Results matching “Japan”

San Francisco claims to be a foodie's town. How can that be when there are exactly FIVE ramen shops in the ENTIRE city and none of them are really that outstanding...

Although we did have one shop called Katana-Ya near UCSF that closed a few years back. Now THAT was great ramen!

To get great ramen now, you have to drive about 20 miles (50 minutes from my place) down the 101 to San Mateo where the ramen epicentre of the Bay Area is. San Mateo is home to Santa Ramen, a ramen shop off a non-descript street away from downtown San Mateo.

If it helps, it's across the street from Nazereth Plaza...

Santa has a great selection of ramen dishes and broths. They have shoyu, miso and my favourite, tonkotsu! It's hard to find places that do tonkotsu here, let alone do it right.

Tonkotsu is a pork and chicken based broth that involves boiling bones for many days and nights. Ramen is a regional dish and tonkotsu hails from Kyushu, land of the Tsubame, Kagoshima, Hakata, Beppu , Hamasaki Ayumi and Moritaka Chisato! Tonkotsu is also extremely rich, milky and absolutely delicious! Here's a place in Tokyo that makes it VERY well (since visitors to Japan dun usually make it to Kyushu..).

Santa also is known for their stewed pork. Basically it's thick pork slices that replace the cha-siu that you would normally get in your ramen. When you pick it up with your hashi, it literally falls apart. It's that tender and that flavourful. And since this is their speciality, you need to get here early because they only make so much each evening.

Which brings up the issue of the queue. Santa is open for both lunch and dinner and they have incredibly long queues when they're open. Even longer on the weekends.

Hours of Operation!

I was able to have stewed pork exactly once, on the same night that the Chinese New Year parade was happening in SF. So there were less people in the queue at Santa and I was able to partake. The next time I tried, I waited for 45 minutes until I was next on the list to be seated. Then they ran out of stewed pork. Then I left for In-and-Out.

This time, I ordered tonkotsu cha-siu ramen and slurped down! The broth was good, but a touch salty and the thick noodles were just a touch soggy. Not as snappy as I usually like. And if you want an egg, that's extra.

Tonkotsu cha-siu ramen. Tamago (egg) is extra...

Despite these nits to pick, it doesn't detract from the utter goodness that Santa is. The restaurant itself is warm and loud (means lots of people slurping!) and it's still kick-ass ramen! I'll do a follow-up next time I'm here and get the stewed pork again...

Santa Ramen
805 South B Street
San Mateo CA 94401

The neat thing about having a place like Santa is that other shops of similar quality will open up nearby. Like Himawari!

No, not getting all "metro", just missing being on the road (and in ryokan, in the airport, on the train, etc.).

So here's one that was written by Yoshii Isamu dedicated to the Gion Quarter in Kyoto.

Kani kaku ni
Gion wa koishi
neru toki mo
makura no shita o
mizu no nagaruru

No matter what they say
I love Gion
Even in my sleep
the sound of water flows
beneath my pillow

Each year, on 8 November, local geiko perform the Tea Ceremony to honor the deceased.

Yes, I need to get out there, and SOON!

I met up with a fren who I've not seen for a while yesterday night at the Giants Game.

Final Score: Giants over the D-backs, 10-2.

So while we were freezing together in the bleachers, cuz even PacBellPark SBC Park ATT Park gets cold in what passes for "weather" in San Francisco, I spotted a tenner (a ten pound note from the UK) in her wallet.

I asked, "when were you last in the UK?", thinking it would be from a recent trip.

She said: "about nine months back" and continues while chewing her cotton candy, "it reminds me of travelling and the places I've been". So that's why she keeps foreign currency in her wallet.

I've done that as well, usually finding SG$, HK$ AU$ and Japanese Yen in my wallet months after my return to the states.

I thought I was the only person that did that. Glad to see I'm not THAT weird!!

I visited Bondi Beach and the Sydney Opera House today (which will be chronicled later). I came across something amusing and something hella tacky involving mainland Chinese tourists. They're very easy to spot because of the behaviour.

