Every trip to Japan leads to discovery of new snacks or food which I have yet to try on my previous visits.
After my Koikeya pride potato chips craze, this time round we tried the Koikeya Hashed Potato (newly introduced to the market in Dec 19). This snack is made by frying mini nuggets of finely chopped potatoes. There are two flavours, “consomme” (left) and “light taste” (right).
The consomme flavoured is accent with soy sauce and spices, tasted more savoury while the light taste has taste of kelp with 3 kinds of blended salt. I love its compact size, which kinda helps in limiting my “junk food” intake. The resealable packet design meant that on days where I’m more disciplined to resist its temptation, I could snack a few pieces and reseal it conveniently.
It was so addictive that we swept all the stock whenever we find them at the convenience stores. Not every one carries it so we had to try our luck to hunt them and brought it back to distribute as omiyage.
Most people who been to Sapporo might have tasted Ebi Soba Ichigen‘s shrimp miso ramen. This cup ramen is a collaboration product between Nissin and Ebisoba Ichigen. I loved the texture of the ramen (which is slightly firmer) in this cup noodles and the soup base was really rich and bursting with flavours. This goes into my Top 3 favourite cup noodles along with Matsutake Mushroom Rich Cream (can’t find it on sale anymore) and Nakiryu(鳴龍), dan dan noodles (post).
On a related note to Cup Noodles, I saw this interesting section in Loft (lifestyle department store). I was drawn to the compact instant noodles pack as they seem to be more travel-friendly to pack on trips compared to the bulky cup noodles. Upon closer inspection, I realised that the green boxes (on the right) is a reusable eco-friendly Nissin Cup Noodles Refill Mug. It is designed to be used with ECOstyle Nissin cup noodles refill packs to eliminate use of one-time disposable styrofoam cups! I guess you could buy the “noodle-ware” for a cup noodles fan to simply use it as a regular mug!
Although we did not stay near the Tokyo train station this time, we made a trip specially there for our “must-buy” NY Perfect Cheese (post). Making use of the opportunity to drop by the R.L Waffle Cake shop.
The Waffle Sandwichesare the shop’s signature product and available in a wide range of flavours. The limitation is these have to be kept chilled and eaten fresh. Hence it is difficult to bring back as omiyage. Love the pillowy texture of the waffle sandwich and the fresh cream fillings.
For snacks with a longer shelf-life to bring back, we bought their Stick Waffles. Although these were also pretty tasty, with a good range of flavours in a box, I would choose to have their waffle sandwiches over this.
The buying never stops even at the airport. We always make it a point to check-in early to make our final haul at the shops in the transit area. The queue can get crazy long so be sure to cater enough time to make it in time to board your plane!!!
Only intended to purchase the usual Potato Farm‘s Jaga Pokkuru(the red boxes beneath) which is our perennial favourite since we first bought it in 2017 (post) . But saw two products by the same brand which were new to me. I guess I didn’t pay attention to other products by Potato Farm since I always zoom into grabbing what we wanted to buy at the airport. This time round they strategically placed these 2 products above the Jaga Pokkuru and successfully caught my attention.
Imoko & Kobutaro (left) and Imota & Mamejiro (right). The former is potato chips with kombu (or konbu) kelp whereas the latter is potato chips with edamame. There are 6 small packs within each box. I wouldn’t say they are not good, but to me the master of potato chips is still Koikeiya.
Not forgetting my Tokyo Banana. There is always a seasonal item no matter what time of the year…this time round its the Sakura flavour in anticipation of the upcoming hanami season. The sweet pink flowery print packaging was enough to melt our hearts!
For this trip, we spent a significant amount of time hunting for something in exceptionally high demand from our family members back in Singapore – masks! The otherwise commonly available product were also snapped up very quickly in Japan during the pandemic. If you were lucky enough to find a shop with available stock, it was usually limited to 1 pack per person.
As the covid situation had escalated, I kept my mask on for the entire flight back to Singapore and skipped the meal.
Sadly this trip turned out to be my last overseas holiday in 2020 as Singapore entered into circuit breaker about 2 months later. We had to cancel a scheduled trip in May 20 and with no sight of when would we be able to travel overseas again… =(
Sushi-no-Midori 寿司の美登利 is one of the most popular mid-range sushi chain in Tokyo. They have numerous outlets scattered across the city and notable for long queues during the peak hours.
