What We Ate In Japan

In late 2019 we took a wonderful 10 day tour of Taiwan with Supera Tours, known at that time as Super Value Tours.  Unlike every other China tour we had been on (or for that matter, any tour period) the food was fabulous as the tour company carefully curated all of the meals on the trip to maximize our complete dining experience with a variety of food choices that few people visiting Taiwan on a group tour would ever enjoy.  Everything we ate on that tour is chronicled here (with the exception of one episode which got lost in the cloud and can be found here.)  We quickly decided we wanted to try another of their tours as soon as possible.   But scarcely two months after our return COVID hit, and it wasn't until now that we were able to go on another Supera Tour, this time in Japan.

The food on the ANA flight to Japan was better than the typical international airline fare.  First they gave a picture menu of entree choices.

A six course dinner, including ice cream.  Most of it was quite good.

However, the end of flight meal, considered to be breakfast even though it was late afternoon in Japan, was a disaster.  Orange chicken on the ANA flight was the worst I’ve ever had. Soggy and not much flavor. Moreover, what’s ANA even doing serving orange chicken in the first place? Perhaps in response to segment of the American public that doesn’t discern the difference between Japanese and Chinese food?

 

 Arriving in Tokyo Wednesday evening two hours later than scheduled, I was afraid the time for the first dinner of our tour had passed.  However Hanamidori was able to serve the members of our tour group in waves as we arrived.  First course was an interesting shredded daikon salad.

Also a nice slab of fish cake.

Main course was the specialty of the house, chicken hot pot.  Hanamidori was probably the weakest meal of the trip, but proximity to the hotel and flexibility to serve tour group members as they straggled into town likely trumped finding anything better.

 

Part of Supera's meal curation is to find hotels with excellent food.  As soon as we stepped into the Glass Kitchen buffet in the Keio Plaza Hotel, where coincidentally I stayed in 1980 in my only other visit to Tokyo, it was apparent that this was a high quality operation, with interesting dishes, and other amenities.  Two of my favorite dishes were fried tofu patties and sea bream with eggplant.

 

Ever had orange peel muffins?

 

Udon station, prepared to order!

 

How about some great low carbohydrate vanilla pudding?  I guess they couldn't figure out the word sugarless.

 

View of the small upper dining room where we sat once.

 

And a view of the main dining area from upstairs.

 

First lunch of the tour was this seafood rice casserole at Kamameshiharu Maru in the Akakusa section of Tokyo.  The main dish was delivered with a cover.

 

This is what it looked like inside.

 

For dinner on our own on Thursday, we stayed in house in the Keio Plaza at Kagiri Restaurant.  A nice high quality meal started with sea urchin with sesame tofu.

 

A group of seafood appetizers.

 

Whole grilled rockfish.

 

The best yakisoba I've ever had.

 

Assorted sashimi.

 

Grilled yellowtail.

 

 

 

Capped by refreshing dessert offerings

 

 

 

Thursday lunch was  at Minemoto Restaurant in Kamakura.  This is their signature tempura dish.  But in line with Supera's desires to give us a broad eating experience, they chose this specialist in non-crunchy tempura, a concept foreign to anyone who has only eaten crunchy tempura in the United States.

 

We also had these appetizers, including a really interesting Japanese tofu, much chewier that what we're used to in the United States.

 

Also soba in broth, though nothing to compare with the previous night's dinner.

 

 

Some awesome dried white peaches and other fruit for sale on Komakidori Street in Kamakura.

 

 

 

Our next two meals were at the buffet at the Odawara Hilton Hotel and Spa.  Interestingly, this was the most Westernized of all the hotel buffets on the trip, surprising since this was a traditional Japanese Ryokan style hotel.  For example here's the scallop pineapple pizza.

 

 

 

Interestingly, a dish for the season--cherry blossom tartare (sic) sauce, to be used in conjunction with their fish nuggets.

 

And at breakfast on Saturday, plain cold udon in ice water.  Strangely this was by far the most popular Instagram post of the trip with over 450 likes.

I didn't actually eat these, but these Mount Fuji replica cakes for sale in Gotemba, at the base of Mount Fuji, caught my eye.  A bit strange since it's not exactly a lasting souvenir.

 

Meanwhile at the Mt. Fuji viewing area itself, we got a sample of sweet potato fries.

 

After our first viewing of Mt. Fuji, it was on to Funari in Kawaguchiko, for some Hotou Futonaga udon.  This is a unique Japanese noodle local to the area around Mt. Fuji.  This was the first of a number of restaurants on the tour that had massive local crowds waiting to be seated, while our tour group jumped the line into our reserved space, another testament to the care that Supera takes in choosing its dining venues.  This noodle is so popular that people travel from Tokyo to eat here, because the dish is not available in Tokyo.  But for me it wasn't transcendental since it's actually similar to Chinese hand pulled noodles.

 

At the Kubota Art Museum in Kawaguchiko a visit to the Kubota Art Museum included a sample of matcha green tea in the tea room.

And Saturday night it was back to Tokyo for a great BBQ dinner at Toraji on the 46th floor of the Shiodome Building.  First off was the wagyu.

 

We all had seats looking directly out the window offering a stunning view of the Tokyo night skyline.

 

With an assortment of BBQ beef and other items.

