teamEggers

Gyoza Stadium

Boy, we’re winding down here. Only a few more adventures left to tell you about, and even fewer left to be had.

Somewhere or other, I heard about the Gyoza Stadium: a dumpling-theme park in Ikebukuro (northern Tokyo).

The Stadium brings together what they consider to be the 11 best gyoza shops in the country, and each has about 5 different offering at their mini-restaurant.

The sum of all things combined is: 1. a very full belly, 2. some over stimulation, 3. a really chaotic environment. The walls were dark, the lights neon, and in true Japanese fashion, there were people everywhere.

I hadn’t ever considered “pot stickers” as more than the ubiquitous appetizer in asian restaurants, and I was surprised by their variety! Here’s one covered in leek and raw tuna:

At the same stand we found one of my favourites of the day: a very simple black pepper filling, topped only with fresh lemon juice.

Most Gyoza-ya have the standard 3 bottles on the counter, and you mix your sauce as you like it. For me: mostly soy, a whallop of rice vinegar, and about three drops of chili oil. Okay, so I’ve lived here for 8 months and can’t speak a lick of the language, but at least we learned how we like our food.

We asked Julie to come along for a couple of reasons. First, Julie’s always up for anything and she’s quite possibly the best lunch companion a girl could ask for. Second, a food theme park? right up her ally. Third (and most selfishly), we could try WAY more gyoza with a third person helping us!

While most gyoza are filled with pork, we found one that was filled with Japanese beef. They shop suggested that we skip the sauce as it was so flavourful inside – boy, were they right! It’s a good thing jon’s used to me spilling all over myself. Those things were juicy!

As an aside, it’s got to be next to impossible to live in Japan as either a vegetarian or someone who doesn’t eat pork. The little piggy juice is *everywhere*. Which leads me to our next stop…. ramen-ya! Come on, we couldn’t not get ramen. Even if we were so full I wanted to explode.

So this place is called Ganko and it’s a famous line of restaurants around the city. I’ve come to really love a good soft-boiled egg. It makes life… smoother.

What looks like an elaborate March Madness bracket, is really the Ganko family tree. Each family member has their own location!

I had heard from the blogosphere that this place was really spectacular – though I can’t remember exactly what it was that was worth mentioning. It was good, don’t get me wrong, just perhaps not worth an hour-long train ride on its own. But, if you’re in ikebukuro and are hungry, look for the awning with the bones.

See you next time!

Bassanova (Ramen)

Have I told you about Bassanova yet? I must have. Maybe a few times. If it’s not my favourite spot in this city, it’s certainly in the top five. I have a week and a half left in this fair city, and I’m devoted to getting back there once more.

You hear me jon? Green.Curry.Ramen.

What makes it so good? Why do I bring everyone that will make the trek out there with me? It’s almost an hour from my house – nothing in seattle would make me take a bus that far. There’s something about the roasty pork-broth base + the perfect softness of their eggs + the creaminess you get from coconut + the kick of spicy (but not too spicy, because then you couldn’t slurp!) of the green curry…

This trip has brought us to some of the finest ramen joints in this ramen-tastic-city, and I just think Bassanova’s hands down the best. Rant and rave worthy. Slurp your noodles and finish your bowl, worthy.

You know what’s also great? Sprinkles. Goma.

Alex asked me what kind of fantastic japanese gems I learned about while I was here, and it’s got to be this guy. They’re the asian equivalent of pine nuts – sprinkle a little on the end of any dish… pasta, rice, salad… and you get this beautiful roasted finish. Slightly salty. The tiniest crunch. I’m going to have to pick up one of these goma grinders (above) before I leave.

Don’t take pictures into the sun, eh? But you know… I thought our mothers might be getting sick of looking at my food.

Nagi (Ramen) in Shinjuku

An impromptu Standing Bar, Ramen, and a quick jaunt through Shinkjuku. How much more do you need?

Shinjuku station terrifies me. It’s the last place in Tokyo that I dread going to. Up until today, my favourite thing about this station was finding the right exit, and getting the hell out of it. Until today. Today, I discovered a gem of a place: a wine & belgian beer store. Quality.

They have a little table for standing and drinking your beer at, though since “take out OK” combined with how I was supposed to be meeting jon in a few minutes, I opted for a beer to go. I mean, what is a Standing Bar other than a place where you can stand and drink your beer in peace? So I found a safe spot in the train station, pulled out my book, and made my own. Have I mentioned how I love that drinking in public is not illegal here?

Now. I’m meeting jon at Shinjuku station. This was my idea, despite the afore mentioned fact that I utterly despise this place. What brings us here? Ramen, of course. Not just any ramen, but a sister-location of the Tastiest Gyoza in the City. Enter, Nagi.

