torakris

reverse Pocky is still available almost anywhere in Japan as well. I have seen teh leomon cheesecake Pocky all over the place but have no intention of trying it as I don't care for either white chocolate or cheesecake.....

I love my preserved lemons! A little while back, I made a sort of a middle eastern "stew" with tomatoes, chickpeas and kabocha (Japanese squash), it was missing something so I topped it with a mixture of parsley and minced preserved lemons. Wonderful!

I still remember vividly my first experience with Japanese food, I was a 19 year old college student and some Japanese friends took me to a Japanese restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. They all ordered sushi. They gave me a piece of sea urchin (uni) and it was so vile I almost vomited... They apologized and gave me maguro (tuna) instead telling me this was a favorite of children. I chewed off a tiny bit before I politely spit it into a napkin. They then tried to get me to eat octopus and I flatly refused. I called the waitress over and ordered teriyaki chicken... A similar thing happened with Thai food but I was 25 years old... and look at me now!!

Once you get here you will have no problem finding 100yen shops! The bigger the station the more likely the bigger the store... Daiso (100yen chain shop) has about 2500 stores nationwide and have great stuff, this is my favorite store. There is a really large 3 story Daiso in Harajuku that is wonderful, you will find everything you are looking for and it is in a fun area to boot. here is some more information including direction from Harajuku station

Yes I would translate it as artisanal.

Fish McDippers ← yeah and I love the wasabi-mayo that comes with it!

Haven't been out of the house in ages but today took the kids to the convenience store (7-11) for lunch. I had the double cheese (cheddar and mozarella) chicken katsu sandwich, you are supposed to heat it up in the microwave to melt the cheese. It wasn't bad but they were really skimpy on the grainy mustard. Hide had the eggs Mia and Julia both picked out this one

my newest Fanta find Anzu (apricot) Fanta! with melon soda (green one)

I was scanning the snack area of a nearby convenience store today and found this kurogoma pocky (black sesame seed flavor) It says on the package that it is a kurogo (黒五) blend meaning it is a mix of 5 black seeds/grains/beans/whatever dry.gif .The 5 include: black sesame black rice black beans black pine nuts (I never knew these existed..) black currant These are actually quite good, the first one was a bit odd but aws I got used to the sweetened sesame flavor I really started to enjoy them. The price on them was 200yen ($2) which is about 50 yen ($.50) more than your average pocky. When I made my way up to the register though I noticed a large display saying they were on special for only 100 yen ($1) a box), which is very cheap! I may head back for some more. biggrin.gif

I was scanning the snack area of a nearby convenience store today and found this kurogoma pocky (black sesame seed flavor) It says on the package that it is a kurogo (黒五) blend meaning it is a mix of 5 black seeds/grains/beans/whatever .The 5 include: black sesame black rice black beans black pine nuts (I never knew these existed..) black currant These are actually quite good, the first one was a bit odd but aws I got used to the sweetened sesame flavor I really started to enjoy them. The price on them was 200yen ($2) which is about 50 yen ($.50) more than your average pocky. When I made my way up to the register though I noticed a large display saying they were on special for only 100 yen ($1) a box), which is very cheap! I may head back for some more.

Mos's newest is the Takumi Judan burger that is selling for 1,000 yen (just under $10) the most expensive burger in Japanese fast food history. Takumi Judan This is the fourth round in the “Takumi” series of burgers, which started selling from August, 2003. The bun is made by an expert craftsman, with Australian beef, tomato, lettuce, bacon, egg, and more. Ten ingredients are piled on to make a 10 centimeter thick bacon and egg hamburger. A Japanese-style demiglace sauce made from ingredients such as Kinzanji miso is included separately, and you can even eat with a knife and fork. A card with the name of the egg farmer and chef also accompanies the meal. more from here

their new 100 yen ($1) menu not bad...

