tokyo food file

a new crop of ume fruit

A month and a half since the blossoms fell, and the buds are swelling nicely on our old ume tree, developing a beautiful blush.

Not long now till the rainy season, and then it will be time to harvest these sour sour fruit for pickling...

looking for Easter buns (not bunnies) on Good Friday

Despite what the old ditty says, hot cross buns are anything but two a penny here in Tokyo. And there's no reason why these aromatic sweet breads traditionally (in Europe) eaten on Good Friday should have caught on in non-Christian Japan.

Nonetheless, it's not totally impossible to track them down. We found two different versions this year. But only one of them was right — meaning that it tasted like the kind of bun I grew up with in the old country...

 

One was soft and nicely textured, with a smooth melting brioche-type consistency. Delicious...

 

The other was bready and pasty, with dried cranberries inside and coarse white mealy strips forming the cross on top...

 

The first came from the bakery of one of Tokyo's high-end hotels — where they limit you to 4 per customer. The other was generic, found on the bread shelves of the Kinokuniya supermarket.

Which tasted right? Yes, the cheaper version from Kinokuniya. Not only did it taste like a yeasted bread (rather than a pastry), it had just about the proper spicy hints of cinnamon and other aromatics.

Toasted up and with some nice butter melting on top, this – rather than all the chocolate eggs and bunnies – is for me the real taste of Easter.

Hachiko's been off catching salmon

Just what Shibuya's Center-gai needs: another brash cheap'n'cheerful izakaya.

Called Isomaru, it's still being fitted out, but it appears to be one of those fish-shack places with blinding-bright lights, nets strung on the walls, frozen seafood on the menu and easy-on-the-wallet prices.

It also has a logo with a nice sense of humour...

For those unfamiliar with Tokyo, this is a representation of Shibuya's iconic Hachiko statue — but depicted as if sitting by a Hokkaido salmon stream with catch in mouth... 

Look for Isomaru right by the Udagawacho koban (police box), on the site formerly occupied by the Kawachiya cut-price liquor store.

There are places like this all over town these days. I wrote up Marutomi Suisan in Meguro in my JT column a couple of years back.

But my abiding favourite in the "fish shack" category remains Uoshin in Nogizaka.

obanzai lunch at Oku

Time for another post from our Kyoto trip earlier this month...

I was first introduced* to Oku a year or so ago, and had been looking forward to a return visit since then. It's in the heart of the most touristy part of Gion, but set back sufficiently on one of the small back streets that it's relatively quiet. It looks absolutely traditional from the street...

 

...but inside it has been completely refurbished into one of those beautifully calm contemporary spaces that Kyoto does so well. A simple spare room with a wall-length window looking onto a tiny enclosed garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[photo taken from Oku's home page (C) OKU]

 

 

It's basically a cafe/tearoom with a small gallery attached (or is it the other way round?) but it also serves a very fine obanzai set lunch. This is what we had the other week.

A tray holding rice, miso-shiru, pickles, dessert and tea...

 

...followed by a long tray holding 4 prepared dishes — a couple pre-prepared, served cold/at room temperature; a couple cooked to order and served hot....

 

Scallop, mushrooms and spring herbs (fiddlehead and nanohana), steamed in foil:

 

A chilled chawan-mushi with shrimp:

 

Sakura-masu trout, grilled in saikyo-yaki style (with gently sweetened Kyoto miso):

 

And fresh young takenoko (bamboo shoots) with spring greens and stems of fuki (butterbur):

 

Our table was right by the window, looking out onto the garden, which is very simple, just a couple of shrubs and a couple of unusual flowering plants (not garden plants but probably brought down from the mountains).

 

As mentioned, Oku is actually a gallery/showroom for the exquisite tableware designed by local ceramicist Shojiro Endo. It is also connected to Miyamasou, a wonderful old ryokan up in the hills to the north of Kyoto — hence the quality of the cooking...

 

PS: Basically, though, Oku is a cake & coffee/tea place. Here's a slice of excellent yomogi roll cake we bought to take home with us. The green is not, as you might expect, green tea, but a paste of yomogi (mugwort) herb.

 

* a shout to Nick Coldicott (Time Out Kyoto shortlist) for first taking me to Oku...

 

cracking the San Pellegrino Top 20... @TheWorlds50Best

In the rankings of the "50 Best Restaurants" announced today (Monday in London), Les Creations took 12th position...

...while Nihon Ryori Ryu Gin zoomed up the list to 20th.

Big congratulations to chefs Yoshihiro Narisawa and Seiji Yamamoto!

Plus an honorable mention for Kitcho Arashiyama (#90 on the list). Finally Kyoto gets a look in too!