kanno seimenjo

I talked about Kanno Seimenjo before here.

We tried the gyoza recently...20 pieces for 650 yen (tax included)

They come frozen, my peeve is the l-o-n-g plastic container they are in

I cut the tray and plastic package in half then put it into a ziploc so that I could freeze the other 10 pieces

These do not come with instructions on how to fry them up so I adlibbed

I defrosted them in the refrig before cooking, but would leave them frozen until cooking so that it doesn't stick to the plastic tray

I heated some oil in a pan then put down my gyoza and then added some water for it to steam at the end...cooking it for a total of 7 minutes

The gyoza snob approved these...I think it was because the wrappers are on the thin side (most gyoza here in Kanto have thicker wrappers)

The filling has the right amount of garlic in them.

I ate mine with black vinegar and pepper.

I did see a "stamina" version in their freezer, which usually means they have more garlic in them, these looked a little larger, we will try these another time.

We also tried the nikuman...260 yen (tax included)

These are HUGE!

barely fit in my pot with my steamer basket

these are well seasoned and the ratio of bread to filling is just right

The package had instructions on how to heat these up

BUT, I didn't know if their instructions were for the frozen version or thawed out version

I had thawed out our nikuman in the refrigerator the night before

So instead of their 15-20 minutes in the steamer instructions, I just did 15 minutes since it takes the water about 5 minutes to come to a boil on my stove, I let it steam with the boiling water for about 5 minutes, then I turned off the heat and let it sit in the steam for another 5

They also had instructions if you wanted to zap them but most times these types of foods get really hard after zapping so I went the steaming route...

Satoshi had his with karashi mustard

We will get these again.

I'm glad we tried these and look forward to trying their noodles (ramen & pasta) this winter...

eggplant gyoza

Tried a new (to me) recipe yesterday, eggplant gyoza

In the past we've tried recipes like this one and this one that substitute other things for the wrappers

This recipe uses eggplant as the wrapper

Eggplant Gyoza : Lettuce club 7/2025 : 2 servings (12 gyoza)

3 eggplant

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oil to pan fry

Filling: 150 grams minced pork

1/3 of a bunch chives, minced

3T green onion, minced

1/2 clove garlic, grated

ginger, minced

1 teaspoon miso

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Dipping sauce: 2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)

1 tablespoon vinegar

After cutting off the top of the eggplant, slice it lengthwise to about 7 millimeter thick slices

Sprinkle  the eggplant slices with salt and let sit for about 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes, squeeze out as much water as possible

Mix the ingredients for the filling

Put 1 tablespoon of filling on 1/2 of the eggplant slice, fold and fry in a pan heated to medium with oil

Fry each side for 3 minutes

Use dipping sauce and enjoy!

NOTES: I think my slices might have been a little thicker than the 7 millimeters, so I used toothpicks to hold the gyoza shut

Then took the toothpicks off when the gyoza got limp enough to stay shut

I think maybe zapping the slices in the microwave might have been better, so that they would release more water and "fold" better

Especially the "ends" of the eggplant  which had more "skin" than flesh was the toughest to "fold"

In Japan they sell chives in bunches, about 1 or 2 inches in diameter...so I used 1/3 of that

I didn't have green onion, so I left it out

I ended up cooking it longer than the 3 minutes on each side

For the dipping sauce I used black vinegar and pepper.

We enjoyed this and gyoza snob approved this too.

I'll try this again, hopefully it will be easier to do the next time.

kale & shungiku gyoza

Haven’t made gyoza in awhile

Wanted to use shungiku (chrysanthemum greens) and the leftover leaves of kale I had

So I chopped them up and put them into gyoza with some minced pork

We ate them with the dashi carrot dressing

This dressing is so ono!

Lots of umami from the dashi as well as onion

A little sweetness from the citrus and carrot

Would definitely get this dressing again

gyoza mania

Learned about this place from television show, "Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai" and finally got to try it out.

I think the interior is supposed to replicate a tiny Taiwan or maybe Hong Kong eatery?

Anyway, at 16:30-ish, we were lucky to get a table, most of the other tables were reserved

There were about 3 or 4 other parties already seated too
 

Jasmine-hai (highball made with alcohol and jasmine tea), been seeing more drinks made with teas these days

(Satoshi had a pu-er version later in the meal)

Potato salad, this was delicious, especially with those crispy things on top 

(I think it is the leftover gyoza wrappers fried up.)