By the time we checked out of our hotel and dropped by their Shibuya outlet, it was slightly past 2pm. I innocently thought that since there was no queue outside the restaurant, we might have avoided the lunch crowd. Turns out you need to collect a queue number at the machine and wait for your turn. The notice stating “…we have no place for taking customer’s baggage.” is a tell-tale sign that this might be a popular spot for tourists – who wish to grab their last sushi-meal before they leave Tokyo?
While waiting for our queue number to be called, the staff checked to ask if we prefer counter seats or table seats. Apparently counter seats are more popular and needed a longer waiting time…
We settled for table seat and the table next to us were likely tourists from China judging by their accent. Ordering is relatively simple as they have a menu book with pictures of the dishes and listed in multiple language.
They also have these summary menu to help diners who are lost for choices in making quicker decisions. Notably, the Standard Sushi Assortment starts from as low as ¥800 (US$7.30). At such price point, its really value-for-money.
After having a late breakfast, we were actually not too hungry. Instead of the set menu, we went ala-carte so that we could curate a selection of our favourite nigiris. Including fresh snow crab, flounder, Shirako which we did not get to try while dining at Daiwa Sushi in Toyosu market the day before. Also a grilled scallop each.
The ingredients were fresh and it would be perfect if the rice balls were slightly smaller.
Made a booking to dine at Inua Restaurant once the reservation is opened which is about 2 months in advance. With an array of fine dining restaurants and a limited 2 night short stay in Tokyo, it meant that we had to be selective on the places that we plan to dine at. It was an easy decision to shortlist Inua Restaurant – a place started by Chef Thomas Frebel, who was previously appointed as Noma’s head of R&D.
Noma famously conducted a series of pop-up around the World, including Tokyo in 2015 and Sydney in 2016. While we failed in our attempt to snag one of those coveted seats, we managed to dine at the Copenhagen home base in 2016 (post). It was truly an once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience, with no certainty that I could ever revisit them since securing a seat there was akin to hitting a jackpot.
Learning that Inua serves Nordic-influenced dishes with Japanese ingredients was the key motivating factor in my choice as I longed to be able to somewhat relive the wonderful memories of Noma.
Unknown to me at the time of my booking, was that Inua gained much fanfare after Frebel served as a consultant for a Japanese TV series – La Grande Maison Tokyo (English title) starring Takuya Kimura. The TV series premiered via Starhub only on 17 Jan 2020. I managed to complete watching the series just before departing for my Japan trip and dine at Inua in Feb 2020. I soon realised that the dishes served in the fictitious competitor restaurant Gaku in the show were Inua-created. Interestingly Chef Shuzo Kishida of Quintessence (one of the first fine dining restaurants I visited in Tokyo way back in 2013) was the consultant for the design of the menu items served in the drama’s namesake restaurant.
The dining hall exudes strong Nordic influences and style. The round table without table cloth, the greyish colour and style all resembled the Noma 1.0* we visited in Copenhagen. *Since the relocation, the restaurant has reinvented itself as Noma 2.0.
For the meal we opted for one juice pairing (J) and one wine pairing to go with the 13-course menu.
Nordic style cuisine focus greatly on fresh ingredients from sustainable food sources: the sea, the forest and the earth. Japan possesses similar conditions and ticked all the right boxes. It would be interesting to see the type of dishes presented here at Inua.
The unmistakable jaw skeleton on the plate gave a clue as to where the ingredient came from – Monkfish. Instead of the flesh of the fish, here we have the Aerated monkfish liver terrine, natsuhaze (oldham blueberry) crisp. Some diners dislike eating organs for fear of the flavour and texture. No such problem when it gets transformed into a frozen parfait with absolutely zero resemblance to its original form here!
Paired with the refreshing honey kombucha, sunset oolong and kihada for both (J) & pairing. Kihada is the Japanese word for the amur cork tree. Not sure if they used the Kizashi Kihada tonic water in this drink or they infused the yellow inner bark of the Kihada into this drink themselves.
