the petite pig

eating my way through tokyo, a photo journal

while my trip to tokyo ended two months ago, i never got a chance to share my full photo journal of all the sites and scenes i witnessed and all the food i digested.  tokyo was a vibrant city full of intrigue and life.  i've never experienced such great meals and such care and respect for every aspect of eating and food.  needless to say, i cannot wait to get back.  for more on my trips, check out these two entries: to tokyo: part ichi and live from tokyo: i smell like a charcoal grill and there's nothing wrong with that.  for full photo descriptions, check out my "eating in tokyo" photo album or just click on the photo link button that pops up as you scroll through the photos.

many of you have started seeing these photo slideshows pop up in many food blogs.  looks fancy, but it's an incredibly simple feature brought to us by flickr called pictobrowser.  to get started, just click on the "info" button on the bottom right of the photo slideshow above.

live from tokyo: i smell like a charcoal grill, and there's nothing wrong with that

it is sunday night in tokyo. i'm back in my hotel room getting ready to start another work week here in japan and i'm starting to notice that i smell. but it's a good smell. (big deep breath here) ahhh . . . i smell like a charcoal grill, the lasting traces of my dinner: grilled seafood and meats prepared over small clay charcoal grills situated in front of you.

yes, i am back in japan for work, but this is a longer trip than the last: ten whole days instead of the much-too-short three and a half i had last time. so i have found myself gorging (definitely not just eating) my way through tokyo. every night, deciding where to go, what to eat has been like opening up christmas presents on christmas morning, never knowing what to expect, but knowing it's going to be good. and every night it has been good, and not just good in the, "that chicken was pretty good" degree. good in the, "that was some of the very best (fill in the blank) i've ever had in my life" good. i always knew tokyo to be a shopping mecca but these past two trips have made me realize that tokyo is also a food mecca, a destination for all those of who love to eat.

so tonight, confronted with the very welcomed dilemma of where to eat, my colleague sang-won and i decided to explore a new area. we navigated through the tokyo masses and found ourselves in roppongi hills tokyo's ex-pat neighborhood featuring high-end shopping and equally high-end restaurtants to boot. arising from the tokyo metro underground, we discovered the typical bustling tokyo scene overlayed onto a serene christmas backdrop of blinking lights and christmas garnish. we had food on the mind and found ourselves with dozens of options all within the roppongi hills complex. my only rule for tonight was no raw fish. i love sushi and sashimi but i was craving the warmth feel of something cooked. we quickly settled on a restaurant featuring charcoal grilled food, something we had not tried yet.

the entrance to this restaurant commanded your attention with how stark and plain it was. the culinary surprise beneath the wrapping of these windowless walls intrigued me. unwrapping this present, i found a small cozy space with just a few patrons sitting around two communal tables, each with several small clay charcoal grills lining the center of the table. the menu featured a variety of seafood, meat and vegetable options all for grilling. we chose several of each: clams, octopus, dried cartilage of squid (a new one for me), japanese sirloin, duck, pork, leeks and mushrooms. the clam was the some of the best i've ever tasted. i watched as the juices of the clam bubbled over the charcoal grill, marinating itself in its own natural sweet flavor. the octopus and the sirloin was also exquisite (a word i hate to use for describing food but it just seems appropriate for this meal). our neighbors ordered leeks, and i was curious as to how they were going to prepare them. i watched as they were grilled to the point that they were charred. the server then peeled the leeks apart, serving up the soft cooked inside that held the charcoal grilled flavor with just a sprinkle of salt. so simple, yet so good.

to tokyo, part ichi

dragging your ass to work on mondays. i know it's never easy. bidding farewell to the retreat of the weekend only to brave the heap of emails that awaits in your inbox. i understand and don't blame you for indulging in one more snooze cycle.

but no monday is harder than the monday after thanksgiving. it's not so much the dread of your inbox or even the return to the daily grind; it's more the, "how the hell am i supposed to haul the new ass cheek i've sprouted over the four day weekend to work?" issue. pants just feel a bit tighter. ok, a lot tighter. your body hasn't managed to resuscitate itself from the food coma you entered days ago. ahh . . . if this describes your monday, then you served your duty as an american on thanksgiving. but that still doesn't mean that this new ass cheek isn't going to be a problem. my advice is to break out the fat pants for now and deal with the "new ass cheek removal" as a new years resolution.

so knowing that most of you are either not ready to think about that thanksgiving spread you devoured on thursday (and then on friday and saturday in my case) or sick of reliving it, i'll offer you a respite and share my thanksgiving feast in a later entry. for now, i'll just share my latest travels and eats from my trip to tokyo.

i boarded my asia-bound flight from san francisco the week before thanksgiving for a five day business trip. sleep and tourism were unfortunately not on the work agenda, but i couldn't leave tokyo without sampling a few of its savories.

