That reminds me of our family tradition (well, mom and I) of simmering the turkey neck, then gnawing the tasty meat off.
Good eats.
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That looked absolutely amazing.
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I was surprised at how much eel liver tasted like chicken liver, at least in this mousse form.
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Oudouya Chokkei IEKEI TOKYO (王道家直系 IEKEI TOKYO)
My next lunch was at Oudouya Chokkei IEKEI TOKYO right across the street from my hotel. There was a long lineup outside at lunchtime on Monday but it moved pretty quickly.
They specialize in Iekei ramen, a type of ramen with a pork and shoyu broth with thick noodles (thanks Wikipedia). Once I got to the front I ordered from the ticket machine the chashu ramen (I think), a side of pork over rice, and a beer. I needed a little help because everything was in Japanese.
The beer came with a little snack of a piece of chashu on a square of nori. Nice!
Condiments.
The Iekei ramen. This was a delicious and hearty bowl of noodles. The broth was very good, rich and definitely porky with a soy sauce taste. Some ginger was nice to cut through the richness a bit. The noodles were thick and had a nice chew. There were medium thick slices of chashu pork, nori, and spinach on top.
My rice bowl side had shredded nori and chunks of pork in a bit of a gravy like sauce, a bit like Chinese lu rou fan maybe. I added some Kewpie mayonnaise from a squeeze bottle following some of my fellow diners’ example. A bit unusual but it was very nice mixed in with the pork topping.
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1311/A131101/13261243/
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Pizza Marumo
For dinner I headed to Pizza Marumo in Ebisu, where I had made a late reservation on Tablecheck. Pizza Marumo is from chef Yuki Motokura and specializes in Japanese style pizza, which I understand is a bit like Neapolitan style.
I was seated at the counter, which has a view of the pizza making station and wood burning oven.
Menu
marumo salad with soy sauce and sesame dressing (¥800)
I started with the house salad, small size. It had crisp lettuce leaves and was lightly coated with a soy and sesame dressing. There were raisins and I think dried cranberries for a little sweetness, and some slivered almonds for crunch. It was a light and refreshing salad.
Wagyu Sirloin Prosciutto (¥2,600)
They were sold out of their carpaccio of the day (mackerel), so I had the wagyu prosciutto instead. Delicious! It was very well marbled and shaved thin. It just melted in my mouth.
Japanese Umami (¥2,640)
Dried Shiitake mushroom cream sauce, Mozzarella, Pecorino, Mackerel, Bonito flakes, Kombu, Green onion, Sesame and Soy sauce
For pizza, I had the Japanese Umami pizza. Also delicious! This was my first time trying Japanese pizza. The crust was a bit like a Neapolitan crust, maybe a bit less soft in the middle and crispier, with some nice charring and a great texture that had just the right amount of chew. Great crust. The toppings were definitely an umami bomb - there were dancing katsuobushi flakes and pieces of mackerel along with the cheese and the creamy savory mushroom sauce.
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13276584/
Bar Track (バー・トラック)
I walked to Bar Track nearby for a nightcap after dinner at Marumo. Bar Track is a listening bar - a type of bar that originated in Japan with a hifi stereo system. It’s a sister bar to Bar Martha. I would post some pictures of the inside but photos in the bar are forbidden 
Here’s a picture of the exterior though.
The rules.
They had a vintage sound system with McIntosh amps and were playing vinyl records. There were snacks like Raisinets and banana chips available for self-service in mason jars.
I had a dram of Glenmorangie Scotch and a very good rosemary flavored gin and tonic made with their house-made gin. It had a nice vibe and I got to listen to some good music.
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13020126/
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Umakara Curry Senmon Ten Hakuyotei (旨辛カレー専門店 白洋亭)
For lunch the next day I had some curry at Hakuyotei Curry near Akihabara Station.
I had the tonkatsu curry with an onsen egg. There were some jars on the counter that had some pickled onion and fukujinzuke which I added to my plate. This was one of the best Japanese style curries that I’ve had. The curry had a good amount of spice and a bit of heat. The tonkatsu was nice and crispy, and the egg was very runny and kind of melted into the rice and curry. Great!
