More Tokyo Dining: Jidori Chicken, Izakaya and a run to the Tokyo Skytree

[yflyer]

I have been procrastinating. This trip to Tokyo, or more accurately these two trips, happened in March and April this year. And I have had to make trips to other places since then. A backlog of TR's has started to pile up...

But you have to be in the right mood to write a TR, and the small glass of Yamazaki 12-Year (Bought in Tokyo for one third the price in SG) I have been slowly sipping this evening seems to have put me in the correct frame of mind...

Sakura season happened in between my two trips to Tokyo. The ephemeral cherry blossoms bloom for just a couple of weeks, if not less, and I missed all of it. The only cherry blossoms I saw were woven into the carpet at Haneda...



I flew to Tokyo on JAL in economy, which I have covered in detail in a previous TR, so just a few highlights of my JAL flight before moving on to the dining and running...

Interested? Read on!

[yflyer]

JAL operates 767's to Tokyo on most days, but on some days, there is also a 777 service.



Unlike my previous flights on JAL, today's flight was operated by a 777...how would it compare to their 767?

This was an older plane, registration JA-704J, a 13 year old 777-200ER series aircraft fitted with an older generation cabin product.

Business class was configured 2-3-2, with angled, rather than lie-flat seating.





Not ideal for a red-eye flight. JAL's newest long haul 777's have a fully flat seat, and very innovative J cabin design which I have not yet tried, but not this plane.

There is also a PEY cabin, laid out 2-4-2...



The Y cabin is configured 3-3-3...



The Y seats have decent pitch, although pitch seems less generous than the latest Economy product on the 767s.



Recline is decent...and unlike the latest generation 767 Y seat, the seat bottom moves forward slightly when reclined, which makes for a comfortable resting position.



...and there is a footrest for each Y seat.



Everyone gets a blanket and a large pillow.



Overall, quite a comfortable Y seat.

[yflyer]

IFE was a 4:3 format AVOD screen, with a smallish selection of Hollywood, International and Japanese movies and short features.





The controller is located under the armrest...





I wish SQ would hand out these headphones, rather than the nearly useless earbuds they now use.



There is an onboard camera...



Picture and audio quality were ok, although these were of course no match for the latest widescreen displays.

[yflyer]

Dinner was served on this flight, and this was well up to JAL's standards...two appetizers, and an Asian-style rice and meat dish as a main course, and a piping hot paper cup of miso soup.



I notice the JAL crew often decorate the Y restrooms with small items, such as postcards and other art and craft.



The flight was smooth and uneventful, and we landed bright and early at Haneda, where I caught the monorail into the city.

How does the JAL 777 compare with their 767? The 767, with their newest product in both J and Y, is definitely preferable. The widescreen IFE on the 767 is much better, and the J seating on the 767 is the latest lie-flat product as well. That said, if in Y, the 777 is perfectly comfortable, and while I would prefer the 767, I would not mind flying JAL's 777 if the schedule suited me better.

[yflyer]

My hotel this time round was the Westin Tokyo, located not far from Yebisu Garden Place, and a short metro ride from Shibuya.

I am now very comfortable with the Tokyo metro and public transport system. With a Suica (The local stored value card like our Cashcard in Singapore) and Google Maps on my iPhone, I am very confident of getting around Tokyo entirely by public transport.

That said, from Haneda, Google Maps told me to take the monorail to central Tokyo, then take the metro and get off at Meguro station, rather than Yebisu station. Distances were the same, however it turns out that there is a covered walkway and travellators between Yebisu and the hotel, whereas from Meguro, you end up lugging your noisy rollerboard through a quiet residential area...not ideal!

The one positive thing about getting off at Meguro metro station was this: Right outside the station, I encountered this hole-in-the wall place.



No English signs, just legs, and lots of slurping noises from within...something was cooking! And it was standing room only...of course I had to try!

It turned out to be an udon/soba stand, and once a gap appeared in the counter, I stepped up, looked around at what my neighbours were eating, and started pointing and gesticulating to the gentleman manning the counter, who patiently and cheerfully deciphered my sign language to figure out exactly what I wanted to eat...



Steaming hot udon in broth, topped with a huge tempura prawn...




What a satisfying breakfast after a red-eye flight!

[yflyer]

The Westin Tokyo is a large hotel with great staff and facilities, with rooms that are very large by Tokyo standards.



