back to kanda shinoda sushi

I went back to Kanda Shinoda Sushi and bought a different set to try.

This one had a chakin (top of photo), two slices of futomaki and 3 inarizushi...1458 yen (tax included)

Inside the chakin was sesame seeds, nori, seasoned gourd, kind of like mazegohan and topped with a shrimp then wrapped with an egg layer and tied with a thin kombu

I thought this was kind of bland...but I'm glad I got to try it.

I had wanted to try their oshizushi but it needs to be pre-ordered so I'll have to plan ahead to try it. 

sukeroku sushi

Have you ever tried Sukeroku sushi? You can often find them in supermarkets and in convenience stores.

I ate a lot of this and learned of it when FIL passed away back in 2008.

I thought I had posted about it, but apparently I did not.

It is usually a combination of inarizushi and makizushi

Apparently the sushi combo is based on the mistress of the main character, Sukeroku, of the Kabuki play, "Sukeroku Yukari no Edozakura"

Sukeroku's mistress was named "Agemaki"...

"age" (ah-gay) is the shortened word for "abura age" (fried tofu), what is used to make inarizushi and "maki" (ma-key) is the shortened word for "makizushi"

Another explanation of this sushi is that because it isn't made of items that would spoil easily, you could have it around when you're busy and not have to eat it right away.

Most times one serving has 6 pieces, 3 inari and 3 maki...there is also a play on words..."suke" (sue-kay) helpful, "roku" (row-coo) 6, 6 pieces...

These days, whenever I eat this, I often think of FIL

kanda shinoda sushi

Last Friday, went to pick up some Kanda Shinoda Sushi for us to try.

They have been in business since 1902
 

Loved the wrapping and the packaging.

I bought the set with 4 kampyo maki, 2 futomaki and 4 inarizushi...1501 yen (tax included) for us to share

I like their inarizushi, it is kind of  “juicy” and has renkon (lotus root) in it)

I thought the wrapping looked familiar and I was right.

It is the same artwork as Matterhorn, the artist is Suzuki Shintaro. (cookie photo from 2022)

I'm glad we got to try this sushi, I'd definitely get it again

They also have oshizushi (pressed sushi) which we should try the next time we are here.

Kanda Shinoda Sushi

2-2-1 Kanda Awajicho

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Closed: Tuesdays

Hours: 7:30-17:00 (16:00 Saturdays & Sunday)

stand and eat nemuro hanamaru

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we finally went to check out the Stand and Eat Nemuro Hanamaru sushi stand in Granduo Kamata.

(they have conveyor belt type shops too, Jenny’s BF, C said the wait in Ginza was over an hour?!)

We'd never tried this place because there was always a line.

well, we went early and were first in line! whoo

They ask you if you want tea, water or alcohol...

Write your order on the paper, give it to the sushi chefs (should've taken a photo to show you).

(After giving your order and you wish to order more, write your order on a new piece of paper and give it to the sushi chef...)

There are 3 or 4 sushi chefs to take care of 14 customers, so everything comes out pretty quickly...

The chef places a leaf and a mound of gari in front of you and you are ready to go...

Salmon and zukemaguro

loved the big mound of gari (pickled ginger)

torotaku hand roll style and nigiri style...love!

I did order all my sushi without wasabi...someone wasn't reading my order, because the hand roll had wasabi in it!

amaebi...4 on one nigiri!

tamago otsumami style, not too sweet and not ice cold either.

The fish is super fresh and your order comes out super fast.

Wasn’t able to see what Satoshi ordered, though he had 10 pieces.

We both had tea, and our total came out to just under 4000 yen (tax included)

I'm glad we tried this place.

They don't have an English menu, it did take me some time to read through all the sushi choices.

It is definitely a little more expensive than the conveyor belt type sushi places, but you can't go wrong with the service and quality.

We'll be back.

Stand and eat Nemuro Hanamaru

Granduo Kamata 1F

Hours: 11:00-22:00

Closed when Granduo Kamata is

shinagawa aoi

Met up with V & A for dinner at Shinagawa Aoi, last night.

Dinner started off with a housemade gomadofu (sesame tofu), and aonori konnyaku (green laver konjac jelly)
 

maguro in yamaimo (chinese yam)

sashimi (ootoro, ika (squid), katsuo (bonito) and akagai (blood clam)

dobinmushi (clay pot that steams dashi (stock), mushrooms and other goodies (ebi shinjo (shrimp ball) sudachi (type of lime))

Eat the goodies and drink the broth

sawara (spanish mackerel) with negi miso sauce

uni (sea urchin) tofu, cream cheese with moromi miso (like an edible soy sauce) and mukago (a super teeny potato) topped with maguro liver?! (not too sure)

sushi (ootoro, tai, chutoro, ebi, anago, bakagai (type of clam), maguro) and sushi rice topped with ikura and uni

dessert: sushi rice topped with caramelized apples, sweet bean paste and house made ice cream...supposedly like an ohagi

All different but delicious dishes!

V generously treated us to dinner and also gave us so many goodies! A also gave us homemade guava jelly.

Thank you so much V & A, we enjoyed hanging out with you, we hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!

Sushi Shinagawa Aoi

3-5-3 Minamishinagawa, Aoyoko Building 4F

Shinagawa, Tokyo

Closed Mondays

Hours: 11:30-14:00 (lunch), 18:00-22:00 (dinner)

hamazushi

We checked out Hamazushi...going at 17:00 thinking it wouldn't be too busy...we were wrong.

After waiting over an hour probably longer, we finally got seated...

