Did someone say horse sashimi?
Sora An restaurant was at the footsteps of our AirBnB. We went in for a bento lunch and ended up being repeat customers.
 Super lean horse sashimi served with grated ginger and minced garlic |
Cocktail tasting at Gen Yamamoto
This is unlike any alcohol flight, the experience is closer to a sushi bar with 8 seats and a chef’s menu.
 Slightly tart ume (plum) juice tart and sparkling sake with superfine cucumber dice |
 Tomato with sanshō pepper based gin, possibly Roku. |
 Unfiltered sake, edamame and milk |
 Finnish gin, Napue, peach and wasabi |
 Yamamoto whiskey on crushed ice and summer pomelo with a few pieces of unsweetened and candied sweet potato. |
 English Vodka, Black Cow brand made from milk, with green tea |
Fruits of Japan
 A single bunch of grapes = $100 USD (approximate) |
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Pierre Hermé’s millefeuille at Isetan
 From Isetan, Shinjuku |
 Millefeuille in Paris in 2010. Thankfully, a few things don’t change. |
Isetan department store in Shinjuku is a delight for food voyeurs. Although the food court has everything, Japanese and western desserts might be the crème de la crème of the court. Weather permitting, the Isetan roof garden is a nice spot to enjoy these good eats.
Deus Ex Machina
The decor of this coffee shop in Harajuku is modern, pour is perfect and barista more hipster than most.
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Craft of food
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This is an ultra realistic hand made plastic food sample from a Harajuku mall. To learn more about the history and fascinating process, check out youtube Japanology episode of Plastic Food Samples. This food aid is particularly useful in Japan where the Google translate application fails on 99.9% of the words.
AFURI ramen in Harajuku
This ramen shop is located close to Harajuku station. It is a kitchen gleaming in steel. You order via a vending machine.
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 AFURI signature “Yuzu Shio Ramen” with chicken & dashi based shio (salt) broth, yuzu (a citrus), half nitamago (boiled egg marinated in soy and spices), chashu (marinated and braised pork belly), mizuna (mustard greens), menma (fermented bamboo shoots), nori (toasted seaweed). |
AFURI website tells us that the shop is named after Mt. Afuri, located at Tanzawa mountains in Kanagawa prefecture. As per legend, Mt. Afuri is father of Mt Fuji. Afuri is known for its sweet water, and used to be considered the sacred mountain for good harvest. And the philosophy of this ramen shop is to bring the sacred of Mt. Afuri to the food and service.
