shinpachi shokudo

During the year end new year break, we checked out Shinpachi Shokudo, which we've passed many times to and from the JR Kamata station.

This restaurant specializes in grilled fish, but we did notice that they do have some "meat" dishes on their menu too.

They have several shops scattered around Tokyo and one in Kanagawa prefecture.

On this day, we tried the kanburi (winter amberjack) which is in season at the moment.

This was grilled with salt...loved how the skin of the fish was crispy.

It also came with some grated daikon which was delicious with the fish.

There was also some pickles, miso soup and rice.

This shop only takes cash, but we'll be back when the season changes to try other types of fish.

Shinpachi Shokudo
7-65-1 Nishi Kamata
Ota, Tokyo
Phone: n/a
Open daily: 7:00-23:00

kawase

We stumbled upon Kawase as we were walking back from the Ao Dokutsu to Shibuya station.

A tiny eatery they bring in ingredients from Kanazawa Prefecture.

The tsukidashi (stuff you don't order but have to pay for)...sweet potato simmered in citrus.

Sashimi

Buri (amberjack) Daikon...the fish was so tender you could swear it was melt in your mouth pork...

Potato salad wrapped with pieces of buri...interesting but super delicious. Potato salad is wrapped with a piece of buri then grilled.

Kaga veggie tempura...Vegetables of the Kaga area of Kanazawa...renkon (lotus root), sweet potato, fugu (puffer fish), kinjiso (okinawan spinach), heta murasaki nasu (eggplant), kaga tsurumame (type of bean).

They also had hot pots on their menu, but they need to be pre-ordered.

Overall though, service was pretty good and the food tasty...we'll be back.

Kawase
2-1 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya Homes B1F
Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone: 03.6455.1040
Hours: 11:30-15:00 (lunch), 17:00-23:00 (dinner)
Closed Sundays

fish drawer (success)

You may or may not remember that I was going to try using the fish drawer.

Well, in that time, we moved to Tokyo and I now have a totally different fish drawer.

On top of that, there are no instructions on how to use it...boo!

So, thankful for the internet, including YouTube on how to grill fish using it. (You may not be able to view the YouTube video if there are country restrictions)

Anyway, according to the video, the guy instructs you to line the bottom of the drawer with foil.

Put the rack on.

Put another layer of foil onto the rack and poke holes in the foil.

Dry the fish well and put it on top of the foil layered rack.

Cook the fish.

Get your "fish plate" ready...

I need to figure out how long to cook the sanma (saury), and how to control the heat, but I think this came out pretty good for my first try.

Also, clean up was a cinch with the foil...all I needed to wash was the rack.

Glad I got over my fear of using the fish drawer and will use it more often.

fish drawer

Since a lot of homes grill fish for meals in Japan, they have fish drawers located under the stove tops.

When we first moved to Japan, I was leery of using gas stoves because the heat is super hot and fast...now I love it because it is super hot and fast...

Anyway, I have never used "the drawer" that is in my stove because I have seen horror stories on tv on how hard it is to clean up afterwards.

Yesterday, I bought some sanma (pacific saury) and was debating how to cook it...

Since I've never used it, I have never cleaned it...so it is a dust drawer.

I have seen that you can cook pizza in this drawer as well as toast bread really quickly too.

Incentive for me to try using this, yeah?!

Love the cute fish near the dial you need to use to turn it on.

I chickend out in the end and used my oven.

But will definitely look for the instructions on how to use "the drawer" because I think by using gas, the skin of the fish will crisp up better (and probably cook faster too!).

Have a nice weekend!

kinki university fishery lab

A couple years back, Kinki University opened up a restaurant in Grand Front Osaka that uses fish that the university fishery labs have farmed.

You should know that "kinki" is not that kind of "kinky"...but refers to the Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Wakayama, Shiga, Hyogo and Mie)

Anyway, when they first opened, the lines were krazy and to this day, they actually still are...luckily Satoshi and I got there 30 minutes before opening the other day and was able to queue up before the line got too nuts.

Dinner started with otoshi/tsukidashi (stuff we didn't order but still had to pay for)...aradaki (head & bony parts of fish that is simmered in shoyu, mirin, sugar)...fall off the bone tender.

An assortment of sashimi...all farmed.

The toro (fatty tuna) was quite lush & creamy.

I ordered their umeboshi sour which used Wakayama grown ume...delicious and not too sour!

Shintamanegi (spring/new onions, also from Wakayama) beer battered rings...a bit oily but super tasty.

The onions just melted in your mouth.

