mmm-yoso – Page 223

Narita: Naritasan Shinshoji Temple and Seabura (pork backfat) Ramen at Miyamoto

December 7, 2015 mmm-yoso Japan, Japanese Restaurants, Ramen, Tokyo, Kamakura, and the Kantō Region, Travel

It was nice to see Narita by daylight as arriving anywhere at night makes things a bit mysterious. The vibe of the city seemed quite relaxed, it's quite hard to believe that over 35 million people pass through an airport just a few miles away. Looking out from the window we had our first glimpse of the colors of the season. Something we don't get here in San Diego. Since our shuttle back to the airport wasn't until 940 and it was only 6am, we decided to do a bit of exploring and find something to eat.

Things seemed quite calm as we walked through the JR Narita Station, which is nearly right next to the privately operated Keisei Narita Station next door. We could make out some of the streets that we thought were so confusing the previous night. There were quite a few small temples tucked along the side streets.

We decided to visit what is probably the most popular site in this part of Narita; Naritasan Shinshoji Temple which is easily found by following the signs. The street heading to the temple, Omotesando, is lined with shops and restaurants, which were all closed at this time of the morning.

The street were very quiet except for schoolkids headed off to class. One particularly feisty little girl marched off quickly in front of us. Everytime we'd speed up, so would she, when we started catching up, she broke into a full on sprint….she refused to let us pass her! It seems we had become part of the morning entertainment.

The temple grounds were quite a bit larger than we anticipated. There's was a good amount to see. Sorry to say, my photos of the Main Hall were among those that were corrupted and unrecoverable form one of the SD cards. Still, there were quite a few distinct structures like the Three Story Pagoda.

For me, the most interesting structure was the Shakado Hall, which looked both grand and imposing at the same time. This was temple's main hall until the 1960's when the larger main hall was built.

Workers were taking down plants and flowers from an autumn flower show which had concluded the previous day.

There's also a large park. The cloudiness in the photo below is not an artifact, but the mist coming off the spruce as the environment warmed up.

We climbed up the stairs next to the Shakado Hall and were greeted by folks as they walked down past us.

The Missus read a sign that basically said, "shortcut to JR East Station", so we followed the trail. And wouldn't you know, we somehow quickly ended up quite close to the station.

We started looking for something for breakfast. And according to the Missus, "a pastry and coffee is not going to cut it!"

We circled around a bit, then ended back at Keisei Narita Station, and noticed a 24 Hour Ramen place. This seemed to fit the bill of the Missus wanting "as much ramen and yakitori" as we could possibly find on this trip.

There was one person manning the shop and one customer in attendance. The typical ramen ticket machine in the corner. The Missus couldn't make out some words and the proprietor (his photo was on the posters adorning the walls) was nice enough to point to different photos on the walls so we could correlate them to choices on the machine.

The Missus read some of the signs and said this place serves "backfat" ramen…….that would be "seabura" ramen. So what the heck, I went whole hog (no pun intended) and ordered the large bowl.

The Missus went with the Tenkasu-don – those crispy bits of tempura batter on top of rice, drizzled with a tentsuyu type of sauce, along with a raw egg. She added another boiled egg for good measure.

When my bowl arrived, I could see what looked like rice porridge on top of the ramen. It quickly became clear that these were silky little minced pieces of fat. Some of which melted away, some not. It added quite a bit of richness to the broth, which, in spite off all this fat, never became greasy. It added a different dimension to what was pretty much a ubiquitous bowl of ramen. The tonkotsu broth (minus the rendered pork fat) was fairly light and on the salty side. The noodles were done adequately…the Missus said the boiled eggs were decently flavored, though a bit on the over-cooked side for Her taste. There was a huge amount of beansprouts, I enjoyed the textural contrast it added to the ramen. The broth wasn't quite hot enough for us, which would have ended up in an even richer bowl of ramen in my mind.

While not an excellent bowl, this was still good enough for us. Would be in the top 2 in San Diego……is San Diego ready for backfat ramen?

Miyamoto (宮本)
814-5 Hanazakicho (Next to Keisei Narita Station)
Narita, Chiba

Plus it sure beat out McDonalds at Narita Airport.

Which had the longest line! Sheesh. Well, at least the portion sizes looked a bit smaller……

Belly full of ramen……we were ready for Seoul!

