Okayama fruits, Some supermarket, Okayama

September 12, 2008
Ok, I'm bad, I missed almost 2 weeks of posts. Oh well, time to start up again.

And we start with a random eating. I actually bought this stuff before I got to Hiroshima, but didn't eat it til I got to the capsule hotel I was staying at. We have two peaches that cost 500 yen, Muscat Grapes (Muscat of Alexandria, so-called Queen of Fruit) that cost the same, and Kibi Dango, basically sweet little balls of dough/gummy stuff, which were the awesome. I want.

Okonomiyaki, Sankanou, Hiroshima

Sept 12, 2008
Small back-alley restaurant under the train tracks. The chef was the restaurant owner, and could speak pretty decent English. He also just started making the food for me without even an order, which was totally ok with me. It was Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki, which is different from the Osaka-style I had earlier. The difference mainly is a thinner layer of batter, on top of a bed of noodles and another bed of cabbage. I have to say I prefer Osaka-style. Nice guy, though, he gave me a present of some crackers and awesome sauce when I left.

Udon run, Chikusei +2, Takamatsu

September 12, 2008
Before leaving Takamatsu, I just had to have a lot of udon, so I ended up hitting 3 restaurants for lunch before leaving. The first one I went to was not to helpful, so I didn't bother figuring out how to order other stuff, just had plain udon in soup, which is fine with me. The second place had much less people, but friendlier staff, so I got a tempura udon with the sauce-soup like the previous night. Nothing special there.

The third place was the more reputable one, Chikusei, which had a long lineup when I got there 10 minutes before it opened. It was like a tempura-buffet, with a lady in one corner constantly making tempura of all kinds, and bringing it over to the main counter, behind which people were making fresh udon. You basically can take whatever you want, and pay for it up top. So I had two tempura shrimp, two tempura soft-boiled eggs (!!!), and a regular bowl of noodles. Woulda went large, but I was filling up already. Heavenly. They need this in Toronto (or near wherever I live, always).

Toriten Oroshi Udon, Ajiyoshi, Takamatsu

Sept 11, 2008
After the aggravation of Kochi, Takamatsu was superbly awesome. Takamatsu is known as "The Kingdom of Udon". There was actually a movie made about udon here. There are over 700 udon restaurants in the larger region of Kagawa, especially in Takamatsu. I also happen to frickin' love udon. Good combination.

Unfortunately, I was so worn down from walking in Kochi that I didn't want to go far at all, so I got a room at a real hotel (cost me just under 50 bucks, most expensive night for me) and rested up, so by the time I was ready to go grab something to eat, I looked at my udon map (yup, a map with alot of udon restaurants marked on it) and most places were closed. The "famous" one was a far ways away, and I had no energy to go search it out. Fortunately, there was one open a few blocks away, so I just went there.

No one in there, usually a bad sign, but they were friendly, and suggested this one, basically battered chicken over cold udon, no soup, just some sauce (like the sauce which you dip soba in). T'was awesome. Chicken was dark meat, udon was springy, soup-sauce was tasty. Amazing end to the day =)

Katsuo no Tataki, Matsumi, Kochi

Sept 11, 2008
Being that this is Kochi, its a good time to mention that my interary is set day to day, looking up Japanese cities on wiki travel to see if they're famous for any food, then going to a "well-known" restaurant to eat said food. I'm learning my lessons, slowly, by missing food I want to eat cause I can't find a restaurant, or don't have a good map, or don't know when they're open. So I embark out of Kochi station armed with a map and knowing exactly where I want to go. I'll mention here that I tend to walk cause I'm cheap, even when I have to walk for half an hour, to save a buck, even though my ankle/back sucks, cause I gotta walk off the food somehow.

Anyways, I make my way down, looking for landmarks and streets that I can recognize, and can't find the frickin' place. So after about 40 minutes of walking, I stop and ask someone (in Japanese) where a certain street is. She looks at me and basically says... that's nowhere near here. I show her my map, and she tells me I walked the wrong way out of station, so I essentially walked the exact wrong direction. Turns out that the only visible door out of the station does not lead to Kochi, but in fact some other place. Lesson learned: don't assume that walking out the door is the direction of the map.

Anyhow, I walk allll the way back, and have to walk around the station to actually get to Kochi. By this time, I'm exhausted, so I just go find the first restaurant I can see and ask if they have what I'm looking for. They do, yay! So I eat. Katsuo no tataki is basically a type of sashimi (bonito) slightly seared on the outside before cutting it up. Solid, but walking all that way was aggravating to the point where I didn't enjoy it as much as I should've.

P.S. Turns out there's a massive fish on the outside of the restaurant that I didn't see when I walked in. So maybe this was the restaurant to go to after all. I'll never know.

Takoyaki, Tako Tako King, Osaka

Sept 11, 2008
Technically on the 11th, I ate these at around 2:30 in the morning in Osaka before heading to bed. Had them with salt, with mayo/awesome sauce, and one other way I forget. Obviously best with awesome sauce. It's kinda crispy on the outside, and all gooey on the inside (with not much octopus). I liked the combination, but I can see how people might not enjoy.

Okonomiyaki, Chibo, Osaka

Sept 10, 2008
Late night meal (after stuffing myself at lunch), in a crazy street-market-like place in Osaka. I really wanted to try okonomiyaki in Japan, after having it a couple times in Canada, and this did not disappoint. Pork, cuttlefish, shrimp, beef, and cheese on this batter-pancake thing topped with some sort of mayo and awesome-sauce (don't really care what the real name is called, it's hereby awesomesauce). Also cool is that each table has its own grill, so you have the option of making it yourself, or in my case, keeping it warm while you ate. At the risk of being repetitive, it was awesome.