The next dish featured an ingredient harvested from earth: Seasonal citrus cured with kanzuri, roasted kelp oil. The roasted kelp oil (in green hue) at the bottom is made from kelp from Hokkaido. While the Kanzuri is a traditional condiment, a paste that is made from chilli, yuzu and koji, made in only Niigata Japan.
Hailed as Japan‘s “national fungus”, koji is the pillar to many Japanese food production from miso, mirin to sake. I still remember touring the compound of Noma 1.0 with lots of koji fermentation experimental boxes/jars around, it was used widely in their dishes. It’s understandable that Chef Frebel would be pushing boundaries in exploring innumerable ways of using koji to elevate flavour profile of his cooking.
While I didn’t quite catch the name of the citrus fruit (from Nagasaki), it looked and tasted like pomelo/buntan. This dish is an amalgamation of flavours: Sweet, sour, slight spiciness and rich in umami flavour.
A familiar ingredient was showcased in the next dish – Maitake 舞茸. It is very popular and widely cultivated in Japan. Despite only spending 1 night stay in Kusatsu, we had 2 soba meals with maitake tempura there. The strong earthy flavoured fungus truly lives up to its name of “dancing mushroom” when people danced with happiness upon finding it in the wild.
Being the signature dish of Inua, it is not surprising that no effort was spared in preparation of the hen-of-the-wood fungus before presenting it as Aged and smoked maitake, braised in a pine dashi with salted sakura. The maitake was aged for 5 days and then smoked. When the broth was poured tableside, guests get a whiff of the aroma. We were invited to take a bite of the mushroom first in its original taste, before using our hands to crush the salted dried sakura and sprinkle them over the dish for a different taste (perhaps for the cinematic effects too).
This is a palate cleanser – Dried fallenfruitsPear and beet berry wrap. The filling was made with wild Japanese mountain berries and young pine shoots while the wrap outside was caramelized beetroot and pear. Topped with flower petals, long pepper, lavender and lemon thyme.
Served in a claypot which was sizzling hot with a faint crackling sound was Warm stew of black truffle, grilled roses, lotus seeds and fermented pumpkin seeds.
It comprised of fresh pumpkin and lotus seeds, as well as fermented pumpkin seed tempeh. The tempeh water was then mixed with miso, added with grilled coriander, grilled rose petals and topped with a few freshly sliced fresh truffle.
Before we dig in, we had to concoct the “magic potion” by first stirring the truffle paste into the soup, followed by infusing the soup with the bouquet of herbs for 10-15 secs. Final step was to squeeze a few drops of the citrus into the soup.
Paired with: (J) Sorrel, passion fruit and lemongrass 2014 Interval 102, Slobodne Vinarstvo, Zemianske Sady, Trnava. A wine from Slovakia which is a Riesling that is dry with high acidity to cut the richness of this dish.
Next up, the visually stunning beauty is named Pillow of koji and caviar. My first impression of this dish was it reminded me of the quilted pattern of Chanel bag~ Of course the caviar add a touch of luxury to it as well.
The white base was actually made from udon flour dough. It was flattened, inoculated with koji, fermented for 2 days and ~voila. The surface turned into a velvety texture as a result of yeast cells growing on the dough. Sitting on top were a spoonful of caviar with a dollop of blackcurrent wood fudge – made from danish butter mixed with an oil infused with blackcurrant wood.
To eat it, we would bring the two opposite sides of the dough together with our hands (like folding) to bring the two elements together, before bringing it to our mouth. The udon flour dough had a chewy and delicate elasticity texture – almost like mochi. Love this!!!
Paired with: (J) Cold infused jasmine and oolong tea Niida Kaoruyama, Niida Honke, Koriyama, Fukushima. “Kaoruyama” is made with Shizenmai (non-fertilization / pesticide-free rice) shiro koji (white rice malt), natural water and natural yeast starter. Matured in an oak barrel used for storage of red wine. Delicate pale rose color. Light taste like rosé wine.
Up until now we did not have any meat yet. So the next dish was a portion of duck which was presented to guests earlier.
