I am going to Japan in April for a holiday. Anyone know any top class posh sushi places in Tokyo or Kyoto?
I hate sushi, unless it's been cooked. So when I'm in Tokyo, I usually have a kebab. Seriously, check out the main road in Roppongi, outside the main bar area they have a thing called 'The healthy chicken sandwich van'. It's a mobile kebab shop(only chicken kebabs) run by a mad Nigerian bloke and they're like magic, after ten pints you have one and you're fine to go back in the bar. I had three in a night once.
See, for me that's one of the cracking things about us Hullgarians and our sense of culture. Someone's going abroad and asks for tips on top class posh nosh and gets directed to a van that sells kebabs that help you drink more.
Ha Ha, truly international OLM when we take our campervan back to the Dune de playa for freeflying and frolicking on the French coast can you recommend any local (league of gentlemen style) dining delicatessen for us ll Also i would not pick a fight with you any man that can drink 30 pinits and eat 3 kebabs must be hard lol and blinking big althouth pretty slow follow the link for my escape route cheers http://www.parafly.co.uk/showthread.php/399-Clouds-and-Surf
Being serious for a moment, there is a fantastic Tempura restaurant in Toyko, it's an ancient place made of wood, with a dining balcony that runs round the outside edge of a double height room, it looks like the set of the main fight scene in Kill Bill/Kill Bill2(I can never remember which bit is in which) and it's well worth a visit. It would be useful if I could remember what it was called, but I've dropped my sister a line, she should remember, she lived in Tokyo for years(I used to go and see her for the weekend while I was working in Hong Kong, hence my familiarity with the mobile eateries of Roppongi).
Must admit that I'm the same when travelling. Spent a lot of time in Hong Kong with the Chinese food but when it came to style you just couldn't beat the sandwich vans by the Star Ferry on Kowloon, or the Burgers and Cheap Beer in the Mariner Club on Middle Road.
The sandwich vans are no more, they cleaned up the area in front of the Star Ferry when they developed the 'Walk of the Stars' on the waterfront(Hong Kong's answer to Hollywood Boulevard, only there's no more than four actors that anyone from outside of China has heard of). The Mariners Club is only a couple of hundred yards from where I am now, I'm about to head over that way for a few beers at Delaneys on Peking Road, in preparation for listening to Burnsy and Swanny talking about pies on Tigers Player in a few hours time.
Delaneys - memories! Used to go in there when the ships were in Hong Kong. Mind you I always felt a bit of a fake going in an Irish bar when we were in a place like Hong Kong. Used to just eat on the street though, might be chicken, might be pork, might be dog / rat - Ace! Mind you, was in Pusan South Korea and to this day I have no idea what I ate at one restaurant, but do it your self dog BBQ was on the menu! Japan - not a huge lover of Sushi, but was told it was best to avoid the chain restaurants and the ones with the conveyorbelts and spend the extra yen at a place were you can see the sushi chef making the stuff right there in front of you. It's an art, especially watching their knife skills. Also if you are open minded about the fact that the fish is king in Japanese food and has cultural significance, then you could try sashimi. You might need a strong stomach, because being served a plate with a still live fish with its flesh stripped off and laid around it, isn't for everybody! Only been to Osaka, Nagasaki and Sapporo myself, but do know that Tokyo is insanely crowded and hard to navigate, so would take advice from the concierge in the hotel you stay at for how best to see and do the right things. It's a fabulous country though, and try not to limit yourself to the cities because some of the inland countryside is spectacular and you see the real Japan and Japanese people, instead of endless Hello Kitty stores and Westernised residents.
Korean BBQ used to be really popular here, but there doesn't seem to be much of it nowadays, I used to like throwing my own raw meat onto that heated copper pot in the middle of the table and watching it disintegrate(you really have to pay attention with Korean BBQ) and you need to make sure no-one orders any Kimchi. Still, it's better than some places in China, I once went to a very expensive restaurant in Shunde and everything was alive in buckets outside and you had to select your meal on the way in. Frogs, giant toads, silkworm lava, water roaches, it was like eating your way through a biology lesson. You're right about sushi, it's much better to watch being made, than it actually is to eat. Though not nearly as impressive as watching a fully trained teppanyaki chef in action, that knife throwing is seriously impressive and the Kobe Beef around asparagus and the things they do with giant shrimp is really something to behold. The most important thing about being in Tokyo, is you have to know where you want to be. They don't speak English, not just in a pretend French way, but in a seriously don't know what you are talking about way. If you can't say the name of your hotel in Japanese, or can't ask for the place you want to go, then you'll never get there.
Your lucky Scarborough,iv'e been going down the allotment for me holidays. Mind you,me and our lass sometimes take a portable barby ,and cook home made burgers with her own chilli chutney ! Life is good !
OBL I have been to Tokyo several times...just where did you drink where you could afford ten pints... seriously its a brilliant place to visit and the people are very friendly and trustworthy (mostly) one thing that is very different to here is that you have to get used to looking upwards to find bars etc not just on high level...in Roppongi (where the good nightlife is) its not unuaual to find a good bar on say the 3rd floor of a building...look out for GAS PANIC...thats a great bar but be prepared to pay handsomely for a beer. The other really great area is YOYOGI park on a sunday morning...the place is full of bands and street entertainers and loads of young japanese in fancy dress (weird fancy dress...like accident victims etc) and loads dressed like Elvis. The tube system is very well organised and ALWAYS bang on time. Im sure you`ll really enjoy your visit .... I wish i was going back
I mainly started off in Bar Red, which had red walls, a red floor/ceiling, a red bar, red seating, all complimented with red lighting and by about the seventh, it was hard to see where the seats ended and floor started and people were forever missing the seats and hitting the deck. The Brazilian barmaid had the biggest pair of puppies I've ever seen, though unfortunately I've heard it's been closed down, due to the DJ doing a side-line in white powder. Most of the clubs we ended up in were indeed a few floors up, it's not easy to find the good places, unless you're with someone who knows the area. As you say, it's not cheap, it's quite easy to get through a few hundred quid on a night out.
I get to visit Japan 2-3 times a year with work. Generally I have found that the areas around the main stations (Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shiboya, etc) are full of little back street restaurants and you can hardly go wrong with them. many restuarants have displays of models of the food in the windows & pictures on the menus so even if the text is kanji/katakana/hiragana you can still do look & point. agree with comment that the sushi/sashimi places that do the preparation live in front are generally better than conveyor belt ones. other things I like are shabu shabu and tempura. korean bbq (bulgogi, bulgabi etc) is good. try to find a place where they have charcoal grills not gas. kimchi - there are hundreds of different types - is brilliant although it isn't as good as it is in Korea. don't listen to the nay-sayers. Tokyo is expensive but there is huge difference in prices between trendy/tourist places and where the Japanese typically eat. for reasonably priced eat/drink there is a chain called Kirin City - usually near stations - that have a range of Kirin beers + food. Finding your way around on the trains - always on time, always crowded - is pretty easy. Most stations have the names in romanji as well as the Japanese script. If you are there for a few days buying a Suica card (like their Oyster card) http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_002.html is easier than dealing with the ticket machines.
Im with OLBM on the Kimchi and to be honest i never got on with Shabu Shabu either...but i do agree korean bbq `s are good and ive never had a bad tempura. Never had a bad japanese beer too.
