meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
12
I was in Japan for a conference in the mid-90’s. Word traveled quickly about a place with barrels of live eels cooking them up to order. Tiny Mom & Pop place with no menu - just a broth to start followed by the eel and rice. Absolutely amazing flavor. I ate there daily for the the length of the conference!
I’m so glad you found a similar place!
Do check out the food offerings in the basement of the department stores. When I visited there were major markdowns every evening which helped my finances. The selection and quality of food was quite good too!
Grilled flap steak, pan roasted cherry tomatoes from the garden, garlic scape pesto, shaved fennel salad with cinnamon basil. Fresh, simple and delicious.
Random assortment of stuff for dinner- aka par for course…
Cilantro salad! There’s some scallions, olives and the lettuce is hiding. A bit of dijon heavy basic vinegrette.
Found a decent priced packet of mixed mushrooms that had hen of the woods (maybe my most favorite aside from chanterelles) and shiitakes and such. Sauteed with a bit of salt and pepper and one minced garlic clove. Crazy amazing.
I just cleaned and sliced my box of organic strawberries, they’re from a town near my parents and are good enough but we’re definitely picked too early. I’ll have some tonight and whatever is left for breakfast
I’m a sucker for a deal. But the basement department store discounts weren’t as good as I expected. Only 100 yen off for an 1100 yen item, e.g.
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
16
I guess a 20 year old experience doesn’t always hold up so well…At that time the mark downs were quite deep since everything was to be made fresh daily.
My wife loves sashimi, and has gotten very good at getting the best deals.
Most Japanese supermarkets will start stickering at a set time each evening. We went to one Shibuya market where they markdown throughout the day. The shorter shelf life products are on the shelves for a couple or three hours, then they are off 10%, then20%…
This package was stickered down twice already to 50%. I’d had whale sashimi in restaurants before and did not particularly care for the taste. This sashimi was very good, very clean flavor. Almost like a beef tartare.
Wife could not want to wait and gamble on a deeper discount on these choice items, so secured her late night snack at “only” 30% off.
Endo Sushi. A spot right outside the fish wholesale market. Fish was fresh as can be. Unfortunately, rice overseasoned and too much wasabi. Also knife work not as good as I expected. Great experience overall, though.
I’ve known about this fruit mochi for a while. It took forever to find. There was a long line, which made me worried maybe it was a tourist trap. They give an ice pack to keep the mochi cold!
So many snacks look impossibly pretty here. To me, it looks unnatural. Makes it very hard to judge what is factory made and what isn’t. Even with the fruit mochi, I couldn’t tell.
There’s three of us and we share most things. It takes a bit of discipline to just eat enough calories to get to the next place but you have to walk so much in Osaka that it wasn’t that hard.
Homemade chicken burritos with coconut popsicles for dessert.
I used roasted chicken shredded, grated pepperjack cheese, takeout salsa from our fav place, grilled corn, avocado mash and sour cream stuffed in green veg burrito rounds. Lots of lime for both.
Speaking of sour cream, the Daisy brand in the pouch container is a great value, dispenses clean and keeps fresh a long time…plus, unlike the typical top open container you dont get food gunk left behind.
I had read about the discounts before we came, and the tip from @meatn3 had me paying more attention, but I couldn’t find the deep discounts. We were only out of the touristy areas for a day and a half, though. I dropped in to supermarkets in heavy residential neighborhoods but didn’t have any luck as far as discounts. Seems like I was probably too late. I did have luck finding all sorts of new things, a bit too much luck if you ask my family. They dragged me out of the supermarkets kicking and screaming.
I’ll post soon about the expensive fruit. Do you live in Tokyo? We got off at a subway station with 28 exits yesterday and I wondered if Tokyo has stations with 50 exits.
1 Like
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
23
I really like this too. I think it lasts quite a bit longer than the regular style packaging.
We live in San Francisco. We’ve been exploring the Tokyo and Kansai area, and will be branching out to other areas soon. Japan is such a wonderful place to roam and get immersive.
We spend 2~3 weeks when we travel, and have learned to watch our budget. Gotta have the bucks for the requisite Kobe dinner and the Omakase lunches. ;).
Japan can be so expensive. Years ago, we saw a grocer applying discount stickers to perfectly beautiful stuff, we were agog! We love to shop for food anyway, and totally enjoy the game of timing the discounts.
Not all, but most supermarkets discount before they break down their sections. The GOOD stuff goes FAST! The really good stuff is snatched within seconds. Fortunately, the Japanese are so darn polite. Wife hasn’t gotten any elbow bruises yet from her supermarket forays.
I love living vicariously through your posts here! No need to worry about making them shorter!
I haven’t had fresh fruit mochi before but am absolutely positive i would love it. I understand what you mean about the food presentation being almost too perfect, that gives me pause as well
Savory watermelon! My friend brought me back a souvenir from their insane trip to iceland, this dramatic lava salt which has an earthy minerally flavor and nice flakey brittle texture. Plus cilantro and olives.
Not pictured side of a few defrosted meatless balls since they look like ! Haha, really unattractive but i like them as is.
Kombucha a la carte of course
BF came down with a bad man-cold (at least he’s not whiny about it, and actually doesn’t even let me fuss over him) but was feeling well enough to eat tonight. since he’s a sucker for sausage, i cooked up some frenchy ones (herbes de provence & white wine) from a local sausage resto/vendor, and made taters and an egg each. teeny TJs potatoes were boiled, smashed a tad, salted, deep fried, then drizzled with the last of the aji verde. egg fried in butter, natch. as an appy, leftover karaage wings from an izakaya we ate at the other night.
! Haha, really unattractive but i like them as is.
