Day 19: Last night in Tokyo

Epic meal time. The meal at Ryugin started off at the wrong restaurant. Our taxi driver mistakenly took us to a very fancy looking steak house in Roppongi. After searching frantically we finally found the very austere restaurant.

One menu, one seating.

I got the sake pairing.


The menu is presented under a porcelain dish in a hand made envelope on Japanese rice paper



Glass of pinot blanc for the lady and Yuki no bousya akita for me




Chef Yamamoto's interprestation of Spring "Wakatake" with Tender Simmered Abalone



Premiom Sea urchin from Hakodate and cold egg custard, grilled corn style with dry shrimp jelly sauce



This dish, along with another I ate at Thomas Keller's French Laundry is the best thing I've ever eaten. So good.




hakurakusei miyagi to wash it down




Each plate is misted to indicate that the chef has checked it and it is ready to go to table.



Ichiban Dashi Soup with Lightly Grilled Greenling Fish colorful Flower Style
The interesting thing about this soup was how insanely simple yet complicated the broth was.




As an example, take a look at how tight and small the fat globules were. Like champagne bubbles. Pretty amazing.



What goes with soup? Sake. Tenmei fukushima
I'm pretty sure this was the sake that you cannot get outside a particular region of Japan. Apparently it is hard to transport because it must remain at a very specific temperature. It was really unique tasting and delicious.




Marinated Sakura Sea Bream from naruto, Monkfish Liver from Yoichi, Hokkaido with Fragrance of Sakura. I like how the location of each ingredient is just as important




Baby Spear Squid from Aomori with Fragrance of Sudachi
Where's the Sake you ask? I had to ask them to slow it down at this point :P




Japanese Spring Vegetable in one plate. Basically EVERY seasonal vegetable was expertly prepared in this dish. I've had something similar at Melisse in Los Angeles and it's always interesting to sample the different flavors and textures at once.




Kokoryu hiirazu fukui (nama sake)




Charbroiled Alfonsino from Shimoda bay, Roasted rice on top, with Black Vinegar sauce and Chopped Vegetable Pickles



Chargrilled Sendai Beef from Miyagi with Oroshi Ponzu Sauce, Simmered Archilles and Small Beef Meatball.




This is what top of the line A5 beef from Japan looks like




Yes. I got it again. It was that good


Simmered rice with Tea of Sakura with Sakura Shrimp. Also really really good




-196 degree celsius candy apple. Before.



After.



Hot Parfait RyuGin Style Vol.6 Strawberry and Red Bean








Matcha. Amazing.




Some other really amazing tea.

So the summary is that everything was tasty. That's a given at a place like this. The sake pairing was an experience because I've never tasted such a drastically different collection of sakes. As for the meal, more than anything, I marveled at the care one could see that went into making each dish. Even though the flavors were really simple, the efforts that went into creating such simple dishes was the beauty of this meal.

Cost me what I spent on my hotel for 2 nights, but worth it.

Day 18: Reasons why I love Japan

It's been awhile, which means that I've been pretty busy. Time to chip away at my "to do" list, starting with this entry. Here are a couple of reasons why I love Japan.


The bartender creating a simple vodka martini. We ended up being friends by the end of the night. He even walked me to the elevator to hand me his card. Mental note. Next time bring business cards.




THE BEST martini I've ever had in my life. It was finished off tableside and was beautiful




Someday. One for the bartender too, who told me he's never tried it because it's too expensive, but he brought it to the table just to show me. He seemed almost proud presenting them.





Words cannot describe how beautiful this image is to me. *sigh*

Day 18?: night

Tokyo at night. There's not a lot of cities in the world where you can walk around at night with an expensive camera and still feel completely safe. Tokyo is one of them.



I liked the lighting on this one



neato scooter




Such pretty lighting and shapes.







I love trains



I liked how clean the ground was.

Day 18?: Fooood

Like I said before, not sure if this is in order anymore but here are some of the tasty things I ate in Tokyo.



I don't know what he was yelling...




But OMG he was right. Some of the best ice cream I've ever had.




Unpasteurized caramels. Tastes like a triple cream french cheese and a caramel mixed together.



Only a serious soba place would make their own beer.




Hand made each day for centuries and very very good




Pork cutlet, beaten until thin and then folded back over. The most delicate texture and still full of flavor.

Day 18? I dunno. Everything is out of order

So it's finally come to this. I can't remember which day was which. I obviously left this too long.



If you are a fan of Miyazaki, you owe it to yourself to go visit his museum. It's wonderful, and if I was a billionaire, I'd add 10 new wings to the museum so that I could wander the halls all day.



I love this world.

Day 18: Tsukiji was closed

So we walked around Ginza instead. But first, a pic I forgot from the night before.







The market was one block away. Sad I missed it this time around.




Pretty sure he was relieving himself



Ginza is quiet early in the morning.

Day 17: Night

Walking around with my old school 50mm. It takes a lot of practice, but when I can nail the focus, I like the results.



Cooking something delicious



"The job is done, bring the car around"



"Yes boss"

Notice how clean the taxi is, even the rims. Working hard and taking pride in it; two things I can relate to.

Day 17: Need some help

I can't quite remember exactly what happened the rest of the day, thus the title. The saddest part about not being in Japan is that when you're there there's so much you soak in that when you're away there's so much to forget.



Thank you natural skybox



For Charles and Allison



When I saw this walking past, it reminded me of HK movies from teh 90's for some reason. Not a remarkable photo, but there's a story somewhere there.

Day 17: Stuff face then walk it off

Our purpose of the day was to eat at one of the supposedly best ramen places in Tokyo. Unfortunately, they do not allow pictures. They only open for 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, and yes, there is a line even before it opens.


If you're seeing this, turn around. Menya Kissou is right behind you.




Working off the ramen




"Don't wear that white skirt and stripped shirt today k? Okay"




Line up for a new Gundam Cafe that just opened up. They probably could have charged for oxygen in there.




This took awhile to get the spacing right, with nobody else in frame. Thank you plaid shirt person for rocking it.