Tsukiji Fish Market for Breakfast

On the following day, I made plans to bring Pooh for a special treat. Sushi breakfast by the fish market! Mr Yoneyama showed us around the market the day before, so we have a rough idea on where the food places were. I read online that there will be fish auction every morning where the buyer will bid for the best catch of the day. A section is open for the public to watch the auction.

Both me and Pooh are more interested with the food rather than the auction. The famous sushi restaurant in the fish market is Sushi Dai. We walked pass through the restaurant the day before. But we enter the market through another exit, hence we are unable to find the famous restaurant. We walked around and couldn’t find the place. Pooh was quite hungry at that time, hence we choose the most decent restaurant at that time.

Before that, we saw a long queue on one of the stall. Curios, I joined the queue and realized that the stall is selling omelet.

 

There are a few type of omelet to choose from. Each of the long omelet cost above 600 yen each. Omelet in Japan must be pretty famous eh. Anyway, we bought the plain smaller portion, 100 yen each. The queue moved pretty fast and before I could guess which is the most expensive omelet, it was my turn to order the hot omelet.

 

Tadahhh.. Although look simple, but let me assure you that this is the softest omelet that I have tasted. Simply soft and yummy. Served piping hot but due to the cold weather, it is just warm to us. We gulped down the whole omelet in less than 1 minute on the road side. After that, we walked around to look for a restaurant for breakfast.

Our choice of the day is…..

 

Sushi Zanmai. Hahahaha. It is not related to the Zanmais that we have in Malaysia, I guess.

 

The interior has nothing in common with the Sushi Zanmai in KL. This is my first time sitting at the sushi counter. There are a lot of sushi chefs behind the counter that are very busy preparing the yummy sushi for the customer.

 

Calvin’s breakfast set. Hahaha. According to him, the sushi are very fresh. The fish meat given is very long as well. More fish meat taste than rice. When he dipped the sushi into the soya sauce, the sushi will not break/separate from it’s original shape.

 

As for me, I ordered the tempura set, chawan mushi and miso soup. I love the small clam miso soup. More like seafood soup than miso soup. The tempura is nothing to shout about though.

We wanted to order rice to go with the tempura set but we have no matter how many times of “rice” the chef couldn’t understand as well. Finally, Calvin pointed to the rice on his sushi and said “rice.. one bowl”. When the chef finally understood us, we were relieved.

But, when the bowl of rice arrived, it turned out to be a bowl of sushi rice… Hahaha. As in added with vinegar and sticky type. Although not the perfect match with the tempura, but better than nothing right??

~BuHBaI~

Jonetsu Horumon and Tenya

Mr Yoneyama dropped us near Shinjuku for us to walk around and he headed back to his home. After saying goodbye, we went to the opposite road. Initially, both of us were not hungry at all. But after passing shop after shop offering yakiniku, we became hungry in less than 5 minutes. We randomly choose one and went in.

 

Joneysu Horumon is the name. We were directed upstairs for more seats. The restaurant was full of customers. Some were seen enjoying the grilled meat over a glass of beer.

 

Pictured menu for the tourist us. We became grateful for this type of menu in each restaurant. All we have to do is point at the photo followed by informing the quantity that we want. We ordered the set meal for 2 to 3 person. The set consists of beef, pork and lamb. After a few days in Japan, we learnt that their portion is very big and I usually can’t finish mine.

 

The sweet sauces on each table. The chilli sauce is packed nicely in small individual packing. This is a good idea to prevent wastage. Since most of the meat are marinated, we do not need much sauce for dipping.

 

Our meal that is 90% resemblance of the display photo. We love the marinated beef the most. Even though after grilling, the meat stayed juicy and tender. Grilled corn was quite good but they only gave us half, so I ate it on my own. One thing for sure, we were right about the portion. At the end of the meal, both of us were bloated. We suspected that it could be due to the cold weather. We had several meals daily but in small portion. Hence, we ate quite a lot for the whole trip. We managed to try everything in my list except Yakitori and Ramen.

 

The grilling process. Despite the hood on top of our table, we left the restaurant smelling like BBQ as well. We didn’t complained as the restaurant was fully air conditioned. Left the restaurant with a happy and full stomach.

 

There is a yakitori lane just at the back of Yakiniku lane. I was having high hopes on trying yakitori during the trip but it was hard to find one. When we finally found not one, but the whole alley, both of us were very full. So we just stroll along the alley greeted by the polite shop assistants. I made a promised to myself that on my next visit (no idea when will that be), I must try their famous yakitori. I heard they are very cheap and delicious.

