tokyo food file

dinner @ Quique Dacosta Restaurante: reminiscing on a remarkable evening

Of all the restaurants on the latest World's 50 Best list, announced at the end of last month, the one that left the deepest impression on me last year — in or out of Japan — was Quique Dacosta Restaurante.

We were intending to go in March; finally got there in September; and have been wowed ever since. It's taken me eight months to put up a blog post. You could say it's taken that long to digest the experience. 

And there was so much to say about it, I had to divide it into three separate parts: Down to Dénia...; the remarkable amuse bouches...; and the actual dinner.

They're all over on my other blog, From Bath to Barcelona 

 

 

going wild with asparagi

Just as I was starting to have had enough of those big fat white asparagus spears — the season is about over now anyway — here come their country cousins, delicate asperges sauvages: "wild" French asparagus.

We've enjoyed them at home, simply steamed for a few minutes...

 

…and also around town. Here (below) they were served up as part of an excellent salad that also included fiddleheads, mangetouts, wild seri and more — together with slices of seared tairagi (aka tairagai/pen shell) clam.

I'll be posting more about this particular meal anon...

Fuglen: BYOF (with your espresso and cocktails). Plenty of Oslo style on the side.

I gave Fuglen a full write-up last week, soon after it opened. I also introduced it in my Japan Times column yesterday.

 

As mentioned, Fuglen doesn't actually serve food — but they do encourage you to bring your own to nibble on with their premium coffee...

…craft beer (they have a good selection in bottles) and house-special highballs, whiskey sours and other cocktails.

So what would I take to eat there? Well pastries or the excellent baguette sandwiches from Viron, just opposite Tokyu Honten in Shibuya...

Or, in the other direction, one of the gourmet burgers from Arms, whose take-out/delivery outlet is just a couple of minutes walk away — or 30 seconds by Honda 90 delivery bike — on the Yoyogi Hachiman shopping street.

I'll put up full posts about both those places in due course. In fact, it's about time I put together a full-scale post about the Tomigaya/Yoyogi Koen area. There's just too much good stuff happening on the edge of the park here!

Cheers!

 

• Update late 2012: Fuglen is now offering a good selection of pastries (not Danish of course!), plus sandwiches with smoked salmon or cheese. But you are still welcome to BYOF.

Tonki's classic tonkatsu — a few more photos

A few more photos of the wonderful Tonki, as featured in my Japan Times column this week. Open 73 years and counting, it really is a one-of-a-kind.

This is the kushi-katsu teishoku set meal (meaning it comes with rice, tonjiru soup and pickles). Many people order the kushi-katsu separately — as a side dish to go with their tonkatsu.

The bright, gleaming kitchen takes up more than half of the downstairs floor area...

The chefs are dressed head-to-toe in white.

Each katsu takes 20 minutes to prepare, from the time you place your order. 

The menu is short and to the point — and available in English.

   

A Tokyo all-time classic.

you know times have changed…

…when you see images like this…

…on trucks making deliveries…

…outside fast food stores in the heart of Centergai.