sartoric

I borrowed a book from the library - Vegetarian Tajine & Couscous by Ghillie Basan. Here’s the chickpea and spinach tajine with turmeric and ginger couscous, flatbreads and a cucumber, dill and onion salad. I think I’m going to be breaking my “no new cookbooks” embargo.

Oh my that looks good @Ann_T, happiest of days to Moe. Dinner here last night was a potato and mixed mushroom curry with dal, rice and oven baked okra. It was someone here on eG who pointed me to the okra recipe, maybe @Okanagancook ? Anyway, we’re eternally grateful for this easy dish that works every time.

On a day trip to Nara we were accompanied by swarms of school kids who were incredibly orderly. The weather was perfect, the sightseeing impressive, the food delicious and the deer friendly. You could have coffee with an owl (or a pussy cat). We didn’t do it, seems exploitative, but I did ask for a photo for my owl crazy niece. Lunch at a busy restaurant. The crab cake here was superb. Grilled king mushrooms, chicken teriyaki, a bowl of soup and a small plate of dressed vegetables each. Manhole covers are often works of art.

Udon noodle soup with veggies and sake. The sake has gold leaf in it !

Breakfast at our Ryokan onsen was almost as special as dinner. There’s a flame under this beef. Onwards through beautifully coloured countryside to Kyoto. And these little treats, an egg batter filled with shrimp and fried in kinda mini muffin pans. Served with soup and Mitsuba. A modern day isakaya, four tables with room for say 24 at a pinch. Note the coat hangers for your jacket. Happy owner who made us very welcome Some gratuitous supermarket shots, round the corner and open 24 hours.

@BonVivant yes we did sake tasting in two places. Didn’t get to Shirikawa-go, my motto is always save something for next time We did try the hida beef too, (even though I try not to eat animals these days which was difficult in Japan). Lovely photos.

In Takayama we enjoyed a traditional kasakei meal served in our room. There’s so much going on here, I can’t begin to explain. First the charming lady sets out the pieces. No English to explain, but we figure it out All exquisite little bites. Then the elderly owner of the guest house gives us a box of biscuits (German, but hey) And we retire to a warm onsen, bliss.

I think a lot of places had English menus, I didn’t always photograph them. Perhaps in our 14 days x 2 or 3 meals a day we were without an English menu maybe 7 or 8 times. Kinda made it more fun. Sorry again for the 🌽.

Before we left Kanazawa there was pizza. Not bad, from this typical Italian joint. I love their food plastic A giant fish head just chillin on ice, on the street, waiting for the restaurant to open. Onwards to Takayama where we spend our 25th wedding anniversary This ramen bowl and gyoza were a mistake. Not because they weren’t delicious, we had no idea what was to come at our Ryokan Onsen.... later...

Just catching up now and have to say thanks @Smithy for your warts and all peek into road tripping. I picked up lots of ideas. We hope to do some of the same next year, albeit in Australia, and extra albeit towing an off-road caravan. Hope you enjoy spring when it arrives

Oyakodon- chicken and egg rice bowl.

More meals from Kanazawa. Breakfast at a cheap joint in the fish market basement. A sushi bowl with prawns, calamari and salmon roe, rice underneath. So fresh, sweet and fun to pop the salmon roe. Next to it a seafood okonomiyaki, also delicious and total cost about AUD $12. Crab croquettes, oh my. Served with a dipping sauce and daikon. Potato salad to go with, plus edamame. And special rice. Another great selection of sake on the bar. The sake is poured to overflowing, the box contains the overflow which you then drink. A gratuitous garden shot, the Kenrokuen Garden is peaceful even on a Sunday public holiday.

I think my favourite places to eat were the isakaya or local restaurants. Often there would be only room for 6 around the working area, counter like. In many places not a single sign in English or even a picture menu. Clearly we weren’t the target audience, but we were made extremely welcome. Google translate is miraculous. In this tiny place I had to set my semi vegetarian principles aside. I try very hard not to eat four legged animals, but here today pork tonkatsu was on the menu. We were served mountain vegetables with egg, pickles, salad, rice and miso soup. The owner produced three tastings of sake for us to try. Happily posed for the camera, see space of the kitchen behind ! Also note 3 sake cups on the counter. Not pictured are two other customers who engaged and made this a fun night.

Husband away on business, so I started late afternoon with a snack platter, a glass of wine and a girlfriend to chat with. She stayed, it became dinner.

