Bad gourmet

It's been ages, I know. I'm in Aceh, Indonesia and have really bad internet connection so I can't upload any photos. I have lots and lots of good stuff to write about from the Japan trip. Coming soon - promise!

Udon Gourmet

As Napoli is home to pizza, Parma to parmagiano and Champagne to champagne, then Shikoku is home to udon. Udon is that Japanese fabulously thick chewy white noodle that is usually served in a hot or cold broth.

Ever since Toshi and I watched ‘udon’ the movie almost three years ago we’ve been talking about making the ‘udon pilgrimage’ and last week we finally did it.

The view of Mt Fuji from the plane

We planned well. We bought the Shikoku udon equivalent of a bible which lists 88 of the top udon shops in the region. Three of the five places we went in the space of just over 24 hours were on this list, another was a brand new joint that we tried and the fifth, well, it was at the train station so we just had to.

The top 88 udon restaurants

The people of Shikoku take udon very seriously. Long kept family recipes are passed in secrecy from generation to generation and each udon shop is quite different. Some have soft noodles with a little bit of texture, others are thicker but shorter, and others are very strong and chewy. Options on how to have your udon vary but the common ways of having them are in a hot broth served with some spring onions and grated ginger; in a hot broth with a cracked egg; in a hot broth with grated yam and a cracked egg; or cold – with a cold dipping sauce. After you are served your bowl of udon, then you can select a piece (or more) of tempura to which you normally help yourself from a separate cabinet.

The menu

Tempura cabinet

The first place we went to, directly from the airport was Yamagoe, which is probably the most famous of the udon shops in Takamatsu (a city in Shikoku). It is so popular that sometimes 100 people are lining up at a time patiently waiting for their udon. We were lucky and there were only around 15 people before us.

Yamagoe

This udon was excellent. It featured not particularly chewy, soft, long snakes of noodle in a little bit of sauce that you pour on yourself. I had the plain hot udon with cracked egg and a tempura onsen tamago (literally hot spring egg - soft and gooey on the inside - the best way ever to eat an egg) which was one of the better ones I’ve ever had. Toshi had the hot udon with grated yam and cracked egg.

Yamagoe udon

The next place we went to was Ajisho – and this was also really good. I had the cold udon with dipping sauce and Toshi had the cold udon in broth. These noodles were very strong and presented a lot of resistance when you chewed them.

Ajisho udon

The next place we went to was Udon Baka Ichidai, which is not on the coveted list of 88, mainly I think because it has only recently opened. This was probably my favorite udon. Strong, chewy, smooth noodle in a delicious, complex yet light broth. I had the plain hot udon in broth.

The next place was Atariya. This place is another of the most famous udon shops and renowned not only for good udon but for the strict rules imposed on the customers, like not speaking until you are spoken to, standing in a particular order at the counter, and a certain method of selecting the condiments for your bowl of udon.

We didn’t love this place. The tempura was old, the onsen tamago way overcooked and the broth was nothing to write home about. The taxi driver who took us there and back also had a bowl and was deeply disappointed. His assessment was that this place got big and famous too quickly and consequently the quality has suffered.

Atariya udon

The last place we went to (and by this time we were very, very full) was Renrakusen udon at the train station. We really should not have bothered, these were very ordinary noodles with ordinary broth and well, there is really nothing else to say about it.

I love udon, but I don’t think I’ll be having any for a while now.

Foot gourmet

Ok, so this is a little strange and a little bit outside the scope of this blog but I have to tell you about it anyway. Yesterday Toshi and I went Oedo onsen to have our feet nibbled at by little toothless fish. These little guys are called 'doctor fish' and they have been imported from Turkey to eat the dead skin from people's feet (and presumably other parts of the body). For around ten bucks you can put your feet in a pond and experience the very bizarre sensation of having hundreds of little fish nibble at your feet. Once you get over the initial ickyness of it all, it's actually quite nice.

Salary man gourmet

Every weekday at around 17:30, thousands of Japanese salary men make their way to Ga-do shita (literally meaning 'underneath the train tracks') in Shinbashi (an area of Tokyo next to the well-known Ginza). Ga-do shita comprises hundreds of tiny hole-in-the wall type establishments which specialize in anything from yakitori to beef gut stew to sushi to you name it - oh and of course lots of beer, sake and shochu. It's a really cool place - the food, while not of superior quality, is good and cheap and the atmosphere just fantastic.

Ga-do shita

The kushi yaki place we went to...

Kushi yaki

A yaki tori place at ga-do shita - an absolutely incredible use of a very small space

Routine Gourmet

There are a three places that we always go to whenever we come to Tokyo, and usually we go to them more than once. One of them is Vin Vino, the other Kiryu and of course the yakitori place I wrote about in my last post.

Vin vino is a standing bar in Ebisu. It first opened in 1999 and was one of the first standing bars in Tokyo. Toshi first went there in 2000 and has been a regular patron ever since. What is special about the standing bar concept is that in a country like Japan - which has a fairly closed culture where it can be quite difficult to meet people outside of your immediate group - it allows strangers to easily mingle amongst each other. In fact it's almost impossible to not strike up a conversation with others who are there because Vin Vino is about 20 metres squared in size (including the bar itself) so with 20 people inside it feels like a very intimate gathering. Vin Vino is owned and run by Kon chan who loves 80s rock music and pumps out cheesy 80s music videos around the clock.

Vin Vino

When Toshi and I were there last December the Japanese 'Whisky World' magazine was shooting photos for a feature of standing bars in Tokyo - and we made it into the magazine!

That's us!

After a few drinks, we go to Kiryu, a two minute walk from Vin Vino. Kiryu is an izakaya (literally a place where you sit and drink) style restaurant that is very low key but serves fantastic food. There are a few dishes that we always have (their menu never changes) - yamaimo teppan (baked yam), natto (fermented soybean), maguro yamakake (raw tuna with raw egg), asari kare (clam soup curry).

Baked yam

Tuna and egg

Last night we had dinner there with friends from Jakarta - Cathy and Alan, who are in Japan on holiday and are heading off to London soon for a car rally from London to Cameroon (!!) - they have promised to do some guest blogging here with stories from their travels so I am very excited about that!

Alan, Cathy and Keiko

Nippon Gourmet

Last night we went to one of my favorite restaurants in Tokyo – Toriyoshi – it’s a little yakitori (literally grilled chicken but it’s soo much more than that) joint on a little street near the train station in Nakameguro. I love everything about this place. I love how everybody sits around the counter, which fits eighteen people tops and hungry patrons line up patiently outside waiting for a seat to become available. I love the hustle and bustle of the chefs around the grill who expertly cook up some of the most delicious food I have tasted. I love the freshness of the food, the beautiful way in which it is presented, and the incredible skill of the chefs and the rest of the staff. I love how the beer is perfectly cold and the sake completely pure. The thing I love most however is chouchin. Now I don’t really know how to describe this in English, or do it in a way that won’t sound revolting. Basically I suppose it is some liver with the reproductive system of a chicken on a stick and the yellow part (see below) is so incredibly tasty that I can only describe it as a flood of pleasure in your mouth. It took me a while to have the guts to try this as it really does not look very appetizing but once I did, there was no turning back.

The delicious sake

Icy cold beer

Amuse bouche of daikon and quail eggs and tsukemono (pickles)

Grilled broad beans

Gingko nuts, kidney and chicken cartilage

Okra

The amazing chouchin

Chicken meatballs

Quail eggs

Liver

Mushroom

Shishitou

This was all that was left at the end

Aargh!

Long time and nothing from me. Heading to Japan now so a 'Japan special' is coming right up. Very excited!