jean_genie

You could also feasibly stay in the Tsukiji area, where there are plenty of sushi restaurants. There are also plenty of izakaya in Ginza, which is a 15 minute walk from Tsukiji (or a short taxi ride), or you could go towards Tokyo station area for the izakaya experience, like blether suggested. Since you're visiting the markets early morning, it may make sense to have a sushi breakfast in the market area (many sushi restaurants open at 5am, serving seafood fresh from the market). Also another thing to consider is that trains and subways anywhere in Tokyo don't start running until after 5am, but if you stayed in the area, you wouldn't have to worry about that. Getting to the airport would be a short taxi ride to Tokyo where you can catch the Narita Express. Just allow yourself plenty of time because Tokyo Station is big with many lines and it may take you awhile to find the line you need. Hope this helps! (I live near Tsukiji by the way)

I have tried the durian-flavoured Hi Chu a few months ago because I love durians, but I can't say it tastes much like durian. Any durian flavour there is in the lolly is certainly very mild.

Oh, and just to add that one thing I'd never scrimp on is good quality dark chocolate. The cheap ones always tastes nasty. (This becomes important when you eat a little chocolate everyday.)

Hi Ondine, As a former Perthie, I hope I can help here! I used to live near the city, so the closest fresh market I could get to was Subi Markets, but I'm sure you know of one near you. I'd usually get my fruits and veges from these markets because they are so much cheaper than Woolies/Coles/other supermarkets. I used to buy rice, grains and other dry goods in bulk at Kakulas Bros on William Street in Northbridge - again, so much cheaper than the stuff you get at your standard supermarkets. They have a great range of ethnic ingredients too! I'd also often head into Wing Hong Butchers on William Street to buy my meats - but be warned that it gets really crowded on weekends because the meat are cheap (Wing Hong is a popular supplier for restaurants, butcher shops and supermarkets). And there you have it - quality ingredients for cheap(er)! Admittedly, it has been a few years since I was on a tight budget (back in the days when I was a poor uni student) but the Chinese in me always seeks out bargains and the cheapest deals wherever I am. Good luck with saving $$! edited to add: If you can handle crowds and rushing for bargains, near the closing time on a Saturday for supermarkets that shuts on Sundays - and likewise on Sundays for the fresh markets that are shut during the week - are great for grabbing perishables that have been marked down for clearance.

IHi Amy, thanks for sharing your life with us. I am enjoying the photos and accounts of a fellow gaijin Tokyo-ite foodie. I admire how well and often you prepare Japanese dishes - something that I have yet to regularly implement in my everyday cooking (although mind you, my husband is not Japanese so I don't have much pressure to cook Japanese food every night). Take heart, my kitchen is tinier than yours. We haven't yet bought a rice cooker because there is no room for it! edited to add a question: where do you buy your oats from? I love oats but often had to resort to buying them from FBC which can be expensive.

I might add that "peanut cream" also has an almost gel consistency, but this is judging only from one experience when I bought peanut cream because there was no peanut butter available. I suppose peanut cream is nice in its own right, but we were expecting peanut butter, not peanut jam

Oh, that looks so good, and I've got some serious craving for sushi right now! Is that fire I see on the sazae's shell? I've got a fond memory of eating a live sazae picked off straight from the Sea of Japan on a snorkelling trip with the scuba diving class last year at the school I taught in Noto. I've never had such good sazae sashimi-style ever before nor since then.

Wow, thanks for the amazing photos Hiroyuki! The fishing town I lived in Noto-hanto (Ishikawa) last year had amazing food festivals like this one. Sigh, even though I am a big city person and love where I am now, your photos make me miss many things about the inaka (rural) that we don't experience in the city.

We live about 20mins walk from Tsukiji. And it's a good thing too, since we've been pretty dissapointed with sushi we've had outside of Tsukiji around Tokyo. But I feel that the seafood cannot compare with the super fresh ones from the west side of Japan.

Wow, I love the photos! Thanks Hiroyuki for sharing I recently moved from a fishing village in Noto-hanto (in Ishikawa Pref) and I already miss the super fresh and yummy sashimi and sushi from Nihonkai (Sea of Japan). I now live near Tsukiji in Tokyo, and while the sushi is pretty decent here, it really cannot compare to the seafood I ate during my short year in the Noto.

I'm thinking of heading to Flushing to try Pan's recommendation of Spicy and Tasty on Monday (Labor Day). However, there are only two of us, and we all know that Chinese food is best shared by many. So here I am, wondering if it's a good idea to ask if anyone would like to join us for some spicy Sichuan fare on Monday lunch? It's short notice, but if you don't have plans for Monday, why not? PM me and we can make arrangements..

