Japan 2015 - Not All Good Japanese Food is Sublime

Food in Japan is not all sublime seasonal delicacies. The Japanese are huge consumers of fast food of the American variety and of their own. Every station has what appears to be an endless selection of bento boxes with fish, chicken or meat, vegetables, pickles, rice, tofu and fruit, in all kinds of combinations, neatly placed in compartments in the bento box.

We had a nice one -- in two boxes, although only one is pictured -- on our train from Kanazawa to Kyoto, the Thunderbird (pronounced "Sandabaado"), although I confess to having eaten mine on the bus between Toyama and Kanazawa.

Excellent bus bento

In Kanazawa, which ironically is known for its elegant Japanese food, a group of us went to Jiyuken, a simple Japanese yoshoku (Western-style food) restaurant that has been in business since 1909 serving, among other things, spaghetti, beef stew and rice-stuffed omelets. Here I had an old favorite, katsu curry, a breaded fried pork cutlet atop rice and a gloppy curry sauce bearing no relationship to the Indian or Malaysian variety, all topped with a fried egg and accompanied by pickled ginger. Japanese curry is a unique thing and it just is what it is: you either love it or hate it.

Katsu curry, a unique Japanese take on curry

Japan is also full of vending machines selling cold and hot tea, coffee, water, sports drinks and health drinks. Here's a photo of two with names that Americans find odd: Calpis and Pocari Sweat.

Calpis and Pocari Sweat in vending machine

And coffee, of course, an old vending machine standby.

 Coffees from vending machines

Note that Wonda Gold is "A Premium Coffee With A Radiant-like Beauty Perfected With Premium Beans." No Wonda that it's Tiger Woods' favorite (or at least he did commercials for it when we lived in Tokyo 15 years ago).

In the old days, one could buy sandwiches, beer and even sake in vending machines, but now there are convenience markets everywhere where those items are purchased, in addition to their own, less elaborate, bento boxes and, in the cooler months, oden, the steamed vegetables and fish cakes braised for hours in dashi (Japanese stock, virtually always based on seaweed and most often flavored with bonito flakes).

One of the remaining food items that may be found in vending machines is corn soup, which is surprisingly not bad. Here are two of the many brands that are available.

Two varieties of corn soup in vending machines, about $1.10 at today's exchange rate

One of my favorite things in Japan s is Häagen Dazs matcha (powdered green tea) ice cream, an intense, almost bitter confection bearing no resemblance to the insipid green tea ice cream that Häagen Dazs sells in the US. There are many other brands but -- trust me -- Häagen Dazs is best. 

Häagen Dazs matcha ice cream

In addition, our guide Andy, a great expert on Japanese culture, provided a steady stream of sembei (rice crackers) and other delights to keep us busy on train and bus rides. Among the best (well, most interesting) were the iconic Tokyo Banana cakes -- a lot like Twinkies in their cult status in Tokyo, and just as awful -- and rum raisin KitKat bars that I must admit I liked.

Tokyo Banana cake and rum raisin KitKats

Try to read the fine print at left on the Tokyo Banana wrapper. If you can't make it out, here's what it says:

People gather in Tokyo from here and there with memories of their home. And then, TOKYO gets everyone's home town. TOKYO BANANA

I could go on and on but it's hard to follow that quote.

Bobby Jay

Japan 2015 - Two Nice Lunches

Not all of our meals were huge muli-course affairs. Indeed, we had two lovely lunches in unexpected places.

In connection with our visit to Takemura Yuri a young Kanazawa artist who is presently making captivating funky colored teabowls, we went to a small Thai restaurant next to her exhibition space. While perhaps not terribly authentic, the food was excellent, a richly spiced tom yang noodle soup (which I had), and a truly outstanding green curry with chicken. The presentation was lovely and echoed the theme of the path leading to this rustic oasis in downtown Kanazawa.

Green curry chicken, salad and rice

The path to the Thai restaurant and exhibition space

Takemura Yuri's innovative tea bowls

A few days later, we visited Wajiima on the picturesque Noto Peninsula on the Sea of Japan. Here we went to what was supposed to be a simple restaurant for a sushi and rice lunch. Sounds simple, and in some ways it was, but the fish was extraordinarily fresh, and the presentation clean and inviting. The line of people waiting to get into the restaurant was ample testimony to the excellence of the food.