Buri kama (amberjack collar) shioyaki (grilled with salt)

The fish was moist and very nicely seasoned.

Tasty with a squeeze of lemon, dollop of grated daikon and a couple of drops of their housemade ponzu (citrus soy).

Their portions are a nice size and most of the wait staff are students of the school.

I'm glad we got to try this place and wouldn't mind going back if we are there when the lines aren't too krazy.

Kinki University Fishery Lab
Grand Front Osaka North Building, Umekita Floor 6F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone:　06.6845.7103
Lunch: 11:00-15:00, Dinner: 17:00-23:00
Closed when Grand Front is

ochazuke

When I think of ochazuke I think of a hot dish (hot rice, hot tea), these days in summer there are cold versions.

One version I saw on TV, used rice from the freezer, defrosted in cold water.

Topped with chopped up canned fish, mixed with some umeboshi.

Some torn up nori and chopped up tsukemono.

Sprinkle some ground sesame seeds and then add some cold tea.

I didn't have frozen rice, so I used warm rice from the rice cooker.

And topped my ochazuke with cold tea.

It was perfect for this humidity.

spring-y sushi

Sakuradai is a name they give to madai (red sea bream).

Apparently, madai that is caught in the Seto-naikai (the seas along the coast of Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu) area during this time of year is at its best...lots of abura (fat) on it.

I'm not too certain as to why they give the madai the name of sakura-dai.

There are also types of sushi that decorate the madai flesh with sakura (cherry blossoms) and the salted leaves of sakura.

The other night we went to a conveyor belt sushi shop in our neighborhood and tried their sakuradai sushi.

It was decorated with seasoned sakura blossoms and a dab of wasabi. Super fresh and nice with a squeeze of lemon.

Another item we tried was the takenoko sushi.

The takenoko (bamboo shoot) is grilled then, topped with a sweet soy sauce and a sprig of kinome (Japanese pepper sprout).

The combination of hot and cold was different but the tender bamboo shoot, so good!

I'm glad we got to try these.

ça va

If you know some French, you'll know that "ça va?" means "how are you?"

Well, if you also know some Japanese, you'll know that the Japanese cannot pronounce "v" and instead pronounce it as "b"...so "ça va" would be "saba"....saba is mackerel.

I thought this packaging was fun.

Made by a company in Iwate prefecture, apparently Iwate catches the most mackerel in Japan.

I'm not sure how I'll prepare this yet but can't wait to try it.

Do you have a favorite way of eating saba (mackerel)? Please share it in the comments.

dinners

Before it gets too cold to talk about beer, thought I'd share this one with you, as well as some dinners...Castello's Lager, an Italian beer.

Easy to drink and similar to American beers. Would I get it again? probably not it was a little to thin for my liking, but it was nice to try.

One thing we had for dinner was goya champuru made with corned beef hash and an egg.

First time making it this way but it was delicious.

Just saute the goya with the corned beef hash and then add in a scrambled egg, add some pepper and serve over rice.

Unfortunately this goya was from the market, the one on our lanai is only 2 inches long...boo!

Another thing we had was this carpaccio made with tai (sea bream).

I saw this recipe in the latest issue of "Elle a Table", I didn't follow the measurements just the method.

Take a white flesh fish like tai (sea bream) and slice thinly, place on plate.
*if you can find white fleshed fish that is already sliced for sashimi, then use that, it will save you some time.

Topping:
Take a pinch (or more) of shiofuki kombu (dried seasoned seaweed) and chop finely with a pinch (or more) of shibazuke (pickles colored with red shiso leaves)
Add some olive oil, mix well (this will make a "sauce")

Decorate:
Sprinkle some chopped green onion and some toasted white sesame seeds.

Eat right away.

NOTES: this was easy, delicious and would be nice to serve at a party. Definitely making this again.

What have you been eating?

trying new recipes

It has been some time since I've made a main dish with fish, so I was thinking of doing some salmon.

Then I found a really old can of halibut in my pantry and decided to make Ellie Krieger's salmon cakes using the canned halibut.

According to my archives it has been awhile since I've made these patties and that time I used a canned of smoked halibut.

This time, the halibut wasn't smoked so I tried the creamy ginger-sesame sauce which is in her "The Food You Crave" cookbook (same page as the salmon cakes).

She says that the sauce "makes a fantastic dip for raw vegetables, especially snow peas."

So, instead of raw, I served steamed asparagus and carrots.

The sauce is really easy to put together, I think the thing that took the longest was draining the liquid from the yogurt for the sauce.

