After lunch I took the metro to Setagaya to go check out the Gotokuji Temple, which is said to be the origin of the maneki-neko lucky cat figurines of cats with one raised paw. Here’s some pictures of the temple and the maneki-neko.
On the walk back to Gotokuji Station, I had a snack at RARASAND, a cute cafe and art gallery that makes maneki-neko shaped taiyaki. I had a large maneki-neko taiyaki filled with custard cream and and oat milk matcha latte. The taiyaki had a warm pancake like exterior that also had a bit of chewiness, and it was filled with a vanilla custard. There are several other filling options including the more traditional sweet red bean.
I had a regular sized Dan-dan Dip Noodles (with Chinese Spicy Sesame Soup) and added a marinated soft boiled egg. It was kind of like a tantanmen which is like a Japanese version of Chinese dandanmian, only in a deconstructed tsukemen / dipping noodle form. The dipping sauce was quite rich and a little spicy, with sesame paste and ground pork and chili oil. The noodles were nice and toothsome. It was a good bowl of tsukemen.
For dinner I stayed local and had some gyukatsu at Gyukatsu Aona in Ueno. I’d never had gyukatsu before, its like tonkatsu / breaded and deep fried pork cutlet, but with beef instead of pork.
I had a 200g Deep fried Beef Cutlet Set Meal (¥4,190). There were also set meals with 100g and 150g meat portions. I also added grated yam for an extra ¥250.
Here’s the set meal. There was a salad, miso soup, wasabi, and three dipping sauces - a thick dashi sauce, one with salt and garlic, and soy sauce.
The nagaimo yam in the top left was advertised on the menu as “for your health.” It goes in your rice. I poured my yam, which was a thick liquid, into my rice and mixed it up. It kind of gave it a slimy texture. I’m not sure if I would get it again, but going by the menu it might be good for you I think I’ve had this before in the US mixed with raw tuna chunks.
I enjoyed my first gyukatsu. The wagyu beef was high quality and had a nice lightly breaded and fried crust. A few seconds on the hot plate helped melt some more of the fat and give it a little bit of a sear. Of the sauce options, I liked the plain soy with a dab of wasabi the most.
Your juicy posts are making me totally miss Japan!!! Just about any time you walk into any Japan restaurant, supermarket, street stall results in amazing eats that are carefully and respecfully prepared. And delicious!!
And the Prices!!! C’mon, usd$10 ~ $30 for a beef set meal, with Black Japanese Beef at the highest price point!?!? A food lover’s paradise, fershure!!
The ticket machine didn’t have an English option but it did have some pictures. I had some help from the friendly gentleman host and ordered the soba in hot broth with a side of ten-don (¥810).
Some condiments - there were chopped scallions, red chili pepper, umeboshi / pickled plums, and wasabi at the table.
My lunch. The soba noodles were very good, simple prep in a savory soy based broth. I added some of the scallions to my bowl. The ten-don was also very good. There were tempura maitake / hen of the woods mushrooms, pickles, and a large shrimp tempura on top of rice, all seasoned with tempura sauce. All this for about $5!
And thats a wrap for this report. I ate very well in Tokyo during my brief stay. I’ve read that Tokyo is one of those rare places where it’s difficult to get a bad meal, and I’d have to agree based on my visit. I hope to come back sooner than the 20+ years I took between my first two visits!
Another great trip report and some fantastic eats! Did you do any pre planning or research on what restaurants you wanted to go to before you got to Tokyo, or did you just “wing it”.
Thanks! I didn’t do much planning before my trip other than some vague ideas of some things I wanted to try e.g. kaiseki, high end tempura, high end yakiniku, etc. During the first few days I did do some research and lined up a few reservations for some places where reservations are recommended or required. I probably should have done some planning and booking beforehand as some of the places I was looking at were fully booked. For lunches I mostly just used Tabelog and Google Maps to find places around where I was at the time.
You hit some great spots based on last minute and on the go planning. We will add some of these to our list for next spring. Thanks for the great report.
In general, i feel like more planning is needed for proper restaurants that require reservations. Winging it can make hard to get into places last minute. On the other hand, the increase food tourism to Japan has meant ever more competition for seats, and the only way to book some spots is to get lucky or be persistent with spotting cancellations on the main booking platforms, as you managed to do. Tokyo also has just so many more restaurants than any other city food info networks (of all kinds from Michelin to HO to TikTok) can’t really even scratch the surface so there’s always a good place just around the corner. So maybe you played it exactly right!
Agree with the booking for proper restaurants, I think procrastination had a lot to do with the lack of prior reservations I also think I had an easier time getting more last minute reservations because I was solo.
Here’s a bonus post of some of the snacks I got from the ubiquitous konbini / convenience stores that seem to be on every block - 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart. I wish the convenience stores in the US were as good! Not pictured - an egg salad sandwich from Lawson, which I ate before thinking to take a picture.
Famichiki from FamilyMart with a beer and a Crunky frappe.
Lawson also has fried chicken in the form of Kara-age Kun nuggets. Pictured with a taiyaki filled with vanilla custard and a Pocari Sweat hiding behind the chicken
A matcha smoothie and an ikura onigiri from 7-Eleven. There are smoothie cups in the fridge section and a machine where you can place the cup and it will whip it up for you.
I think I’ve had this before in the US mixed with raw tuna chunks.
