tokyo food file

Bon odori: dancing for the spirits of the ancestors [repost]

The powers that be have cancelled this year's Bon Odori dancing on my local beach. But to honour the spirits of the ancestors, I will repost this from last year...

 

Last night, out on the beach under a crescent moon, we gathered and danced the bon odori, to welcome and entertain the spirits of the ancestors and those who have gone ahead...

 

Similar events have been going on throughout Japan this week, though not all are held in such a beautiful location.

And even fewer are danced to the accompaniment of live music.

 

And then it was over, and the lights were all taken down.

It will soon be time for the ancestors to return to whence they came...

 

My previous post about this festival from three years ago has a few more images.

Summertime and the sippin' is easy, with good sake: Tamagawa Ice Breaker

Think that summer's not the season for sake? Think again. In fact, think penguin...

 

I love the idea behind Ice Breaker and I love that label too. But far more than that, I just love sipping it on a hot summer's evening — of which we have no shortage this year.

Unlike with other sake, the idea is that you pour it over ice. This is the blurb from the Tamagawa site:

Ice Breaker alleviates the heat and humidity of the Japanese summer, just as nihonshu breaks the ice in social situations. Deep-flavoured spicy unpasteurized genshu over ice is both refreshing and satisfying, and the intricate variations of flavour and aroma as the temperature and alcohol level shifts are endlessly fascinating. The sake world's first penguin!

Philip Harper, who is toji brewmaster at Tamagawa, tells me that every year they make more, and every year there's not enough to meet demand.

I can totally understand why.

 

And now (update 14th Aug) I'm down to my last drop from that rather large isshobin magnum. Luckily I have another small botttle in stock to see me through until the heat breaks — rather than when the ice breaks (or I do).

 

More about the Kinoshita Brewery (in English) here...

And Harper writes on his blog about Ice Breaker here…

 

shakers, pisco: Lima here we come…

 

The bar at Bépocah, Harajuku.

As cool as the Afro-Peruvian jazz on the sound system…

 

Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet:

Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet from Litchfield Performing Arts on Vimeo.

 

Butcher Brothers: meat, and plenty of it

A nice piece of lean rump steak, charcoal grilled…

 

Home made banger and mash…

 

And the potato salad comes with a substantial rasher of back bacon.

 

In case you couldn't guess from the name, Butcher Brothers serves meat. Lots of it.

 

And a good time is had by all!

Butcher Brothers is (are?) a short walk from Kanda JR Station. I'll put up a map link very shortly...

Bitten by the mojito boom...

There's a mojito boom around Tokyo this year (with Bacardi at the thick of it). And this being Japan, it's already throwing up some interesting hybrids.

I've seen mojito beer cockatils. I've actually been given mojitos made with mint plus holy basil — "it's good for detox" was the promise.

And now I've had Mojito chocolates...

 

Not bad, I suppose. But just putting a creamy filling of mint and lime in a chocolate doesn't make it a mojito...