First the amusing part. Remember the picture of Richard Nixon walking on the beach in a suit? Despite what you may think of the man, business wear does not go well with sand and surf. I mean, if you're going to the beach, dress the part! And don't pull off the macho man thing unless you've got a surfboard to stand with!

Of course if this macho man (in leather dress shoes) stood next to a board, it would look silly...

The tacky thing I saw was in the gift shop of the Sydney Opera House. Two mainland tourists (I could tell because of the putonghua they spoke) were taking pictures of postcards. Literally. Holding up the postcards and taking pictures of them with their digicams.

COME ON! If you've got the renminbi to travel to Oz from the PRC, buy the damn thing! It makes you look tacky and by appearance, makes the rest of us (who are Asian) look tacky (even though we aren't)!!!

Grrrr....

On the other hand, while I was picking out some postcards to purchase (not take pictures of) there was a gaggle of Japanese schoolkids. Guys and gals. We had to squeeze by each other because the aisles were small. By force of habit, a quick "sumemasen" came out at the same time an "excuse me" came out of her mouth, followed by a LOT of giggling.

Either they weren't expecting Japanese to be spoken or my accent is really THAT bad! It's probably both, with my command of that language..

It's cold here! It's been averaging 8-10 degrees in the daytime! It gets down to 2-4 degrees at night!! And no, I am NOT a weather wimp!

Of course, I wouldn't be complaining this much if I was, saaaaay, in New York City, Beijing, Tokyo (ahhh) or even in Zurich. These places are SUPPOSED to be cold!

But San Francisco dun usually get this kind of cold snap. It's been this way since mid January, save for a week of temperate weather when I got suckered into packing away the heavy duty down filled comforter because "it was warm". Five days ago, the heavy duty down filled comforter came back out.

So what's the big deal, you think. "Pile on more clothes or turn on the heat". First off, I need to buy some winter cold type clothes. The ones I have are too big (weight loss, yay). Will do that soon. Second, I've got a forced air furnace. Forced air is inefficent, dries you out and blows dust everywhere. Bad for allergies. And have you seen the price of natural gas lately??

People in Japan have the kotatsu to stay warm in winter (also got kerosene heaters that I'll never ever use). I got a fireplace.

Filled with Hot Wood! See?

Yeeeeeaaaah! Hot Wooooood!

Based on the blogs I regularly read, there's a general sense of apathy about VD (valentine's day) except for one lucky blogger who got an Ixus (but does it walk?) for her VD gift.

If you can't tell already, I too, fall under the "VD, so what?" crowd. So VD (or VN?), I had a small cook-over with a couple of frens (single too).

Since we are all guys, the menu was exceedingly simple:

Thick NY Steaks (two of us ate this)
Chicken Breast with salt and pepper with garlic inside (the other one ate that)
Angel Hair with olive oil and parmasian (all eat)
2001 Domaine La Roquette Chateauneufdepape (all drink, some more than others)

I should mention here that it was 10 degrees outside (with 5 degree wind chill) when I started the coals. It was soooo cold and windy, that the wind, instead of feeding the coals, was actually COOLING them!! But I WAS smoking a cigar while cooking, so I guess that's the trade-off. Pain vs. Pleasure.

For dessert, three bottles of nihonshu, one nigori (unfiltered). That's sake for the rest of you. See the bottles in the post below? Gone!

Then ended the evening, driving one of the guests home. Which means he drank most of the booze. Burrp.

Best thing was, with a good meal and good booze, no hangover!! *whispering*

Every neighborhood should have a Japanese grocery store!

Check out the stuff that you can bring home from it! The selection (if you can spot the hidden theme in the photograph) is almost as nice as the combini near the JR Station on the way back to the guesthouse...heh heh heh!

Or, there ARE reasons to poke outside the Yamanote.

Besides Kyoto, I mean.

