First night in Tokyo

[emsny]

We'll be spending ten days in Tokyo very soon, staying west of Shinjuku. We thought we'd try to eat dinner in the neighborhood on our first night, and nothing especially fancy. A couple of places in Nishi-Shinjuku have been mentioned: Kuu and Sangendou. Any thoughts on either - or other ideas along those or similar lines? Thanks.

[thelobster]

We'll be spending ten days in Tokyo very soon, staying west of Shinjuku. We thought we'd try to eat dinner in the neighborhood on our first night, and nothing especially fancy. A couple of places in Nishi-Shinjuku have been mentioned: Kuu and Sangendou. Any thoughts on either - or other ideas along those or similar lines? Thanks.

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I always have fun in Kuu, and I like taking people from out of town there. The food and sake are very good, and the atmosphere is great - it's got a 50th-floor view, but it's still very relaxed and casual. And they have English menus.

[JasonTrue]

I often (as in every trip to Japan since 2001 or so) stay in Nishi-Shinjuku, and in my old age I'm becoming a bit jaded.

However, I once had a great meal at Yuu-An in Nishi-Shinjuku, a restaurant in the basement of Shinjuku Park Tower. I've also had a less impressive one since then, so I don't know if they've changed or I just had a rough night. They do a lot of interesting small plates, and are sort of izakaya-like, focused generally on seasonal vegetables. I could point out some favorites but there was almost no overlap between the two times I've been there. I've only been seated in the tatami area, but they have two choices of seating areas. They used to have a lot of house-made infused shochu, but that seemed to be less so on my last visit a couple years ago.

I usually get bread from Hokuo or similar spot in the morning (around 9am, because bakeries open a bit late). There are a couple of passable but unremarkable kissaten-style coffee shops between Keio Plaza and the train station, one of which actually opens in the morning. (Keep in mind that coffee is not typically considered a morning drink in Japan, so many old-style coffee shops open in the afternoon).

I like "La Manina" in Takashimaya near the south entrance of Shinjuku station; that's easy to get to if you locate the shortcut to the south part of the station that's in sort of an ascending cobblestone alley near the Keio department store. It's Italian, but somehow I feel like that kind of Italian food could only really exist in Japan. (Hiromi would rather have food at La Medusa, Volterra or Cafe Lago in Seattle).

Not in nishi-shinjuku, but it was a lot of fun to try Tama no Baiken in Futako-Tamagawa. http://blog.jagaimo.com/archive/2006/03/15/2314.aspx has a few photos (starting with three kinds of umeshu). It wasn't life-altering, but it was a good example of the kind of contemporary-but-simple Japanese food that never makes it to the US. If you can get to Shibuya from Shinjuku, it's about the 5th stop on Den-En-Toshi sen. However, there are similar quality places all over Shinjuku.

I eat a lot in Nishi-Shinjuku, but I think it's dominated by big-budget restaurant concepts funded by massive restaurant companies, and so almost all of my experiences are kind of unremarkable, even though you'd have to try really hard to find anything bad.

Add:

Hiromi recommends

http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g348507/

Edited March 7, 2007 by JasonTrue (log)

[Blether]

Yes, both the (triangular) Sumitomo building and the NS building are good choices - particularly if you're lucky enough for the sky to be very clear on the day, when my personal choice would be Kuu or one of the other eateries on the top few floors of the Sumitomo. Both buildings boast a number of that kind of restaurant on those top floors.

I'm guilty of heading there when the conditions are right (great visibility and/or visitors who'll appreciate skyscraping), wandering those floors and choosing whatever feels best at the time (and not paying enough attention to individual restaurant names. Ahem).

[emsny]

Thanks all, both re: Kuu and for more general guidance.

[robyn]

If you are flying from New York to Tokyo - you will have a hard time staying up past 7 pm or so (13 hours of time zones is hard to deal with). So plan on a very early dinner! Robyn

[emsny]

All taken into account, Robyn. Time is meaningless with a 13-hour difference - and an adventure.

[flowbee]

we stayed 10 days in nishi-shinjuku last September. we loved it! i love that area. we stayed at Hotel Nishi-Shinjuku, which is really close to the train station. it's just on the west side of the main street that runs north-south from the station, so it's great cuz you're really close to the action in east shinjuku, but the hotel is in a nice quiet area just west of there.

anyways, we enjoyed a lot of the ramen places around there, and also this one udon place that makes fresh udon and serves it in a unique "dry" (without soup) style, which i've never seen before in Vancouver. there's a ramen place a couple blocks away that also serves ramen "dry". i think the udon place was featured in a movie called "Udon" because they had the poster for the movie up...and i also saw this place featured in an "Udon" promotional magazine/book (there were many other places featured as well, so this place may not be *that* special all considered, but we loved it).

sorry if i'm being vague, i'll have to dig up photos and directions some time....

oh, you have to try some of the yakitori places in piss alley before they tear it down

just have to add that we loved even the cheapo vending machine curry places, where you buy a meal ticket from a vending machine then bring it inside to receive your food and eat it. cheap, satisfying and very japanese!

Edited March 9, 2007 by flowbee (log)

[emsny]

Last time we were in Japan, it was only for about 18 hours: we had to return immediately because of a death in the family. The one meal we had (before we found out we were going home) was from a place like that in Yokohama, with a vending machine somehow linked to the kitchen. Or did it give you a ticket you gave to the person behind the counter? I don't remember. But it was great fun, and not half bad. Anyway, yes, of course, noodles are on the agenda.

[Majra]

How do you ask for dry style noodle, i.e. without soup? Alternatively, soup on the side? Thanks in advance.

[torakris]

I assume by "dry" noodles you are referring to zaru soba/udon.