a woman serving japanese green tea in yoyogi park

i had been told by several friends that i would love eating in tokyo and not just the native offerings but everything that came out of a japanese kitchen, whether it was japanese or not. and they were right. while i've traveled to many cities in the world and love being in cities, tokyo radiated a unique energy i had never felt in any other city. though just as dense as any other large metropolis, the people of tokyo were incredibly polite, putting new yorkers to absolute shame (though new york city still keeps its number one spot on my favorite cities in the world list). the impeccable customer service reflected the high degree of quality taken in everything. commuting by foot in the mornings, i observed the order of a tokyo morning - men dressed in clean-cut dark suits and women donned in the moddest looks adorned by their perfectly painted faces walking in lockstep to their respective destinations.

old sake barrels in yoyogi park

these were people that cared about eating and cared about the quality of the food they ate. japanese culture emanated in every dish i was served. there, food was served with respect and care. i had heard that in japan, you don't need to go to a high-end restaurant to find high-quality food. after four short days of eating in tokyo, i echo this sentiment. with each dish that is placed in front of you, the attention to detail stands out. with each bite, the attention to quality becomes more and more apparent. although i was in japan, i found myself having three chinese meals. after all, i am not one to resist a steaming bowl of noodles and the soft bite of fresh dumplings. the chinese meals i ate reminded me of those that i had savored in shanghai and hong kong. i discovered the "xiao long bao," a delicate dumpling wrapper housing a delicate meat filling and a surprising spoonful of soup, in the small alleyways of shanghai. the xiao long bao found on the menu at "jin din rou" a cozy chinese dumpling house near tokyo's ebisu subway station delivered the same feeling of the soup dumplings i had discovered in shanghai.

how could you resist this dumpling?

my other meals in japan led me to shabu-shabu, chutoro that truly melts in your mouth, a traditional japanese lunchbox and even subway (which serves fries!). i will return to tokyo next week with a much longer list of culinary to-do's: a piping bowl of ramen (real ramen, not the ten cent bag of instant noodles variety), a bite of tender kobe beef, a trip to the tsukiji fish market, a search for a certified fugusushi chef, and feasts of many more things that i've never eat before.

i experienced japanese sushi way up in the sky on the 38th floor of the ebisu garden tower. the view is free and is a great way to see the texture of the city created by all the buildings. plus, there are many great restaurants on the 38th and 39th floors. i ordered up some chutoro, medium fatty meat found on the belly of the tuna.

real or not? ordering is made easy in most japanese restaurants with wax representations of many menu items

a small stand at the shibuya subway station featuring a spread of onigiri, hand sized rice balls with various fillings wrapped in seaweed

a young girl dressed in traditional japanese attire

a japanese wedding procession i witnessed while wandering to the meiji shrine

a dumpling chef hard at work

i took this guy down in an eating contest

swedish meatballs in sweden

so, i've been asked by many a blog readers, "where the hell have you been?" my deepest apologies for having dropped off the blogosphere. i think the more appropriate questions is, "where the hell haven't i been?" since mid-may, i've spent time in new york city, washington, d.c., london, stockholm, the dutch countryside, schiphol airport (though i never did manage to step foot into amsterdam) and madison. tonight, i am writing this entry from san diego where my latest project has brought me. i now fear airplanes as well as airplane and airport food but do not worry, i have remained true to my stomach and have managed to grab a good meal here and there between waiting in security lines.

there were many comestibles to note, and it's hard to decide where to start in my latest epicurean experiences but i think stockholm might be a good first stop. i must admit i knew very little about sweden before deciding to take a trip there. sweden, to me, was known for its many wonderful exports: ikea, volvo, h&m, absolut vodka, tall handsome scandinavian men, and of course, the swedish meatball. i myself was looking forward to the tall handsome scandinavian men and the meatballs. unfortunately, i only managed to find the meatballs (surprisingly, sweden is much more than just tall blonde people as i ignorantly imagined), but that was more than enough to satisfy me during my short three day trip. 

 

i am a rather low-key traveler. i've done my fair share of schlepping around as a poor backpacker and now prefer to just veg and take in a city and all its people from the comfort of an outdoor cafe. stockholm did not disappoint on that front as the city is known for its many coffee shops and outdoor dining options during warmer months of the year. the weather in mid-july was perfect for being outside. mid-70s and blue skies. in the evenings, the temperature cools down but if you choose to dine al fresco, your meal also comes with a warm blanket. it's definitely a cozy way to dine - enjoying the cool, brisk air with a warm blanket wrapped around you and a warm meal in front of you. i found myself loving the simplicity and heartiness of classic swedish fare. on the top of my "to eat" list in sweden were some of the country's staples, herring and swedish meatballs.