Kohchin Miso Nikomi Udon, Yamamotoya, Nagoya

Sept 10, 2008
This was the udon I was looking for. I ended up eating this about half an hour after I stuffed myself with the large portion of misokatsu. Shoulda planned that out better. Anyhow, Nikomi Udon with some sort of special chicken (which tasted, y'kno, like normal chicken). The udon itself wasn't the greatest, Nikomi udon is made with this super thick soup, almost like a sauce. Really overpowering, not in a good way, like the misokatsu, more in a bad way, like the tebasaki. Oh well, at least I tried it.

Misokatsu, Yabaton, Nagoya

Sept 10, 2008
So this is the first place I went to the night before, got there nice and early in time for opening. There was a line before it opened, and it filled up fast, so good thing I got there early. Simply put, it was the same kind of taste as the misokushkatsu, except not on a stick. I really like this red miso sauce that they have in Nagoya.

As a side note, Nagoya was the first time that I encountered locals who could speak English since Tokyo. The first was the lady that helped me the night before, and the second was one of the chefs (seemed like the boss) behind the counter. Very friendly, told me to come by anytime I was in town, very proud of his product. He inadvertently called my manhood into question, though ; when I was debating which to get, the normal or the fatty kind, he said, "I think if you are a man, you get the fatty kind".

Tebasaki and Misokushkatsu, Yamachan, Nagoya

Sept 9, 2008
So I've got two restaurants I'm looking for in Nagoya, one misokatsu (miso pork cutlet) place and one udon place. I leave my capsule hotel at around 8:30, walk to the misokatsu place by 9, and its closed. Then I consult my map and see the udon place nearby, go there, and its closed. So I consult the map again, find a new place, need to ask a local to help me find it, and its closed. Gah.

The local very nicely suggests this place, kind of a drinking place, with Nagoya snacks like tebasaki (the chicken wings, with some special spices) and misokushkatsu, basically misokatsu on a stick =P. I go in, it's open (yay!) but full, so I just get takeout. Go back to the hotel, I'm told no food in the hotel. So I go to a mcdonald's, buy a drink, sit down, and am told its closing....

SO, I finally sit down on the metal steps in front of my hotel, and eat there at around 11:30. The tebasaki was ok, I wasn't a big fan of the spices they used. The misokushkatsu, on the other hand, was the most amazing taste ever, I was blown away, probably cause I was so dang hungry at the time. Don't even know how to describe it... like regular pork cutlet, but smothered in some sort of miso-msg concoction (not that there was msg, that's just the best comparison I can think of).

Miso Soft Serve, Suyakame, Nagano

Sept 9, 2008
Miso Soft Serve. Kinda salty, but sweet at the same time. Weird =P

Thanks to Grace for helping me figure out the name of this place

Temprura Sarashina Soba, Daimaru, Nagano

Sept 9, 2008
Fresh buckwheat soba in Nagano. This store had someone making soba in the store window out front, so that was pretty cool to watch too. I never really got into the cold soba noodles before coming to Japan, but it was solid, and definitely something I'll consider more at restaurants back home. The dry seaweed on top was a nice touch.

Butter Corn Ramen, Ezokko Ramen, Sapporo

Sept 8, 2008

Late at night, before I boarded an overnight train back to Tokyo, thus ending the northern Japan portion of my trip, I managed to get to eat Sapporo specialty butter corn ramen. Not much to say, other than the soup already looks kinda greasy, and that's before the butter is melted in. Heart-stopping goodness.

Oh yeah.. Jonny would like this a LOT.

Soup Curry, L☆Voice, Asahikawa

Sept 8, 2008
Was supposed to have some ramen, since Asahikawa is known for its ramen. Also stopped by a Ghengis Khan bbq place, but ultimately decided to take the plunge at this place, even though soup curry is better known in other parts of Hokkaido. The curry was a strong taste, pretty decent, but tastebud-killing kind of spice. Ended up being the only person in the restaurant the whole time, served by a young-ish women. Kind of akward. When I left, though, she saw me to the door and held a deep bowed position while I went down the stairs and left (I turned around at the bottom and saw her still bowing). Maybe this wasn't the best place to try soup curry, but at the end of it all, I was glad I ate there. Hardcore experience.

Asahikawa, btw, was the first to earn "Dang, I wish I lived here/I wanna live here some day" status. It's also supposed to be the coldest city in Japan =P

Squid Ramen, Shesheke, Hakodate

Sept 8, 2008
Hakodate, known for its squid, and more importantly its squid ramen made with squid stock. Had to walk around for a bit looking for a specific restaurant, but couldn't find it, so had to stop in at the first place that offered it. Was ok, I guess, not a big fan of squid though, and the soup didn't taste anything special. Then when I was walking back to the station, I found the restaurant I was originally looking for. It was a small thing on the other side of the street, so I didn't bother looking. Grr.

Hakodate, btw, a southern port city in Hokkaido. Spent a total of less than 24 hours in Hokkaido, but I still managed to get to 3 cities, as far up as the middle of the island.

Apple, Itayanagi

Sept 8, 2008
An apple. Had this on the train after I ran for 10 minutes (with a crappy back) to make it, with no water either, right after I woke up. Grabbed it from the church I was staying at the night before, and apples are supposed to be Itayanagi's speciality. I suppose it's a good time to mention that this city is the start of 24 more cities (other than Tokyo) in which I try to eat the specialty of said city. The apple was good and juicy... but it was still an apple =P

Pork Cutlet Sandwich, Tokyo Station, Tokyo

Sept 7, 2008
Yep, Pork Cutlet Sandwich. I just wanna say how much more awesome Japanese takeout food is than what we can get here. Also, I had Onigiri with it, which I didn't take a picture of for some reason. But that is also the awesome.