So today, I had a Y1450 bowl of ramen. More accurately, chasiumen. It was a big bowl with a lot of cha siu in it.

See?

I found my way to Harukiya, a famous old ramen shop in Suginami-Ku. It was an adventure getting here, since all I had was the address and since this wasn't a major part of Tokyo, my atlas was useless. I took the Chuo Rapid to JR Ogikubo station. Left the JR station and wandered around. Strange how everything on this side of the station looked new...and this is supposed to be an old place! On a hunch, I went back into the station and double checked the map for landmarks. Ah! There's a koban on the side I should be on! Kobans in Japan have cops inside! And cops ALWAYS know where the food is their patrol area. Yeah, that's it.

So I walked in and spoke my best polite pidgin Nihongo. And you know what? He understood me!! Or more importantly, since it was 1400 and I probably looked hungry, he knew what I was looking for when I said "Harukiya".

He said it was a three minute walk. Was right about that. Although now I know where it is, it would take 2 minutes. Easy to get to. Here's how to get here if you ever have the desire to do so:

Harukiya
1-4-6 Kami-Ogi
Suginami-Ku, Tokyo

Take the JR Chuo Rapid (beeeg orange train!) to Ogikubo Station. Exit on North side.
Walk through bus/cab area to main street. You will see the Koban on your left. Turn right. Walk on sidewalk (it's one of those covered sidewalks). You will pass a 7-11. Toward the end of the block, you will see a small ramen place, usually with a queue. It's directly across the street from a Family Mart.

Easy!

But more importantly, if you come here, get the corner seat by the door. That puts you right next to the big ass stockpots full of ramen goodness. The one in the foreground is where the noodles are cooked. The chef guy uses a strainer to pull the noodles out of the pot, bounces them around to drain them and plops them into the waiting bowl of broth that was just poured 20 seconds before.

The noodles were fresh made and the broth was yummy without too much of that MSG ickyness that lower quality places have. Delish! And since it was soooo big and pricey, guess what? That's dinner!

There is one ironclad rule that all international travellers should abide by (maybe through a blood oath or something goth like dat):

You respect the local laws, customs and traditions of wherever you visit.

Examples: you can learn how to bow properly in Japan or catch up with happenings in Hong Kong and by extension, the PRC. Or even the food scene in Singapore.

But most importantly, you need to observe what laws are important wherever you are. Especially when it's printed in big red type on your arrival card. Like this.

Think of visiting other countries like visiting people's houses. You in their house, you follow their rules. And don't expect special "rights" simply because of the color of your passport (or the "rationale" for breaking this kind of law).

The freedom to make your own decisions is the most precious of freedoms. The responsibilty for the aftermath is, again, borne by the individual.

Pretty deep for THIS blog, eh?

SFO has some decent choices for food. Especially compared to my recent experience at Washington Dulles where the food choices were: a TGIFridays and a McD's on opposite ends of the terminal!!

In SFO's Terminal 3 (UA domestic), there's a Lori's Diner, a Japanese place, a Mexican place, a Chinese Dim-Sum place, a Soup place and a dessert place.

How "diverse"!

Typical of San Francisco, it reeks of elitism due to the lack of a McDonald's or any other place to eat at SFO that's reasonably priced. Look at this.

How come so much more than in Union Square??

This is the menu board at Lori's. US$12.99 for a chicken fried steak breakfast!!?? The dim-sum place was charging US$5.00 for a basket (three pieces) of har gau, siu mai and a few other yum cha staples.

That's more than even Yank Sing, the most overpriced yum-cha place I know of!!!

There have been several sob stories about how SFO businesses aren't making money and all that. Perhaps if these businesses and the airport realize that not everyone who flies is on an executive/dot-com expense account and lower their prices, people who travel may actually buy food at the airport!

I'm hella hungry but I'm not paying US$13.00 for chicken fried steak and eggs or US$5.00 for three pieces of yum-cha. I'm flying to LA, land of good cheap food and I think I can hold out...