Nothing is circulating around, you order what you want and it comes out to you on the conveyor belt, it was fun watching other people's orders whizz past too.

I think this is a good system so that nothing is sitting out for too long on the conveyor belt, and no one can touch it or do other weird stuff to the sushi (ick)

Plus I like that you can order your sushi with half the amount of rice.

Though I probably cancelled out all of that by eating daigaku imo...ha!

Everything was fresh! and tasty

And they have all sorts of shoyu (soy sauce) from different parts of Japan.

I'm glad we tried this sushi chain, it was definitely way better from our "other sushi experience"

We'll be back.

Hamazushi

2-17-18 Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-23:00 (weekdays), 10:00-23:00 (weekends)

kaitenzushi katsu

Since moving to Tokyo and then the pandemic, we finally got around to checking out a kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) shop.

Not too familiar with the conveyor belt sushi shops in our area (they are different from the shops we had in Kansai) we went to one in our nearby shopping mall, Kaitenzushi Katsu, a chain type restaurant.

When you order drinks, a robot brings them out to you, this was culture shock for us, we didn't know you also had to take the plates that the robot brings with your drinks.

Why?! because the plate color is how they will charge you for the drink…oops!

Since we were sitting near the counter, I could see that most of the fish they used was frozen, meh

One of the sushi I ate was also made from smoked salmon, boo!

Even the supposedly really big neta (sushi toppings) were kind of skimpy and thin.

Before serving, they spray water on the sushi, to make it look “fresh”!

Though a fascinating thing was the way they counted our plates, they just used a scanner and ran it up and down the stack of plates then printed out our bill.

We won't be back here and will check out the other conveyor belt sushi shops in our area as well as other sushi shops instead.

Kaitenzushi Katsu

Grand Duo East Wing 6F

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-22:00

Closed when Gran Duo is

watanabe

Tried a new (to us) sushi place/izakaya, Watanabe.

I ordered the chirashi...this was not worth 800 yen (tax included).

More wakame than anything...AND there was a piece of iwashi (sardine) that had so many bones!

The rice smelled funny too...eep!

Satoshi ordered the negitoro bowl...750 yen (tax included).

He was disappointed as well.

He said the rice was dry (maybe old?!)

We are glad we tried this place but won't be back. 

out and about

Saturday was forecast for sun while Sunday was forecast for rain.

So...we tried to get everything done on Saturday...starting at Todoroki Valley.

The trail is only a kilometer (.62 miles) and it will make you feel like you are not in a big city like Tokyo.

Lots of trees, birds and quiet.

There are several temples too.

WARNING: Just do not go after the rains or while it is raining, very dangerous & slippery.

Lunch was at Sushi Zanmai.

The owner is known to spend millions of yen on whole tuna and performs many tuna carving shows.

Meh, over-hyped...we felt some of the fish that was served was kind of "dry" in texture.

After lunch, we went up to Sarue Onshi Park.

They were having a tulip festival...but disappointing...only a little patch of tulips...(I guess when you've been to Keukenhof (pre-blog), nothing compares)

On the other hand, I will check this place out next year for cherry blossoms.

So many bridges in this area...

Clover Bridge...

Will need to check out Kiba Park for cherry blossoms too, next year.

And then we found ourselves near Kiyosumi Gardens.

The double type of cherry blossoms were blooming, so we paid for admission to check them out.

And the azaleas...

The weather was summery and it was nice to be out and about.

Sushi Zanmai
1-13-7 Jiyugaoka
Meguro, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5731.3211
Open 24 hours

asahizushi

I've passed Asahizushi many times and we finally checked them out.

This family run shop is very friendly and laid back.

We started out with some sashimi...fresh & delicious.

I ordered a sushi set while Satoshi had the owner make sushi by the piece.

These photos are from my set.

There are a few pieces missing because we were too busy eating and chatting with the owner and his family.

Definitely different from those conveyor belt sushi places.

The quality of the fish was excellent and the rapport and atmosphere of the place was priceless.

We'll be back.

Asahizushi
8-2-20 Chuo
Ota, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3751.2346
Closed Mondays
Hours: 11:30-14:00 (lunch), 17:00-22:00

the past couple of days

Satoshi went back to work today, so I have some time to post.

On New Years Eve day, we had toshikoshi soba for lunch.

Although we had more soba than soup...

Then for New Years Eve dinner we had all sorts of nibbles.

New Years Day morning.. we had ozoni with mochi in it, some sekihan (reddish rice with azuki beans), and o-toso (which is just a little sip of sake to ward off illnesses and to start the new year).

We went to several of the shrines that we normally do for Hatsumode (first prayers of the New Year).

While standing in line to get to the prayer area of a shrine, we saw this huge tai (sea bream), just hanging in front of an izakaya (Japanese pub).

Huge, yeah?!

I was surprised no cats had attacked it...

Dinner was o-sechi, the foods that are normally eaten during this holiday...I've written about this previously,here.

I'm super thankful for pre-made stuff and not having to do these foods from scratch.

On the 2nd, we braved the crowds of the department store to pick up some bento.

Luckily, we knew what we wanted to get, so we were in and out of there rather quickly...it was super nuts!

We brought the bento and went to visit MIL.

This year is the Year of the Dog.

I noticed this origami dog on MIL's calendar, so we cut it out and folded it into the dog.

We saw the Super Moon as we walked home from the train station.

And then last night, we were craving some meat, so we had some steak with mango chutney and other nibbles.

With all the eating I did, I definitely need to get some walking in...

Hopefully you all had a great holiday season.