Tag: tofu

Snacking on Amazake Yokocho in Tokyo

Amazake Yokocho (alley) is a lovely street in Ningyocho neighborhood in Tokyo. The name comes from the old days, before the big Kanto earthquake, when there was a popular shop selling amazake (a sweet drink made from fermented rice). The street, less than 400-meter long, is dotted by interesting shops and eateries.

The visit

I spent some time checking out the shops after a meal in Futaba restaurant.

The first obvious stop was Futaba shop itself specializing in tofu products.

In the shop you can find tofu in all imaginable ways. Most of their offering seems to cater to households or other restaurants, but…

There is a product you should not miss. Made out from soy milk, their donuts are something to try. Just a few hundred yen.

in front of the shop they have a bench and a couple of chairs where you can enjoy the donuts.

Next to Futaba, there is a shop called Morinoen specializing in toasted green tea (houjicha). You can smell the aroma of the green tea being toasted from the street. They have a nice houjicha soft-serve ice cream that I tried. They also have a tea room upstairs. The place deserved another visit.

Across the street there is a famous seller of taiyaki (the popular cake filled with read bean sauce shaped as a fish) called Yanagiya. On a Saturday afternoon the queue was just too much for me. Go on a weekday.

I did go back and got my prize during a weekday later in December (just 160 yen for one). It was peeping hot and the red bean paste was tasty, but I am not so expert to judge what makes people queue.

Next to the taiyaki place, there is a shop selling traditional sweets that I highly recommend. A lady that I suspect was the owner spoke English with me.

One of their signature product is a type of dorayaki, pancakes stuffed with red bean paste that have a tiger-pattern (for this reason is called torayaki, tora meaning tiger in Japanese) . Hence the tiger in the shop window. These are very nice gifts.

The choice was pretty amazing. In the end I tried a cake with chestnut. This sweet is called gyokuman, which consists of a chestnut surrounded by five stacked layers of red bean paste.

They even had some parfaits and their own soft-ice cream good for your stroll.

One more snack

Ningyocho is the place where ningyo-yaki were originated. These are small pancakes filled with sweet red bean paste shaped as heads. Literally, it means “cooked dolls” and is yet another reference to the doll-making businesses that were once located in the area (Ningyocho means “doll town”). The head actually are a reference to the faces of the Seven Lucky Gods. There are a few places selling those in Ningyocho. The ones pictured above were purchased from Amamidokoro Hatsune (甘味処 初音). On one of the corners of Amzake street Itakuraya is another shop selling them.  

The check

All the snacks mentioned above cost a few hundred yen each (just a few dollars). I highly recommend this street for a good snack or two.

Where in Tokyo:
Nihombashi, Ningyocho 2.
In Japanesse: 日本橋人形町2.
Website: http://amazakeyokocho.jp.

Atmosphere and delicious tofu dishes at Futaba in Tokyo

Tofu cuisine is a thing in Japan; there are even high-end restaurants serving tofu-based course meals. While exploring Ningyocho I came across a shop and restaurant specializing in tofu that I decided to try: Tofu no Futaba (豆腐の双葉) on Amazake Yokocho street. Contrary to what you might find online, the restaurant is no longer open for dinner, it only serves set lunch menus from Monday to Saturday.

The visit

I knew the restaurant was upstairs and initially I headed to the main shop on Amazake street. But it is the wrong entrance for the restaurant.

The shop keeper assigned her six year old son to escort me to the right entrance on a side street around the corner.

Actually, I later realized they had a sign explaining where to go in front of the shop, but it was all in Japanese.

It was a Saturday and there were a lot of customers in the dining room dominated by a long communal table where I sat.

No English menu, but ordering was simple since they had a nice picture menu and you can order only set menus that start at 1,000 yen. I went for the most expensive deluxe set.