I wouldn't say that Japan is 'bike-friendly' unless you're in the countryside. Riding on the busy streets of Tokyo for example, is not a good idea for the faint-hearted; neither is riding on the pedestrian footpath playing dodge-the-pedestrians on bad pavements. Actually thinking about it, bike riding in NYC may be a bit risky since I'm still not yet used to the traffic going on the 'wrong' side of the road. Are there enough bike-only or shared paths/lanes to get around safely in NYC without using the road? Thanks LPShanet for the Thai rec. And yes, I've been a frequent shopper at Jubilee. I discovered this gem of a place quite accidentally on the first day I explored the nearby area on my own. I also go to Zeytuna one block away for fresh fruits and vegs coz it's cheaper than Jubilee.

raji your post made me LOL.. We would really prefer cycling, but hubby already has a bike in Japan, and we're only here for one more month so it doesn't seem worth it to buy bicycles to ride around. We did buy rollerblades two weeks ago, but we still have to do LOTS more practice before we can even consider it as a means of transport... Gastro888: so our trip to Flushing should involve dimsum, Pan's favourite chinese restaurant and Penang.. Dang, that would blow any diet out the window I'd definitely try the mi rebus though just coz I haven't had one for a few years now.. thanks for the rec!

What a coincidence! Our 'comparison' dishes for M'sian restaurants are also charkueyteow and nasi lemak (and hofun too! But that got me thinking - is hofun a M'sian dish? I know you can order it in M'sia, and we know a good M'sian diner in Perth that serves up a wickedly good hofun, but perhaps it is one of those dishes that migrated from China and not a 'true' Malaysian dish like say, mi rebus or nasi lemak. Perhaps this is discussion for another forum). By the way, I've yet to have a good mi rebus outside of Malaysia, so I think it's one of those things that gets its flavours from the streets of Malaysia (hm, that didn't come out quite right - kinda disgusting actually, but you get the idea). Thanks for the fitness tip - it's a good one, but we do walk everywhere! We've walked from our apartment on Wall St up to Union Square before - lots to see along the way in between. And on Sunday, after dinner at Pampano, we walked from E 49th St up to W 72nd St. We were trying to get to W 79th Street for a church's evening service, but we gave up upon reaching the subway station at 72nd because we were already late and I was really tired from walking for 45mins. I think I gotta get used to the fact that now I can't eat what I want without putting on weight. My body no longer runs on the metabolism of someone who used to cycle 16kms three to four times a week as a mode of transport to and from work prior coming to NYC. Plus I think it's a bit of a shock going from a healthy Japanese diet to our not-very-healthy dining choices in NYC. But we're here only for one more month, and there are still so much eating to do!

Thanks chefboy24 for your recommendations, especially about where to buy fish. Gastro888: Wishing you better luck with the bao next time you're at MLW. We'll keep an eye out for fresh egg tarts next time. And I wasn't thinking of buying the fresh flat noodles to bring with me to Japan (as much as I'd love to) - more so the dried noodles. Speaking of ho fun - any place serve good ho fun? Does chowfun mean the same? Pan, we enjoyed your company. Your knowledge of Malaysian stuff (language, culture, history etc) put me to shame. The food at Skyway satisfied our craving for good Malaysian food, so thank you for recommending this place. And thanks also for showing us your favourite shops around Chinatown Since there are a few Malaysian food enthusiasts here, I'll show some photos and give my impressions of the food at Skyway, as posted in my livejournal: Prices were good and serving sizes of the dishes were generous, as should be expected from a Malaysian restaurant. The taste of the food came close to what we were looking for, although none of the dishes ordered was particularly spicy (perhaps they thought we couldn't handle the heat?). We ordered Assam Sotong, a large Hot and Spicy Crab (the most expensive at $22), Ipoh Roast Chicken and Beef Satay to go with all three varieties of rice we also ordered: plain, chicken and coconut (the coconut rice is very fragrant and tasty). The squid in the Assam Sotong was really tender, had nice vegetables like okra (aka 'ladies fingers') and the 'assam' sauce was the right balance of sweet and sour although it wasn't as spicy as I'd expected it to be. The crab was messy eating, but was really deliciously fresh (we saw it alive just moments before). The Ipoh Chicken, with the sauce, was a nostalgic reminder of my childhood. And the Beef Satay was very good - perhaps the best satay I've had outside of Malaysia. I think the satay sticks were meant to be an appetiser dish, but it was the last dish to arrive at our table. It was well worth the wait though. (the satay came with 6 sticks) I would love to know how the food at Skyway compares to Nyonya. I guess there's only one way to find out! Am I enjoying my stay in NYC? Hm, let's see, 3 weeks here and I've already gained 3kgs (7 to 8 pounds?)! Yeah, I'm certainly enjoying myself! (Let's hope the weight gain stops though..)

We can get really good tofu in Japan. I was never big on tofu until we tried tofu in Japan! I haven't seen flat rice noodles, so perhaps I could stock up on them to bring back to Japan..

