Why is Japanese food so delicate?
In fact, “cooking” means to take care of, not to cook. Food with the mind of the cook in it has a magical tender power to heal the hearts and stomachs of diners.
Therefore, a good Japanese meal is essential when you first arrive in Japan. Hopefully, this edition of the list of food and coffee shops will also make the corners of your mouth turn up, hoping that each bite of food will make you sigh with satisfaction, “Ah, it’s good to be alive.”
Fujiyoshi
Michelin tempura in Tokyo
Of all the ingredients, tempura is not my favorite. Before I went to this place, I thought tempura was just fried stuff. Until I came to Japan and ate Fujiyoshi’s tempura, I was completely impressed by it.
Fujiyoshi is a tempura restaurant with a low-key and unobtrusive facade. Upon entering the restaurant, the enthusiastic “hostess” beckoned us to sit down. Seeing the chef in front of her, he wore a short hair and white overalls, he was ready to get busy when he saw a guest coming.
It was cherry blossom season when we went. So the decor, as well as the dinnerware, has been changed to a seasonal pattern of cherry blossoms, and the details are pleasing to the eye. It is also a kind of enjoyment to sit next to the cooking bar in order to see the cooking process of each chef more clearly.
As the ingredients here are all imported from Tsukiji Market that morning, seasonal vegetables and seafood with exceptional freshness, the emphasis is on “not going against the ingredients” to ensure the original flavor.
Use flour, egg, water and puree to coat fresh fish, shrimp and seasonal vegetables in a frying pan until golden brown. Serve with homemade plum paste or mashed radish. The heat is just right, each plate is delicate, the taste is self-evident. Crispy outer layer, tender and delicious. It totally changed my idea of tempura. When eating the first bite, friends inadvertently looked at each other and said: delicious!
Looking at the master skilled action, thought: the craft is really a skilled worker, if engaged in an industry for decades, do the same thing every day, even boring, hard, you will use the body of natural memory.
After eating all the tempura and the last remaining ingredients, the chef will ask if you want to make “tea bubble rice”. Three whole prawns, with rice, soaked in tea. The meat of the shrimp is solid, and the taste of the rice and tea can just block the tempura, which makes people feel very “stomach-sinking”.
Of course, the last dessert, the pink ice cream is also to match the cherry blossom season, with matcha, so sweet. When the chef said, “Make every dish with love,” he had a point. Maybe for him, Japanese food means life.
Noda Iwa Tokyo Eel rice God
Before I came to Japan, I saw a lot of introductions about Tokyo Eel rice God and Kansai No.1 Eel rice. Therefore, the first time to come to Japan, tasting a meal of eel rice, is also one of the itinerary.
Noda Rock has a Michelin star and is known as the “god of Tokyo eel rice”. We chose the main store. We didn’t make an appointment when we went there at noon. Fortunately, we still had room. The main store is a two-story building with white walls and black bricks. After a few words of Japanese, the waiter took us to the next small red building. Maybe because business is too hot, there is a new building nearby.
Kanimoto Kanjiro is the fifth generation owner of Noda Iwa, an old eel shop, and has been working at the shop for nearly 80 years. It is also one of the few shops in Tokyo that still insists on using natural eels, but because the number of natural eels is so small, the shop also stocks them on a regular basis.
Instead of Pu Shao, we chose the roasted “eel heavy”. “Heavy” refers to the fine lacquerware used to hold rice. The eels are roasted and steamed in a traditional way, then roasted with a sauce, and finally a beautiful bright red color. The taste, the eel is soft and delicate, the sauce is rich, and it kind of penetrates into the fish. The rice was just soft and springy, but for me personally, the eel was too prickly to be much of a surprise.
On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by the steaming eel liver soup, which gave off a rich, smoky flavor of woodfish flower and was generally quite fresh. If you go next time, you should try the white yaki again.
Noda Iwa main store
Kamakura, a city by the sea. About an hour’s drive from Tokyo, in addition to its historic temples and quaint streets, the scenery is everywhere, whether it is cherry blossom season, red leaves season, or Ziyang season, the mountains or the sea.
In recent years, Kamakura has also become the location of many Japanese TV dramas: take the “river power” to the Kamakura University station in front of the intersection, feel the theme song “Dunk” scene; Or the corner of the sea Street Diary where the four sisters lived…
Every stop along the tram route is a scene. Because of the Japanese drama The Penultimate Love, I am very familiar with the stop of “Goku Temple”, which is the station where the hero and heroine of the TV drama go to work every day. Therefore, in order to realize their dreams, this stop is also necessary to walk and have a look.
In fact, every year in July and August, Ziyang bloom season. There are a lot of tourists here, so, in the mountains, choose a quiet corner, is also very comfortable time.
The signboard of la maison ancienne Cafe, although placed on the roadside, is not insignificant. Hidden in the hills, you need to walk several paths to see the small cafe. The decoration at the door is not gorgeous. In fact, this place is not like the imagined appearance of a cafe, but more like “home”.
The hostess beckoned us to take off our shoes and enter. In addition to the kitchen, the other two areas on the ground floor are used to sell groceries, clothes, and jam made by the hostess.
Up a steep staircase to the second floor, a quiet resting place. Simple tables and chairs, seasonal flowers as decorations, some retro accessories in the corner, and some magazines and books. Not gorgeous, not deliberately, but very comfortable appearance.
The hostess’s English is not good. After simple communication, there are not many kinds of desserts in the store, but they are all made on the same day and are very fresh. We ordered the shop’s special of the day: banana cake and scone. The cake is crunchy and served with black tea, offering a comfortable degree of freedom worth a quiet afternoon.
Someone said of a favorite cafe: “A good cafe will make even the angels stop their wings to rest.”
Coffee shops are really special places. Some people will come for a cup of coffee, and some people will push open the door for a variety of other reasons.
This small cafe near the Pure Earth Temple hides delicious Japanese cakes and coffee. In fact, there are few cafes in this area, but the surrounding natural environment is very good, surrounded by mountains and white rivers, rich in natural resources, and there are many unique shops nearby.
A few plants and a bright yellow bicycle are displayed in front of the cafe’s signboard – swiss coffee,plants. As the name suggests, coffee and plants.
There are four tables and chairs of different sizes in the cafe for different numbers of guests to choose from. There weren’t many people there that day, so we chose a window with good light. There was a book on the table called The Little House on the Hill. After a few pages, I found it very interesting and asked the owner of the cafe where I could buy it.
To his surprise, he immediately took off his apron and ran out of the store. A nearby bookstore asked, but as the book was several years old, it was not found. But I still warm heart, for me, this is a happy place of angels.
Speaking of coffee and cake, I ordered the day’s limit. It turned out to be hand-washed, home-baked beans that I love. The cake is also delicious, orange-flavored and made with wheat flour from the host’s native Nagano. And the pair value the combination of coffee and fruit. For example, citrus fruits should be paired with rich, deep-fried coffee, so that the acidity of the fruit and bitterness of the coffee can be maximized. You can’t use butter for sauteers and fruits. You need to use wheat flour to bring out the best flavor in the coffee.
Such fine design and deployment is the charm of swiss coffee.
So, it doesn’t have to be beautiful decoration to be a good cafe. A good cafe is one that contains all kinds of feelings: the food, the coffee, the smell, the atmosphere of the space, and the people.