Thanks for reading!

Revisits: Pho Cow Cali and Pho Hiep and Grill (Linda Vista)

December 6, 2015 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

It seems like our trip was sort of bookended by pho.

Pho Cow Cali:

My director always kids me about my habit of getting a haircut the week before any trip. "I see you're ready for your vacation now……" As I noted in my previous post on the place, the guy who cuts my hair is close by in Mira Mesa, so why not stop in for breakfast before my pre-trip ritual?

I was surprised how busy the place was at 8am on Sunday.

I went with the usual.

Pretty much the same bowl as previous visits. Well flavored proteins. A couple of things did get my attention; while the broth was a bit more rich than before, with some mild beef flavor, it was also several steps below hot. Also, they're really starting to get stingy with the herbs and sprouts here.

Service was as before. All business.

Overall, still better than almost everything else in San Diego.

Pho Cow Cali
9170 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Pho Hiep and Grill (Linda Vista):

It had been ages since I'd had pho at Pho Hiep, though I visited two years ago to check out the Bun Mang Vit and Bun Bo Hue. A bit under the weather, I hadn't been able to eat in over two days, so I thought grabbing a bowl of pho when I started getting hungry might set me straight. Nothing too far away. Since my last visit to Pho Paradise was a bust, I'm back to the "there's no decent pho to be had in Kearny Mesa" stance.

It had been ages since my last pho visit here, so I decided on trying the rare beef…….which was cut too thick, was overdone by the time it hit the table, and was tough. I ordered the #2, which I thought should have had tendon and tripe, but both were MIA. The flank was really bad, tasteless rubber, though the brisket was tender and had a decent beefiness. There was quite a bit of nicely prepped noodles; considering this was a small bowl. The broth was interesting, too sweet and too much msg for my taste. The broth was a bit more cloudy than I prefer as well. There was quite a generous portion of herbs and sprouts, something I hadn't seen in a while.

Barely passable pho. It also shut me back down for another day or so……..

Pho Hiep & Grill
6947 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Narita: Sumibi no Uttori

December 5, 2015 mmm-yoso Japan, Japanese Restaurants, Tokyo, Kamakura, and the Kantō Region, Travel

Even though we had an amazing time during our trip to Japan last year, our time in Kyoto was limited because of Typhoon Vongfong. That was among more than a handful of reasons we decided to head back; the Missus had always wanted to see the fall foliage and She had gained a real affection for Yakitori (and ramen – remember the Santouka effect?). Also, She needed a use for the $$$$ Burberry overcoat She had bought….. So we decided to head back to Japan. Our trip was scheduled for 17 days and we had a 14 day Japan Rail Pass, so we needed to figure out what to do with those extra days. Seoul seemed like a good idea and that ended up being the plan. We arrived at Narita Airport quite late in the afternoon……man, the sunsets here at like 445pm! I decided that we should just the evening in Narita, before heading to Seoul the next morning. We stayed at the Narita U City Hotel, which is a bit dated, but very close to the JR Station, has a friendly staff, and even a free shuttle to the airport.

After settling in, the first course of business was getting something to eat. Of course the place I'd been looking forward to eating at was closed, even though Tabelog said they were open on that day. So we passed through the JR Station and started exploring, up and down the somewhat confusing side streets of Narita. Until we came across this busy little shop.

And the Missus did want to eat a lot of yakitori on this trip, right? The place was a hoot; the young man who managed the front of house would loudly greet guests as they entered and shout to find seats for customers. In this photo he is shouting upstairs to find a table for some customers. The staff were friendly and quite boisterous. There was an English menu, but we decided to ignore it and take a walk around the counter to see what we wanted.

That combined with the Missus's ability to understand some Kanji helped us make some good decisions.

Of course we started with a couple of beers.

It seems like the place also did a bustling hot pot business, but we were here for grilled meats. In looking at what was being ordered we quickly noticed that pork was really popular here, so we ordered mainly pork influenced items, even though none of them were on the English menu.

The Butahorumon (pork intestine) was very tasty. Smoky, with a crisp exterior, it had that nice savory slightly musty intestine flavor I love.

The Missus favorite was the delicious Yamaimo (mountain yam) wrapped with Pork.