Thanks all for your tips Thought I'd post a couple of photos of our trip to Chinatown yesterday since you all have been most helpful with suggestions of Chinese, Malaysian and dimsum choices. We hung out in Chinatown just before meeting up with Pan for lunch at his favourite Malaysian restaurant (Skyway - really good food ). We went to Mei Lai Wah to get one baked charsiubao and one large combination bun (you know, the one with pork, chicken and egg?). There was a line, and we waited perhaps 10 minutes for our turn (getting nervous as we saw the person before us order 2 dozens of buns). The big bao was warm and stuffed full of goodies. Here's a photo of the bun after biting into it: We went to Egg Custard King and got the normal egg custard, an egg white one, and an almond flavour one. We're not big on the taste of almond jelly, and the almond flavoured custard tasted exactly like that - so it was our least favourite. The other two were quite nice, but I think would have been nicer if it was served warm. Then it was a huge lunch at Skyway with beef satay, large hot and spicy crab, assam sotong (squid) and Ipoh chicken. Nicely done, tasted authentic enough, and filled our tums with about $20 per person. Thanks Pan for meeting up with us and showing us around Photos of lunch maybe later..

LOL thanks for the warning. Now, can I wake up that early on a Saturday? That is the question.. There's a 7 line? Haha, yeah now I see it on the subway map. We definitely would like to check out the outer boroughs, so thanks for the dimsum rec's. I'm usually an impatient person, but when it comes to good food, I'd be fine waiting.

Is Flushing far from downtown Manhattan? I'm sure dimsum anywhere in NYC is still better than Chinese food in Japan! The Japanese sure know how to do well in French and Italian cuisines but the Chinese cuisine is far too Japanised (that is a word, right?). But then perhaps I am a bit too critical since part of my heritage is Chinese... Congee VIllage is on my list, but first for lunch tomorrow is Pan's suggestion of Malaysian food at Skyway. Before lunch I think we'll track down Egg Custard King and Mei Lah Wah for some tantarts and charsiubao Does anyone know how early they open on Saturdays?

OoO thanks weinoo for the additional suggestions! So much to eat, so little time! We'll definitely be eating loads of Chinese, dimsum, Malaysian, not to mention cuisines like Ethiopian that is not available or not done very well in Japan!

Heh, I'm sure minimal service goes for any Chinatown in any country. Except for Japan maybe. Chinese generally don't fluff around with service even with the incentive of a tipping culture (except for 5 star establishments perhaps). Cool, we love egg tarts! Thanks for the suggestions Dim sum! Well, that's another thing to add to my already long list of places to try while in NYC. Good thing we're here for another 1.5mths! Thanks for the suggestions, and I would love to meet another foodie! I will PM you when I've made plans on when to go to Skyway. Cheers! So far, we've had pizza at Lombardi's, lunch at Chanterelle's and an Indian buffet at Chola. They were all pretty good experiences, and I'm looking forward to more good eats!

Welcome back Pan Thanks for the recommendation of Skyway - will try it. Our very first meal in NYC was a disappointing Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown called New Malaysia. Both our meals were too salty, and our drinks were sickeningly sweet. I thought perhaps they were catering to American tastebuds which perhaps required stronger flavours than what mine could handle, but we've eaten other perfectly seasoned meals since then, so I think the fault lies perhaps not with me, but the cook. Service left a lot to be desired too. Have you eaten there? We're staying downtown on Wall St.. Nice location, but very noisy at night (lots of construction work around).

To all who contributed to my query a couple of weeks ago, a big THANKS! I've been here for about 1.5 weeks now, and except for a bad case of jet lag, I've had a great time so far. And just as an example of how useful your advices have been: on Saturday, we were in the Chelsea area so we checked out the Chelsea Market and picked up some goodies from Amy's and ate some yummies at Ruthy's amongst other things there (thanks mikeycook); today I went to Union Square to check out the greenmarket and grabbed some vegs, fruits and bread (and a pack of yummy wholemeal pretzels) (thanks Todd36); and I've just picked up a copy of NFT so I feel more armed and ready to do some exploring (thanks MarkIsCooking). Just wanna say thanks guys

Hi everyone, Thanks for your replies and input. I actually enjoyed reading the discussion between Todd36 and weinoo. georgeb: I've noted your tip; StInGeR: ta for the suggestion, mate ; and thanks mikeycook and brooklynfreddy for adding to the list of must-try. I'll be on the flight in a few hours time - thanks for giving me lots of reasons to look forward to NYC

Sorry for multiposting, but I do have a specific question. Having only ever lived in Malaysia, Australia and Japan (and only travelled around Asia), I'm familiar only with the dining cultures in these countries - are there anything important I need to be aware of when dining in NY? I'm already aware of the tipping culture - are there any others I should know of? Thanks!