Wild duck cooked over charcoal, kayanomi nuts (Japanese nutmeg) sauce and grilled lemon thyme. Duck breast aged for two weeks and finished over charcoal grill, plated with pine leaves, pistachios and natsuhaze crisps around the side.
Paired with: (J) Matsubusa berry and spices (saffron and cardamom)2017 Waiting for Tom, Rennersistas, Gols, Neusiedlersee. A wine from Austria. 55% Zweigelt, 30% St Laurent and 15% Blaufränkisch.
While I was still immersed in the marvelous dinner, I heard the service staff said “This next dish would be your last savoury dish for tonight…”.
My OS: What?! It’s almost finished?!
Anyway my eyes quickly focus back to the pot on our table, and the staff introduced it as Nanatsuboshi rice, beechnuts and wild duck. There were two components to this dish. One was the freshly cooked rice topped with generous serving of beechnuts, sunflower seeds, fresh pine etc. Another was a bowl covered with a crisp, with a duck print, made with duck stock and chicken stock. Underneath the crisp were some of the trimmings from the duck we had previously.
After giving the rice a good mix, the staff placed a portion of it on top of the crisp. I really liked the multitude of textures, the nutty aroma, even down to the fluffiness of the rice. For a moment, I forgot that I’m actually dining in a Nordic-style restaurant. This is so typical of a Japanese donabe rice dish!
Paired with: (J) Kiwi, fermented rice and thyme 2016 Abeurador (2) Amfora, Mendall, Tarragona, Catalunya. The house-made non-alcoholic “Amazake” (Japanese fermented rice drink) using their own koji. For the wine, the grape variety is Macabeu (Viura). I found it familiar when I saw the unique bottle label. We had the wine from the same producer before, while dining at L’Effervescence a couple of years ago.
Last bit of the trimmings from the wild duck was finger-licking good.
You know its really gonna be the end when they serve you the dessert wine… 2016 Afruge Ma Cherie, Kidoizumi Shuzo, Isumi, Chiba. It is an aged taruzake (sake which has been stored or aged in a wooden barrel) like a sherry.
Blackened barley koji ice cream and pine cones preserved in honey – they caramalized the koji very slowly for 12 days at different temperatures and make it into a paste and served it as a dessert mixed with ice cream. In the middle was oil infused with the wild cherry wood. It’s a savoury ice cream with hints of sweetness and nuttiness from the pine cones.
Another unlikely ingredient made its appearance in the dessert section – Wakame. They created Caramelised seaweed mille-feuille with yuzu cream sandwiched inside. The baked “Hirome” seaweed was flaky and crisp, a good replacement for pastry sheets!
The last dessert was more conventional – Fresh atemoya and almond shell-infused oil. Atemoya (from Okinawa) is a fruit which is a hybrid of the sugar apple and the cherimoya. It was simply seasoned with almond shell oil.
Round up our meal with Sarunashi kiwi and forest flavours. Although they had the name kiwi, these tiny kiwi berries (about the size of olives) had a totally different texture from their namesake cousins. They are also known as Kokuwa in Japan. It is definitely not commonly found in supermarkets.
Kudos to the procurement team of Inua restaurant for sourcing a wide variety of ingredients from the Northernmost island of Hokkaido to the Southernmost islands in Okinawa.
Similar to Noma, guests at Inua were given a kitchen tour where we got to see what goes on behind-the-scenes and more interestingly the R&D kitchen where we found Chef Thomas Frebel hard at work. For ardent fans of Le Grand Maison Tokyo, you may even recognise that a part of Inua‘s back kitchen was used for one of the scenes in the show. Hint: where they shot the equipment used for fermentation.
Note:Inua closed permanently in Mar 2021 due to various compounding factors.
Established in 1834, Sembikiya is Japan‘s oldest fruit shop. But they are famous for other reason – insanely expensive high-end fruits which are often bought as gifts. You would likely do a double take when you glance at the price tags. A musk melon easily cost between $120 – $275 each. Walking through the brightly lit shop floor felt as though I’m looking at exhibits in a museum.
Instead of buying the whole fruit, the best way to have a taste of the pricey produce is to visit their fruit parlor. The café serving an array of elaborate ice cream sundaes and fruitscapes was luxuriously decorated. Service staff decked out in smart suits waiting in attention while we browse through the menu.
