prasantrin

I just assumed from your participation in this topic (particularly the information you've posted, not just that you're particpating) that you were knowledgeable in this particular area. No harm no foul. Thanks for the list! I'll do more research. ETA--if anyone else has any Seki-specific manufacturers they'd recommend for a reasonably priced santoku (less than $150), I'd be happy to hear them!

That is beautiful! Hiroyuki, do you know much about Seki's knife festival in October? I've been meaning to go, but never have, and since it's my last year in Japan, it's now or never! I know they'll have knife sales, but I have no clue as to what to buy or what to look for (doing my research now). I'm just wondering if you know of good Seki-specific manufacturers who might be at festival. Any particular knife makers I should be looking out for? (OK, I know it's several months away, but I like to plan ahead!)

I was going to drop by Seijo Ishii today! I dropped by a couple of weeks ago, but they didn't have any at that time. Was it expensive? Imported? The guy in Mie who grows them sells them for about Y2000 for 2kg. I thought it was reasonable--have I been in Japan too long? What are you doing with yours? Meyer lemon tart?

Amanatsu sounds perfect! Now to find some. . .

A lot of sushi restaurants in Japan don't have chawan mushi. Or dessert. Or anything else except sushi/sashimi and some beverages. I just order the things I like--anago (bonus points if they grill it in front of you), hotate, uni, ikura, maybe amaebi. They're generally on the expensive side, but I find they're pretty good indicators of quality. My Japanese friends who are sushi connoisseurs always try the egg at a new sushi place. They say it reveals the skill of the sushi chef. I don't particularly like the egg, but I'll eat it if it's there. And if I like it, then I tend to hold the sushi chef in higher esteem.

Is there a way to tell the difference between yuzu that produce lots of juice vs. those that don't? My attempt to find Meyer lemons in Japan has been temporarily halted (Meyer lemon season begins in November, so the orchard owner told me), so I want to start using more yuzu. Since it's out of season right now, would most of the yuzu in the markets be the less juicy kind? Is there any other citrus fruit in season right now that might make good baked goods? Or that is Meyer lemon-ish (I've never had a Meyer lemon, so I don't even know what it tastes like)? I'm thinking of subbing for lemon juice in lemon bars, lemon pound cake, etc.

This will be cruel of me to say, but my mother's family bought about 50lbs of Guimaras mangos in different stages of ripeness a short time ago. This allowed them to eat mangos for several weeks straight, since when the ripe ones were gone, lesser ripe ones had just ripened. Prawncrackers--I think that's what you need to do! But don't post pictures here, because then I'll be forced to hunt you down and steal them! I'd still like to try an Alphonso mango. Why are they cheaper than the Kesar ones? When I buy mango puree for my mango pudding, I always get the Alphonso one. Do I need to try Kesar ones, too?

Who paid for their tickets (and hotels), and do their restaurants serve S. Pellegrino products? And for that matter, are voters directed only to vote for meals that are not comped? It seems to me the Steirereck placement would be quite unfair if most of their votes came as a result of their wining and dining of chefs and food journos, as you somewhat implied earlier. (FWIW, I've been to Steirereck and I enjoyed my meal there very much.)

Anyone got an answer to my question? Surely those of you who were on the voting panel must have some idea. Or would the answer merely support my assumption that the sole reason so few restaurants in Asia are on the list is because there are so few reviewers in Asia and so few of the reviewers actually visit Asia? Let's look at the reviewers who participate on eG, and just for the sake of argument, I'd like to include Lesley C although she no longer takes part in the judging. aprilmei Fat Guy Alex Forbes Lesley C In the 18 months prior to the vote (or the last time you voted, in the case of Lesley C), how many Asian countries had you visited? IIRC, aprilmei lives in HK, but did you visit any other Asian countries? If so, which ones? How many African countries had each of you visited? African countries are also very much underrepresented on that list. How many European countries had you visited, and which ones? How many North American countries had you visited, and which ones? South American countries? Just wondering. . . ETA, I just noticed Alex Forbes had already answered the question about which countries she visited.

The first one is some kind of slicer. You can see the blade. But what do you slice in it? Carrots? The shape of the thing that holds whatever is being sliced is round, and the circumference is not so large, so it makes me think carrots. Doesn't look big enough for potatoes. I thought the second one might be a Japanese ginger grater, then I noticed it was 12" long! Could it be a horseradish grater? (Would anyone want to get that close to horseradish when grating it?) I've never seen horseradish in real life, but in my imagination it's quite large.

