Japan Style Fast Food Coex Mall

Another quick bite in the Coex Mall, this time a Japanese place. I got the less than brilliant Sushi plate, whilst OH took the Prawn Fried Rice which apparently was better, plus a Coke and Beer, all in for..... 28000 won! Eating at the Coex Mall maybe isn't the best idea.

Dim Sum @ Jackie Chan's in the Coex Mall

Jackie Chan's is a chain restaurant, but I wanted to see inside anyway, being a massive Jackie fan.

We ordered Hargau, Spring Rolls and Jelly Fish filled Cheung Fan. All were OK, pretty much good quality items that arrive frozen at the premises for steaming / deep frying.

Everything plus some Iced Tea came to 9000 won, so we were happy enough. 

Vietnamese chain restaurant Pho Bay in Seoul

Our first night in Seoul and we ended up going into a Vietnamese place? Well it seems the rumours are true.... Vietnamese food is much better outside of Vietnam.

We got a giant bowl of Pho each. I took the Spicy Red Pho and my OH took the Original Beef Pho. The broth was deep, full-flavoured and complex for each bowl. Very different from the watered down concoctions we had paid so much more for in Hanoi. 

We also ordered Soju (of course) and Fried Spring Rolls and Fresh or Summer Spring Rolls. They came with Sesame Oil and Soy Dip and Peanut Sauce. Wow these were really good, perfectly executed with very good ingredients. For a chain restaurant, we were impressed, how fantastic it would be to have this in the UK. 

The whole meal plus Soju came to just under 6000 won, so about £3!

Last night in Tokyo

Our last night in Tokyo. We headed for familiar ground with another great little Izakaya.

Big glass each of good Sake.

Nice grilled Saury, really fresh, succulent white flesh with crispy skin and that bitter note towards the gut cavity that I really crave now.

A little plate of Sashimi, with great metallic tasting fresh Tuna.

Some Matsutake Mushroom Tempura. This was really good, but slightly oilier than I was expecting. 

And some fantastically garlicky, stir-fried greens. A very good last meal that again cost very little.

Early doors Noodle Bar Asakusa

We plumped for a junction corner Noodle Bar on our return from Yokohama, so very early doors (6am) and fewer options. This was Pork and Egg Noodle Broth, a little disappointing flavourwise, but I guess it was cheap and cheerful?

 I pinned my hopes on Noodles in Pork Broth with Tempura Prawns, again, I was really hoping for a strong flavourful stock. But I think the size pots these guys are working with combined with the 24 hour aspect, really can reduce flavour at certain times of day depending on when fresh stock ingredients are combined. 

Maybe someone knows when the best time to hit 24 hour rolling stock pot places is?

A real treat Sushi Bar Izakaya in Yokohama

After our poor Peking Duck experience. We were very happy to find this late night Izakaya in Yokohama just on the outskirts of Chinatown towards the harbour.

We took bar side seats and just asked the chef for anything he thought was good. Wonderfully fresh Hamachi Sashimi, really firm with great fresh Wasabi was his first dish for us.

Pretty challenging for us, but sweet and tasty anyway, was the dish of Raw Mini Squid whole with guts intact. I needed more Sake for this. The photo is just of one of a wee bowl full.

Back to familiar territory here, very delicious Tartare with pungent, lovely Raw Garlic. Quite an expensive place here, but very friendly and very good. Also great iced Sake.

Our first food error in Japan

We took the train down to Chinatown in Yokohama for the day/night for a look about.

What a cool place and so many good looking places to eat. At the time we arrived there was a Chinese dancing dragon doing the rounds of the restaurants for goodluck/tourists etc. But we got kind of distracted from the job in hand, finding a good restaurant.

Here, the parade with firecrackers and the dancing dragon, is visiting a restaurant that we probably should have.

And even more good looking tasty restaurants we didn't stop at.....

But we got overly engrossed in sightseeing and once the real hunger pangs hit we went in the nearest place and ordered Peking Duck in Pancakes. Can't go wrong yeah? Wrong!

 Well this is what we got, pre-sauced shredded duck in rubbery wrappers, more like fresh Vietnamese Spring Roll wrappers. Inside Steam Buns that were pretty non-descript.

Also this restaurant had a Chinese dancing dragon visit it, briefly, to wait for the lift to visit a better restaurant upstairs. I think the restaurant upstairs may have been the one that had the outdoor street display that lead us in here in the first place. Ah well... it was overpriced and shit, but we weren't there for long and we didn't order anything after the first offering anyway, so it wasn't bad really.

Chinese Restaurant under the Railway Line between Asakusa and Akihabara

I didn't get a photo of the outside, but it was just along from here, under the train tracks.

We got the KungPo Chicken Set with Miso Soup, Rice, Coleslaw and Pickles, very tasty, very MSG, very cheap. 

Also got an order of Pea Shoots in Garlic Sauce and some Spring Rolls. Both were very well done, exceptionally high quality (read not frozen, bulk produced Spring Rolls) and a pleasure too devour even before they had cooled properly.


There was nice house Sake also and the meal came to very little.

Sakuraniku Horse Meat Restaurant Asakusa

It was pretty late on when we noticed the red glowing lanterns of this place on a balcony one floor up from the street in the Asakusa area, near Kappabashi. This was easily one the highlights of eating in Tokyo, I've been craving this ever since. Horse Meat is called Sakuraniku in Japan which translates as Cherry Blossom Meat to reflect the pink colour of the flesh.


We ordered a trio of Basashi (Sashimi of Horse) which was from left to right Fattened Neck, Rump and Fillet with Grated Ginger. The silkiness of the meat beats the best aged beef hands down. The Fattened Neck was similar to Lardo, I could eat this everyday. A trio of dips also, Sweet Soy, Dark Soy and a Mustard and Sesame Oil. All together very good.

This Sakuraniku Tartare with Sesame and Daikon was great, there was a little spice in here too.

We got an order of Crispy Horse Crackling and some well Peppered Chips which were both tasty and filling enough to stop us ordering more of the expensive things on the menu, plus we got a very good Sake that I failed to take any shots off.

Finally succumb to MOS Burger (Asakusa Branch)

We grabbed a quick Cheeseburger and Chips at MOS Burger just for an instant bite after roaming for ages and forgetting to stop and eat.

It was pretty good really, meaty burger, sweet and soft rice flour bun with tangy sauce. The Chips were surprisingly good. Crisp, fluffly inside with a little hot fresh grease left to hold some salt on to them. Nothing like the stingy little French Fries that the Golden Arches and its ilk proffer. Anyway, worth checking out for curiosity value at least.

Our first 270yen Izakaya Akihabara

This place was great, everything is 270 yen and you can keep ordering little dishes throughout your stay. There is no pressure to have a meal and leave, this place is designed more for a few hours taking it easy with some drinks and snacks.

There is a full picture menu and touch screen ordering system at each table. Very cool.

We first ordered very tender Grilled Squid with Aioli.

Then a couple of sizzling dishes, Garlic Scallops and Spicy Sausages both were great.

Some healthier stuff, Spring Onion Salad and Edamame, these were priced around 100 yen.

Lots of these Black and White Beers, didn't ever figure out which was best....

And a final trio of Gyoza, Chicken Heart Skewers with Spicy Umeboshi Paste and Tuna Sashimi. All in a very satisfying few hours spent during a rainy evening in Akihabara.