A plain fruit dessert platter starts from ¥1,265 (US$12) whereas an IG-worthy Strawberry Chocolate Parfait like the one we ordered cost ¥2,090 (US$26).
Compared to the dazzling red strawberries, the Musk Melon Parfait looks like the plain Jane cousin. But it actually cost ¥3,300 (US$40). Naturally we took some time to admire the beautifully arranged parfait before digging it.
Muskmelons are highly priced partly because of the meticulous efforts the farmers go through to nurture and grow them. I recalled watching an episode of “Trails to Tsukiji” featuring Muskmelon. You can try googling it to watch on Youtube. It’s fascinating how committed the Japanese are in researching on the growing techniques and the TLC required to produce the most perfect fruit. It is said that the finer the reticulation (the brown netting pattern), the sweeter and juicier the melon would be.
If you chanced by Yubari melon, be sure to give it a try. I personally liked Yubari more than Muskmelons. Tried it in Hokkaido (post) and was mesmerised by its alluring fragrance and sweet taste.
I visited another fruit parlor in Tokyo prior to this visit to Sembikiya. I must say if you are willing to splurge and have time to leisurely enjoy your afternoon break – go for Sembikiya. They offer a better ambience that makes you feel like a tai-tai~
After spending total of 7 hours in the queue (accumulated queuing time for 2 attempts) to visit Sushi Dai while they were at Tsujiki market in 2017, it was clear to me that I would try Daiwa Sushi this time (both shops shifted to Toyosu market since 2018).
Based on my past experience of spotting long lines to dine at these popular sushi joints when they were at Tsujiki, I was mentally prepared for at least 1-2 hours wait to get into Daiwa Sushi (note that my average waiting time for Sushi Dai was 3.5hours and Daiwa has always been reported to have a shorter and faster moving queue – affirmed through my own observation too).
Amazingly when we arrived at Daiwa Sushi‘s shop front located on the 1st floor of Block 5 “Fruits and Vegetables Building”, there was no queue (at 10.30am). I did a double take to check that we were at the right shop!
Happy to be seated immediately! Look at the fresh seafood on display.
They serve an omakase set so all you need to do is sit down and start enjoying the freshly prepared nigiris that the Chef serves up.
A key difference between Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi is that the former only serves up the next nigiri only after you finished your earlier piece. Whereas at Daiwa Sushi, the Chef serves up the pieces at his pace. For slow eaters like us, we end up having a platter of sushi standing on the tray. While we were still busy taking pictures of the much-cherished sushi, we saw one local Jap (who looked like a regular) chomping down the nigiri the moment the Chef placed it on the tray.
As for sequence, we were served the Chu toro, Shrimp, Uni, Salmon then Maguro maki.
They served up the soup which comes with the set, followed by a series of nigiris in fast and furious manner. A white fish which I didn’t catch (could be Tai?), Akami, Anago, Ark shell and Tamagoyaki.
The friendly Chef asked if we would like anything else and I requested for Aji which appeared swiftly. It took just 30 mins to finish this superquick breakfast. And we were one of the slower guests…Hence it is understandable that Daiwa Sushi has a shorter waiting time than Sushi Dai as their turnover is faster.
Compared to Tsujiki market, I find Toyosu less accessible although it is linked to the Shijo-mae station. I did not use the Yurikamome Line but took a bus from Shimbashi station instead. I wouldn’t mind making my way to Toyosu for great sushi again if the waiting time is more reasonable now. Or perhaps I got lucky on the day of my visit or there were less tourists due to the emerging Covid situation? We saw a short queue outside by the time we were leaving at about 11am.
For those who don’t mind the long queue and interested to visit Sushi Dai at Toyosu, do note that they are located in another block across the road (on 3rd floor of Block 6 “Fisheries Intermediate Wholesale Market Building”).
Check out the Toyosu Market Map here. Also remember to check the market calendar before you make your way down.
Our regime of visiting yakiniku restaurants in Japan started only in 2017. Since then we try to schedule at least 1 yakiniku meal when we plan our itinerary for Japan. Sumibi Yakiniku Nakahara is one of the names that often appear when we looked for yakiniku places to book. More importantly they serve the trending #wagyusando.
