Here I will tell you about some notable food and drink experiences I had in Tokyo.

和風イタリア料理 (Wafū Itaria ryōri, Japanese style Italian food)

Seika and Takuro brought me to their favorite restaurant, Impronte. It is fancy Italian food with a bit of a Japanese twist on it. Similar to how America puts their own twist on Italian food, this time it was Italian food through the lens of a Japanese chef. I really liked it at lot! Every seat had a view of the chef preparing the food. The restaurant had amazing atmosphere and flavor.

We ordered a lot of different dishes to share and the chef presented it to us perfectly divided into separate plates one course at a time. Here are all the foods we had. Fresh meat and noodles and vegetables and dessert. My favorite dish was probably the sampling of all the meats at the beginning. Most dishes came with a new wine that would pair well with it.

At the end of the meal, I told the chef “美味し かった です” (Oishi kattadesu, it was delicious)!

The Japanese language is different from English in the way that meaning is placed a lot more on inflection and context. For example:

美味し かった です? = “Oishi kattadesu?” with a question sound at the end turns it into a question. “Is it delicious?”

美味し かった です = “Oishi kattadesu” said like a statement makes it a statement or answer.
“It is delicious”

As I am learning Japanese, I have so many questions. It is a fun journey.

うなぎランチ (Unagi ranchi, Unagi lunch)

Near Kappabashi, after shopping, I went for an unagi lunch that came highly recommended to me by a family of tourists from Hong Kong who were also buying dishes. I believe the restaurant was a point of interest for Hong Kong tourists, because the restaurant owner lady told me that they receive a lot of diners from Hong Kong and also Italy, but hardly any from America. I was surprised by that, because the food was delicious, but perhaps most American tourists’ first instincts aren’t to eat eel because it might feel too intimidating, or maybe Americans are focused on the familiar Japanese foods we know such as wagyu beef, sushi, and ramen. The unagi had a great sweet flavor and so did the rice underneath it.

I was there for a late lunch and the only other diner seemed to be a regular. He ate quickly and left.

The Unagi was sweet and soft. Tokyo and Osaka have different ways they cook their eel. This Tokyo version is steamed, and the Osaka version is grilled.

抹茶と和菓子 (Matcha to wagashi, Matcha and Japanese sweets)

On one of my solo days, I wanted to have some matcha, so I wandered over to 浜離宮恩賜庭園(Hama-rikyu Gardens). It was a large beautiful garden that contains an old tea house that still functions. There are other historic buildings in the gardens and nice nature. The garden used to be used by the shogun for falconry and duck hunting as well as entertaining. It is now a strolling garden. There were lots of cranes flying and fish occasionally jumping from the water.

It was very sunny but also very peaceful.

築地市場 (Tsukiji shijō, Tsukiji market)

I also went to a Tsukiji Market, which is famous for a fresh seafood market in the mornings. I didn’t go for that part, but I went to enjoy some of the food from the restaurant vendors there. It was just me, so I got a freshly cooked scallop, but the crab legs were looking mighty intriguing! I saw a lot of tourists enjoying splitting the larger fancy looking options.

I enjoyed my scallop. The seasoning was butter and soy sauce. It was a soft texture and the juice flavor was addictive.

Here you can see fresh wasabi for sale.

I bought a bunch of different drinks:
I got Amazake, which is like a cold sweet rice drink.
Also, a hot roasted green tea.
And also, a plum soda that was so good!!!

Here’s the sign for the plum soda! So yummy!

It’s hard to carry three drinks through a crowd, so I chugged a few before continuing my journey.

I, of course, wanted to get sushi while at Tsukiji, so I queued up for a place where I was the only tourist and I ordered the Lady Don bowl because I am a lady.

I didn’t eat much of the shrimp head because I didn’t know how, and there wasn’t anyone to explain it to me. but the raw shrimp was pretty yummy otherwise. The rest of the plate contained 7 other fish and then rice underneath. It was all very fresh and exciting.

いただきます (Itadakimasu, I’ll enjoy having this)