Taste of Japan

After our 10-hour flight from Vancouver, we boarded a very crowded city train at the Narita airport in Tokyo, and in 2 hours we got off and walked to our hotel, in 35-degree heat. When we arrived, our first thought (after dropping our luggage and changing) was food. So we ventured out into the residential are where our hotel was located in search of a good dinner. Our hotel equipped us with a map and some recommendations, but as we were walking towards one of the suggested diners, we noticed a small place that seemed authentic and interesting, and it didn’t advertise anything outside in English. The owner greeted us in a very friendly manner and explained their offerings, which included a wide variety of sakes. Soon the place filled with locals, and the hustle and bustle made it all look and sound like a family kitchen.

Two kinds of sake (cold) arrived first, and we could tell by the initial sips that they were high-quality beverages, smooth and flavourful (and served is generous quantities). The restaurant (I don’t know the name as it was written in Japanese only) served Japanese equivalents of tapas: small servings of freshly made delicious dishes, each clearly prepared with love and attention to detail, and we very much enjoyed every morsel and spoon of: miso soup with offal, chicken skewers (yakitori) with pickled plum, pork belly skewer, seaweed with daikon, roasted shishito peppers, agedashi tofu, red tuna sashimi, and freshly grilled mackerel. Another confirmation that little places off the beaten track are the best. The owner was sad that we weren’t staying longer in Tokyo. We promised to be back and we meant it. This meal convinced us that we wanted to do that.