Sushi over rice lunch in Wajima

Great ingredients + honest simplicity = great lunch.

Bobby Jay

Japan 2015 - Zeniya: The Pinnacle of Elegance

After our wonderful meal at Beniya, we moved from the sublime to the even more sublime and dined at Zeniya, one of the best restaurants in Japan. This restaurant features "ishoku dogen," which means food that not only nourishes but heals. But this is not a health food restaurant.

In the restaurant's own words: "The pinnacle of Japanese cuisine is a collaboration between the content and the container. At Zeniya, Chef Shinichiro Takagi supervises every ingredient and detail of decor. From every dish and vessel to every flower, making each creation a perfect instant of harmony." As you can see, they were successful: a series of magnificent creations surely produced a feast for all the senses.

The meal started with a beautiful consomme with specks of shiso and a handful of trout eggs (this, arguably, was health food),

Consomme at Zeniya

and a little vegetable dish (note the seasonal chrysanthemum leaves) with a clear broth with matsutake mushrooms and a green vegetable on the side,

Vegetable dish with clear broth at Zeniya

followed by a sashimi dish,

and then, the pièce de résistence, a plate containing a "chestnut," but not an ordinary chestnut: here a boiled small chestnut is pierced by grilled soba noodles to simulate a cracked open unshelled chestnut. This was not just a virtuoso performance (the chef said it takes 15-30 minutes to make each one) but also delicious, mixing the earthy taste of roasted buckwheat noodles with the creamy sweet taste of the kernel of the chestnut. Accompanying the chestnut, and equally beautiful, was a tiny cherry tomato flavor bomb inside the skeleton of a Chinese lantern. The presentation was completed with two autumnal colored leaves and a shrimp and seasonal vegetable plate. For me, this course, and especially the chestnut, was the culinary highlight of the entire tour.

Autumn on a magnificent plate at Zeniya

After this, the orange, the green and seasonal theme continued with a pairing of a grilled shiitake mushroom and an amazingly orange organic medium-boiled egg, followed by a beef course in a bowl reflecting the orange and green and maple leaf themes.

Mushroom and meat dishes at Zeniya

Finally, miso soup and rice and pickles, but not the normal steamed rice: this rice was made with impossibly fine slices of scallion and generous slices of fried fish and mushrooms, making it extraordinary in its own right.

Rice, pickles and miso soup at Zeniya

This kind of meal is not for everyday, and I must admit that it was not the favorite meal of all members of the tour from the standpoint of taste.

But it is impossible not to be dazzled by the intellectual content, execution, taste and overall beauty of this gastronomic experience.

Bobby Jay

Japan 2015 - Beniya Mukayu: An Elegant Ryokan

Leaving Wanosato, we headed for Takayama, where we strolled the open air market,

Dried persimmons at Takayam's morning market

 and then wandered the picturesque streets to a couple of interesting local museums.

Persimmons drying in downtown Takayama

From Takayama we went to Shirakawa-go, perhaps the prettiest village in Japan, and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Shirakawa-go features gassho-style thatched buildings that resemble Alpine chalets, not surprising in light of the huge snowfalls in these, the "Japanese Alps."

Shirakawa-go: is there a prettier village anywhere?

After exhausting our camera batteries, we left for the luxurious Beniya Mukayu Inn, a member of the prestigious Relais and Chateau group. The rooms come equipped with private  outdoor cedar tubs, but the communal baths (of which I partook) are very lovely, too. The food, needless to say, is exquisite.

Dinner was, as usual for a high-end ryokan, an elegant, seasonal, multi-course kaiseki affair.

We started with something I can no longer identify (fish roe?), partially obscured by a leaf skelaton, and a pretty spectacular vegetable plate.

Starters an Beniya Mukayu

Next was a wonderful, and surprisingly not scary, sea cucumber soup served in a hollowed out real cucumber.