Hidden on 9th floor of an unassuming building, you would be greeted by this spacious dining hall once the lift doors open. As with many other higher end yakiniku restaurants, there are no trace of any smoky BBQ smell.
Having booked a course menu, I have no idea how many courses would we be having and we basically went to the restaurant with mindset of enjoying an omakase meal. We commenced our meal with a creamy Potato with beef consommé where the beef consommé were in gelatin cube form.
Yukhoe raw beef with egg The soft and tender beef was coated with silky egg yolk that accentuates the natural flavour and sweetness of the beef. A simple yet delicate dish.
Legendary Tongue: Tan-Moto (rear), Tan-Saki (tip) and Tan-Suji (tendon) in 3 different cuts. This is the most popular item on the menu and must be pre-ordered.
From here onwards, the stove was finally heated up and we get to hear the light symphony of meat sizzling on the wire gauze. All the offal/beef were grilled by chef at the table as they are the experts in controlling the heat and time, ensuring that every single piece of offal/meat is cooked to perfection.
You could see the beautiful cuts made on the gyutan before grilling to tenderize the cut, allowing sauces or marinades to penetrate deeper into it. It had a nice chewy texture with a slight crunch.
Up next was a Saladwith 20 types of vegetables harvested from Ibaraki Prefecture including yellow carrot, paprika, cactus etc.
After the short vegan dish interval, we were back to our carnivore feast. Starting with this fabulous Sirloin.
Topside(inner thigh/uchi momo) and dry aged bone-in ribeye (?) (didn’t catch the cut) – both were lightly seasoned with a dash of salt and pepper. Beautifully marbled, the cooked meat were tender and juicy. It’s served with yuzu pepper and garlic soy sauce as condiments.
We took another break from the meat as we were served Oxtail soup and the variety of side dishes.
Excited to see more meat presented, Chuck(Kata Rosu) and Rib Finger(Nakaochi Karubi).
This piece looks like bak kwa from its squarish shape.
Large intestine (shimacho) and first of the four stomachs of the cow (mino). Served with yuzu kosho, grated radish and tare condiment. The mino has a chewy texture like cooked squid with a light crisp on the outside. The shimacho is named for its striped form fat, so it was fatty yet chewy. I prefer the mino over the shimacho.
Up next was one of the highlight of this meal – Beef fillet sandwich. There are two course meal options when you make a reservation, so you would have to choose the larger course menu if you wish to have this sando!
It is served with the Bernard Dark Lagerfrom Czech Republic. An unpasteurized beer brewed from four types of malt, with a distinctive full flavour and a light bitterness.
No regrets to stuff myself with this nicely toasted bread with a juicy beef katsu!
If you are still not full yet, fear not as up next is a mini-size Gyudon.
To round of the meal we finished with cold Somen. This is my favourite part of yakiniku meals – to slurp down the cooling fine silky noodles. During my earlier yakiniku venture at Yakiniku Jambo Hanare, we spotted other diners ordering the cold somen at the end of the meal and found it interesting. However being noobs, we were too full from the beef feast. Now I appreciate ending the grilled meal with a icy cold noodles to soothe the throat.
Last but not least – the ice cream.
We finished the course meal within 2 hours, which was pretty quick. Perhaps having a dedicated chef serving us throughout the meal helped. In honesty, there was still some stomach space for more meat. At ¥20,570 (S$250) per pax for the course meal WITHOUT the sandwich, I think there are other more value-for-money places offering yakiniku which might be just as satisfying to folks with ordinary tastebuds like me.
The ¥24,805 (S$300) per pax course meal INCLUDING the wagyu katsu sando is what most diners came for. Afterall this place is the real OG. Once you tasted the wagyu katsu sando here, its hard to find another one that beats them.
Wagyu katsu sando aficionados can also check out Wagyumafia. Their Nakameguro outlet serves up sandwiches starting from ¥1,000 (minced beef), up to ¥23,000 (Kobe chateaubriand) or even the ¥35,000 (Kobe dry aged) if you want to try their top range high-end sandwich. Do note that the outlet is decked out in a casual setting, not a restaurant.