Crunchy, slightly sweet, the thinly sliced bacon added a nice touch of smokiness. Just the right amount of salt made this quite tasty.

The Renkon (lotus root) was also wrapped with bacon.

It wasn't quite as pleasing as the yamaimo though.

Veering away from swine, we just had to try the Tsukune (chicken meatball), which was just ok, too many hard bits, not too flavorful.

The Pork Skin was seasoned well and had a nice deep smokiness, but was a bit too rubbery, with hard bits for our taste.

I ended with a nice Yaki Onigiri, grilled quite well.

This ended up being a nice little meal to get us started. I recall the prices as being quite reasonable as well.

The Missus had wanted to eat a lot of yakitori, right?

Sumibinouttori
533-13, Hanazakicho
Narita-shi, Chiba, 286-0033

Where in the world are we? Part 4

December 2, 2015 mmm-yoso Japan, Kyoto

Well, this is the home stretch. We're (hopefully) home by the time this gets posted. It's a place where Mother Nature intervened the last time we were here, so we wanted to take care of some unfinished business.

Which we managed to do. Along with enjoying the colors of the season.

We managed to revisit a couple of our favorites.

And got to meet up with one of my favorite food bloggers and catch up on things.

And try a few we had on our list as well.

We even made a side trip to a place with ties to San Diego!

So please enjoy Cathy's and Ed from Yuma's posts while I regroup.

Thanks for reading!

Where in the world are we? Part 3

November 30, 2015 mmm-yoso Japan, Tokyo, Kamakura, and the Kantō Region, Travel

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We're on our way to the final stop on this trip. The last few days have been great, even when the weather didn't cooperate.

Along with the bright lights of the city. We took short day trips, returning to the same city on both days.

The Daibutsu was more dramatic than I expected. Perhaps the clear blue sky had something to do with it.

Of course we ate well.

And even managed to have dinner at our favorite little place with an old friend.

It looks like the rain is behind us for now…..

We're hoping for clear days for the last leg of our trip. Regardless, I'm sure we'll have a great time!

Thanks for reading!

Where in the world are we? Part 2

November 25, 2015 mmm-yoso Hokkaido, Japan, Travel

The Missus told me She wanted to really experience a bit of winter on this trip. So, I figured on a trip further north. It did rain a bit and the temps did hit 30, but we only experienced a couple of flurries. It snowed the hardest when we headed to the city with the coldest recorded temp.

While that was the extent of things we got to visit the main branches of two of our favorites.

Add in another one of our favorites and I'd say we did rather well.

One of the day trips was to a charming fishing village.

There was a festival taking place.

See the folks in shorts? This was the temp while this was going on.

There were actual small flurries during the performance. Yeeesh!

The lunch we had at the local fish market was a bargain…..and super delicious.

We really ate well.

We were sad to leave. I'm pretty sure we'll be back.

Thanks for reading! Happy Thanksgiving Day from all of us at mmm-yoso!

Where in the world are we? Part one.

November 19, 2015 mmm-yoso Japan, Korea, Seoul, Tokyo, Kamakura, and the Kantō Region, Travel

Yes, we're out and about again. The itch started upon return from our last trip. We had a day layover then hit our first primary stop. I'm not sure why we hadn't visited before.

The city is amazing juxtaposition of the old and new. One of palaces and one a very modern metropolis.

While it's been a bit cold and rainy, we had one marvelous day…..

And we have been eating well. Folks here are to the point, but very nice overall.

We've been mainly sticking with the standards, many found down side streets and alleyways.

It's been a heck of a start to our vacation. We're off to our next stop in the morning.

Thanks for reading!

Tokyo: Rokurinsha

November 11, 2015 mmm-yoso Japan, Japanese Restaurants, Osaka, Ramen, Tokyo, Kamakura, and the Kantō Region

Sadly, Osaka would be the last stop on our trip to Japan. Well, not really our last stop as we left Osaka early and decided to grab lunch at Tokyo Station.

As always, the Shinkansen was perfectly on time. It's such a comfortable way to travel.

People watching is such fun……..and we saw this group of folks; mostly men having a great time in the rows in front of us.

There was one guy taking photos…..I guess the designated photographer. As soon as the Shinkansen started; they started….breaking out the beer! 8am in the morning! I sent Kat a text and a photo and she explained that it looked like a company outing……hitting the brews at 8am? That's one heck of a company outing! They sure were having a great time. What was even more impressive…..after they exited I walked past the seats and it was spotless! As if no one had even sat there…..they sure did a great job cleaning up.

