I’m not sure where I just ate. I was trying to eat at Taimeshi Kotobukiya, a Michelin-rated restaurant that serves Japanese cuisine, and that has an affordable lunch special.
I had a bit of an ordering hiccup at Tonkatsu Katsusei, a Michelin-rated tonkatsu restaurant in Sendai. The Michelin connection made me think they’d either have an English menu, or photos I could point at. They had neither.
I’m currently in Sendai, the largest city in the Tohoku region in Northern Tokyo. There are a couple of dishes that they’re known for here, but the most popular by far is gyutan — grilled beef tongue.
I’m a bit of a ramen obsessive (it might just be my favourite food on the planet), so obviously, I had to eat a bunch of ramen while I was in Tokyo. It was my duty and my obligation, and I did it happily.
Takano is a ramen place with a lot of hype around it — among many, many other accolades, they’ve been featured in the Michelin guide.
The Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum calls itself a museum, which is basically just an excuse to charge an admission fee. Yes, there’s one small room which outlines the history of ramen, but for the most part this is a food court.
I know what you’re thinking: pizza in Tokyo? Get out of here. I was thinking it too, but I dare you to watch this video and then not immediately want to check this place out.
You may have noticed that I’ve been in Tokyo for a while, but I haven’t written about ramen yet (no? Nobody noticed or cares? Yeah, that sounds about right).
I’ll admit that I wound up eating at Hinoya Curry almost entirely due to its proximity to my Airbnb on the outskirts of Tokyo. I walked by it a few times, and eventually the delicious-looking photos posted outside of the restaurant wore me down.
Hui Wing Kee was probably my biggest surprise in quite a while. I hadn’t heard much about this place, other than a reference on a blog to the oyster congee being good (which I didn’t even see on the menu). Other than that, I could barely even find it online.