Saturday, May 18, 2019
We woke up early and activated a couple of e-bikes parked nearby. We rode around the Shinjuku area to light traffic. This is one of my favorite things to do with Alice in a new city, rent e-bikes and ride through the streets.
We had breakfast at a 24-hour sushi restaurant Alice had been on a previous trip, a sushi chain called Sushizanmai on the 4th floor of a nondescript building a block or two from the train station. The sushi totally hit the spot at 8 a.m.! We continued walking around the area, exploring shops and department stores until 11 a.m. when it was time to change rooms.
Alice was very happy with the new room, which was slightly bigger and had no stuffy smell at all.
For lunch, we had fluffy pancakes at The Original Pancake House. Alice loves these fluffy pancakes. I admit, they are pretty good.
There was also a line at this restaurant, so it took about 40 minutes to get a seat.
By mid-afternoon, we headed back to our hotel and got ready for our big Michelin star dinner at Narisawa. We took the subway on the Oedo line at Tochomae Station near our hotel to Aoyama-Itchome Station two stops away. We walked a few minutes along Aoyama dori Ave to the world-renowned restaurant. This was one of the experiences I was most looking forward to, and Narisawa did not disappoint. We'd learned about this restaurant from an episode of "I'm Having What Phil's Having" and the courses and food looked so different and original that I was eager to try it out. I knew we'd be presented with dazzling creativity and originality, but for some reason I wasn't expecting each course to taste so delicious.
We arrived promptly at 6 p.m. The restaurant seats about 20 guests with a staff of around 8-10, so it's intimate.
This was the course I was most curious about:
It's called Essence of the Forest and it looks like leaves, flowers and dirt with twigs and a little log thrown in on a slab of wood that I guess is a kind of dinner salad. I wanted to know what this "salad" tasted like and was stunned at how delicious it was. It was so good. Here's my slab five minutes later:
Basically, this meal was the Broadway show and dinner all rolled into one 3.5-hour dining experience. As each dish was presented, we were given details of the origin of ingredients that reinforced the grander theme of Japan's forest and seas. We had lots of seafood and it was all amazing.
I'm not a sea urchin person, but this sea urchin on a crispy pink shrimp wafer-like thing was so tasty.
I don't do oysters either, but this oyster with plump green peas called caviar was so fresh and so yummy.
This salmon dish was amazing.
And this sea bass...wow. The taste really blew me away. I can see why Narisawa is a top 50 restaurant in the world.
Our bread was baked at our table. It's first fermented in a little glass container, then placed in a very hot clay pot and covered with a piece of wood.
The butter, which also looked like something from the forest, was delicious.
Our kobe beef looked like a piece of coal. But when we cut into it...my goodness this was good.
Dessert was delectable.
This was truly one of the great culinary experiences of our lives. Chef Narisawa himself greeted us at our table. We'll never forget this amazing meal.
Three and a half hours after we first sat down, we took a taxi back to the Keio Plaza and called it a night. Our first day in Tokyo was a huge success.
We woke up early and activated a couple of e-bikes parked nearby. We rode around the Shinjuku area to light traffic. This is one of my favorite things to do with Alice in a new city, rent e-bikes and ride through the streets.
We had breakfast at a 24-hour sushi restaurant Alice had been on a previous trip, a sushi chain called Sushizanmai on the 4th floor of a nondescript building a block or two from the train station. The sushi totally hit the spot at 8 a.m.! We continued walking around the area, exploring shops and department stores until 11 a.m. when it was time to change rooms.
Alice was very happy with the new room, which was slightly bigger and had no stuffy smell at all.
For lunch, we had fluffy pancakes at The Original Pancake House. Alice loves these fluffy pancakes. I admit, they are pretty good.
There was also a line at this restaurant, so it took about 40 minutes to get a seat.
By mid-afternoon, we headed back to our hotel and got ready for our big Michelin star dinner at Narisawa. We took the subway on the Oedo line at Tochomae Station near our hotel to Aoyama-Itchome Station two stops away. We walked a few minutes along Aoyama dori Ave to the world-renowned restaurant. This was one of the experiences I was most looking forward to, and Narisawa did not disappoint. We'd learned about this restaurant from an episode of "I'm Having What Phil's Having" and the courses and food looked so different and original that I was eager to try it out. I knew we'd be presented with dazzling creativity and originality, but for some reason I wasn't expecting each course to taste so delicious.
We arrived promptly at 6 p.m. The restaurant seats about 20 guests with a staff of around 8-10, so it's intimate.
This was the course I was most curious about:
It's called Essence of the Forest and it looks like leaves, flowers and dirt with twigs and a little log thrown in on a slab of wood that I guess is a kind of dinner salad. I wanted to know what this "salad" tasted like and was stunned at how delicious it was. It was so good. Here's my slab five minutes later:
Basically, this meal was the Broadway show and dinner all rolled into one 3.5-hour dining experience. As each dish was presented, we were given details of the origin of ingredients that reinforced the grander theme of Japan's forest and seas. We had lots of seafood and it was all amazing.
I'm not a sea urchin person, but this sea urchin on a crispy pink shrimp wafer-like thing was so tasty.
I don't do oysters either, but this oyster with plump green peas called caviar was so fresh and so yummy.
This salmon dish was amazing.
And this sea bass...wow. The taste really blew me away. I can see why Narisawa is a top 50 restaurant in the world.
Our bread was baked at our table. It's first fermented in a little glass container, then placed in a very hot clay pot and covered with a piece of wood.
The butter, which also looked like something from the forest, was delicious.
Our kobe beef looked like a piece of coal. But when we cut into it...my goodness this was good.
Dessert was delectable.
Three and a half hours after we first sat down, we took a taxi back to the Keio Plaza and called it a night. Our first day in Tokyo was a huge success.
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