Tokyo Ramen Map

The Frugal Traveler of the NY Times recently wrote a piece about ramen in Tokyo. The article and accompanying slideshow are mouthwatering. He also put together a Google map of some ramen shops in the city.


View Tokyo's Ramen Shops in a larger map

I have been on a bit of a ramen kick since coming back from Vietnam. One thing I've learned is that the ramen egg is really important to me. It has to be a slow cooked egg so that the yolk is creamy and yummy. I had a hardboiled egg in a bowl this week and it just really ruined things for me. David Chang has a great little write up in his Momofuku cookbook about slow cooked eggs in Japan. You should buy his book if not for the recipes, for the interesting stories.

Kobe Cuisine :: Sobameishi, Kobe and Coffee

Kobe is awesome. Most people know Kobe because of their famous beef. If I were going to be reincarnated in my next life, I wouldn't mind coming back as a cow in Kobe. Of course, while we were in town, we had some steak - at a place called STEAK LAND. I mean, if you're going to name your restaurant Steak Land, I'm obviously going to eat there. It was good and we had the obligatory Kobe beef set but the true highlight of our trip to Kobe was trying Sobameishi, a mix of fried rice and yakisoba that is a specialty of Kobe.

Sobameishi is really filling and cheap so it is really popular with young people in Kobe. We got a recommendation from the hotel to try a small shop called KAZAMATSURI. The shop is run by a very nice family and they serve yakisoba, sobameishi and okonomiyaki. Sobameishi tastes a lot like yakisoba because of the sauce, but the texture is stick to your ribs good, especially since Kobe is pretty cold in January. We woke up the next morning jonesing for more, so we went back for another meal at lunch.

Kobe has a lot of cute cafes with a very European feel. It was one of the first cities in Japan to open up to westerners. I think another reason for the strong cafe culture is because one of Japan's largest coffee manufacturers is based in Kobe, Ueshima Coffee Company, or UCC. UCC introduced the now ubiquitous canned coffee to Japan. There is not better 3pm pick me up than a piping hot canned coffee out of a vending machine.

Our final great find in Kobe is actually a shop that is based in Nara but since we discovered it in Kobe, I'm giving them full credit. Floresta Donuts (awful name -- doesn't it sound like a sleep medication?!) are made with all natural and local ingredients. The wife and husband owners wanted to make donuts that they could give their kids and feel good about it. I'm not actually so worried about the nutritional value of my donuts, but these suckers are REALLY GOOD. They sold me on the free sample of the plain donut -- they have a great texture and inventive flavors. Thankfully, there is a Floresta shop in Setagaya in Tokyo. (And yes, those are my feet holding up my can of UCC Coffee in the background)

Oh yeah, and then there was this thing which I don't have much to say about other than that it was really yummy and we found it at a nondescript bakery under the train station. 

Thanks Sylvia!

After we got back from Vietnam, we took a post-vacation vacation to Osaka and Kobe. During this trip, I discovered a fun little Japanese ritual -- the stamp rally. I was going to write about it, but my friend Sylvia, author of the travel blog Somewhere the Sun is Rising, just threw up an in-depth look into the stamp rally. So instead of writing about it, I'm sending you over to her lovely blog. So shoo! Go! Vamos! Geh weg!

Monkies and Mochi

Shimura's Zoo is a popular Japanese TV show which stars the lovable and talented chimpanzee, Pan-kun. The shows usually involve Pan-kun going on adventures with his bulldog friend James and his also adorable owner.

Mochi is glutinous rice cakes. During the New Year, families get together to make mochi from scratch in a tradition called Mochitsuki. I came across a mochi party in December and it looked like a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work.

So what do the two have in common? Nothing really, but here is a cute video of Pan-kun making mochi with Ms. Universe (the transexual edition) Ai Haruna. If you are bored at work, I suggest googling Pan-kun's other adventures - notably, the one with the magician and the one where he uses the Tokyo Metro with James.

Dad's Favorite :: Com Tam

Going along with the nuoc mam theme, here is a simple but popular rice dish we had in Saigon, com tam. Com Tam is broken jasmine rice with a pork chop. It is usually eaten with pickled jicama and carrots, a dollop of scallion oil and a not so appetizing sounding pork skin salad -- don't let the name fool you, it's quite tasty. The small bowl on the right is the nuoc mam sauce that is spooned over the pork and rice.

Com Tam means "broken rice" but it is synonymous with this pork dish. The rice used really is broken - they are the grains of rice that have broken into tinier pieces through processing and transport. The pork's marinade is very sweet, so it works well with the saltiness of the nuoc mam although a fellow Australian diner disagreed. She asked the waitress for some soy sauce which made me cringe with anger and embarrassment. Sigh.

Banh Cuon Machine :: Breakfast of Champions

I mentioned in my last Vietnam post that all of my favorite Vietnamese dishes are ones that are either dipped or doused in nuoc mam, the most common sauce in Vietnamese cooking. Banh Cuon is one of those dishes and while we were in Hanoi, we were lucky enough to have a family run Banh Cuon shop right across the street from our hotel. I was totally mesmerized by these ladies' skills and even more mesmerized by the fresh steamed rolls they were dishing out. The filling is made of ground pork and mushrooms and topped with crunchy fried shallots and shrimp powder. They also made an egg filled roll which I have never seen before. We tried one, but I think the original filling is the best.


In the states, banh cuon is served with a side of nuoc mam but here, they had their own sauce made of a mix of pork broth, lime juice and fish sauce. I was a little skeptical given my love for nuoc mam, but their sauce was bangin'. As you can see above, we polished off quite a few plates during our 3 day stay in Hanoi and made quite an impression on the owners. You know it was a really good meal when I don't have a "before" picture of the dish because I was too excited to start eating.

Not that many people read my blog, but I was lucky enough to get my first comment from a stranger. The Ravenous Couple has a great blog about Vietnamese cooking and they recently posted a recipe for Banh Cuon.

Toraya Cafe :: Classy Japanese Sweets and Tea

Keeping with the Japanese theme, I stopped by Toraya Cafe in Roppongi for some tea and sweets. Toraya serves Japanese sweets and yummy teas. I ordered the Kuzu Purin a la Mode. Kuzu is a white bean paste and a la mode in this case means a dollop of the best whipped cream I have ever tasted. Goes nicely with my Chrysanthemem (?) tea. Purin 「プリン」by the way is the Japanese word for Pudding. Purin is a childhood favorite in Japan and is more like a creamier flan than the JELL-O variety we eat in the US.

Toraya Cafe, Roppongi Hills
Roppongi Hills Residence-B 1F 6-12-2 Roppongi-keyakizakadori
Roppongi Station (Hibiya, Oedo)


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