We had a small bento to share……

We decided to spend our last few hours at Tokyo Station before heading to the airport. They call it Tokyo Station City and if you ever visit there it becomes quite obvious that it's large and populous enough to qualify as a city.

There was one last eating destination that I wanted to try. It is located in the basement of Tokyo Station near the Yaesu exit. Here you'll find Tokyo Ramen Street. Here you'll find one shop with a line that stretches around the corner….like a bunch of teenyboppers waiting to buy Justin Beiber tickets. This is the very popular Rokurinsha….. Hyped by folks like David Chang, even people I know who wouldn't know Tsukemen from Tsukemono have heard of this place. The line says it all. I will say, it moves pretty quickly…there are signs along the way telling you what the projected wait is from that location.

This is one of the those order from the ramen ticket machine places.

We ordered a Ajitama Tsukemen, the standard issue Tsukemen here. Along with some extra chashu, menma, and another egg. This ended up being enough for the Missus and I to share.

I really liked this….the Missus on the other hand didn't care for the heady niboshi (dried baby sardines) – sababushi (mackeral flakes) flavor, with a topping of bonito powder, calling it too fishy. The broth is thick, perfect for sticking to those thick and chewy noodles….did I say chewy noodles? Let me say, very chewy noodles. This was also a bit too much for the Missus.

It was also a bit much for the quite…ummmm….hefty young lady seated on the table next to us. The Missus kept laughing as the young lady, who had ordered a large bowl of tsukemen, with chashui and extra egg….in other words more than what the Missus and I were having combined, kept complaining about how chewy the noodles are…making her jaw sore, in Mandarin. But that sure didn't stop her from finishing off her bowl and the remainder of her eating companion's as well. In fact, the other young lady looked a bit tense. When the Missus mentioned this to me, I said, "she's afraid that she's going to be dessert!"

The chashu was very nice; it looked too tough, but was tender and well flavored. The egg….well, you can tell how good it was. I loved this, the Missus, not so much. Oh well, that how it goes. I will say that for some reason the broth gets cool quite fast…..it was getting less pleasant to eat at the end.

For me, it was a nice way to end our time in Japan. And makes me want to return soon!

Rokurinsha (Tokyo Station)
1-9-1 Marunochi, Chiyoda, Tokyo

For a number of reasons, I'd always hesitated when travel to Japan was mentioned. Those reservations were misplaced, we both loved Japan. Travel was easy….while finding addresses were not. We noticed that each city we visited had it's own distinct personality and of course wagashi (confection). The food…..oh yes, the food, from Sushi Iwa and Suzunari to Okariba and Mizuno, I don't think we've ever eaten so well!

Thanks for reading!

Revisits: Tasty Noodle House and Dede’s

November 9, 2015 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

Some Chinese food for you. One place new, the other has been around for a while.

Tasty Noodle House:

So, since the place first opened up at the beginning of September, fellow esteemed food bloggers like Jinxi, Faye, and Kirbie have all rotated through TNH…..and the results have been a bit mixed; especially with regards to the SJB. My good buddy Candice has gone a few times as well. So I thought it time that I rotate through and see what's going on.

So with coworker Calvin in tow, we went for an early lunch. Funny thing, our Server wasn't Chinese and couldn't pronounce any of the dishes, but was really very nice and tried real hard.

I thought the Chao Nian Gao on Kirbie's and Jinxi's post looked pretty good. So I ordered it.

I like this prep because there are subtle indications of the chef's skill in terms of handling the wok and seasoning. The flavor is usually nice and mild so there a nice balance between the slightly bitter vegetable – Jì Cài (薺菜 – Shepherd's Purse) comes through, usually with a touch of sesame oil. The rice cakes were a bit under done and on the hard side, but this wasn't bad at all. I think the version at Chef Zhu is better.

My favorite from previous visits, the Zui Ji – Drunken Chicken.

I like the version here because it's not timid, the wine flavor is upfront and strong. Most folks I know don't care for this cold chicken dish. Personally, I enjoy the bracing flavor.

This time around I decided to go with the crab and pork Xiao Long Bao…..