The room decor itself is traditional/classical, and whether you like that or not is really up to your personal taste.





I prefer a more modern style of room decor, but the furnishings were of very high quality.



I have some colleagues who insist on a King size bed in their hotel room when travelling alone, but I am fine with two beds even when travelling myself.



Bathroom, which like most hotels in Tokyo, came with a washlet-equipped WC.



The view from my hotel room...

[yflyer]

I did a double-take when I glanced out the window...what was a French Chateau doing in the middle of Tokyo?



Turns out that this houses several restaurants which are part of Joel Robuchon's empire. This replica chateau is part of Yebisu Garden Place, a large shopping/recreation complex which is the site of a former beer brewery. There is a lot of shopping and many restaurant outlets here, as well as a beer museum. Quite an unusual part of Tokyo, not typical at all -- although it made for quite a pleasant location to stay.

Although Yebisu metro station was quite a walk from the Westin, it was all through covered walkways lined with shopping, and with a travellator-equipped skywalk part of the way.



I didn't eat only Japanese food on this trip. On a couple of occasions, mainly because of time constraints I ate Western food...not at Joel Rebuchon, mind you...but at Burger King, of all places. Maybe it was because I was hungry, or maybe it was just that every seems to taste good in Tokyo, but the burgers I ate in the Burger King outlet at Yebisu Garden Place were delicious.

I'm not sure what a certain competing burger chain with yellow arches would have to say about this product that Tokyo Burger King was advertising, though...

[yflyer]

But let us banish thoughts of Western fast food for the rest of this TR...there was a lot of other wonderful food to sample in Tokyo...

On one evening, we headed to a Japanese Yakiniku place, Aoyama Gaien (焼肉 青山外苑), just one of many excellent yakiniku restaurants in Tokyo specializing in Japanese black hair wagyu (黒毛和牛) beef.



There were a bunch of us, and we were all hungry.

We started with beef sushi -- yes there is such a thing. 3 different varieties of raw beef on rice, each with a unique taste. Not the kind of thing for anyone who eats their steak well-done, but otherwise a really delicious way to start...



We moved on to the barbeque next, with thinly sliced beef tongue...firm and full of rich, smoky flavour...



And then it was on to a selection of finely marbled cuts of wagyu beef, all meltingly tender, a world removed from beef eaten anywhere else in the world...



Key to this style of dining was to cook the slices of beef as you ate...



...that way, nothing ever got cold...it was just bite after warm, juicy, bite...



And to accompany the meat, beer, wine or sake...and why not all three?



There was also seafood available, which made for a nice contrast...



Ordinarily the meal would have ended there, but we were a greedy bunch that evening, and my host from Hong Kong decided that we needed to try their shabu shabu as well.

The waitress at our table opened her eyes wide in disbelief (I think typical Japanese diners had BBQ or Shabu Shabu, but not both in one sitting) but nonetheless set the table up for a shallow dish of clear broth for shabu shabu. and a platter of thinly sliced wagyu beef, which was described as "snow beef" on account of the fine marbling of fat...



This was simply brilliant...each slice of marbled, melt-in-the-mouth beef cooked in just a few swirls of the stock...



Somehow we found room for a selection of desserts too.



This is a deceptively simple style of dining, which appears to rely mainly on the flavour and quality of the different cuts of meat to speak for themselves.

It is the perfect showcase for the fantastic wagyu beef that you get in Japan. And the communal dining experience of cooking over a common stove, and perhaps some subtle jockeying for the best cuts of meat sizzling over the flames, made it a lot of fun. I enjoyed myself that evening.

To be continued!

[yflyer]

On another occasion, after a day at work, we found ourselves at the bar on the top of the Park Hyatt Tokyo, a location made famous by the movie "Lost in Translation"...



This was my first time up there. I've never stayed at the Park Hyatt. It is pricey, and almost impossible to redeem on Hyatt Gold Passport points...

We only got there after the sun had set, and the night time view was stunning. I think the view would be even more impressive during the day time.

We were just there for a round of drinks. For dinner, my Japanese colleague asked, "Would you like to try chicken? There is a very famous chicken yakitori place just around the corner."

This was literally a ten minute walk from the Park Hyatt.



We eat a lot of chicken in Singapore, and we have Yakitori too. What so special about this place? Quite a lot, apparently. This place does chicken supremely well, using jidori, a special breed of free-range chicken.



