Tonkotsu ramen — in which pork bones are boiled down for hours and hours until you wind up with a rich, creamy soup — might be the most famous style of ramen.
Soup curry is one of those local dishes that you pretty much have to try; it’s a Hokkaido specialty that features a spice-packed, long-simmered soup crammed with veggies and meat, and served with rice on the side.
I mentioned in a previous post that I took a sightseeing boat from Matsushima that wound up at Shiogama.
Among other things, Shiogama is known for being one of the busiest fishing ports and processors of seafood in Japan. A pleasant side effect of this is that Shiogama boasts one of the highest concentrations of sushi restaurants in the whole country.
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’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.
Ohagi is a traditional Japanese dessert that typically features a ball of glutinous rice surrounded by a sweet red bean paste. Takeno To Ohagi is admirably focused; they sell seven rotating varieties of ohagi, and that’s it.
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.
The curry sauce in the mutton curry at Wai Kee is ridiculously good. It’s one of those things that’s so incredibly tasty, anything you put in it will immediately become delicious.