The order was taken by a lovely old lady that was literally running the all place by herself. After taking the order and going into the kitchen, she ran out and from the other side of the room she asked “Ponzu ok?”. Hell, yes, it was ok, I love ponzu, a citrus-based vinegar sauce. I guess she must have had trouble with some other foreign customers so she asked. She was adorable.

Soon the lunch set I ordered arrived in all its splendor. There were three different tofu dishes, in addition to a large miso soup, rice, cabbage, and pickles.

The tofu was prepared in different styles and combined with different vegetables. I found all dishes delicious even if I might have not understood all the details.

I have filed this restaurant under “vegetarian”, but you know that in Japanese cuisine they use a lot of stocks made our from meat, so I cannot guarantee that it is really vegetarian.

After lunch I had a dessert or two on Amazake Yokocho street.

The check

The check was 1,500 yen (or 13.75 USD). All the experience was really nice and I would certainly go back for the food.

And after the meal you can stroll on Amazake Yokocho street for desserts.

Where in Tokyo:
2-4-9 Ningyocho.
Website (not updated): http://www.futaba-tofu.jp.

Hitting the noodle jack pot in Sham Shui Po – Hong Kong

Authentic hand-made food in Hong Kong is a rarity nowadays. Chain restaurants are quickly taking over all available spaces and for the long-timers the temptation to just cash-in on the touristic traffic is high. Luckily, good traditional food outlets still exist and thrive. This post is about Lau Sum Kee, a noodle place that came to a certain degree of fame with Western audiences after a visit by Anthony Bourdain and that continues to offer delicious noodles no matter what.

The shop is located in Sham Shui Po, an interesting area in itself. People used to come to Sham Shui Po mostly for the markets (there is a huge electronic market, a fashion and garment market, a Jade market, you can really find everything here). Now more and more food outlets have opened around the crowded streets and it is a perfect destination where to combine food and shopping.

The visit

I was lucky enough to be escorted by two local friends. Given the recent departure of Bourdain, I was expecting to find a long line of tourists trying to retrace the celebrity chef’s footsteps in Hong Kong. Luckily I could have not been more wrong and at around 1.30pm on a Friday afternoon there were no tourists and our small party was immediately seated (sharing the round table with two ladies, Hong Kong style for this kind of establishment).

When you step in, you can smell the aroma of fresh noodles in the air. You can see two staff members (I suppose family members as well) working on filling wontons just across the cash register. The round table are meant to be shared and, as expected, you seat on stool. The menu is in Chinese only.

I ordered soup noodles with shrimp wontons and my friend went for the classic Hong Kong brisket noodles. Pickles are available on the table to kill time while waiting for the food. Also warm water is available for free.

Finally the food arrived. You can easily detect that the noodles are hand-made: their texture is irregular and every strand seems to have its own individuality. But the real surprise was the shrimp wonton. I have eaten many shrimp wontons and so many times they are tasteless, like crunching a piece of plastic. Not these ones! The fresh shrimp flavor immediately emerged bite after bite.

Their menu is not limited to brisket and shrimp noodles. They also have fish balls, other types of meat and you can even order two or three toppings. The noodles are available both with soup and with just sauce.

The check

A reasonably sized bowl of shrimp noodles cost me 32 HKD (around 4 USD). I was extremely pleased by the experience and I plan to go back, next time probably having a combo topping.

Bonus

Not far away, we completed our short foodie excursion with a tofu pudding, another quintessential Hong Kong dish. It is a piece of cold tofu that you can mix with sugar cane. It is the perfect dessert for the summer. Among the many shops that sells tofu pudding we chose Hong Kong Kung Wo Bean Curd Factory (bean curd means tofu) that is a sort of a local institution and also offers tofu in other savory preparations. A small portion of the pudding goes for 10 HKD (1.25 USD).

Where in Hong Kong:
Lau Sum Kee: 48 Kweilin Street, Sham Shui Po
Hong Kong Kung Wo Bean Curd Factory: 118 Pei Ho Street, Sham Shui Po