Yodare chicken (yodare is literally drooling, mouth watering in Japanese)

This chicken was super tender and that sauce!

a little black bean sauce as well as other seasonings, not too spicy, super savory

(when ordering they ask you if you want cilantro or not)

all you can eat zha cai, this is also their amuse bouche

gyoza...these were tiny and the wrappers a little thicker, but these were gyoza snob approved

the gyoza had a lot of liquid in them too, so be careful when you eat it...hot!

also they make the wrappers, fill the gyoza then fry them up after ordering so be prepared to wait

fried gyoza, the dipping sauce was a sesame oil shoyu base, kind of like a dressing

boiled shrimp gyoza...oops! forgot to take a photo before we started eating

pretty big sized shrimp in each gyoza, we dipped these in the yodare chicken sauce..oh em gee!

They have about 4 or 5 boiled gyoza versions.

lu rou fan...the pork was super tender..."gravy" was on the rice...delicious!

everything is made to share and the food comes out pretty quickly

you need to order with your smartphone and they do have wi-fi

5720 yen (tax included) we'll be back.

Gyoza Mania

4-11-16 Takanawa, Keikyu #11 Building 2F

Minato, Tokyo

Hours: 17:00-23:00 (Mondays-Fridays), 16:00-23:00 (Saturdays), 16:00-22:00 (Sundays)

tora

We've been wanting to check out Tora for some time now and finally got to do so yesterday.

This Chinese restaurant has also been used as a filming location for J-dramas, movies and commercials.

There are many famous Japanese celebrity autographs on the walls.

One of their famous food items is their gyoza...

But to order it as a single dish is quite pricey at 600 yen (tax included) for 6 pieces, so I ordered it as a teishoku (set meal)...800 yen (tax included).

It came with tsa tsai (pickled mustard plant), rice and soup

Satoshi tried their moyashi ramen...800 yen (tax included) and tried one of the gyoza from my set.

The gyoza passed the gyoza snob's criteria.

Unlike most ramen this one had a slurry, thick soup.

He said enjoyed this.

I'm glad we got to try this place and look forward to trying other items on their menu.

Tora

1-6-18 Yaguchi

Ota, Tokyo

Phone:03.3759.6615

Closed Tuesdays

Hours: 11:00-14:00 (lunch), 17:30-21:00 (dinner)

gyoza nabe

We recently tried these huge gyoza called Ken-chan gyoza.

They are made in Tokyo and the wrappers are quite thick.

I thought the gyoza snob would not approve but he gave this a thumbs up.

shh...I don't think he actually has criteria for gyoza....

This was tasty though and I'm glad we tried this, if I see it at the market again, I'll pick up some more.

daikon gyoza

A great way to cut carbs... use daikon as gyoza wrappers!

I saw this idea online and had to try.

Adapted from the internet : 2 servings

100 grams daikon, peeled and cut thinly in rounds (about 12 slices)

1/2 teaspoon salt

100 grams minced chicken

5 leaves shiso, chiffonade then minc

1 teaspoon sesame oil

kim chee 

Mix minced chicken with shiso and set aside

After peeling and cutting daikon into thin rounds, massage daikon with salt and let sit for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes, rinse and gently dry each slice with paper towel.

Scoop chicken mixture onto each daikon slice and gently fold in half. (the thin slice gets “flexible” after salting) 

Unlike gyoza you do not “seal” these, they should look like "tacos".

Heat oil in pan and place each gyoza onto the pan.

Cook for about 4 minutes

Flip over and cover to steam and cook through 

Cook for about 4 more minutes.

Serve with kim chee

NOTES: on the original recipe the amount of daikon didn’t match the amount of minced meat (chicken), so I adjusted to what I wrote above.

The original recipe adds oyster sauce and chives to minced pork, but I instead used shiso & minced chicken

I also didn’t season the minced meat because we were eating the gyoza with kim chee.

I ended up cutting the daikon by hand because the mandoline I do have was slicing the daikon too thin.

Hopefully I can find an inexpensive adjustable mandoline to get my slices evenly thin.

Also depending on the size of your daikon, the diameter may or may not be able to fit on a mandoline.

Will definitely try this again.

p.s. today is technically a holiday (Coming of Age Day) but Satoshi is off to work and I am laying low....have a good week!

the gyoza snob

I am a chocolate and coffee snob, Satoshi is a gyoza snob.