NOTES: The combination of ginger, shoyu & sesame oil matched these patties and veggies perfectly. I think this sauce would be perfect on an Asian-type of salad too, creamy without all the calories. The serving size for the sauce is 1.5 tablespoons but I only used 1 tablespoon. I would definitely make this again.

Since I only made half the recipe of the patties & sauce, I had 6 patties. We ate 4 for dinner and with the other 2, we had halibut sandwiches for breakfast...delicious.

the other fish filet oh

Sometimes I crave a fish sandwich for lunch...but don't want to go to "you know where" for one.

Luckily for me, some of the bakeries in our area have their own fish filet sandwiches.

Like the one from Ferdinand....homemade bun, some lettuce, a little tartar sauce.

Their sandwich is a bit tiny, maybe 4 inches in diameter? their fish a bit on the dry side and a bit pricey at 250 yen (about US$2.50) but it does satisfy the craving.

And the one from Anri...the bun is white, I think there is some rice flour in there which made the bun super chewy.

The fish filet was HUGE, maybe about 5 or 6 inches long??

This one also has some lettuce and a dab of tartar sauce...and only 179 yen (about US$1.79)

That price alone would make me skip going to "you know where"...and why is the one at "you know where" 352 calories in Japan and the one in the US 380??...

funny fish story

Wanted to share with you a couple of funny fish stories (well I thought they were)
Funny fish story #1:

Do you like fish? I do, if it doesn't have bones to take out while eating and especially if I don't have to clean it...I know I'm a wimp.
Anyway, the other day my MIL gave me some guji (aka-amadai = type of snapper) to bring home for one of our dinners.

So, the next day, I was ready to rinse and put the fish into the oven, but when I ran my hand over the skin, I realized it still had the scales on....sigh.

I took out my fish scaler (which has been waiting for me to use it ever since I bought it) and started to scale the fish.

Scales were flying everywhere...ack!

I stopped and debated...should I just cook the darn thing with the scales on??...blah, no....

So, I ran the water and began to scale the fish under the stream of water. No scales flying into my face or onto the kitchen walls. (after sharing this story with some housewive friends they suggested that I place the fish into a plastic bag and scale it in there...makes sense! maybe next time...maybe not)

After the fish was scaled I salted it and put it into the oven and had dinner....delicious.

When I went to take a bath, I happened to look in the mirror, I had fish scales in my hair, on my face....sigh.

Oh well, at least the fish was gutted and the insides cleaned. (Thanks MIL!)

Funny fish story #2...this one happened before Satoshi and I got married.

He had received a cooler bag from a friend and put it into his trunk. Out of sight = out of mind so he had forgotten about it.

Fast forward a week. He pulls the cooler bag out of his trunk. Ewww the stench!

Rotten fish! He looks at me and says, "can we eat it?"

Me: "um...no!"...sigh

He threw the fish into my parent's garbage (which they ended up washing after he left).

My mom says to my dad, "THAT is going to be your SIL..."

My dad says back to my mom, "yours too!"

The stench in the car lasted several weeks, you couldn't ride in it without the windows rolled down.

To this day, we talk about that fish story.

Hope you have a great weekend.

"new" waikiki

If you haven't been to Hawaii lately, Waikiki is getting a MAJOR face lift. Older hotels have been torn down, new ones are coming up. There is even a condo produced by Donald Trump which I've heard sold out within the first few hours of coming onto the market! It is kind of chaotic with all the construction going on.

Today, I was in Waikiki lunching with my friend, Carroll. She took me to Atlantis Seafood & Steak. This restaurant and other retail shops and eateries sits on the grounds of the old Waikiki 3 movie theater.

The restaurant has a lanai area with tables and ceiling fans. Perfect for hot Hawaiian days.

For starters, I had a salad. I still can't get over the portions here in the U.S.! but, I loved the thinly sliced beets on top.

My main dish was fish moco--a variation of loco moco. They grilled mahimahi (dolphin fish) and topped it off with an over-easy egg and their original gravy. I think it could have be served without the benishoga (red ginger) on top, though.

And for dessert, coconut haupia pie. Haupia is a local dessert that is the consistency of hardened gelatin but tastes like coconut. This was served with raspberry and caramel drizzles.

Everything was delicious and of course, the company and conversation was great!


And in the early evening, while riding on the freeway, we were able to catch a bit of paradise...a rainbow.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Atlantis Seafood & Steak
2284 Kalakaua Avenue Suite 201
Honolulu
Phone: 808.922.6868