Eat your way through Tokyo (2019 edition)

Tokyo, one of the biggest and most populated cities in Asia, most certainly one of the most iconic location in Japan. From the crowded but orderly peak hour train, to the maid cafes in Akihabara, Tokyo has shown it can be anything that you can or cannot imagine. Having said that, it also includes food that were ridiculously delicious that you might even rethink about your life. Let me bring you to some of the places to rethink your life.

1. Sushi no midori

Sushi is one of the most iconic Japanese cuisine and there are many of them across the entire country. However, there is one sushi franchise that provided the strongest impression to me, that restaurant is called “Sushi no Midori”. Sushi no Midori has shops in several places around Tokyo and Aichi prefecture, they even opened two restaurant outlets in Hong Kong as well. The shop we visited are located in the fourth floor of Shibuya Mark City, right opposite the JR Shibuya Station.

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What really caught many people’s eyes is the incredible freshness of the fishes and other ingredients. You can literally taste the natural sweetness in the raw fish, if you are having the fatty tuna or salmon belly, it will melt in your mouth, leaving only a small tint of the smell of the sea. I would recommend the kaisen-don, the seafood bowl, which you are given the luxury of their best raw fish and in large amount as well. Even their uni, the sea urchins, taste so incredibly fresh and sweet, there isn’t a smallest scent of fishiness in it, proving that the chefs are highly skilled and understand the ingredient fully to bring out the natural taste.

One of the most exquisite and delicious sushi in this restaurant, it has to be the premium eel sushi. The eel is shining with the oily glaze and sauce, the fragrance of the BBQ-ed eel slowly enters your nose, stimulating your desire to eat it. Upon putting the eel sushi in your mouth, the tenderness, the freshness and the sweetness of the eel fused into something, along with the rice, into something you can never imagine,

Address:

1-12-3, Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, 

Tokyo Mark City East 4F

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2. Afuri

Ramen, one of the most competitive dish in Japan if not THE most competitive dish. Walking down the street and you would be able to spot at least five different ramen shops. In order to stand out from one another, some shops have special kind of ramen instead of the typical pork-based soup ramen, Afuri is exactly that kind of shop. The outlet that we visited is located in Sangenja-ya, not very far away from Shibuya.

Restaurants being spread all over Japan, Afuri’s signature is their Yuzu soup. It is chicken based broth, simmered with yuzu and accompanied with tangy noodle, egg, beetroot and cha-shu. Customers can pick either the shio (salt) or shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) flavour, I picked shio flavour as salt is the best kind of condiment to already delicious ramen. Upon my ramen being served, the fragrance of yuzu emitting out of the soup elevated my soul, all fatigues immediately being lifted away. The perfect combination of the yuzu, chicken broth and salt provided a less oily but strong taste. The noodles are also being handled well enough to retain the tanginess but not overly hard.

Seeing that they also serve roasted pork belly rice and smelling the incredible smell of it, I couldn’t hold onto it and ordered one serving and I wasn’t disappointed by it. The pork fat and the meat itself melts in your mouth, it is in chunk, so children will have no problem enjoying it. The shredded radish gives you a fresh taste and washes away the oily taste that may stay in your mouth.

Address:

2-12-11 Sangenja-ya

Setagaya-ku,Tokyo

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3. Mutekiya

Let us go to another Ramen restaurant that serves the completely opposite and perfected the pork-based broth, Mutekiya. Surprisingly, Mutekiya has only one shop in Ikubukuro, they stated in their website and other medium that any other “Mutekiyas” are not related to them and this is their only registered shop.

Mutekiya are friendly to tourists and foreigners as well, they even have a list of suggested items if you visit the restaurant for the first time. Despite not my first visit, I still ordered the most popular and my favourite in their menu, “Mutekiya Ramen Nikutama”. This bowl of ramen comes with thick but soft roasted pork, boiled eggs and bamboo shoots. It is not exaggerating that I say thick, the roast pork slices are really thick, but not tough. The taste of pork-based broth has never been so good, it is extremely thick and not oily even if you drink it to the last drop. The noodles are satisfyingly tangy, you will be craving for more. The gyoza that they serve are some of the best that I have ever tasted as well.

Address:

Japan, 1-17-1 Tokyo, Toshima

Minami Ikkebukuro

4. Ajikura

If you are looking for something to fulfil your carnivorous desire, the best food will be BBQ meat. There is one special restaurant in the back alley of Shibuya, surrounded by clubs and love hotels. This restaurant is called Lorem Ipsom, located just right below Bar Armageddon. We came across this restaurant by pure luck, attracted by the smell of BBQ meat and charcoal, we entered the restaurant and immediately noticed the first unique feature of the place. Most of the employees are South East Asians, some of them came from Bangladesh and some even come from India, all of them are fluent in Japanese and English too, so there will not be a problem if you are a foreigner who does not speak Japanese.

The variation of Kobe beef, pork meat and chicken meat, we decided to go for the A3 Kobe beef, pork collar and pork belly meat, and this was a decision well made. The meat was served up, and it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The oil pattern on the beef is extremely balanced and it even glimmers when the light hit the meat, the pork belly and collar meat seemed normal when it was served. When the meat was placed on the BBQ mesh, that was when the magic happened, incredibly fragrant smell rushes through your nose to your brain. When you put the meat into your mouth, the deliciousness of the meat immediately made me rethink life itself. Accompanied by the Japanese highball, nothing can be compared with this BBQ meat.

Address:

10-10 Maruyamachō, Shibuya-ku, 

Tōkyō-to 150-0044, Japan

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