Archive for April, 2008

近江や (Oumiya)

Published
by
seat
on April 20, 08
in 08:神田・神保町・秋葉原
. 0 Comments

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さば焼き定食、￥７５０。
Grilled Saba(mackerel) lunch set. Very good!
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さんま焼き定食と白菜煮物、￥８３０。
しゃけ焼き定食と京菜煮物、￥８３０。
Grilled sanma lunch set. Simmered hakusai.
Grilled salmon set. Simmered Kyouna.
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マグロの照り焼きと肉豆腐、￥９００。
さばの煮付け定食と肉じゃが、￥８５０。
Maguro teriyaki lunch set. Nikutofu - meat and tofu.
Saba no nitsuke - Simmered mackerel. Nikujaga - meat and potato.

A small and shabby eatery with only a few counter seats serving cheap set meals. The old gent grills the fish, and the madam prepares the rice and soup and side dishes. Very generously portioned and the rice is refillable. The basic set lunch includes fish, rice, pickles and miso soup. There are many inexpensive side dishes that you can order with the set. Amongst all the options for fish, grilled saba is the best. The customers’ female-to-male ratio at lunch is probably something like 20:1.
Apparently, this shop, this shop and this shop, which are all at the same location, are opened by three brothers…kinda sweet.
Add: 2-24 Jimbocho, Kanda

Nagoya 1

Published
by
seat
on April 18, 08
in 01:Japan
. 2 Comments Tags: .

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山本屋総本家 (Yamamotoya Souhonke)
There are many branches(even one in Tokyo which I went before!), and this one is the original shop.
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親子味噌煮込うどん。
Nagoya’s famous miso nikomi udon. I had the one with both chicken and egg(oyako). The handmade udon is thick and hard-texture type. Served with boiling hot miso soup.
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スパゲティハウス ヨコイ 住吉店(Spaghetti House Yokoi)
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サンジェルマン：小エビ、グリンピース、オニオン、ピーマン、マッシュルーム、黄金焼。
Nagoya local specialty “Ankake spaghetti”. Thick spaghetti is stir-fried with lard(uh oh) and eaten with starchy sauce(hence “ankake”) which is some special sauce made from meat and vegetables and is slightly spicy. I ordered an omelette-like topping with prawn, green peas, onion, bell pepper and mushroom. It is not as weird as I had thought…actually it reminds me of the spaghetti served in Hong Kong styled cafe. ^^;; You can get ankake spaghetti in many shops in Nagoya, but seems like Yokoi is the most famous.
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山本屋本店 (Yamamotoya Honten)
Similar name but completely different from “Yamamotoya Souhonke”. It also serves miso nikomi udon mainly and has many branches. This branch is in Horiuchi building(堀内ビル) near Nagoya station. The very nice pickled vegetables are refillable.
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Miso nikomi udon with pork. Comes with rice. 2310yen. I like the miso udon here better. The noodles are softer but more chewy. The soup is less thick and less salty. The pork is not the most high quality kind but good enough, and very generous in portion. There is no Tokyo branch for this restaurant chain so you can only eat it in Nagoya.
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0802270003Mon chouchou
A loooooong queue waiting outside this cake shop when I walked past so I got curious. I later found out that the shop is actually from Osaka, and they have Tokyo branch too. ^^;;; Seems like most people queued for the take-out “Doujima roll cake” but you can eat inside the cafe without any waiting. In that case it is more expensive of course and you need to order a drink too. The rollcake is delicious!! Unbelievably soft and smooth, and the cream is so good that I can eat a bowl of it on its own. I thought I was too greedy and ordered too much(it was after dinner) but later I wished I had order more.

吟ばん (Ginban)

Published
by
seat
on April 17, 08
in 08:神田・神保町・秋葉原 and Good Cheap Eats
. 0 Comments

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日替わり： さんま一味干し、￥１０００。
Sanma with chilli.
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海鮮丼、￥１２００。
Kaisen-don(seafood rice bowl).
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穴子海老天丼、￥１０００。
Anago and ebi(prawn) tendon(tempura on rice).
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紅鮭ハラス焼き、お刺身付き、￥１０００。
Grilled salmon belly, with sashimi.
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特製和牛丼、￥１０００。
Special Gyudon.
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さば醤油干し、￥１０００。
Grilled Saba(Mackerel) which is marinated in soy sauce and dried beforehand.
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Very good-quality washoku lunch place. Everything I ordered was delicious and the ingredients tasted fresh. The portion is not big but adequate. Lunch always comes with 2 small appetizers and rice is refillable. There are many small private rooms and I never have to share tables with strangers even I always go alone during busy lunch hour on weekdays.

Lunch menu(J): 1, 2, 3.

吟ばん(Ginban)
Add: 1-17 Sudacho, Kanda, Chiyoda-ku
Tel:03-3252-1030

めん徳 二代目 つじ田 神田御茶ノ水店 (Mentoku Nidaime Tsujita)

Published
by
seat
on April 16, 08
in 08:神田・神保町・秋葉原 and Good Cheap Eats
. 7 Comments Tags: , .