I'm pretty much done with the XLB here. This wasn't very good. The filling was too hard; there was a leakage problem, and the XLB that hadn't leaked had too little soup.

Calvin is a growing boy, so I needed to order something filling and went with the Mei Cai Kou Rou (steamed pork belly with preserved vegetable)….I know; it's a Hakka dish and the menu here leans toward the Hu Cai (Shanghai Cuisine) - Su Cai (Jiangsu Cuisine) style dishes. I thought the Hong Shao Rou I had on my previous visit wasn't cooked properly and was a bit under flavored so I thought we'd give this a try.

This wasn't very good. The pork was fairly hard and strangely dry, the preserved vegetable had no flavor, and the dish was spoiled by too much sesame oil which was basically the only thing you could taste.

Service, as on my previous visits was very nice. I was told that they do a decent chou doufu (stinky tofu) dish and that the Xun Yu ("cold smoked fish") is worth a try as well, so I'll probably return in the near future.

Tasty Noodle House
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Dede's:

*** Dedes' has closed

It has been a while since I'd really had a meal at Dede's. I had dropped by about a year and a half ago and had a terrible version of Liang Mian (Cold Noodles). But it had been a good long while since I've really had a meal here. Lunch was with two of my favorite people; Reza and Lily, so we got to try a bunch of different dishes.

The Liang Cai (cold dishes) was nothing short of terrible.

The cucumber really lacked flavor and the fu qi fei pian was tough and dry, the flavor bitter from chilies that seemed to have been burnt, not scalded. It had no "ma", numbing effect, as in there was a lack of Sichuan Peppercorns, nor was there any depth of flavor from say, a dash of black vinegar….

The Fish with Pickled Peppers was ok.

It wasn't particularly spicy and the broth seemed to have a rather strong poultry flavor. The fish was tender, but also a bit gummy; perhaps from using too much cornstarch during the marinade process.

The dish I'd long been coming to Dede's for is the Cumin Lamb, Zi Ran Yang Rou.

So how was this years later? There are a lot more onions and the meat is lower grade and a bit tougher now. The flavor of the cumin was good, but I think this needed a bit more salt and I like a bit of garlic in mine as well. Not quite as good as I recalled.

We also got the Fried Intestine with Chilies.

This was actually a decent dish; the intestines were nicely prepped and fried; very crisp. The dish was not oily at all. Sadly, there wasn't enough Sichuan Peppercorn in this as well, making it seem quite incomplete in terms of flavor.

Dede's doesn't seem to have held up very well over the years. Kind of sad in a way as I can't seem to find a favorite in terms of Sichuan food. Though I recall Jinxi mentioning that Spicy House has relatively new owners yet again. So perhaps hope springs eternal, right?

Dede's
4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

What’s My Craving? Wa Dining Okan

November 8, 2015 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

Recently, I was having quite a hectic day and needed to get away for lunch. I'd also been craving the Chicken Nanban from Okan. So I headed on over. I got there right at opening time and it was nice and quiet.

And of course I ordered the Chicken Nanban – Fried Chicken with Vinegar and Tartar Sauce ($9) and even splurged a bit and went for the Chasu Gohan ($3.50) as an "extra".

So how was it? Well, I'll pass on the chashu rice bowl next time. The portion size was quite generous, but the pork was ice cold, on the dry side, really waxy, and lacking in flavor.

The chicken delivered as it did before. The chicken was light and very moist. The batter crisp and almost laquer like. The vinegar added a nice mildly sour component which really cut the richness….of both the fried chicken and the tartar sauce.

The sides were fine, rather mild in flavor….. I've noticed that over the years the portion sizes here seem to have gotten larger.

As I was eating, the place really filled up. I must have been stuffing my face with some enthusiasm as the guy who sat next to me asked me what I was eating. I pointed it out on the menu and he ordered it. The guy next to him decided on this as well. While chatting, some of the tartar spilled on the sleeve of my shirt. Not ten seconds later, one of the servers came by with an oshibori to help me rub out the mayo stain. Acts like that make my day…….everything just seemed a lot brighter and nicer as I headed back to the office.

I wasn't a big fan of lunch at Okan at first. It was a nice place to have dinner with friends, which I've done a couple of times over the last seven years. Now I'm a fan of lunch as well.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111