Sushi
As the more perceptive among you may have noticed, I have become unusually taciturn of late.
The reason is because…
no, rats haven’t chewed through my internet wires.
no, I haven’t spilled tea over my computer leaving it to fizzle and die.
no, I haven’t been abducted by aliens.
(Yes these are sometimes thoughts that go through my mind).
I disappeared to Japan on holiday for 3 weeks. Now let me drip feed you with the spoils of my journey. That will have to be photos of food as my pockets were overflowing with useless knick knacks so I needed a more compressed medium to carry back as remembrance.
Of course I had to engage in that stereotypical food of Japan. People, without fail, when I mention I have recently been to Japan, ask “did you eat a lot of sushi?” I wonder if Italians get tired of being asked if they ate a lot of pasta or pizza. I know Chinese people get rather irritated about being asked if they had “flied lice” for dinner. Uh.. I can pronounce “R” and no I prefer not to eat fried parasites.
Anyway, as usual I digress. However, I hope you don’t mind as I guess that is why you bother to read this blog. A little salad on the left with crab meat. Delicious and light. On the right was a little secret surprise.
Chawanmushi. A steamed egg dish with little bits of seafood. Smooth and a good preparation for the main event.
Yes. That is sushi. Starting from the top left going clockwise. Medium fatty tuna (chutoro), flounder (hirame), normal tuna (maguro), sweet prawns (aimai ebi), eel (unagi), sea urchin (uni), egg omelet (tomago), salmon (sake) and scallop (hotate) in the centre. Delicious! I love the variety and the freshness. It makes most things in London pale in comparison. One thing I particularly love (and was soon reunited with) was the scallop which is quite difficult to find in London.
It was lovely being in Tokyo again and savouring the lovely food. Sitting at the counter watching the chefs prepare the sushi which was then immediately placed in front of us reminded me of the slightly different work culture in Japan. Your work IS your life. So you better be good at it! Which leads to some of the best food this side of the planet. I think I will be fat by the end of my trip.
Lunch was JPY 2000 which is GBP10. No service and free tea in Japan!
A quiet eating 7.5/10.
Tokyo