Asia Day 52: Tokyo (Omotesando)

Photo of the day: Tonkatsu @ Maisen.

Good morning, Tokyo! For breakfast, we picked up a couple things from the convenience store. It was nice to try quite a few small things – including Onigiri. I would have to say I liked the Korean Gimbap more though. Something about the pickled vegetables adding to the taste and texture.

Aaron wanted to bring me to Omotesando, a nice area of Tokyo with high end shopping and nice coffee shops. It kind of reminded me of Garosugil in Seoul. The side streets had cute boutiques, cafes and restaurants whereas the main street had high-end brands like Louis Vuitton. Even if you don’t shop here, you can come just to appreciate the impressive ultra-modern architecture.

We settled down at Lattest, a cafe specializing in a cold latte served in a shot glass. I got one with hazelnut syrup and it was quite tasty. It was a nice environment to get some work done while watching people pass by through their large windows.

We were getting hungry so we went to find some food. Aaron wanted to bring me to a outdoor cafeteria with many food trucks, called Commune 246 but there wasn’t much there during this time of the year. We decided to go to Maisen, a bathhouse turned Tonkatsu restaurant. The front had bar seats but there was a whole back section, with seating that reminded me of dim sum restaurants. They ran out of a lot of their lunch specials by the time we arrived so we just got their basic Tonkatsu meals. Our meal included the Tonkatsu along with miso soup, pickled vegetables and a huge pile of shredded cabbage. At our table were two little pots of Tonkatsu sauce – one tangy and thick, whereas the other is spicy and thin. The miso soup was delicious and seemed to have more ingredients in it compared to the ones I’ve had in Canada. The Tonkatsu was very well done and the quality of the meat was really good. The cabbage was much needed to balance out all that meat. I loved the pickled vegetables as I am now used it as a part of my meal since South Korea.

After lunch, we walked around the area a little bit and passed by a Takoyaki stall, where we had to stop and pick up some Takoyaki. It was freshly made, so it was nice and hot – perfect for a cold day. The taste itself was quite similar to what I’ve had in Vancouver.

I walked around some more to explore the area, whereas Aaron stayed at The Roastery by Nozy Coffee to sample some good coffee. It was a pretty cool place because they roast their own coffee at the cafe and there is someone to explain the types of beans they have to you. My exploring trip was limited by the fact that my iPhone dies when it gets too cold. I also felt too cold to continue, which made me wonder how I survived in Seoul and how I am going to survive in Ottawa.

My stomach hasn’t been feeling too well today, so I just headed home to get some rest while Aaron went to pick up some food. I found this quite ironic that I survived from any significant travellers diarrhea in Southeast Asia, yet here I am feeling sick in Japan, one of the cleanest countries in the world. Aaron, the good husband that he is, picked up my favourite Gyudon for dinner from Yoshinoya. He got one order of the normal one and another with scallions and a raw egg. The one with scallions and egg was definitely much tastier! It wasn’t the fanciest of meals, since this is considered fast food for Japanese people but I was content and soon fell asleep.