Mayo in Japan from Mari's blog (watashi to Tokyo)

Here is a good Japan Times article about Robatayaki. In addition to Inaka-ya, where they say it is about 10,000 yen ($100) a person, they offer a couple cheaper places.

lambretta, in your case I would suggest the curry museum, unless you really despise curry or really want to eat ramen. The ramen museum is in Shin-Yokohama which is really out in the middle of nowhere and is a bit of a trip from "downtown" Yokohama. There is also nothing else in te area really worth visiting... The curry museum is right at Kannai station in Minato Mirai, so you could easily stop in during your visit to the area.

I just realized we never talked about Yokohama's many food museums in this thread... The Japanese homepage for the ramen museum a great review of the Yokohama Ramen Museum another site with even more pictures The Japanese homepage for the curry museum an article about the curry museum

I was searching to see if I could find a sample of their menu and I ran across this site that says they have closed..... It has been a couple years since I was last there. The couple other restaurants I have been to in Kamakura were just tiny noodle shops that I have no idea of the name and one over priced western style restaurant that wasn't very good. I have never been to the ramen museum, but a friend of mine just recently went to the curry museum and really liked it. She said the resturants offered small portions (as well as regular sized) so that you could taste various curries at various restaurants. Her only dissapointment was that most of the restaurants did not offer mild curries for children (she was with her two young children), so they were limited in the restaurants they could choose from.

I would recommend Kamakura Oboro, a wonderful and very reasonably priced tofu restaurant, you can even watch them making the tofu. a couple pictures and I found this review from Frommers

I was watching tv a couple nights ago and they said the word ponzu (ポン酢）is actually from the Dutch word pons. The said it translates into English as punch (the drink), I was always curious as to why it was written as half katakana and half kanji it isn't a combination you see very much. Fopr those that don't read Japanese the kanji (Chineses character) is su (zu) meaning vinegar.

some translations: There is writing on the French one but it is too light for me to read most of it.... The Mousse Pocky, the girl is waving the Pocky stick and saying yawarakai (it's soft) over and over, then a man's voice comes on and says something like fuwafuwa huippu no mousse pocky ga demashita. Fuwafuwa is soft and fluffy and huippu is the word whip as in whipped cream. So essentially "the soft and fluffy shipped mouse pocky is here". On the page that shows 5 of them the first one is saying over and over "anata mo watashi mo pocky" Anata is you watashi is I (myself), so basically it is something like "Your pocky and my pocky"..... The second one is the same music and the mother steps into the room breaking up the almost kiss and says I brought a snack for you. Then music continues with more of the "pocky for you and me" song. the rest are all the same song...

Alex, Are you going to be leaving for good? when are you leaving? I have never seen daifuku in Cleveland, if you find some you must let me know!! and Kiem Hwa those all look delicious!!

great list! as for what to recommend eating, it is really based on the market. You can be very sure though that you will get some of the freshest and in season fish no matter what time of year you are here. As the list shows some shops specialize in different kinds of fish, so if there is something in particular that you what to try, just pop into one of those. For more about kaiten sushi, check out the kaiten sushi thread the kaiten talk starts around the middle and there are a couple places discussed as well as what to look for in a good place.

has anyone picked up the new magazine wasabi? I keep seeing it advertised but haven't had a chance yet to see it...

Well Jim you have completely convinced me! Tomorrow is our 10th wedding anniversary and we have been thinking about where to go. It won't be any time this month as my foot is still in a cast..... Have you been to any of the other locations? We almost went to the Shinjuku location last year but decided instead on the oyster bar just down the hall.... The book is gorgeous and wonderful to page through but out of about 10 recipes I had major problems with about 5, 3 were workable but I wouldn't make again and 2 were good. The soramame (like a fava bean) roasted in the shells on the BBQ is still one of my favorites. Most of the problems lie with the editing, one recipe called for something like 14 teaspoons of karashi for a small portion of dressing another one listed sauce ingredints but ten never told how or when to put the sauce together.

the Umenohana thread