Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tuesday, March 24 - Filet of Fish and Okonomiyaki


Breakfast was McD's at the Tokyo airport. We decided the Marroad International Hotel 'food' was HORRIBLE and obscenely expensive so we went to the airport to eat after hassling the JAL desk again. They had a filet of fish on the breakfast menu with a coffee and hashbrown. It was fine. The one in Kuta was better if that makes sense. D had the bacon McGriddle. It was DISGUSTING. The bacon was all fat. We pulled it to show you cuz it was inedible.

Lunch/Dinner was Okonomiyaki in the Shinjuki entertainment area. We had been hunting them all day. I mean really our day was about looking around not spending money and looking for good food. Tokyo has friggin let me down for food. All the lunch places had the EXACT same menu....

1. battered fried chicken breast served on rice
2. battered fried pork cutlet served on rice
3. pork ramen
4. chicen ramen
5. curry and rice (no veg in the yellow curry sauce like inKorea, just the sauce)
6. donburi bowls, ie. disassembled sushi in a bowl in rice
7. big pile of plain noodles.

It was weird. Every once in a hundred we'd stumble on an 'authentic' non chain looking ramen place and only a few sushi places. Okonomiyaki??? it was like looking for real boobs in Yaletown. It doesn't help that there rarely any english on the signs so you need to know the symbols. BUT what's weirder is that all the places had pictures of the food but what was the point, they all had the same stuff. What there to explain? Then when we found one in Shinjuki, they showed it to us in a bowl first. Then it dawned on us that maybe the where always doing that? The raw, unmixed batter in a bowl with the raw egg on top before mixing.

The place we found was full of tables of two with the griddle on the table. They bring you the batter in a large miso-type bowl and let you go at it. We obviously looked clueless so the lady explained what to do in Japanese. We were watching more than listening. We were told to mix. We mixed. We were told to oil the hot grill, we did. We spread it out with the small spoon and waited until golden on the bottom and dextrously flip and wait. Then they brought us the mayo. The sauces, chives and bonito flakes were on the table. We turned off the grill, dressed the okonomiyaki and ate it off the grill. mmmmmmm with a big ass jug of Kirin beer.

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