Runny egg closeup
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1310/A131001/13277672/
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That Wagyu Sirloin, pizza, and everything else, wow. Great stuff!
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Are there a lot of smoking bars in Tokyo?
That wagyu prosciutto, tho 
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It was all delicious!
From what I understand smoking is banned in most places indoors except within dedicated smoking rooms, which I saw a few times. According to Wikipedia there are some grandfathered establishments where minors are not allowed and are smaller than 100 square meters where smoking is allowed and not only in a smoking room. Just anecdotally I only went to a couple bars this trip and there was smoking allowed in both of them, so maybe they were grandfathered in.
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Tempura Taku (てんぷら 拓)
For dinner I went to Tempura Taku in Kagurazaka, a tempura specialty restaurant helmed by chef Takumi Masuda. I’d made a reservation on Tabelog. It’s a small restaurant with only an 8 seat counter.
Tempura Taku is a two person operation, and chef prepared all of the dishes himself. It’s a set menu served omakase style and was priced at ¥17,600.
Here is my place setting. There was some pickled cucumber that was regularly replenished, along with a dispenser with tentsuyu / tempura dipping sauce, some grated daikon to mix with the tentsuyu, a savory and sweet sauce, and salt.
I had a glass of sake.
To start, a hot sweet potato soup. Yum. It tasted a bit like a potato leek soup.
I was seated on the side counter and had a great view of the cooking. Chef prepared the batter first. There was soda water, sifted flour, and egg.
The tempura courses started with a bang, with a shrimp being the first piece. Chef recommended us to season with the salt only.
This was probably the best shrimp tempura I’ve ever had. Wow. It was perfectly fried with a light batter crust.
And then the head of the shrimp, which was crunchable.
A skewer of tempura gingko nuts, also suggested with just salt. Very nice, nice chew with the same light and crispy batter.
Baby sea bream, which was flaky and tender.
Eggplant. It was so tender inside, with the same light and crispy battered exterior.
Scallops. These were delicious. They were just cooked and had a great texture. The recommended seasonings were either the salt or the brown sauce. Does anyone know what this sauce is called?
I had a glass of shochu on the rocks.
I think this was a piece of daikon? It was tender and recommended with the tentsuyu with grated daikon. Delicious!
Squid next. This was recommended to be seasoned simply with salt or with the tentsuyu with grated daikon. It was perfectly cooked with a nice firm texture.
I forgot to write anything about this piece. Whoops!
Shiitake mushroom stuffed with shrimp. This was another perfectly cooked piece. It was slow cooked in the oil and flipped many times. The mushroom was meaty, juicy, and tender.
At this point Chef replaced the oil with a fresh batch that was heating on another burner.
Next, eel. It was covered with flour with the help of a brush, coated briefly in the batter, and then placed in the oil. Chef picked up the eel to hear the sizzle and eventually split it in two with chopsticks. Another great piece!
I added on an order of uni / sea urchin. A generous amount of uni was rolled in nori, battered, and fried. Salt was recommended as the seasoning. This was so good. The battered nori was light and crispy and the uni inside was warm and creamy.
Next, potato. Only a pinch of salt was recommended for seasoning. Nice, with a bit of sweetness.
For a “finishing” dish, we had the choice of a tendon / tempura rice bowl or a tenchazuke which I think was like a tendon topped with broth. I picked the tendon. A battered patty of shrimp and vegetables was fried and was then dipped sizzling into a sauce. It went on top of a bowl of rice. A marinated egg yolk was provided to mix in with the tendon. What a delicious finish! The seasoned egg yolk was runny and savory and was great with the shrimp patty and rice.
There was also a cup of miso soup to sip on.
Finally, green tea and fresh fruit - Asian pear I think and a very sweet grape.
This was a great meal! This was my first experience with a omakase style tempura restaurant, and it had some of the best tempura that I’ve ever had. The batter was light and crispy and everything was cooked just right. Chef Masuda is a master of tempura.