Tonight takes us to a tucked away part of Shijuku, called Golden Gai. The streets of Golden Gai are narrow and densely packed. The bars are tiny – most only seating 4 or 5 people at a time.

Like it’s neighborhood, this Nagi is maximalist. Its very small, cramped space is made even smaller by the addition of things everywhere.

Good things, like menus and chopsticks, but it’s a bit overwhelming nonetheless. We’ll call it the Shinjuku Style.

Each Nagi location (there are four of them) does its soup slightly differently. This broth was really fishy on the nose, but I thought it tasted a lot more mellow and roasty once you got it in your mouth. Jon wasn’t really a fan of how strong the broth was. The majour downside for me was how soft the noodles were. I like em bari bari (al dente) and so this was a lot like mush in my mouth.

Great egg though. The ramen was not bad of course. I just thought the other Nagi was much better. Certainly not worth battling Shinjuku station for.

Later that evening, we wandered through the streets for a bit. Look at this old man. I wanted to put him in my pocket.

I leave you with some sage advice:

Nikko, day 1

teamEggers, meet teamNikko.

These 2.5 hour train rides out of Tokyo and into the mountains are becoming Old Hat. I positive that jon and I take more weekend trips than anyone else I know, and definitely more trips into the Japanese Alps than any of our Japanese friends! I would kill for a train system like this going through the Willamette Valley, I tell you what.

Our first look, outside of the station:

I was a poorly behaved traveller and didn’t pack any snacks for my train ride.  When we got off, we were famished and we stopped at the first ramen restaurant we found.  Thanks to Will’s great literacy skills, he can recognize the word!

Honestly, I had high hopes.  Too high.  Too easy to be let down, I suppose.  I love wontons in my soup. I love egg in my soup.  So why was my garlic-soy sauce ramen so disappointing?  Well, check out the layer of garlic chunks and fat floating on top.  Meh.

But onward and upward, shall we?  We’ve got temples to see! Hotels to check into! This may be vacation, but jon’s a wicked slave driver when it comes to getting places on time.  Go, go go!

First stop in Tour de Nikko was the famous bridge. It’s supposed to be one of the most unique bridges in all of Japan. There’s lore associated with it, a tour, you have to pay to walk on it, etc.  Needless to say, I was expecting more than this:

I mean, it’s pretty. Don’t get me wrong but….

…And we’re on with our adventure.  What is that adventure, you ask?  Glad you did.  It’s the World Heritage Tour! Part of me loves it when things are easy.  It makes it more vacationy.  Adventure is for the rest of your life?

Luckily (for the length of this post) things seemed to close up very early ’round these parts, and we were only able to take in one temple today.

It was a compound though!  This place has mucho historical cred – built in 1602 (even though the history of the temple goes back to the year 766!) and somehow managed to avoid the laws saying that there needs to be separation between temples and shrines (buddhists and shinto). Because this was so uncommon, it’s especially neat to see imagery from the two co-mingled.

Now would be a good time to show you an example of that, but I don’t have any pictures handy.  What I do have is this lovely one of jon and I.  Look moms, here we are!

I leave you with a teaser.  Because there’s much more dragon in our adventure, yet to come.

Nagi (Ramen)

In an unassuming building on the other side of Shibuya station, we find Nagi.

No. That’s not entirely true. Ramen Adventures found Nagi. I just found the trail of the Adventure.

Speaking of the Adventure, these ramen blogs are ruining me. Last weekend in Nikko, I had what (two months ago) I would have thought was perfectly fine ramen. But since then, having experienced some of the finest noodles in the city, my perspective is skewed. I’m spoiled by preemo slurpage.

Now when I say that Nagi was *really good*, you know where I’m coming from. But the best? That spot, my friends, is reserved for the extraordinary Bassanova. (Special thanks to Keizo at Go Ramen for both being so hospitable when we’re there, and also for having such a killer ramen blog.)

But back to Nagi. This location in particular is known for their strongly flavoured fish-broth based soup. It tasted rich, like a little old man stewed fish heads overnight. I was worried that it would be a bit too… challenging of a flavour for some of our friends that night, but everyone seemed really impressed by it. hurray!

But never mind the ramen. The gyoza was the shining star of Nagi that night. I remember thinking “my god, this is the best gyoza I’ve ever had, ever”. The filling was moist and very flavourful, the wrapper was perfectly seared-crispy but not soggy on top. I couldn’t believe it. … Until I walked past the kitchen and saw the guy that was making them. Making them. Not “dumping them out of a frozen bag onto a grill”, but pounding out the wrappers into little circles and mixing the fillings.

Ah, the secret. They’re handmade. Packaged foods can’t hold their ground against “made with love”.

Tune in next time: I found another kitkat!! (Oh, and we had an amazing weekend in Nikko last weekend, which I’m excited to tell you about!)