He says he hasn't found a gyoza that he likes in Tokyo.

One day when I was looking at my favorite supermarket's ad, I noticed they had frozen Min Min gyoza on sale.

Min Min is a popular place in Osaka...of course, the gyoza snob loves Min Min's gyoza...he also loves Kyoto Ohsho.

So, I didn't tell him I bought this...

Instead I cooked up half the batch and kept the rest in the freezer for another meal.

After he took his first bite, he looked at me and said, "is this Min Min gyoza?!"

My secret was out...He's knows his stuff yeah?!

I noticed they have a couple of shops in Tokyo, so we’ll check them out when it is safe to eat out.

saturday

From where we live it takes about and hour and a half to Koiwa which is located at the very east side of Tokyo.

Ever since we saw Kunio Kobayashi's bonsai on tv, we've been interested in checking out his museum.

Admission is 800 yen but worth it.

You can roam around the property and check out the many different bonsai.

Some are over 500 years old!

When I think of bonsai, I think of miniature sized plants but Mr Kobayashi's works show you that bonsai is not only "tiny", they can also be very large!

While we were there, there were several bus loads of tourists from several different countries learning about bonsai, Japanese calligrapy and origami.

One of Mr Kobayashi's disciples gave Satoshi this starter bonsai (an ume (apricot))...we'll see how long Satoshi will be able to care for it...

From Koiwa, we went back a couple of stations to Kameido.

We had wanted to try Kameido Gyoza, but the line was krazy!

We still ended up waiting, but in a shorter line at Fujiiya, another gyoza shop nearby.

Satoshi ordered the gomoku (5 item) soba and gyoza, which he enjoyed.

I ordered the pari pari (crispy) gyoza and ganso (original) gyoza set.

This was delicious and came with rice, some soup and pickles. I gave some rice to Satoshi. The broth looked thick but was light and flavorful.

We still want to check out Kameido Gyoza, but will need to get there when they open.

Across the street from Fujiiya is Julian Bakery. Apparently the owner/baker had a connection with Julian Bakery in Hawaii.

He said that Julian Bakery had shops in the GEM Stores in Waipahu and Temple Valley?! I remember GEM but not this particular bakery.

He hadn't been back to Hawaii since the 80s, so he was shocked to hear that GEM was no longer.

We tried the curry pan, mentaiko baguette & cream cheese walnut bread, for breakfast on Sunday.

The mentaiko and cream cheese breads were on the harder side but tastewise were delicious.

The curry pan had just the right amount of spice and kick.

We also tried the chocolate bread, this morning, which had some raisins (or maybe cherries) and some chocolate in it.

I think it could've had (way) more chocolate in it...

Down the street from Fujiiya was a display of Edo Kiriko (a type of etched glass).

So so beautiful!

Then we checked out Kameido Tenjinsha.

They have many ume (apricot) trees as well as fuji (wisteria) trellises.

We missed the ume but hope to come back to check out the wisteria.

Despite the weather being forecast for rain, we were bummed that it was fahreezing but glad that it was just overcast.

It was nice to explore another part of Tokyo and hope to be able to check out more areas.

Shunkaen Bonsai Museum
1-29-16 Niihori
Edogawa, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3670.8622
Closed Mondays
Hours: 10:00-17:00

Fujiiya
5-13-8 Kameido
Koto, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3683.1891
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 10:00-23:30

chicken ginger gyoza

Super easy minced chicken ginger gyoza that I made the other day.

200 grams minced chicken (thigh)
nub of ginger, peeled and minced
Chinese cabbage, 2 leaves finely chopped
2 teaspoons shoyu
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons honey
20 gyoza wrappers

After mixing everything together, I spooned a teaspoon of the mixture into each of the wrappers.
Cook to your liking.

NOTES: I froze half of the gyoza and we ate the other half in soup.
I actually had chicken mixture leftover, so I froze that too and will use it for the next time we make hot pot, or I'll make meatballs to put into soup.
Super easy and delicious...I'm making these again.

so...

So, if you are following us on Instagram, you know that we were headed for Akita Prefecture yesterday morning...

We were all onboard and waiting for the plane to back away from its spot.

After a good 10 minutes though, the captain came on and announced that our flight was cancelled due to major snow in Akita...