長寿店Choju Ten literally means “shop of longevity”. They have an army of staff handing out complimentary manju to passer-bys and directing people to have a cup of tea in the shop as a way of marketing. I, admittedly, was being “shoved” a bun while looking for the udon shop nearby. Although the warm bun was especially welcomed on a cold day in Kusatsu.
While we don’t mind buying a box of the buns, we realised that these manju (Japanese steamed buns with red bean paste filling) only have a shelf life of 5 days. With a few days left on our trip, we hesitated and actually left the shop after thanking them without buying anything. I felt kinda awkward because the shop was relatively empty so it was pretty obvious. Thankfully the staff did not appear to be offended.
After finishing our lunch at the udon shop opposite (Josyu Jigona Udon Matsumoto), we passed by the shop again and the staff again tried to offer us manju. I must say it would be quite a challenge to pass through the army of staff on the narrow street. We declined politely but walked in to buy a box after counting that we could eat them right before the expiry date after we return back to Singapore (so that we could have it steamed). Actually I think it could be eaten as-is too?
Chose the box of 3 variety: the iconic brown-skinned bun with red bean paste, white-skinned with chestnut bean paste and the green-skinned one filled with green bean paste. I liked the brown ones the best.
I think there are a few other manju confectionery shops in Kusatsu, including 丸井堂 Maruido – which offers tasting as well and its just a few units away from Choju Ten, 松むら Matsumura which I actually walked by the pretty huge shop, they didn’t seem to be offering tastings. However I read that they supply their buns to many of the ryokans/hotels in Kusatsu. I did not try the other brands so could not comment which one is nicer.
If steamed buns are too ordinary for you, there is a shop called 山びこ Yamabiko selling freshly fried manju!
There are many souvenir shops selling omiyage and local sakes. I tried the Josho Beef Sukiyaki potato sticks but prefer the hida beef-flavoured potato sticks bought at Takayama.
Also bought this Maitake Mushroom Scallops which can be eaten as an appetizer, with rice or ochazuke.
For Ghibli fans, you will be pleased to know there is a Donguri Republic (どんぐり共和国) shop in Kusatsu!
One last item I bought are the Gunma Prefecture Postcards:
With the streets of Kusatsu dotted with soba restaurants, we can’t resist the temptation to have another soba meal before leaving this onsen town. As we had to catch our highway bus to Tokyo, we could not afford to spend too much time queuing for popular joints. Happened to pass by Yasuragitei やすらぎ亭 which had a relatively shorter queue of 2-3 pairs in the line. The queue certainly grew longer by the time we finished our meal.
We chose the Soba noodles with Duck – my default go-to soba combi and Soba noodles with Maitake Tempura. I felt that the duck soup dip was slightly too oily for my liking, was thankful that I did not order the hot duck broth soba. The maitake tempura were freshly fried and crispy.
By now we have tried 6 variety of soba noodles pairing on this trip! The differences in the quality of soba is subtle, mainly in terms of the chewiness and firmness. This is rather subjective and depends on individual preference. I personally prefer soba noodles that are more chewy. But most importantly all of them tasted fantastic!
Well-lit Xmas tree still standing near the Yubatake 湯畑 “hot water field” at night. The free footbath was totally empty at night! A stark difference to the packed scene during the day.
Nice place to take a stroll after meal.
From blue sky to snow coated Yubatake 湯畑 “hot water field”. Been snowing during our stay, so it was pretty cold.
Kusatsu had proven to be one of the more challenging towns for us to do online research about eateries because not many reviews were written in English.
Since we had an enjoyable udon lunch based on the local tourist magazine printed in English, we once again relied on the listing printed on an English map we collected at the tourist office (inside the bus terminal). Lesson that we learnt from our past travels to smaller local towns outside the major cities in Japan is that we are more likely to face language barriers. While we wanted to experience and try food at eateries frequented by the locals instead of those touristy ones, not every local joint is prepared to welcome non-Japanese speaking guests. Whereas restaurants listed in flyers printed by the tourist associations in foreign languages (for eg. English/Chinese) are likely to welcome tourists.