i found both at a restaurant in the center of town near the nk (the famous stockholm department store) called the restaurant victoria. the basket of bread and the butter they brought out was amazing. the butter was whipped up to just the right consistency for spreading over the two kinds of bread they brought out, one sweet and one savory, both having a very robust texture. however, the highlight of that particular meal was definitely the swedish meatballs which came with the traditional accompaniments of mashed potatoes, lingon berries and pickled cucumber. like the bread that preceded the meal, this dish had a good compliment of sweet and savory flavors.the lingon berries lent a sweet tartness to the meaballs while the pickled cucumber provided a unique sour punch that blended surprisingly well with everything else on the plate. the potatoes came in a lighter and creamier texture than i've had at home, and they almost seemed to serve as a sauce for the meatballs. i actually loved this restaurant so much, i returned the next day to sample some of their creatures from the sea. in my second dining experience at the restaurant victoria, i ordered their boiled and smoked shrimp served with a sweet aioli and their herring three ways - pickled, sweet and sour and in a creamy herb sauce. compared to the meatballs from the previous day, this meal was much lighter but just as satisfying. the shrimp came with its shells on and was served with all its roe in tact, which i've never had in a restaurant before. most of the shrimp were young and were incredibly sweet as a result. i also was a big fan of the herring. it differed from the herring i had tried in holland. the fiish was sliced into smaller pieces and served in little glass jars with little silver forks, each jar encasing its own flavors. served with boiled potatoes, cheese and very thin wheat crackers, it was a classic swedish brunch.

next installment from "epicurean experiences in stockholm": dining at one of stockholm's best (and the most expensive dinner in my life) pontus in the green

eating with the dutch

i knew shortly after landing at schiphol airport in that i would not be impressed by dutch food. i arrived in holland three weeks ago. bleary eyed and caked with a thick film of stale airplane air, i stumbled off my red-eye flight from jfk hungry and desperate for something to eat. i wasn't exactly excited for my first encounter with dutch food as i had been warned by many europeans that dutch cuisine wasn't, well, exactly something to get excited about. i walked around and around the airport surveying all my options. the problem wasn't so much that there weren't options; there were. the problem was more that none of them were appealing options. i finally settled on what appeared to be an italian deli. there were paninis and pasta salad and i quickly settled on a mozzarella-tomato-basil panini. it didn’t seem like something you could really mess up that bad but unfortunately i was wrong. there was not even a trace of italian-ness in this bad excuse for a hot italian sandwich. i was served two slices of a half-ripe tomato with some hard chewy cheese slapped onto a cold ciabatta – hardly the oozing-with-fresh-mozzarella-emanating-with-the-fresh-aroma-of-basil-hot-sandwich i was anticipating. but beggars can’t be choosers, and i was hungry. i managed to get 2/3rds of the sandwich down before i just gave up.

i knew this was just going to be a small preview of my future meals in holland. since then, my lunches have consisted of ham on a baguette, yogurt and a banana. it seems that “taste” is not a top priority for food around here; after all, the dutch can slap a hardboiled egg on a piece of rye bread and call that a meal. however, i have been become a huge fan of the dutch herring, which was introduced to me by a dutch colleague of mine in the cafeteria one day. this traditional dutch fare is the cause of celebration every may when the fishing season starts and the festivities begin. the herring is cured in brine and then eaten raw. the taste is strong and reminds me a lot of anchovies but has a much silkier texture. the dutch way of eating it involves taking the it by the tail and lowering it into your mouth while chomping down on the little fish. it is also often topped with diced raw onions and pickles or eaten with rye bread.

so, after a long work week in holland and many a bland-dutch lunches, i look forward to my weekends back in where there’s always a new restaurant to try out or a new food festival to attend. this weekend, i made my way to the east of the city, taking the district line to aldgate east where a sea of bangledeshi, paskitani and indian restaurants await just blocks away on brick lane; where tables and tables of cheap housewares and south asian goods fill brick lane market; where stalls of cheap ethnic food, vintage wear and artisan crafts are tucked away in alleyways and emptied warehouses. this sunday, i went and explored everything that brick lane had to offer sampling and savoring my weekend break from my weekday lunches.

a sea of south asian restaurants line brick lane in the east of london
i am a sucker for cupcakes and these from "crumbs & doilies" kick magnolia's ass (sorry to all those magnolia fans out there)
tropical salads that have you transported to the caribbean upon first bite
let this man teach you how to crack into a juicy coconut (he looks like he knows what he's doing)
where you can get a filling of curry along alongside a filling of run dmc blasting from the speakers
i helped myself to a huge helping of their tortillas espanola (one of my favorite spanish tapas) and my first cadiz salad, a salad consisting of kidney beans, diced gherkins, red peppers, tuna and dill
crepe making and sushi making all in one place? from france to japan all in one market.