Cruel, cruel Prawncrackers. All I've got me are two teeny Filipino mangoes that I discovered were bruised! And they were Y199 each! I've never had a fresh Indian mango, and now I think I need some! Are they really better than Filipino mangos from Guimaras? (those are really, really really really good!)

I'd go if I could just watch and eat and not have to do any work!

I'm not Maggie, but if you google "Cracker Barrel" and "employment practice" you'll find a wealth of information. I've never been to Cracker Barrel, but have always wanted to try it. I doubt I'll ever go now. Unless I find information that shows they really have changed their ways--not superficially, but internally.

May I ask how many judges participate, and where they are from (or where they reside)? Asia is sorely underrepresented, and I'm inclined to think it's because most of the judges aren't from Asia or even of Asian ethnicities (but I won't even make accusations of racism, which others seem to do so easily).

A little bakery/cafe in Tokyo had this on the wall: I always thought it was a great idea, but am much too lazy to actually do it.

You can find crappy, poorly-prepared food in every country in the world, even in countries where there is a tradition of actually caring about quality. Japanese cooking techniques haven't changed much in centuries, yet fast food places have proliferated and are quite popular. The standard places (McD's, KFC, for example) aren't much better in Japan than elsewhere in the world.

KFC is expensive compared to McD's and the like. That's probably one of the reasons it's not doing well (plus outside of Malaysia, it sucks--even in Japan!).

Someone remind me they come up with the list? From looking at it, it wouldn't surprise me if the method is something along the lines of the Miele Guide in Asia. Seriously--only one Japanese restaurant, and Iggy's beats out all the rest in Japan? There are plenty of excellent Japanese restaurants which welcome non-Japanese (or at least accept reservations from them). It's true that some of the highest-level places are exclusive, but most of them do not just exclude non-Japanese, but most Japanese as well. "Introductions" are part of the culture--without one, you're an outsider regardless of what nationality or ethnicity you are.

Percyn--I hate you. That first burger looks amazing! I love how you got the cheese to ooze out of the middle just right--you planned that, didn't you? Now I want burgers, but I can't barbecue, so it'll have to be pan-fried for me.

Drink lots of young coconut juice!!! And if the opening of the coconut is too small to stick a spoon in, then ask them to cut the coconut so you can scrape out all that yummy coconut meat. I really want some young coconut juice now.

Have you read Simon Majumdar's "Eat My Globe" yet? It's on my list, but I can't buy books this year, so it'll have to wait until next year!

OK, the last post is a short one, because I don't have any other pictures, and I don't remember what else we ate! All pics can be found at the link a couple of posts above. On the 15th I had to go to the Okamoto area of Kobe to pick up our malaria prophylaxis from my doctor, so I decided to force my mother to eat one of my favourite sandwiches in Japan--the pate casse-croute! Donq is a seriously good French bakery in Japan. One French acquaintance claims their baguette is the only "authentic" baguette he's every had in Japan. I seriously doubt the validity of his statement, but I've never been to France, so what do I know? The Donq in Okamoto is the main shop (and the original, I think), but Donq exists in Tokyo, too. I had a caprese casse-croute. It was good, but the tomatoes had been rerigerated. I hate refrigerated tomatoes! I really like their fries, but I wish they'd give more. Next time I'm going to see if I can get some extra ones. In the pate casse-croute, there is a surprisingly large amount of pate. It's not cheap in Japan, but this sandwich is very reasonably priced given how much pate they put in it. Now that I've looked at the pictures again, I need to go back and have another one! Finally, on the 16th we invited my co-worker out to dinner at Ihatovo. They had an amazing dinner special--just Y2500 for a whole lot of food! The only pics I have are of the appetizer plate and the pasta course. I think there was also a salad, and the main was sausage and spareribs. The spareribs were very tender, but I hated the flavour the sausage added to the dish. I was pretty full by then, so I just ate a little and we took the rest home for my mother to snack on the next day. We had dessert, too, but I can't remember what it was. Oops. See what happens when you wait 4 months to write about something? That's it. A few days later we left for Singapore (Cambodia and Malaysia), and I've already written all that up. But now I'm really done! Whew!