Food at the market, shuffling while eating one giant oyster and salmon sashimi. Kanazawa is known for jibu-ni a duck and root vegetable stew cooked in dashi. Here’s a lousy photo, the dish was delicious. Also here we had tempura sweet potato, rice and sake. I love these isakaya restaurants. Sometimes you just want to have cheesecake and a glass of wine. There are a lot of Italian style restaurants and cafes. The bento box ! We arranged a goodwill guide to see Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen gardens. This is a free service run by Japan tourism board and on both occasions was excellent. Our guide T suggests we buy our lunch before starting the walk. In the basement of department stores are food halls, fantastic food halls. First choose your box with various goodies Then choose from a selection of several rice dishes It will be beautifully wrapped And look like this when you finally stop for lunch I chose a box with space for three kinds of rice. Loved the one with chestnuts.

I’ve been lurking at the Japanese supermarket here. Last night was ginger garlic chicken wings, spinach dressed with sesame, pickles (well, kimchi) rice, miso soup with egg and sake. I even made my own dashi. It’s not Japan, but I’m happy with this.

From Tokyo we bulleted to Kanazawa for more delicious food, sake and sights. The Nihishi fish market has much more than fish, one could almost live there. Two little stools to sit and enjoy your fresh seafood. Not inexpensive. Bamboo shoots and forest vegetables were in season. A walk through sashimi bar where you pay first, then eat standing, moving along as necessary. We had salmon sashimi and a giant oyster. Shrimp, salmon roe, pickled fish and others, oh my. The market was surrounded by restaurants, a basement brimming with food options and a feeling of safety not common in other Asian countries. We returned here several times in our 3 day stay. It was crowded at times.

We got back from Japan last week and I’m trying to keep it alive, what an amazing country, go if you can. There’s a few more details over on the Japan dining page. Here’s a simple bowl of noodles with vegetables. Then I lapsed, comfort food beckoned, chicken with fenugreek, dal, rice and chapatti. In the country place, chicken and sage sausages with roasted vegetables. That’s a brazier for warmth in the background, brrr, it’s cold. Tamil eggplant and chickpea curry with dal, cucumber raita, rice and paratha.

Ha ha, I meant to put a warning sign there for you.

The good news is, we had sushi for lunch today from our local place. Not as good as in Japan, but we’re not totally ruined. One of the two pizzas we had in our two weeks. Pizza is big in Japan. This one with corn, chilli, cheese and chilli sauce. More teppanyaki, rolled chicken with leek, shiitake mushrooms, quail eggs and peppers. The pickles are like a cover charge, you sit down and they come automatically. There is a small cost. An elderly couple next to us keep they’re own big bottle of sake at the restaurant, it’s cheaper that way he explained with a wink. Another meal at a trendy warehouse styled joint - soba noodles with five vegetables. Served with a bowl of sesame dipping sauce and a beer, plus a pleasant Pinot Gris. Another isakaya meal near to Korean town in Ginza. Braised eggplant, obligatory pickles, stir fried mushrooms, omelette and chicken Yakitori. Every meal comes with a damp towel. You can see how close we are to the neighbouring table. Sometimes that is quite fun.

We are lucky to live here with a relatively large Japanese population. Today I went to a shopping centre where I know there is a Fuji mart. Pleasantly surprised to see a new fresh seafood and sushi joint has opened in the same centre. It looked really good (and really expensive) they had a large selection of fresh seafood for sale, some I’d never heard of. All Japanese staff too

When you have a relatively small land mass with 125 million people I guess it makes sense that there are SO many eating places. It particularly struck me that everywhere the food was so fresh, beautifully prepared and delicious. These hand cut thick noodles were slurpalicious in a tasty broth with vegetables. They’re a specialty of some region, unfortunately my shot of the menu is missing the all important first word. Mark had the spicy pork one in the top right hand corner. My kitchen shot missed the all important hand slicing board, sorry. Ordering was easy in this large restaurant, pictures and numbers, yay. Sushi time. Beer with tomato juice is a thing...not my thing, this is someone else’s thing.

We’re home now @kayb, but train station food was had, and bento boxes. All coming up soon.

We love Japan ! I don’t know why it hasn’t been on my travel radar until recently. The people, the places, the culture and history, and especially the FOOD. There will be no Michelin stars in this report, nor will there be names of restaurants. We ate mainly at isakaya, (local restaurants where there were often only four or five seats), markets (including supermarkets) with a few larger restaurants for balance. There is food available anywhere and anytime if you know where to look. Rather than large meals we tended to snack our way through the day. Some of the best things we ate at “standing bars” no chairs provided. Karaage chicken with salad and miso was first up. The window displays are amazing, you can walk many city blocks underground through various shopping malls, handy when it rained our first day. At a local place. Chicken teriyaki, grilled peppers, potato salad, pickles. Charcoal hibachi. Grew to love sake.

Don’t know how I missed this, especially given we’ve just returned from Japan and it would have been useful. Thanks for posting @chefmd.