's throw away from the Westin.  Okay, it's really just across the street, but I really think that Tom Brady could Hail Mary a pass from the rooftop of the hotel, and it would actually hit the building where Jojoen is.  In either case, Jojoen has damn delicious meats, and there are locations across Japan (from what I gather after looking at the list of store branches).  I wish I could tell you what I had, but the Lee family ordered in Japanese.  I simply ate as much grilled meats as any red blooded American dutifully could.  The beef... oh, the marbling on the meat was gorgeous.

Not only did we have sliced beef, juicy steak, fatty pork and the like, we also had a version of Korean bibimbap too... with the rice sizzling away in the stone pot making for a crisp and toasty bottom layer.  Thank you to Mrs. Lee for topping the crunchy rice with a grilled scallop later.  Oishii desu.

Speaking of seafood, my eyes were opened to a whole new world of possibilities when Mr. Lee ordered this abalone porridge that was like a cross between seafood risotto, soft steamed chawanmushi, and crack.  It reminded me of a savory rice pudding with the consistency more like the custard like center of a Portugese egg tart.

After all was said and done, there was more to be said and eaten.  We finished the late dinner off with some heart shaped green tea ice cream drizzled with some caramel like maple syrup.  Everything in East Asia has to be super cutesy, right?

Ah, a good first few hours thanks to the Lee family... and looking forward to all the delicious eats to be had in Tokyo.  But for now... a little shut eye since the 11 hour flight was flown entirely in daylight.  Until the next meal, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

叙々苑 / Yakiniku Jojoen
東京都 渋谷区 / Tokyo Metropolis, Shibuya Ward
恵比寿 4-20-3 / Ebisu District, 4 Chome 20-3
恵比寿ガーデンプレイスオフィスタワー 38F / Ebisu Garden Place Office Tower, 38th floor

See my Flickr photo set for Jojoen here and the filtered versions of the pictures on Instagram here.

Here is some more information in English on Yebisu Garden Place from Japan Guide.

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F.A.T. News 9: Food Becomes Fun

Food is food is food is food.  But food becomes fun whenever a creative idea gets executed in a unique fashion.  These two articles sparked my interest, but the images in the articles are what really captured my attention.

Proud of the hint of Taiwan here:
Designs on Dining

article by Jenn Garbee, LA Times / photographs by PEDEN + MUNK

The caption of the first image from "Designs on Dining" reads, "Taiwanese fog: Golden Xuan tea, dairy orbs, crisp honey and citrus essence."  I'm not sure how the Taiwanese fog is supposed to be eaten... or whether it's supposed to be eaten at all.  Is it meant to be looked at? Or just smelled? Either way, it's really cool that the Golden Xuan tea from Taiwan's famous Alishan (or Ali Mountain) has made its way to the innovative dining experience.  The high altitude of Alishan in Nantou County of Taiwan and its high levels of moisture makes for some of the most renowned tea in the world.

This may spark a trend:

Now you can eat -- Angry Birds mooncakes

article from AFP

These Angry Birds mooncakes are pretty cool.  Someone at work who has never heard of mooncakes before went crazy over this article and asked me to bring some back to the US if I happened to drop by HK.  If Maxim's Group decided to sell these outside of Hong Kong, they would definitely make a pretty penny out of this.  I'm not too sure about the chocolate and the pomelo flavors though, but I can definitely get used to Angry Birds mooncakes in lotus flavor.

Continue the creativity, food industry! Props to Roberto Cortez and Maxim's Group for contributing to the new trends in food innovation.

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Post 26.9: Vancouver - Night 2

Earlier in the day Amanda and I attended the Taiwanese Film Festival that happened to be in town.  The TWFF organization set up shop at Vancouver's International Film Centre.  It was really heart-warming to see a significant Taiwanese population supporting the push to have more representation in the film industry.

 


We watched No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (Cannot Live Without You), a film about a father's struggle to hold onto his daughter while the pressures of society's laws and bureaucracy pull in the opposite way.  (Wow, can I be more general?) It's a definitely heart-wrenching, tear-inducing film... more than half the theatre audience was sniffling and wiping away tears by the end of the film.  It didn't help that it was based off a true story.  No worries if you have trouble with Mandarin, Taiwanese, or Hakka (all three are spoken in the film)... that's what the subtitles are for! See the trailer here and the other films here.



To close off our fun-filled day of everything Japanese (and a little Taiwanese), Amanda took me to a Japanese snack and candy shop to explore my favorite tooth-decaying treat of all time... Kit Kat! Niiiiice.  See what I found:


Japanese matcha green tea flavor and cherry blossom with matcha green tea.


Framboise flavor and raspberry & passion fruit flavored Kit Kat.


Canada's hazlenut-infused Kit Kat flavor.

And I couldn't resist these little maple creams that I found.  Gahhh... the maple syrup cream literally bursts with each bite.  I planned to bring these back to the States as gifts, but... I ate them all even before we got back on the metro.  Fail.



These little sugary treats and our pit-stop at Urban Fare definitely lifted our spirits.  Woot for an awesome day of food and film in Vancouver.  Can't wait for tomorrow!

Next spot: Ostrich congee

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