This was an intimate restaurant, with both table and counter seats, and the chef and his team manning a grill behind the counter.

[yflyer]

We opted for one of the yakitori chicken set dinners...

I have to admit that I was a little sceptical at the start. We had just ordered 6 sticks or so of barbecued chicken. How well could that possibly go?

But, what followed was a masterclass on how to create a full meal to excite the palate using just different cuts, and parts, of chicken...



Chicken hearts...



...each skewer, from thigh, leg to heart and liver, tasted distinctive, different, and full of flavour...



Chicken livers...smooth and tender, in a sweet sauce...

[yflyer]

A wide range of different varieties of sake were also on hand, both hot and cold, available by the glass...



I am no expert on sake, but there were distinct differences in flavour in each of the different glasses we tried -- and our local hosts poured us quite a few.





Next, a chicken wing.



This was the tastiest chicken wing I have ever eaten in my life. I kid you not.



It was exceptionally large, plump, juicy, and was grilled to a perfect colour and texture.



Was jidori some kind of super chicken? I'm sure the skill of the chef had something to do with it. Or maybe this amazing meal was just a manifestation of the perfectionist streak in the Japanese national character...

The final course was minced chicken...another delight.



I am a rice guy, so I ordered a bowl of glistening Japanese short grained rice to go with my meal, but this was strictly optional...



What an amazing dinner. If you are in Tokyo, and have had your fill of sushi, beef and ramen, and feel like chicken. Come here. Highly recommended!



To be continued!

[726]

Waiting for the rest of it.....

How was the hotel. I was once at a hotel in Osaka, around the same age as your hotel, and it smelled a bit.
Lucky that you have bathtub. I only found this luxury I think it was twice. Once in tokyo and once in osaka.

[yflyer]

Waiting for the rest of it.....

How was the hotel. I was once at a hotel in Osaka, around the same age as your hotel, and it smelled a bit.
Lucky that you have bathtub. I only found this luxury I think it was twice. Once in tokyo and once in osaka.

Hi 726!

The Westin is a great hotel. Superb service, very convenient location and large guest rooms (It only occured to me when you mentioned it that many of the other hotels in Tokyo don't offer a large bathtub.). The room decor is a little ordinary, and as mentioned I am not really a fan of this style of classical dark food furniture, but other than that, this would be one of my preferred hotels in Tokyo.

I am surprised you had issues around smells in your hotel room in Osaka. In Japan, people here are so fanatical about cleanliness and smells, almost every hotel and public place I have been to has been spotless. Certainly the Westin was sparkling clean and odour-free. Could it be that someone was smoking in your hotel room? One thing about Japan though, people do smoke. Smoking is allowed in restaurants too.

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

One style of cuisine that in Tokyo I have been reluctant to try when eating alone is Izakaya – which means something similar to a restaurant or pub serving food to accompany sake and other drinks. These are invariable small places, popular with locals, with very extensive food and drink menus, often only with Japanese language menus.

Fortunately on my trips to Tokyo, I had several local colleagues and companions who introduced me to their favourite Izakaya places.

The first was Oyamada, along a side street near Yebisu station in Shibuya-ku.



The menu was very extensive, and only in Japanese.



We began with, what else, Yebisu beer…



…but moved quickly onto sake.



You chose your own sake cup from a large selection presented in a large box…

[yflyer]

And then a procession of small dishes and larger plates, each a microcosm of local flavour…

Tiny whitebait…



Thinly sliced marinated meat…was this heart or gizzard?



This next one was a local Japanese vegetable, which looked like a translucent type of celery, but didn’t taste anything like it. It was crunchy and served cold. My hosts didn’t know what the English name of this vegetable was.



It did have a very distinctive aroma that I found very familiar: During my NS days I spent a lot of time sitting in moist jungle vegetation. This vegetable dish had a raw green and fresh aroma…it smelled of the jungle, in the best possible sense! Delicious…

And then a sashimi platter…good, although not quite as outstanding as what you would get in a specialist sushi/sashimi joint in Tokyo…



Simmered fish…delicate and comforting…



An enormous local Japanese aubergine…impressively large even by local standards, topped with shaved bonito flakes…very refreshing!



A rich-tasting dish of cured (or was it smoked?) squid...



A duo of crisp chicken wings…they really know how to do chicken wings in Japan…