shojin-riyori

I am sure there are going to be many recommendations in the vegetarian cuisine capital ! I had shojin ryori lunch at Tenryuji, Zen monastery in Arashiyama area, for 3,500 yen. It was really lovely. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tokyofoodcast/3509401346/
Enjoy your time in Kyoto!

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Street food tour of Japan

A day trip to Matsushima is going to be filled with good bbq seafood all around the town and great view. Matsushima is about 30 min on JR from Sendai. You can find lots of stalls selling BBQ oysters, scallops and other seafood.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tokyofoodcast/1430213003/
Enjoy your foodie adventure in Japan!

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looking for a japanese garden view

Would Happoen in Shirokanedai work?
http://www.happo-en.com/english/restaurant/index.html
Or Gajoen in Meguro
http://www.megurogajoen.co.jp/english/restaurant.html

Grand Prince in Shinagawa has nice garden, but I believe they are quite expensive as well. I am sure there are others, though.

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Japan 4 days

Good luck with your food adventure in Japan! Westin is in Ebisu and there are tons of good restaurants there! Bento is definitely a good place to start.
http://www.bento.com/tokyofood.html

At Tsukiji, you need to wait in line for most of the sushi restaurants in the guide book, like Daiwa. I went to Iwasa at Ichigo-kan next to the curry shop last time, and it was good and no line! Tsukiji jogai has street foods like oden or donburi shop, too.
http://tokyofoodcast.com/index.php/et-chan/where-to-go-for-morning-eats-in-tsukiji/226/

I think kyotofoodie.com can give you some ideas where to go in Kyoto for food and must eats in Kyoto!
Have fun!

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Tokyo for a week in October: Where to go? What to do?

Hi Blacken,
I thought this thread might be a good place to start for recommendations.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/526848

As far as a place to stay, anywhere near the subway in Tokyo gives you good access. And the rest depends on your budget and specific things you want. This search system on JNTO's site is quite helpful.
http://www.jnto.go.jp/a-search/search/search_form.php

Good luck and enjoy your stay in Tokyo!

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Chow lists in Japan

Thank you, Robb S! This looks great!

tokyofoodcast in Japan

Hida miso

I have one correction about hoba miso, actually two.
I just found out from the miso lecture I attended today that it is actually koji miso used as hoba miso, not akamiso or haccho miso. (I do not know if anyone cares that much details, but I thought to correct myself!)

And the shop, Oribe Style, closed at the end of Feb 2009. Too bad!

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lunchtime yatais near Yurakucho station?

I have had some lunch there, but I do not remember anything particularly so good to be worth traveling just for lunch. It is a bit open air and nice on a nice spring day, I imagine. I am curious to find out if any frequent visitors from the area will have some recommendations?

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Exotic/Bizarre/Interesting Food in Tokyo??

Would suppon qualify as exotic? It's winter delicacy and it is really good as nabe. This guy at Maki speaks English or their staff did anyway.
http://tokyofoodcast.com/index.php/et-chan/happy-turtle-day/231/

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"kappabashi" knife shop

I do not know any particular artists who actually make knives in TOkyo or Yokoyama.
I thought Japan Traditional Craft Center may know a place near tokyo.
http://www.kougei.or.jp/english/center.html

Also, Kiya at Nihonbashi may be able to guide you to the right place.
http://www.kiya-hamono.co.jp/english/index.html
Good luck!

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Why is good sake so hard to find?

How about Sakaya NYC?
They recently started online shop.
http://www.sakayanyc.com/shop_all.php

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Good Izakaya to visit in late Nov in Tokyo area

Enjoy your time in Tokyo! These are my standard izakaya recommendations without specifics. Some links are in Japanese
1. Buchi-Shibuya
http://www.shibuyaku-town.com/do/017/018/

2. Buri-Ebisu
http://www.takewaka.co.jp/buri/index.html
This is a trendy standing bar with lots of sake, wine, shochu to choose from.

Ebisu Nishi 1-14-1
At Ebisu JR station, take West Entrance toward Hibiya line.
Take the street between KFC and Wendy's.
In a few few blocks, you will see Buri on your left, right after 松山薬局 or right in front of the Naturax sign. It is easy to miss

3. Ogikubo - Ichibee
Good izakaya with good sake, really Japanese style.
Map to Ichibee
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&lr=lang_en&hl=ja&om=1&msa=0&msid=108201641841647494223.000446dd6bc3f1344cef0&ll=35.705489,139.617755&spn=0.012371,0.019312&z=16

4. Yoshimoto in Shinjuku
This is a bit more for middle age and above crowd, not so young professionals, I believe. It is a nice after work izakaya with good sake selection.

http://www.ooyoshimoto.com/info.html
http://tokyodrinkingglass.blogspot.com/2008/08/sake-for-summer.html

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[Tokyo] First time in Tokyo...what can I not afford to miss?

These are very obvious ones and e_ting mentioned one already, but...

Tsukiji - both wholesale market and another market area called "jogai" just outside the wholesale section. Especially Tsukiji jogai offers wide range of food items from dried bits, pre-made frozen kaiseki dishes, etc. to street food such as oden, bbq scallops& oysters or sushi.

You can stroll the area on your own. Wholesale market can be a bit scary and you might want to have someone with you to guide through, but otherwise, jogai area is fun!

Kappabashi - area with wholesale cooking tool shops. This is where you find food made of wax.

Enjoy!

tokyofoodcast in Japan

Tokyo dining groups?

There are a couple of foodie groups in Tokyo via meetup.

http://cooking.meetup.com/520

http://www.meetup.com/Tokyo-Eatup-Meetup/

I organize two meetup groups. One in sake and one in food, but I have not been able to do much with food group yet. If you are interested, please join us!
http://www.meetup.com/tokyosake/
http://japanese.meetup.com/518/

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Kanazawa (金沢) Preview

Silverjay, thanks for this post. Kanazawa is on top of my list of places to visit, definitely. I love Pickled Fugu Ovary with sake, especially kan. Hope you have a chance to visit Fukumitsuya there. Enjoy your trip!

tokyofoodcast in Japan

Mesquite wood chips

Good luck and have fun! I use Weber for making bacon with wood block. It worked really well. I was thinking I should try with wood chips this year....

tokyofoodcast in Japan

Hida miso

I am glad you enjoyed hōba miso.　
I have seen a package of hoba miso with dried leaves at Oribe Style Shop at Lapiros Roppongi Bldg., 6-1-2 Roppongi on the 2nd floor. Lapiros is right outside exit 3 of Roppongi Station.

If you are not in Tokyo but if you can find aka miso or haccho miso from Nagoya area and mix it with sake, scallions, mushroom and cook in a pan, that must be pretty close to what you had. If you like it a bit sweet, add some sugar or mirin. Also, as you mentioned, that can be a sauce for seared beef.

I bought a package of hoba miso from the shop in Roppongi here. Put leaf in a frying pan, mixed miso with mushroom, then cooked until the miso started to simmer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tokyofoodcast/281294967/

Hoba miso and beef dish served at Ukai Chikutei
http://www.flickr.com/photos/enakamura/2964082374/

Hope you can replicate the taste of wonderful miso!

tokyofoodcast in Japan