sunday

This past weekend was a 3-day weekend.

Satoshi had a class on Saturday, so we didn't do much...plus it had snowed overnight, so the rooftops were white.

The snow melted then fell again in the afternoon.

Sunday the temps were up a bit and the sun was out, so we went to check out the ume (apricot) at Yushima Tenjin (which is also called Yushima Tenmangu).

If you remember, we visited this shrine in September.

But before visiting the shrine, we had lunch at Ponta Honke.

This tiny restaurant has apparently been in business since 1905 and invented their particular way of cooking tonkatsu in lard at a low temperature slowly raising the temperature as it cooks.

Satoshi ordered the kaki fry (fried oysters)...the oysters were huge (maybe 6 to 8 inches long?!) and very "meaty".

Not rubbery like they are sometimes served at other restaurants.

At 3000-something yen, they were worth it.

I ordered their cutlet (pork cutlet). The panko is soft almost fluffy...2500 plus yen

The coating does fall off when you grab a piece, but the tonkatsu never tastes greasy or heavy.

That little nub off to the right was a deep fried potato.

Everything was delicious!

We were glad we got in at the first seating too...when we left the line outside was long! and the wind super icy.

Definitely not a place to frequent all the time, but I'm glad we got to try them.

Up the street from Ponta Honke is Yushima Tenjin (Yushima Tenmangu).

They were having their ume matsuri (apricot festival) though many trees still had not bloomed.

Still it was nice to get out and about.

Ponta Honke
3-23-3 Ueno
Taito, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3831.2351
Hours: 11:00-14:00 (Lunch), 16:30-20:00 (Dinner)
Closed Mondays