Then a seasonal vegetable medley with a chestnut, some gingko nuts, a half potato,  a shishito pepper, a shiitake mushroom and a slice of precious matsutake

Seasonal vegetable medley

Following this was fish presented hidden between two thin cedar planks, a meatball soup and dessert consisting of an ice cream sandwich and fresh fruits.

Fish, soup and dessert courses at Beniya Mukayu

A ryokan experience is not complete without breakfast. There was a morning yoga class in the dining room so we had to suffer along with a bento breakfast in the room. But not just any bento, a lovely, healthful and tasty one.

Breakfast bento at Beniya Mukayu

The next day, however, we had a more classic breakfast. I had the Japanese one, a small part of which is pictured below, while other had a satisfying Western style meal.

Japanese breakfast at Beniya Mukayu

Beniya is not exactly on the beaten track, but a great place to go if you are in Central Japan.

Bobby Jay

Japan 2015 - Wanosoto: A Great Rustic Ryokan

After our wonderful but huge lunch at Hinokiya in Gero Onsen, we traveled to Wanosoto, a lovely traditional inn near Takayama.

The first thing one sees upon entering this ryokan is a traditional charcoal brazier with a boiling kettle hung on a hook above it. After dinner we returned to sit around the fire enjoying sake and the comforting smell of burning charcoal.

Large brazier near Wanosato's entry

Wanosoto's huge rooms are in separate buildings scattered along the property, each with views of a rushing stream and, at this time of year, glorious foliage.

A room (a house, really) at Wanosoto

The food was excellent, and we hugely enjoyed it despite being more than sated at lunch.

Early dishes included a vegetable medley with pickled loches (a small fish) beautifully presented on a pull-out tray from a lacquer box, and a sashimi plate incorporating a whole larger loche.

Vegetables and pickled baby loches (lower left)

Big loche with sashimi

and dobi mushi, a soup dish filled with ___ that is always served in a crockery vessel like this one.

Dobi mushi -- soup and vegetable inside

Next up was local hida beef, as good and well-marbled as the more-famous kobe beef, which we grilled ourselves on a plate over a hibachi, accompanied by a slice of shiitake mushroom that cooked in the sizzling fat. Some found this dish to be too rich; others, including me, found it sublime.

Extremely marbled hida beef and mushroom, before and while cooking

As is traditional at a good ryokan, breakfast the next morning was copious and excellent. Among the assorted plates was another portion of the precious hida beef, this time grilled in miso over a leaf instead of a ceramic plate. Fantastic.

And the obligatory grilled dried fish as a principal course, served with very typical slices of rolled omelet,

followed by rice and pickles and miso soup. A good, if rather excessive, start to the day.

Bobby Jay

Japan 2015 - A Truly Excellent Lunch on the Road

After three days based in Nagoya visiting ceramic artists in Gifu and Aichi Prefectures, our tour headed north to the mountain town of Takayama by the scenic route, passing some lovely fall scenery,

On the road to Takayama

with a stop at Arimatsu Harumi, known for its intricate traditional tie dying,

Arimatsu Harumi main street

and Gero Onsen, known for its hot springs. More to the point, we stopped at a local Gero restaurant, Hinokiya, and had an outstanding and gargantuan lunch.

The meal began with a seasonal vegetable appetizer and an amazing, soul-satisfying wild mushroom soup. This was one of the best soups I have ever eaten, earthy and redolent of the old wood that is so present in Japan, with each type of mushroom providing a separate layer of tast. Lke most of the tour members, I had multiple bowls, which made it difficult (but not impossible for me) to finish the subsequent dishes.

Seasonal (chestnut, potato, maple leaf) vegetable plate at Hinokiya

Japanese comfort food: Hinokiya's wild mushroom soup

The soup was followed by a sequence of excellent dishes, the best of which was the beef salad.

Chawan mushi, a pumpkin egg custard

Steak salad, seasonal presentation

Fried fish filets

Soba noodles with tofu and nori (dried seaweed)

Then, more than sated, we moved on to Wanosato ryokan, a rustic but luxurious inn, for the night. But that's another story.

Bobby Jay