We saw Kuimonya A-Un Tei listed as an izakaya place which is perfect for us to have a drink and light meal, so after checking the reviews online, we gave them a try.
After we got seated, we were given the menu in Japanese. Although we could still figure out the menu as some dishes has Chinese characters and also through using the camera function to do translation, when the lady serving us heard us conversing in English she passed us a photo album of the dishes with English labels – How thoughtful.. Although its only a selection of the entire menu available, it helped to reduce the time needed for us to place the first round of our food order. We managed to slowly browse through the Jap menu and added more dishes.
The must-order dish for us when browsing through the photo album is the Tomato Salada. I’m generally not a tomato lover but I fell in love with how delicious the fresh Japanese tomatoes taste after tasting one a few years ago! This one here turned out to be superb as well! Looks simple to prepare but a lot depends on the freshness of the tomatoes.
The small dish next to the tomato is an otoshi (compulsory appetizer) served in izakayas. It is basically an appetizer (the exact item varies but is usually small nibble dish) which is automatically offered to guests. While you can politely refuse otoshi, it’s said to be very uncommon to refuse it.
Next category we ordered was skewers: Tsukune chicken meatballs, Yakitori chicken and Joshu mochibuta (pork) asparagus. Nicely grilled and went well with our beers!
The dish that wowed us got to be this Stewed beef tendon and radish for 5 hours. The soup was flavourful, the radish absorbed all the savoury flavours and the thinly sliced beef were silky soft. This dish certainly warmed our hearts in the exceptionally cold and snowy weather in Kusatsu. Never did we experience such heavy snowfall throughout our current trip so far – we saw far less snow on the ski slopes of Hakuba.
Last item was the Tataki of Joshu beef fillet beef lightly seared and sliced thinly, served with a citrus-soy dipping sauce.
This was another satisfying meal at Kusatsu.
〒377-1711 群馬県吾妻郡草津町草津468-57
Earlier Photos Taken:
We arrived in Kusatsu with blue sky and 2 hours later this place was covered with snow. The snow certainly made a huge difference to the scenery and mood for onsen.
Yumomi and Dance Show is a short performance where the ladies sing a folk song and dance while stirring the hot spring water with a large wooden paddle to cool it down without diluting it with cold water. Some spectators are in for a fun experience as they get the chance to use the paddles too. Even the local manhole covers are painted with Yumomi-chan.
Kusatsu, one of the top three hot springs in Japan due to its high water quality and history, is just 90 mins bus ride away from Karuizawa. We headed over to the hot spring town for a 1-night stay.
Surprisingly the weather was noticeably colder in Kusatsu than Karuizawa. Although we shortlisted some eateries in Kusatsu, we decided to look for a place that serves warm soupy food. After some impromptu read from local brochures and internet search to validate the reviews, we headed out for lunch in the small town at Josyu Jigona Udon Matsumoto. A restaurant specializing in Himokawa udon, wide udon noodles made from 100% Joshu (Gunma Prefecture) flour.
We already had a few soba meals during this trip so this wide udon noodles dish caught my attention – Okkirikomi. It is a local dish of Gunma Prefecture that warms the body by boiling wide udon noodles and lots of seasonal vegetables like taro, daikon, and mushrooms in miso-style soup.
Maitake Tempura UdonHandmade udon noodles made with 100% “Kinu no Nami” flour (made in Gunma wheat) served with fresh, crispy maitake mushroom tempura (¥1,200). This is enjoyed with a dipping sauce just like soba. Maitake 舞茸 tempura has a light batter and I could still taste its deep earthy flavor even after being fried. The udon was silky smooth and chewy.
This is the Okkiri-komi(¥1,100) Served in a cast iron pot sitting on a burner and the shop provided a glasshour and asked us to wait until time’s up before digging in. The thick noodles absorbed the rich flavours of the stewed soup filled with sweetness of the root vegetables. Really satisfying!
We also loved the chewy kusamochi (i think?) dessert.
Yubatake 湯畑 “hot water field”: The Symbol of Kusatsu Onsen, was created in order to cool down the piping hot springs. The natural hot spring flows through the wooden gutter, and then flows out like a waterfall.
to go with the 13-course menu.
YummyDelight 