So we all deplaned and stood in line for refunds, rebookings, etc.

Since we used miles for our flight we weren't sure they would give us back our miles.

Fortunately, in the end, they did credit our mileage back.

We were bummed and on the way home decided to drown our sorrows in some matcha tiramisu and coffee.

I was also bummed because my spic and span kitchen now had to go into action...

Dinner was kim chee gyoza.

Although our travel plans were hampered it really was better that we were safe than sorry.

saba tofu dry curry gyoza

The other day I made another batch of saba tofu dry curry, then for dinner, I stuffed the curry into gyoza wrappers.

I used 3/4 of the dry curry, placing 1/2 tablespoons of the filling into the 25 large gyoza wrappers.

Different but delicious.

Loved how the wrappers got really crispy.

Definitely making this again.

p.s. it's a holiday today, Culture Day and we're off to see MIL, have a nice weekend.

sunday

Sunday before the sun rose, we were on our way to the airport...

By 8:00-ish we were in Tokyo.

At 9:30-ish we were at the base of the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Too bad the air had a haze to it, I think the views from the top would've been something to see.

Satoshi wanted to check out the Tokyo Sumo area.

He had seen something that said there was a gift shop we could visit too...bummer both the area and shop were closed.

We then headed to Asakusa to check out a yoshoku-ya (western style shop), but the wait was krazy with the 3-day weekend, so we headed across the street to Kappabashi and found a reasonably priced sushi shop called Tasukezushi.

My nigiri set had 10 pieces and Satoshi had their chirashizushi...each were 1300 yen (tax included).

It was a nice fast (delicious) lunch.

Satoshi then headed to Jingu Stadium to watch his University baseball team.

I went on my own adventure.

Kappabashi, the largest area for kitchen/restaurant tools, tableware, like Osaka's Doguyasuji but 10x bigger, was having some kind of festival.

Had it not been so crowded I would've stayed longer but it was tough just moving between stores...

The Sky Tree as seen from Kappabashi.

I went to Kuramae, to check out the Dandelion Chocolate cafe & shop.

Since we've been having summery temps, I tried their cacao nib cold brew, which came with a tiny chocolate cookie & housemade marshmallow.

and their oatmeal cookie.

The cacao nib cold brew wasn't anything special, but the cookie...loved that it had chocolate, cacao nibs, cranberries, oatmeal & shredded coconut in it.

I got back on the train and headed to the Omotesando area.

And stopped into Sarutahiko Coffee.

It was too krazy hot to actually drink some hot coffee, but I really wanted (a photo of) their paper cup...and I was also thankful they had somewhere to sit while I waited for my cup to cool down a bit.

Down the street I checked out Hugo & Victor and picked up some of their dark chocolate mediants.

Candied almonds, pistachios & raisins top their dark chocolate...delicious!

Satoshi messaged and said that they had lost...boo!

We met up along the way and went to check out Niihao, which apparently created the hanetsuki gyoza (potstickers with wings).

We tried their shrimp.

Original.

Sizzling hot plate...(click the photo to hear it sizzle)

Fried.

Mabo Tofu.

This place is fast! delicious and reasonable. I can see why people will wait for a table.

Plus 2 beers and an apricot wine drink for me our total was about 3500 yen (tax included).

It was a krazy long day. Lots of walking, lots of eating.

p.s. we used miles to fly to Tokyo and we bought the Keikyu Pass (1310 yen) which gets you from Haneda to Sengakuji then usage of all the subway lines for the day.

Tasukezushi
2-26-6 Matsugaya
Taito, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3841.4811
Closed Wednesdays

Dandelion Chocolate
4-14-6 Kuramae
Taito, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5833.7270
Hours: 10:00-20:00
*call before going, days off not set

Sarutahiko Coffee
4-3-3 Jingumae, inside of H.I.S. tour agency
Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5775.2471
Hours: 11:00-19:00

Hugo & Victor (2022: no longer at this location)
4-12-10 Jingumae, inside Omotesando Hills
Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone: 03.6434.0912
Hours: 11:00-21:00, open when Omotesando Hills is

Niihao
4-25-7 Kamata
Ota, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3734.2180
Lunch: 11:00-14:00, Dinner: 17:00-24:00

Tamadear Hotel
4-14-4 Haneda
Ota, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3741.5573
*free shuttle to Haneda Airport