Lunch on the Rails

First bento box of the trip on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. It's an Unagi (fresh water eel) box with rice done two ways, Bar-B-Q and broiled. I look forward to trying Anago Meshi (BBQ saltwater eel) that is a specialty in Miyajima. Can't wait!

Kazan Tasting Course

  The entry to Kazan is discrete.  You just know good things are behind that door, but you need to be adventerous  enough to enter.  We enter.  The atmosphere is romantic with dimly lit rooms and smokey mirrors.  Our server speaks English and in addition to the usual course dinners on the menu, hands us a card for an additional special tasting tonight.  We opt for this course dinner which is Y5000 (about $50 per person, not including beer and sake).

  After ordering one of the home brewed Kazan beers, we were served our first course.  We were offered a choice of three and I began with the sashimi shrimp and orange caviar cold soup while David had the gelee of Sea Urchin (see picture below).  We can recommend both.  They were served in mini martini-like glasses.  My soup was like a shrimp bisque.  My only concern was which piece of silverware to use.  We had chopsticks, forks, demi spoons and the one I finally settled on,  a long stemmed  mini spoon.  I was relieved when I saw another diner choose the same. 

  We next perused the sake menu to see the offerings.  David chose a Katatobi while I continued with beer.  His sake was excellent.  Smooth and elegant.  Our "Cat's Eye" Oysters were the best we've ever tasted.  You could taste the ocean in your mouth.  There were two choices of sauces, one was the traditional red sauce and the other was an anchovy cream.  Both were good, but who needs sauce when you have the best tasting oyster in the land.

  The next course were a duo of sashimi octopus mixed with zucchini, carrots and barley with a smokey flavor paired with sashimi angel prawn with a red dipping sauce.  Amazing.  (see picture below)

  At this time I moved on to order sake.  I ordered a Seamon sake; however as soon as our server left the table, David told me it was the wrong sake.  We attempted to change our order, but ended up with one of each.  Good for me, I preferred the Seamon.  Our next course was another type of Angel Prawn, this was coated with panko and deep fried served with a Japanese tartar sauce.  This was also delicious, but still could not compare the largest Prawns we have ever had in Mozambique and have to yet find any that compare.

  The next offering were Quebec Welks (see picture below) served in a miso sauce with green pepper. We were then served the best dish of the night, and possibly of our life.  Whale meat steak with a red wine and berry sauce.  We had to verify this dish as we never dreamed whale meat would like steak.  It was as tender as a filet Mignon and you could slice it with a fork.  We were so excited we forgot to take a photo, we just dug in.

  We needed nothing after that, but the meal continued with a pasta course and assorted desserts.  The evening ended with the staff bowing to us as we strolled down the street, in total happiness.

Sea Urchin Gelee and Shrimp Sashimi in Orange Caviar Cold Soup

Prawn Sashimi from Kazan/Ginza

Quebec Welk from Kazan/Ginza

So Sorry

No wireless internet at our hotel in Miyajima, as advertised. No internet anywhere!

In Okayama now, will catch up with tales of whale meat steaks, fried oysters on a stick and spicy sake ASAP.

Dine and dash

  We learned a valuable lesson the first time we attended the Kabuki-za in Ginza, make lunch reservation before the performance starts. That first time, during intermission, everyone made their way to one of the several restaurants located in the theater or munched on bento boxes they brought with them. Jane and I just walked around hungry.

  This time we made plans. We booked our lunch reservations at Hanamichi, a restaurant located in the basement of the theater. You pre-order your meal, so we pointed at sign that had a lovely photograph of food on it and found our seats.

  Two and a half hours later came intermission, it was time for lunch. Off we went, finally finding our restaurant and two lovely lunches waiting for us. By the time we were seated, others were finishing. Jane and I looked at each other and this beautiful bounty laid out before us and dug in. I didn't recognize everything we ate, there was miso soup, shrimp, pickled vegetables and about ten other items. But I didn't have to recognize them, I just had to eat them. Ten minutes later we were finished and walking back to our seats. The lunch was good, but I learned another valuable lesson, don't dally around when it comes time to eat a Kabuki lunch.

Chococro Breakfast

  Before our day of Kabuki we stopped by one of our favorite coffee shop chains in Japan, CHOCOCRO. We first discovered them on our last trip to Japan in Nara. Always a smiling face to greet you at the counter and always great coffee and good breakfast grub. Like: pigs in a blanket and egg and bacon stuffed sandwiches. Nothing says good morning in Japan than a freshly baked pig in a blanket. Jane thought she was ordering a little sandwich stuffed with ham. Well, it was a little sandwich, but it was stuffed with something pink and kinda sweet. Two outta three ain't bad.

Tsuki No Shizuku

Our first night in Ginza we requested the hotel staff make reservations for us at Tsuki No Shizuku.  They were excited to assist and printed directions that looked just as puzzling as the directions we had found.  It put the restaurant in the middle of a roadway.  They were kind to explain that the restaurant is below an elevated roadway. Oh!

  The stroll to restaurant was short and took us past Chanel, Cartier and DeBeers shops.   One of us was in window-shopping heaven.  We arrived at the restaurant and gave our name.  We were quickly seated after stopping to remove our shoes.  We attempted to put on the wooden sandals in the hallway and were told no.  We later surmised these are the sandals provided for us in the going to the restroom.

  We walked past a few rooms with boisterous entertaining and were shown our own room which had seating for four at a table in a little nook with a sliding wood door for deliveries of our food and drink.  We had a doorbell to ring for anything we might want.  They also provided an English menu for our convenience.

  We sampled the complimentary amuse bouche of what we will describe as squishy tofu aperitif with fish roe.  Let's just say this is one dish we wouldn't order on our own.  We begin by ordering the premium draft beers.

  Ready to order our first selections, David rang the bell for the waitress.  He began by ordering a bottle of Shochu called Yumemonogatari "Tuki".  The waitress was surprised as there were only two of us, but accommodated his wishes.  

She arrived with a jumbo bottle of Shochu and our first selections.  The fried tofu with cream cheese was an interesting texture and was a good choice for two people who never usually order tofu.   An assortment of pickles was ordered for David consisting of four selections.  This round of food also consisted of  Jane's favorite of the night, a Yuba roll (a type of wide noodle) with tuna & avocado. We also had duck and leek served on Hoba leaf.  The display of this alone made it worthwhile.  It was served on a dried leaf with a little pot of fire below to cook the duck to your liking. 

  After passing on the horse meat sashimi in honor of the KY Derby, we rang the bell for our second round selections.  This was the fried food round.  After indulging in a little Shochu and traveling for more hours than we could count, we went for comfort food.  Spicy fried okra and David's favorite, Fried Mugifuji pork with Camembert cheese (a house speciality).  This dish was as beautiful as it was tasty.  The final dish we ordered was fried crispy things from the picture on the non-English menu.  It ended up being octopus that was too heavily breaded for our liking.  

  Our night ended with David falling asleep at 8:30, something he'd never done before in his life. I might need to keep a bottle of Shochu at home, it could come in handy.

  Cost: 9,401 Yen

Limo, plane, plane, tram, train, subway and finally by foot

It took a while but here we are and Ginza awaits. Kabuki all day tomorrow followed by the Ginza Lion Sapporo Beer Hall and Sake Museum. But tonight we dine at Tsuki no Shizuku. Read about this restaurant at bento.com. More tomorrow.