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二代目らーめん、￥９００。二代目つけめん、￥９８０。
Nidaime ramen. The soup is slightly thick but not a bit greasy or salty - very nice to drink.
Nidaime tsukemen. Seems like the most popular item on the menu. The shop’s instructions are: for the first 1/3 of the ramen, just eat with the dipping soup alone. Then squeeze the sudachi into the ramen and mix well. For the last 1/3 of the ramen, add the black chilli pepper. The noodles are elastic and very chewy. After you’ve finished the ramen, you can ask the staff to add soup into the leftover.
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チャーシューごはん、￥３００。らーめん、￥７００。
Chashu with rice. It is a lot of pork - not bad but quite salty.
Ramen. Same as Nidaime Ramen but with less toppings.
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二代目ごはん、￥２８０。つけめん、￥７８０。
Nidaime gohan - just rice with chopped pickled cucumber(also okra I think). A bit too simple for 280yen maybe?
Tsukemen. Same as Nidaime Tsukemen but with less toppings.
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There is always a queue outside but the staff are very efficient so the wait is never longer than 15mins even during lunch hours at weekends. There is a bench outside for you to sit and wait and even help yourself to some hot tea.

めん徳 二代目 つじ田 神田御茶ノ水店 (Mentoku Nidaime Tsujita)
Add: 1-4 Ogawamachi, Kanda, Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-5256-3200

札幌 味噌や (Sapporo Misoya)

Published
by
seat
on April 16, 08
in 08:神田・神保町・秋葉原
. 3 Comments Tags: .

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0802010003Miso ramen(Left). Spicy miso ramen(Right). Just passable ramen - not the gourmet or “kodawari” kind in which each ingredient is special/particular. It is a huge bowl for 700yen with free rice during lunch time, but half of the bowl is beansprout. The small second floor space for female customers is nice though.
Menu(J) here.
札幌 味噌や

Ethiopia (エチオピア)

Published
by
seat
on April 15, 08
in 08:神田・神保町・秋葉原 and Good Cheap Eats
. 2 Comments Tags: .

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野菜カリー、￥９３０。
Vegetable curry rice.
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インド豆サラダ、￥１８０。
Indian bean salad is quite big and has tuna in it. All curry rice come with a potato and butter.
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チキン＋野菜カリー、￥１２３０。マンゴーラッシー、￥２７０。
Chicken and vegetables curry. Mango Lassi.
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グリーンサラダ、￥１８０。ビーフカリー、￥８８０。
Green salad. Beef curry.
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豆カリー、￥８８０。
Beans curry.
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エビ＋野菜カリー、￥１２３０。チャイ、￥２７０。
Prawn and vegetables curry. Hot Chai.
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ビーフと野菜カリー、￥１２３０。杏仁豆腐（マンゴーソース）、￥２７０。
Beef and vegetables curry. Almond pudding with Mango sauce.

There are many curry shops around Jimbocho area but this place is definitely one of my favourites. The curries served here are supposed to be Indian style despite the name of the shop. Tiny place with counter seats on the first floor and tables on the second. You buy tickets from a machine, then tell the staff how spicy you want it. Hotness level is up to “70″. I tried “0″ and “1″ at first, which are not hot at all. Level “3″ is slightly spicy, while “5″ and “10″ are quite spicy. For me “10″ is spicy enough - I don’t have very high tolerance. I heard people asking for “50″ so I guess it is edible….The meat(beef and chicken) in the curries are okay, not fantastic, but the vegetables are delicious and very well cooked with the spice(more than 20 kinds used apparently). Drinks like chai and mango lassi are good too.

Menu(J): 1, 2.

エチオピア
Add:3-10-6, Ogawamachi, Kanda
Tel:03-3295-4310

広島 お好み焼き カープ (Hiroshima Okonomiyaki Carp)

Published
by
seat
on April 14, 08
in 03:Japanese, 08:神田・神保町・秋葉原 and Favourite Food Entries
. 2 Comments Tags: , .

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Oyster.
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Negiyaki: Okonomiyaki with lots of spring onions.
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0801250062Okonomiyaki with squid, prawn, pork and soba(noodles). Very good!

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We tried toppings of mochi(the white clump in the picture) and cheese(cheapy supermarket slice cheese), also with udon added. Didn’t turn out very well….
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Famous Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki place that we were stupid enough to go on a freezing-cold Friday evening. When we arrived at 20:30, there were 20 people waiting in the queue…not being able to think of a plan B, we ended up waiting for an hour outside. -o-;;;;; The last order is 21:30, but after that people still kept coming and coming, asking if it was still okay and the staff had to keep turning them off. There are only counter seats and the food is cooked in front of us. Relatively healthy okonomiyaki style with very thin layer of batter as the base, an egg on the top, and lots of lots of cabbage in between. Major toppings are pork, squid and prawn. Soba(not buckwheat but noodles) or udon are usually added too. Since it has more cabbage and less batter compared to say Osaka-style, it is much less heavy. The shop is opened from 11am til 10:30pm - apparently the time between lunch and dinner during weekdays is pretty empty(weekend is busy all day).

広島お好み焼きカープ
Add: 3-5 Kajicho, Kanda, Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-5296-0080