We went into Bic Camera to look for instant camera as requested by my sister. The store is famous for selling electronic appliances. From the small smart phones to the big refrigerator, you can satisfy all your electronic needs under one room. They have several outlets all around Tokyo.

We headed back to hotel as it was getting late and we were exhausted. Once we got off the train, we started to feel hungry all over again. Haha. So we walked around the station and found Tenya.

Tenya is a famous tempura chain restaurant in Japan. Just like Yoshinoya, they specialized in one food item and came out with several combination of the food item.

 

Menu consists of tempura from prawn, fish to vegetables. You can choose either mix of seafood with vegetable, prawns only, fish only etc. The tempura can be eaten with white rice, soba or udon. We choose rice, of course. We can’t take the risk of growling stomach in the middle of the night. Haha.

 

Like most of the Japanese restaurant, there are always counter tables for the single customer. It saves place and also easier for the waiter/waitress to serve food to the customer and clean up afterwards.

 

Calvin ordered the mix tempura set which consist of prawn, fish, long beans, lady finger and lotus root. I ordered the prawn tempura.  The prawns were really crunchy. The batter is nothing similar to the one that we have in Malaysia. The batter is not oily and has a special taste to it. We likey

We headed back to hotel after supper. Although it was still early, but both of us were extremely tired and can’t wait to rest out tired feet.

 

Wedding present from Tamron Japan. They are so nice!! They gave us a very classy photo album. Just what we needed to put all our nice photographs. From the packaging, the present looks quite expensive. We were really surprised as we did not expect anything at all. The only person that we know is Mr Yoneyama but his whole department wrote a very nice card to congratulate us on our wedding. We were touched by the all the well wishes given. Thank you very much, even though we don’t know each other. The cute Mt Fuji is by Mr Yoneyama. Haha.

 

He also bought us a packet of snacks and bottled water. The potato chip was really good. We finished all the snacks in the hotel, but not on the same day of course. The Galbo Mini Chocolate was really good. Check out the 5000 yen chocolate bar. Haha.

~BuHBaI~

Day 3–Private Tour by Mr Yoneyama

It is good to see a familiar face in a country that you don’t know. Mr Yoneyama is Calvin’s friend whom he met through his ex-company. I met him several times in KL when he came down for meetings. So when we told him that we will be going to Tokyo, he gave us a good suggestion for our itinerary which a private one day tour by himself. The itinerary also includes the fare charges for the public transport and when is the good day to visit the main tourist attraction.

We woke up early on the third day to walk around our hotel to look for breakfast. Initially we wanted to try Japanese breakfast, which up to know we still have no idea what it is. Most of the restaurants open at noon. Hence, our only choice at that time was McD.

 

Our breakfast for that day. We were lucky that the staff spoke pretty good English. It was the usual Sausage McMuffin for Calvin and I ordered Pancake burger with sausage and egg. Quite a weird combo but yummy at the same time. There are honey in the in the middle of the pancake which made the meal sweet and salty with every bite. Yummy

After breakfast, we walked around a little before heading back to the hotel.

 

Even though our hotel is facing a main street but it is a very quiet place to stay. We were told that the area is surrounded by offices and offices only. The only reason that we choose this hotel is because of the distance it is from the train station and of course, the price.

 

Although a little bit small but it is very clean and the staffs are very helpful. Best of all, it is located next to…

 

The best gyudon restaurant in the world!! Cheap and yummy. Ahh… both me and Pooh miss this restaurant very much.

Mr Yoneyama showed us around in Ginza. We visited a very beautiful church and a hotel that is famous for wedding reception. At the back of the hotel is a beautiful garden. I don’t have photographs of them yet. Will upload them in FB soon. But the highlight of the day was…

 

The most expensive but absolutely yummy Unagi meal that we had so far. None of the Unagi that we had previously could top this up. One set is 3000 yen!!! We ordered 3 sets!! The unagi was very soft and the the sauce was amazing. Together with the famous Japanese rice, every bite felt like heaven. Definitely worth the price.

After that, he brought us to Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel. We went to New York Bar which is located on the 52th floor. We had a drink there. The atmosphere of the Bar is amazing. Even drinking there is super expensive. From up there, we enjoyed the amazing view of Tokyo from sunset until dark. After that, he dropped us at Shinjuku as he headed home. He drove 2 hours from his place to Tokyo just to meet us. We are very blessed to have such good friends

Dinner and supper for the day, coming up on next post

~BuHBaI~