The next day, we went to Kyoto. Whenever my mother comes to Japan, we go to Kyoto so my stylist can cut her hair. She loves him as much as I do! After our morning of beauty, we went downtown for lunch. We weren't sure what we wanted to eat, but when we happened upon Ippudo, the Hakata-style ramen shop, we decided to eat there. Although it was about 2pm, there was still quite a line. We only had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated, though. The Kyoto branch is much brighter than the Kobe branch, but it seems more cramped. There's a communal table (where we were seated and, unfortunately, where many families with very young children were seated), and also counter seating. My mother had the Karaka-men. It's supposed to be spicy, but it really wasn't that spicy. It came with a little plate of half a slightly more cooked onsen tamago, a slice of fatty pork, rice, and nori. We weren't sure what she was supposed to do with this sides, so she put the egg and the pork in her ramen, and ate the rice and nori like onigiri. She really liked her meal, but she was very full after! We also shared a little pork bun--this was really good! I expected something along the lines of chashubao, but it wasn't really like that. The bun was baked rather than steamed, and there was chile paste or sauce in there, too. We also shared some gyoza. I thought it tasted a little funny--couldn't put my finger on what the strangeness was, though. The gyoza at the Kobe branch didn't have that strange flavour, though. I had the Shiromaru. I didn't really like it. The broth had a funny flavour to it. I don't know if it was the Shiromaru that I didn't like, or if it was just the Kyoto branch that I didn't like. I'm going to try the Shiromaru in Kobe the next time I go, so I can compare. We left early, because we were both tired plus I still had all that marking to do.

OK, so I kicked Peter Green's a** with our spring break installments, but what he doesn't know is that I haven't yet finished my Christmas stuff! Once I finish this, I really will be the champion of champions! So. . . pics can be found here, I hope. On December 12th, despite the enormous amount of work I still had to do, my mother and I went to Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture. I had been there once before on a short work-related trip, and I thought my mother would like it there, so off we went! We were taking a bus, so we left bright and early to give us enough time to find the bus station. We arrived about 90 minutes too early, so we went to Starbucks to kill time. Have I ever mentioned that I hate Starbucks? The only things I like about it are that it's completely non-smoking, and you can sit for as long as you want without getting kicked out. I used to do a lot of my marking there. Anyway, the Starbucks in Japan have macarons! I had read somewhere that they were quite good, so I wanted to try one. I chose caramel. Let me just say, YUCK!!! OK, that's not all I'm going to say. They were too large and dry, and the filling was disgusting. Plus it had little to no caramel flavour at all! What a waste of money. And the coffee was horrible, too. I think it was almost noon by the time we arrived in Kurashiki, and we were starving! We walked to the historical area (only about 10 minutes from the train station), and found an udon shop. Kanaizumi is a fairly large restaurant considering it's not quite in the main tourist area, but it was the busiest restaurant we saw. The chef was making udon noodles in full view of passers-by, so we figured it would be decent udon. We were right! My mother had gyu-udon. No, that's not gyudon, but udon with beef. She said it was good. I had a tempura teishoku. The tempura was OK. A bit greasy, as though the oil wasn't quite hot enough when they began to fry it. The udon was quite nice, though. I find udon is often over-cooked, but this still had a bit of bite to it, and the noodles were super long! After lunch, we went walking around the tourist area for a bit. Kurashiki is really a pretty little town. It's really a city, but the tourist area looks like an old Japanese town. I just wanted to walk long enough to deserve a rest at my favourite coffee shop in Kurashiki--Kohikan! I love this place, and I think their coffee is quite good. Coming from an infrequent coffee drinker, that's high praise! (I do prefer Inoda coffee in Kyoto, though.) My mother had cafe au lait, and I had Vienna Coffee, which is one of their specialties. No alcohol or chocolate in this version, just a big dollop of whipped cream (not real, but some kind of edible oil product), and a lot of large-crystal sugar at the bottom of the cup. I liked it, but it was very rich. On the way back to the train station, we found a little shop that sold all sorts of coated legumes. We bought a few kinds for my mother to bring back to the Philippines as omiyage, and I bought a teeny bag of very delicious roasted peanuts (shelled). They were Y600 for maybe 1 cup of peanuts, but they were oh so good! Back to the train station to catch our bus back to Kobe, and I think we just had my chicken soup for dinner that night.

FYI--the Kyoto/Osaka guide is supposed to be coming out in October. I can't wait! (not least because I'll only have a few months to make use of it once it comes out!)