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1309/A130905/13293838/
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Looks like a great experience. Tempura restaurants in Tokyo have climbed in price precipitously (even more than other segments of the dining landscape) with oil changes every piece, high end ingredients (eg deep fried uni balls) etc. this looks like a (somewhat) affordable option but still giving the classic experience (piece by piece and not a tray all at once).
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Wow. Another perfect day. I love Japan so much.
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An oil change on every piece sounds excessive! I did enjoy the fried uni very much.
Ramen Kamo to Negi (らーめん 鴨to葱)
I had some late night ramen at Ramen Kamo to Negi in Ueno, which is open 24 hours. I passed by this place once during normal hours and there was a line, but at 1 in the morning there was no wait. Ramen Kamo to Negi specializes in duck / kamo ramen and has several branches. This one near Okachimachi Station is the original.
The ticket machine, which is outside. I got the duck ramen with wontons, with extra menma / bamboo shoots, extra duck slices, and ajitama / marinated soft boiled egg.
You can pick two of three toppings for your bowl. I got the leek (I think) and scallions. I think the third option was fried onions.
Utensils and condiments. I made use of the jar of yuzu kosho.
Extra toppings and ajitama.
Duck ramen.
Noodle closeup.
This was a delicious bowl of ramen. The broth had a lot of duck flavor and was clear and on the light side, albeit with a slick of maybe duck fat on top. The noodles were thin and al dente. Instead of chashu, there were thin tender slices of duck that were cooked to medium and had the fat and skin attached. The onion and leek topping added a nice little allium bite that was good with the duck. It was a very nice midnight snack.
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1311/A131101/13210392/
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For breakfast the next day I went to McDonalds and got an Ebi Filet-O, which is a McDonald’s Japan exclusive. It was pretty good for fast food - it had a fried patty filled with whole shrimp and lettuce and a Thousand Island like mayo sauce.
And for lunch I wanted to try some food from a depachika / department store basement food court. For that I headed to the Mitsukoshi department store in Ginza.
Here’s some pictures of the Mitsukoshi depachika.
A Korean stall with kimchi
Fish
Lots of bento boxes
A popular yakitori stall
Western style food
Meat counter
Pickles
So many choices. Everything looked appetizing. I eventually settled on a couple of bento boxes 
and a piece of cake for lunch. There’s no dining area in this depachika, but there was a terrace on the 9th floor with tables where you could bring food to eat.
My haul.
The bentos were both beautifully laid out.
I had a mini bento of wagyu sushi - there was well marbled wagyu nigiri and wagyu and rice with mushrooms wrapped in inari pouches. They were all topped with a dab of yuzu kosho.
And also a bento box with mushroom rice, chicken, salmon, a piece of a meatloaf like thing (noshidori?), veggies. Very nice.
The cake was light and airy with whipped cream and shiny jelly coated muscat grapes that were sweet and fragrant.
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This looks great. I’ll put on my list for next spring.
If you enjoy duck ramen, I’m a big fan of the Aburi soba (no soup, noodles tossed in duck fat scallion oil) with two kinds of duck and foie.
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Mr. Happy, newby question here. Is hitting the top left button usually a good option if you do not speak or read Japanese? I have found that ordering whatever is at the top left of a ramen restaurant order machine usually gets me the house special. Is that the case with restaurants in general? I do not like holding up the line while I use my Google Translate app and I frequently have not taken the time to study photos of the machine in advance so I just hit the top left if it looks reasonable.
I am going back to Tokyo next month and want to branch out from my favorites a bit more this trip, so I will be hitting more places that do not cater to travelers. I hate being “that tourist” and needing extra help, even though sometimes I do need it.
On edit: The obvious answer to my question is probably, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!
LOL!
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(I was using my phone’s camera to translate things as I looked at them, rather than the Translate app, if I remember right. But, maybe it was part of a Translate app of some sort. I could do it pretty quickly )
That is so awesome you are heading back. Wish I could join you.
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I use the camera translate function but it does not work that fast for me. It may be that the reason it is so slow is that Verizon has throttled my phone. I do not use travel eSims, I use the Verizon International Plan so by week 3 of the trip I am at 3G speed, not 5G.
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I also don’t change my SIM card, but I think Rogers in Canada was giving me 5G.
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