In Tokyo, I had the pleasure of catching up with an old friend of mine, Rieko. We first met almost 10 years ago, when I did an internship in Hamamatsu, and she has previously visited Poul and I in Dubai. She was in Tokyo for a wedding fair, as she’s getting married in Hawaii next year (congratulations!), so Sunday we decided to meet.
We started with a hearty sushi brunch at the Sushi Zanmai honten branch in Tsukiji. Honten means “original shop” and Sushi Zanmai honten has a reputation of being slightly better than all the other Sushi Zanmai branches in Tokyo. I have tried 5 or 6 different Sushi Zanmai branches through the years, and the only difference I noticed between the honten branch and the other branches was the long line outside. Maybe the seating area was also slightly nicer than at the other branches, but the menu was the same.
It’s not every day you get to dine with your own personal sushi guide (Rieko), so I asked her to order the sushi pieces, she liked the best, and I would have what she was having. I must say I wasn’t overly delighted, when she ordered two pieces of aji (horse mackerel). The horse mackerel I’ve had previously, has all been very fishy with a sharp, pickled taste. It’s one of those sushi pieces that I usually just swallow while trying to circumnavigate my taste buds. Well, this has changed now, for sure! Horse mackerel is in season during the summer months as the fish is particularly fatty at this time of the year, and the taste is rich and smooth. I never thought, I would be saying this, but I regretted that we didn’t order more of that. On the side, I had miso soup with crab. Not that cheap surimi imitation crab you get at many sushi restaurants at home, but big chunks of real, succulent spider crab. Really, really delicious.
I love tuna, especially o-toro, which is the most fatty part of the tuna belly. The color is pale pink from the fat, and it literally melts in your mouth. I’ve only seen this kind of tuna at very few, very upscale places outside Japan, and it’s usually among the most expensive items on the menu. Each time we ate at Sushi Zanmai, I had the tuna set and nothing else. Why try something different, when you’ve found something you really like?
Quality-wise, the gap between what you get at most sushi restaurants abroad and what you get in Japan is humongous. When I hear about friends traveling to Japan only to eat at expensive places such as Sukiyabashi Jiro and Sushi Saito, but without any real prior knowledge about Japanese cuisine, I feel a bit sorry for them, as they will probably be wasting their money on something they wouldn’t have a clue about. I guess sushi is a bit like wine: Before you know the basics, you will not be able to appreciate the really good stuff. Sushi Zanmai is a great place to calibrate your sushi palate and get acquainted with the different kinds of fish.
I also went for afternoon tea with Rieko at Twentyeight at Conrad, which you can read about here, or read about my dinner at Sushi Zanmai in Roppongi.
Welcome to Mitzie Mee, a website about food, travel, beauty, and wellness.
After my onsen visit, I went for a stroll in some of the Odaiba shopping malls. I always end up at Decks, when I’m in that area. Not so much because …
I love spicy miso ramen, and Kikanbo in Kanda serves some of the best. The Kikanbo ramen restaurant has recently moved from the location on the corner to a place, …
The Japanese ume-fruit is a kind of plum or apricot that is pickled with sea salt and eaten as a sour, salty snack, umeboshi. The first time I tried umeboshi …
Social distance does not have to turn into mental distance, so these days I make an extra effort to reach out to the people I care about. I just talked …
Tokyo is extreme in many ways, but I particularly find the relation between the genders very different from anywhere else. At most business hotels (budget hotels), there is an illustrated …
While K-beauty is rocking all over the world, J-beauty has quietly been doing business as usual, providing efficient products to the demanding, hard-to-impress Japanese market. Whereas K-beauty is often seen …
When I am in Japan, I can eat sushi for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and maybe have a bowl of ramen and some mochi for dessert, but I am quite …
Last time I was in Tokyo, I stayed at Akiba Bay Hotel, which is a new capsule hotel, just a short walk from Akihabara Station. You are not allowed to …
It is almost impossible to get bored in Tokyo as there are so many things to do and places to see. Here are some of my suggestions to really nice …
Kakigori, Japanese shaved ice, is one of the most refreshing treats you can get yourself in the summer. The “flakes” are much lighter than the shaved ice in Denmark, almost …
Back in 2003 I visited Japan for the first time. I was there with Rikke, and in less than one week we managed to party hard in Tokyo, sleep through …
In a dynamic city like Tokyo, things change quickly, and what’s popular today is often forgotten tomorrow. Calbee is one of the exceptions, which has managed to stay relevant for …
Crepes have been all the rage for quite a while, but these days, the absolute must-eat in Tokyo is the super fluffy soufflé pancakes, and one of the places to …
Aoyama Flower Market is a chain of flower shops, and the original store nearby Omotesando station also hosts an in-house café. There’s no doubt that combining a cafe and a …
Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities in the world, and a night at a nice, centrally located hotel can easily cost a small fortune. The city is huge, …
Cat cafes are popular throughout Japan and in Tokyo alone there are over 30 to choose among. You pay a cover charge to spend a limited amount of time in …
Purikura are the super-cute photo booths you’ll find in most gaming arcades throughout Tokyo. They come with advanced, beauty-enhancing functions, which will twist your facial features to fit the Japanese …
Being a solo traveler in Tokyo is easy. It’s a very safe city and there are lots of things you can do on your own. Through the week, I had …