On Sunday morning it was on to Tokyo Station and the bullet train to Kyoto.  We were taken to the Daimaru Department Store bento box food court next door to select our bento boxes for the 2½ hour train ride.  What a fascinating area with a wide range of meals to purchase.

 

I ended up at Shang-hai Deli since I knew some people would ask me about how the Chinese food was in Japan.

 

I bought a selection of siu mai, which included something I had never heard of, Shanghai siu mai, which is filled with sticky rice.

 

Along with some fish cake patties.

 

Also grabbed a pack of sushi, which turned out to easily be the best of the bunch.

 

Arriving in Kyoto, we went to the Biwako Hotel in Otsu for the crown jewel meal of the tour, the multicourse Kaiseki dinner.  This is the type of meal that distinguishes Supera Tours from the rest of the pack.  We started with sesame tofu, horsetail, clam with ginger miso dressing and lilly bulb.

 

Shrimp and small seabream with yolk, sweet fish, soft seabream roe, rope blossoms, bracken.

Tuna, seabream, amberjack and squid sashimi with cherry blossom.

Soft boiled bamboo shoot and seaweed, deep fried tofu fritter, butter bur, fu, bud.

Spanish mackerel grilled with bud miso.

Sakura shrimp Kariage, conger eel tempura and ostrich fern.

Oumi beef and wild herb sukiyaki with baked tofu and vegetables.

Clam and sea lettuce egg custard.

Red miso soup.

Mochi.

 

The Monday morning buffet at the Biwako Hotel was also excellent, highlighted by some surprisingly good dim sum like these green har gow and pork siu mai.

 

Moving to the Arishiyama section of Kyoto, we had a pre-luncheon snack of sesame silky tofu ice cream at Kyuozan, so sticky that you could turn an ice cream cone upside down and it wouldn't spill out.

 

Then it was across the street and another line jumping reserved lunch at the crazy busy Hanana Restaurant which specializes in sea bream dishes, particularly this one with green tea rice.

 

 

Appetizers, steamed eggs and vegetables.

 

Thin sashimi seabream.

 

Monday night was the wonderful Teppanyaki dinner at the Osaka Okura hotel, another one of the meals I've come to expect from Supera.  Tops on the list was the Kyoto beef.

 

 

Along with an assortment of goodies including meat, fish, mountain yam, pumpkin and other vegetables.

 

But nothing beats watching the chef light his fire.

 

All capped by a simple dessert.

 

On our after dinner walking tour of downtown Kyoto, we passed a tankful of blowfish embedded in a restaurant's front wall.  Not sure if I'd want to try these.

The breakfast buffet Tuesday at the Kyoto Okura was also excellent.  XLB were major league, as were the siu mai.

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday's walking tour of Kyoto, we stopped for coffee and tea at Chourakukan Dessert Cafe in Kyoto’s Marayuma Park. Thanks again to Supera Tours for finding venues like this one which is over 110 years old. We certainly would never have found anything like this on our own.

 

 

A nice pre-lunch resting spot was Maccha Cafe in one of the old town alleyways.  This is their macha parfait.

 

For a change of pace lunch, Supera booked Sodoh Italian restaurant for a taste of Japanese style Italian food.  Interesting utensil set up, with a molded rest with specific spaces for chopsticks and western cutlery.

 

 

 

Main course was onion fusilli.

 

White bean soup.

 

Kyoto pork.

 

 

Salad.

Strawberry dessert.

 

 

 

Dinner was on our own so we had a simple dinner of Kyoto ramen at Karikaya.  A vastly different kind of ramen noodle.  Indeed, I wouldn't otherwise consider it to be ramen.  One thing I hate about most tours is that there are very few lunches and dinners included.  Our Supera tour had only three meals not included, and that was strategic as there was one on our own dinner in each major stop of the tour which was coupled with a night tour to give you a feel of the dining options available.

 

  

It was the last leg of our tour on Wednesday with our luncheon stop at Yoshino for what I would call at bento box skyscraper.

Wednesday dinner was on our tour of the Shinsaibashi shopping area in Osaka and Dontoburi dining street.  One problem of dining on your own in Japan was that the dining areas are so crowded, even on weekdays, that you probably have to settle for a second or third choice as many venues are not available or have long waits.  Fortunately our Plan B dinner at Creu-Ru turned out well as there was no waiting and we had a nice dinner.  Creu-Ru describes itself as a Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki restaurant.  This is one of their many varieties of takoyaki, though you'd never have an idea that there was any octopus in there.

 

 

 

The surprise of the menu was seeing something called Shanghai style yakisoba.  Seems to be a contradiction in terms.

 

A common dish throughout the trip, both in the buffets and appetizers, was Japanese style eggs.  Much softer that what were used to.

 

 

A nice dish of scallops.

 

 

Chicken karaage, delicious and crunchy.

 

Thought we were getting chicken nuggets, but I think these were really chicken gizzards.

 

 

Beef and fries.

 

 

A soupy bowl of beef stew.

 

The final meal of the tour was breakfast at the Imperial Hotel in Osaka.  Amazingly outstanding dim sum in the buffet.  Never seen anything like the fish paste festooned with rice.

 

Siu mai was excellent.

 

Crispy seafood egg rolls were excellent.

 

Final meal at Osaka airport was this Japanese hamburger at Sakifukuya Cafe.  How is this different from regular hamburger?  It's soupy.

 

More Japanese fried chicken.

 

 

With assorted trimmings.

All in all a great tour with many food highlights.