One of the best parts of travelling is trying out all sorts of food. For me a trip to anywhere (especially out of the country) is never complete without sampling local dishes and snacks. As much as possible, I would prefer to avoid eating at the usual fast food places, although they're always a good go-to place when all else fails.
When in Japan, having Japanese food is a must. Although Japanese restaurants are fairly common here in the Philippines, nothing still beats having authentic Japanese food in Japan. Food is taken very seriously in this country, and the number of Michelin-starred restaurants in Tokyo alone can attest to that. You can also see it in the way the Japanese prepare their food. A lot of measures are taken to ensure that the dishes are made with the finest and freshest ingredients.
Let me take you on a virtual food adventure during our trip to Japan:
Philippine Airlines
We left Manila shortly before 7 o'clock in the morning. We were served breakfast--beef curry with rice, along with a fruit cup and cake from Perfect Endings for dessert. It was decent, but not exactly too memorable.
On the other hand, lunch on the way back to Manila was INCREDIBLE! I chose the Beef Yakiniku with rice, a bread roll, and salad made with tofu, meatballs and some vegetables (not sure which ones). The beef was very tasty and the rice was drizzled with nori (Japanese seaweed) on top which made it very flavorful.
The salad up close--I actually had two of these since my brother (who's not into veggies at all) didn't touch his. It goes really well with the main dish!
After the meal, the flight attendants began distributing these small tubs of Japanese vanilla ice cream for dessert. What a great way to end the meal--this was definitely the best in-flight meal I've ever had! Good job, Philippine Airlines!
Around Tokyo
Walking around Tokyo Disneyland surely made us hungry! We bought these smoked turkey legs for our mid-afternoon snack at Y520 each (around P200)--much cheaper compared to the turkey legs they sell at Universal Studios Singapore which cost $13, or around P400,
On the day of our city tour around Tokyo, we stopped for lunch at this Parisian-inspired food court called Marche de Metro, located at a train station (underground) at Omotesando. I bought this Ratatouille Curry dish at one of the food stalls called Bistro Lyon. It was a bit (but not too uncomfortably) warm at the time, so eating this spicy dish did make me sweat a bit more. The food was still quite good, though.
Too cool off, I got this chocolate milk tea drink from this nearby stall called Vietnamese Cyclo.
On our third day in Tokyo, we had dinner at this place called Tonkatsu Wako, located at the Sunshine City Alpa, one of the two major shopping malls connected to our hotel.
My mom's Ebi-Furai Gohan (around Y1188 or P510). Each tray comes with a bowl of rice, pickles, miso soup, and cabbage. They also serve complimentary green tea.
My dad, brother and I each had an order of Rosukatsu Gohan (also priced at Y1188). By the way, the rice, cabbage and miso soup at this restaurant are unlimited so you can keep asking for refills! The staff here are very friendly and helpful (but then again, who isn't in Japan, really?), and the waitress, despite her slight struggle with English, patiently explained to us the different types of dressing for the cabbage that we could choose from.
Other Food Photos
KitKats are extremely popular in Japan, and they come in all sorts of flavors--from the tame ones like Strawberry or Green Tea to the more quirky ones like Wasabi or Soy Sauce (you read that right). We also got to buy a small box of Baked KitKat (yep, that's right) which are ideally eaten only after being put inside the oven toaster for a few minutes which is supposed to turn into something like a crispy cookie. We tried to do that and it turned out to be a failure--I guess we were really just not doing it right.
In case you're wondering why KitKats are so popular in Japan, it's because it sounds very similar to the Japanese phrase "kittu katsu", which is synonymous to "good luck". Students usually eat KitKat just before an important exam for good luck.
Aside from doing some extra shopping, we finished off our remaining Yen at the Narita Airport in Tokyo (before flying back to Manila) with a quick meal at this place called Asian Cafe Bowl Bowl. I got these fried octopus dumpling balls and also got some of the ramen (on the left) which my mom and dad ordered for themselves. These dumpling balls were served piping hot.
Check out the rest of my Japan blog posts here:
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