Seirinkan, Nakameguro

We cycled over to Naka Meguro for lunch this New Years Eve. It was a lovely day with not many people about. I wasn't hopeful of a great choice of restaurants. They say everything closes on the New Year holiday as people all return to their hometown.

We cycled past this enticing restaurant next to the closed Ceylon Inn. We had seen it before and thought we might try it one day without Nathan. It was opened this day for lunch. So we trooped in.

The decor is different - all wrought iron and glass. There are no tables on the first floor - just a wooden/iron spiral staircase leading upstairs, a bar with the chef and a pizza oven. There was a small shelf next to the stairs with a book about tanks which gave something away. Upstairs were small tables for 4 and a small drink bar. The front wall was just wrought iron with frosted glass like in a warehouse. The bare walls were dotted with rebar bolts and handles.

Stephen loved it. Very military - very eastern european, concentration camp-ish. The name of the restaurant is written in Russian, the menu is in Japanese. Luckily it was simple. This restaurant has just 2 dishes - 2 pizzas - a Magherita and a Marinara. Both tomato based, one with cheese and the other garlic, basil oil. We had one of each and although tiny they were delish. Nathan ate 1/2 of Stephen's. And the coffee, although twice the price of normal coffees were the best in Tokyo.

They had an Adolf Hitler plastic doll, still in its box with the label "War Criminals of the 20th century" behind the drinks bar. 2 tv radio machines, model war planes, more similar sized soldier dolls against the walls. All grey. And their card holder was a row of bullets.

Merry Christmas

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas eve at home. We roasted a leg of lamb the way we do it in Mallacoota - pierced with garlic, stolen rosemary and anchovies. Served with roast potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, garlic and tomatoes. Delicious. It was a bit dry because Stephen isn't patient enough for gravy. The roast tomatoes provide some sauce. Special Japanese garlic was roasted and its soft juicy flesh spread like butter over the slices of lamb. I must remember to start the roast with potatoes, to put it in while preparing the lamb. I think that it needs the opportunity for its temperature to rise and that next to the lamb the temperature is the same as the lamb which is not hot enough. The roasted meat and vegetables was served with green beans and a salad. Sancha on the side was a new addition to the mix. I should have bought the aubergines and roasted that too, would have gone well together.

Christmas Day, we spent by the beach at bills cafe. After trying to get directions from their japanese speaking staff, we managed to see the tiny word bills on a grey building and not a white one that they told us. Great aussie food - they had scrambled eggs, wagyu burger, chicken schnitzel, pasta, rissoto, pavlova. Obvious business formula to locate its japanese branch in kamakura,right next to the ocean, very Sydney. Stephen had seafood stew which both Nathan and he thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, they ordered only one dish to share and Stephen didnt have enough. We couldnt order anymore as it was past their last order, in fact we couldnt order a coffee after 2pm. I would recommend they change their chairs.

For dinner we had lamb soup. The left overs stewed with a tin of tomatoes, left over vegetables and beans served with cous cous.

Kentucky Fried Chicken

We were driving home from church on Christmas Eve when I noticed a queue outside Kentucky Fried Chicken. I honestly thought, these poor Japanese not celebrating Christmas eating KFC all by themselves.

At home after dinner flicking through a local magazine, there was a caption about the annual Christmas queues outside KFC. Hmmm? so I googled "KFC christmas eve tokyo" and this is what wikipedia says

Japan

KFC is often referred to as ケンタッキー (kentakkii, ケンタッキー) in Japanese.

KFC Japan was founded in 1970. A life size statue of the Colonel stands in front of most stores in Japan. Fried chicken is an especially popular dish at Christmas time and on Christmas Eve many families, many of who have made reservations weeks in advance, have their traditional Christmas dinner of Kentucky Fried Chicken at home.

So apparently when KFC first came to Japan, they didn't do too well. This mainly because Japanese don't eat so much meat in their meals. So their first big promotion was over Christmas dressing Colonel Sanders as Santa Claus. Till this year, all KFC's Colonel Sanders statue outside each restaurant is dressed as Santa and they have their busiest sales over the 23, 24, 25 till you need to order your chicken to eat KFC on those days.

Aozora III

Martin Axe was visiting and Aozora was in need of another visit from us so off we went. It was packed. Their junior staff turned us away. No free tables till 9pm. Then the lady hostess saw us and called us back in. She found us a table, phew.

We had:

chutoro with shiso leaves,

akagai with shreded ginger shoot and lime,

saba

The sea bass was in season and the best!

This was followed by:

japanese foie gras (a type of fish liver) in soy sauce, spring onions and wakame.

grilled scallop with nori,

aburi anago sushi,

kawahagi,

aburi toro sushi,

miso soup,

home made caramel and salt ice cream.

Ramen shop

Now there is this dish that keeps appearing in photos in front of Ramen shops. The intrigue is that it looks like a delicious version of Laksa. All that chilli oil floating on top, the brown sauce that could only be the chilli belacan I remember from primary school and the green boiled vegetables to temper the heat.

I found myself in Omotesando, childless (he was in kinder) and having finished my last errand - at the post office - standing in front of a ramen shop, looking at this photo. I must try it someday flashed across my mind, then why not today? I can eat as hot as I like without Nathan!



It was a bit downhill from here. This is Japanese tantanmen (whoppee! - I love the Chinese dan dan mien) which is described as noodles served in a sesame broth with chilli. And the brown 'belacan' was marinated pork. Not as hot as i thought? Ah well, still should be tried. I ordered it and was asked which 'lunch time free' item I wanted: a bowl of rice??, an upgrade to a large size, soy sauce egg, pickles, chinese almond jelly or caramel pudding. Guess which one I chose.

It wasn't hot at all - I toyed with putting more chilli oil in it, but it was oily enough. Sesame oil. But it was delicious. I couldnt stop drinking the soup and finished all of it. Yum!. The marinated pork was like char siew, just like a laksa without any spice. I'll have it again and put lots of sancha.

Note added later: I am discovering that Japanese people have rice as a side dish with their spicy/strong flavoured ramen. After eating all the noodles they dip spoonfuls of rice into the soup to finish it off!