With more than 160 000 eating establishments in Tokyo there’s no excuse for being hungry. It’s simply a matter of finding the right food to suit the occasion.
If you’re in a hurry at lunchtime there are fast food outlets where you can watch while your meal is created. At this stall in Harajuku the chef forms takoyaki – octopus balls. With a few deft moves of his chopsticks each one is perfectly shaped and steaming hot. Choose your own topping!
You won’t have time for a sit down meal when you’re shopping at Nakamise in Asakusa. Restore your energy levels with some ningyo-yaki, small sweet cakes filled with red bean paste. They’re cooked to order in heated cast iron moulds shaped like miniature people; ningyo-yaki means “baked doll”.
For a simple snack while out walking, you could try some goma-dango cooked over hot coals at a roadside stall, with a chilled cucumber on the side. Would you like some sake with that?
At the end of a day filled with walking and watching, you’ll be looking forward sitting down to a delicious hot meal. Instead of reading the menu at each restaurant check out the window display to see the chef’s specialties.
Although these tempting dishes look real, they are actually handmade plastic models – a traditional art form known as sampuru. Even when you know the food is fake, it’s hard to believe when you see the intricate details of each dish.
So what’s for dinner? Let’s have barbecued pork with a crisp green salad, rice and hot miso soup…
and my favourite, Chicken Karaage with steamed greens and rice…
followed by a green tea KitKat for dessert!
Justin Beaver found some fake food too.
I am assuming that green KitKat is a fake, but I’m not so sure now. Is it real Carol?
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Oh yes Denzil, it’s definitely real. In fact it’s a whole packet of them. I took the photo in a supermarket near Kappabashi-Dori.
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Ooh green tea kitkat is yum!
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I have to admit, I didn’t try them. I just took the photo!
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Now I am feeling hungry!
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These two dinner meals were soooo delicious. Yum! I loved the food.
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This brings back wonderful memories of my time in Tokyo. Yum. Safe travels. D
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I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as we did.
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How much longer are you going to be in Tokyo?
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Well, technically speaking I’m not there now. We went last year. But blog speaking I have one more Tokyo post to go and my series on Japan will be finished. I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along with me.
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You found one of my favourite ever things-Japanese Kit Kats! They’re the best ever and I love the variety of flavours 😀
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I didn’t actually try them, but I did eat lots of other delicious things, especially the donuts from Mr Donut. I think Japanese donuts would be my most favourite thing ever.
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My mouth is seriously watering at this point in time. My husband loves it when I put a fried egg on top of my stirfried rice!
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Fried eggs are not my thing at all, so I didn’t try this dish. But my sister had a few meals with eggs on top.
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I think the dinner meals look the most appetising of the items in the photos. I’m not sure about the octopus balls! 😀
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No, the octopus balls didn’t do it for me either. They did look good but I wasn’t game to try one. The dinners were absolutely delicious, especially the chicken karaage.
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Luckily I have recently eaten a small chocolate Easter bunny, or my mouth would be watering at the look of those meals. 🙂
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I’m feeling quite deprived! We never seem to have much variety in our house these days (blame the cook! that’s me 😦 )
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You need some inspiration!
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Or another cook 🙂
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