It will look like this.

Just ask for zaru soba (buckwheat noodles) or zaru udon (thicker flour noodles), any shop will be able to prepare this for you even if you don't see it on the menu. As the both the noodles and soup are served cold I have seen some smaller places remove it from the menu during the winter.

[Majra]

Thanks torakris. Can we get hot noodles without soup, or are they always served cold? What about panfried noodles?

[torakris]

I have never seen hot noodles served without soup, I am pretty sure it is because they would stick together terribly. Most Japanese noodles shops don't have pan fried noodles.

yaki-udon (stirfried udon) in most places is very simply seasoned with soy sauce and vegetables and maybe some meat,　this might be a good option for your daughter if you can find it.

yaki-soba is sort of a mis-named dish as it actually doesn't use soba but Chinese style egg noodles, the taste is quite a bit stronger. If you daughter like tonkatsu sauce she may be OK as the taste is similar but I have a feeling yaki-udon might be a little better for her.

[Majra]

yaki-udon (stirfried udon) in most places is very simply seasoned with soy sauce and vegetables and maybe some meat,　this might be a good option for your daughter if you can find it.

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Sounds perfect for her. Thank you for all of your help. It is appreciated!

[flowbee]

follow-up to my post above, here's some pics of the different kinds of inexpensive food we enjoyed in shinjuku. i hope no one minds the mega-photo post:

a hamburger curry bowl. easy dish to find anywhere, quite filling and delicious.

beef bowl (gyudon), from the same place as above. extremely popular dish. our hairdresser from tokyo says it's his favourite dish.

tonkotsu ramen. if you look at the fan that they gave us, you can sort of see a pig statue, which is this chain's mascot i guess. several locations around tokyo, this chain specializes in tonkotsu-style ramen. the noodles are thinner than the more typical style ramen. the soup is milky because (i believe) it's made from pressure-cooking pork bones in broth. this location was a couple blocks away from the nishi-shinjuku hotel.

this is the dry ramen i mentioned in my previous post...almost like "zaru-style". i'm a big noodle person, so i loved this new (for me) presentation.

the more conventional shoyu ramen. from same place as the dry ramen, just 2-3 blocks from our hotel.

the infamous rice burger from mos burger. it was actually pretty good, although i'll stick with regular buns.

my favourite burger, also from mos burger. the condiments made up for the lack of "meatiness" in japanese burgers.

burger from freshness burger. imho not as good as mos burger. but both freshness and mos burger were very close to our hotel, so we actually compared burgers from both places in the same night.

"dry" udon from a place called metsu-dan, 1.5 blocks away from our hotel. amazing stuff. top one is scrambled eggs on udon, bottom one is udon with caviar. the side dishes are all set up buffet-style, where you get a tray and just pick whatever you want and the cashier tallies it up accordingly.

the natto udon was a must-try for me. interesting combination. i loved it.

here's their sign, if anyone wants to check them out.

by far the spiciest thing i ate on my entire asia trip (which included korea and singapore). this place is a chain restaurant called little spoon. you can order curries and customize the level of spiciness, which is illustrated on the menu with cute cartoons, ranging from a baby (not spicy) to a dragon (maximum spicy). i've eaten a lot of japanese curry at home using the glico/java/etc brands of curry roux blocks, and i always buy "hot" (which is actually "mild" to most people), so i thought "this is japan, how hot can 'dragon fire hot' be?" well, it was sooo painfully hot i spent half the time in the restaurant in the bathroom blowing my nose and gasping for air. like a fool i asked them to "bring it on", and they definitely "brought it" with a kick in the ass to boot.

not high cuisine, i know, but it was all extremely enjoyable for me. vancouver has some pretty good japanese food, but with the quality and variety that's available in japan, it just doesn't compare. imho even japan's "fast food" is miles beyond ours...

[Hiroyuki]

beef bowl (gyudon), from the same place as above. extremely popular dish. our hairdresser from tokyo says it's his favourite dish.

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Thanks for all the photo. I'm puzzled by this particular beel bowl. It doesn't look like a regular one. The left half looks like some kind of seafood...

Natto udon? No thanks though I'm a huge natto fan.

[flowbee]

the beef bowl restaurant was this one:

http://zensho.com/

i think they have their menu online. it was our very first meal when we got into shinjuku. my wife had that bowl, she says it was just sauce. my guess is mostly sauce and onions.

[torakris]

Thank you for the picture of the noodles, now I know what you are talking about.

Those are Sanuki Udon, originally from Kagawa Prefecture they have recently become very popular all over Japan. Most of the shops are sort of self service, you pick either hot or cold noodles from various sizes and add whatever toppings you want. They usually start at 100yen for a small bowl so you can often find the restaurants by locating the big bright colored udon shops with 100yen banners.

This website describes the process in which these shops work.

[sanrensho]

this is the dry ramen i mentioned in my previous post...almost like "zaru-style". i'm a big noodle person, so i loved this new (for me) presentation.

This type of ramen is called "tsuke-men."　That's the term I'm familiar with, although I do see some online citations for "zura-men" and "zaru ramen." The "tsuke" refers to dipping the noodles in the sauce.

Edited March 11, 2007 by sanrensho (log)

[Hiroyuki]

Talking of "zaru", does anyone know the difference between "zaru" soba and "mori" soba? The former is topped with nori stripes (thus a little pricier), while the latter is nori-less. I googled and found "zaru" and "mori" could differ in other ways, but in present-day Kanto, what I described above is true.

Talking of tsukemen, Taishoken is considered the ramen shop that originated it. Like I said elsewhere, I liked the tsukemen of Tsukemen Daio (つけ麺大王) when I lived in Tokyo.