josui

Yesterday, Mother Nature threw us back into winter with cold rain all.day.long.

We tried a new (to us) bento shop, Josui.

They apparently sell okazu (pre-made foods) too, but when I went, they only had bento on their shelves.

I tried their yurinchi bento..540 yen (tax included)

The chicken was still crispy when I ate it and the leek sauce had ginger, was slightly sweet and was shoyu based.

There was a lot of veggie side dishes too.

Satoshi’s bento was salmon and 594 yen (tax included) he had lots of veggie side dishes also and he said the piece of salmon was quite big.

I’m glad we tried this place and look forward to trying other bento in the future.

Josui

7-18-1 Nishikamata

Ota, Tokyo

Closed Saturdays & Sundays

Hours: 10:00-22:00

everyone's chair

There is a tiny shop we pass by whenever we go to Kamata.

They started as a vegetable stand in 2008, but changed to a "soup kitchen" of sorts for children.

In Japanese they call this type of shop… "Kodomo Shokudo" (literally children's cafeteria)

Children can receive a hot meal at a super reasonable price.

It allows "latch key" kids to gather, do their homework together and eat dinner together.

They also allow the parents to have a hot meal at a reasonable price too.

I've noticed that there are benches around this area called "Minna no Isu" (literally everyone's chair)

There are signs in Japanese on the bench saying "instead of texting and walking, sit and do so" and "human battery charger".

There aren't many benches/chairs in the neighborhood yet, but they have been slowly getting popular.

If I find more of them, I'll post more photos here.

15957

Saturday...Satoshi had some things to do, so I went holo-holo...

I started from Ueno station and walked towards Asakusa.

I went past Chibaya and noticed there were quite a number of people with these paper bags...

so I went back and bought some daigaku imo....400 yen (tax included) for 200 grams.

Apparently they have been in business since 1950.

The pieces of sweet potato are so big, tender and the caramel that is used is soft like honey.

So delicious…I want to try their fried version next.

I've been wanting to check out Konohana...they have been baking since 2008.

Their starter is made from raisins and they use flour that is farmed in Japan.

I purchased their small campagne (country bread), chocolate bagel and lemon cake...the bagel was sourdough based, bummer the chocolate was unevenly placed, when I cut the bagel in half, only 1 serving would receive chocolate…

The lemon cake was delicious, moist with a nice amount of lemon flavor.

I served half of the campagne with soup for our Sunday dinner. 

The bread is dense and a sourdough base, loved the crunchy crust when we toasted it.

I’ll be back when I am nearby.

I stumbled upon Sekine...which apparently makes nikuman (steamed pork buns), anman (steamed buns filled with sweet bean paste) and shumai and has been in business since 1935.

I was disappointed that there was a "meatball" inside not loose/minced meat filling...260 yen (tax included)

It was tasty and I'm glad I tried it.

I also picked up some imo yokan and anko dama from Funawa.

Apparently this shop has been around since 1902.

The imo yokan is just sweet potato, sugar & a little salt. No preservatives, so you need to eat it by the next day. 

It isn’t too sweet and very dense.

The anko dama has a kanten (agar) coating, and is delicious.

They also have strawberry, matcha, mikan(tangerine), coffee and white bean flavored anko dama.

I’m glad we tried these.

Then I walked back towards Ueno, past Kappabashi.

Some interesting store fronts…Sekishin recycle shop.

A really old dentist office...still in business since 1929.

Picked up some things at Takeya and made my way home.

The weather is starting to warm up but it was super windy...still it was nice to be out and about.

Konohana

3-25-6 Asakusa

Taito, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3874.7302

Closed Sunday, Monday & Tuesday

Hours: 10:30-18:00

Chibaya

3-9-10 Asakusa

Taito, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3872.2302

Closed Tuesdays

Hours: 10:00-18:00

Sekine

1-23-6 Asakusa

Taito, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3841.5230

Open daily 11:00-20:00

Funawa

1-22-10 Asakusa

Taito, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3842.2781

Hours: 10:30-19:00

this and that

Didn't know that MOS Burger had a food truck.

Apparently they created one to celebrate their 50th and it is parked nearby.

Hope to check it out.

Omma Foods' kalbi bibimbap...delicious!

618 yen (tax included)...will be back to check out their cold noodles.

The other morning....I had honey that was solidified at the bottom of its plastic bottle...so I warmed it up.

Little did I know that the honey combined with the heat would make the honey splat out when I squeezed the bottle...gah!

I was watching a program and apparently in areas of Europe, they use the sugar coating that falls off from the stollen after it is cut to sweeten their tea.

So I gathered the sugar and other bits that were leftover after cutting the different stollen we enjoyed into a bottle.

And since I had carrot cake on my mind, I combined it with some blood orange peel, and shredded carrots and made some muffins.

We tasted them for breakfast today....I could have added more spices to make it closer to carrot cake, at least it was tastier than the carrot cake I had from that cafe the other week and it was a good way to use up the stollen leftover sugar and bits.

Last night was Hinamatsuri...Girl's Day.

We bought a platter of sashimi and I made sushi rice then topped the rice with the sashimi.

Dessert was strawberries.

Tokyo people....housewives "talking story" on every corner, for as far as you can see.

Seeing this yesterday, I had to take a photo...it made me hope for peace everywhere.

Today is also 1 year since MIL passed...we miss you.

Have a safe weekend.

kaei

We tried Kaei back in 2019 and recently picked up some bento for our lunch.

I had their mabo tofu bento…800 yen (tax included)

This came with a small cup of soup, half a spring roll, some harusame salad and a mashed potato thingy.

The mabo tofu was spicy and filling, so I saved half of it for another day.

I'm glad we reconnected with this shop and look forward to taking out again and eating here in the future.

kunseiya ken

We picked up some smoked chicken for our dinner on Saturday from Kunseiya Ken.

Kunsei is the Japanese word for smoked.

This was meaty, smoky and delicious.

The skin was crispy.

I'm glad we tried this place and look forward to trying different items in the future.

Kunseiya Ken

1-2-25 Tamagawa

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 080.6542.6008

Check social media for days off and hours 

pupu potato salad

Stumbled on this combo at the bento shop recently.

They not only sell bento but also pre-made foods and this was in that area…it was so delicious that I had to try recreating it…ajitama, yakibuta (roast pork) and potato salad

I was interested in looking for roast pork & ajitama made together so the flavors would be same and found some at the market the other day.

I cut off the fat from the roast pork and cut it into bite sized pieces.

The ajitama I cut in half then folded everything into the potato salad.

The original potato salad didn’t have veggies in it, but this version works.

If the roast pork or ajitama had a little “sauce” it would have melded better when I mixed it with the potato salad.

Still, this was delicious.

Not really a recipe, but I would definitely make this again.