Tokyo

Flashback to 30th March 2024. The 6am alarm rang, bleary eyed, I switched it off and forced myself to get out of bed before suddenly realising… today was the day! The start of my travels. Having already cancelled the trip in 2020 due to the pandemic, I was filled with trepidation. This was it, the day I had finally been waiting for. I arrived at the airport 2 hours later, bid goodbye to Mum and Dad, and headed into the airport to check in. First stop Tokyo. I was armed with a bucket list of food and restaurants to try and determined to cross everything off the list.

I landed at Narita airport at 5pm Japan Time on 31st March, the nearly 24 hour journey wasn’t so bad, I spent most of it watching movies and trying to sleep. Heading to my hotel for the night, I quickly showered and headed to bed. The next day was my first real day in Tokyo, I successfully navigated the complex train system to arrive at my hostel, before heading to 7/11. Yes, the man, the myth, the legend of Japanese convenience food was the first place on my list. I ended up with a variety of food and drink; Fanta Melon, Egg Salad sandwich, Tuna Onigiri, Dumplings with Red Bean Paste and Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste and Strawberry. The Tuna Onigiri was by far my favourite, along with the Sandwich, the Dumplings and Rice Cake on the other hand were gelatinous, gloopy and a little difficult to swallow. Definitely not something I would recommend, but the Strawberry in the centre of the Rice Cake was rather enjoyable.

Have you ever been abroad and still had a McDonalds (other fast food chains are available), even though you can have one at home anytime? I make it my mission to at least have 1 McDonalds in each country I’m in. There are always items on the menu which are not available back home. For example, in Tokyo, the Teriyaki Burger. A beautiful, sweet, sticky, messy meal. Teriyaki anything is my favourite, specifically Teriyaki Chicken, which I found at a food market opposite Tokyo National Museum a few days later. Petit Pancakes for dessert at McDonalds, I should’ve saved the dessert for another time as I was rather full after the Burger, but still managed one to two Pancakes, on the whole, they were alright.

One thing not just on the food bucket list, but on my big bucket list was to take part in a Japanese Cooking Class. Enter Yukari, owner of Tokyo Cooking Studio in Shibuya. I booked 2 cooking classes with Yukari, the first being Sushi 101. You cannot go all that way to Japan and not eat Sushi. The 4 hour class not only included learning how to make Sushi, but Miso Soup and Tamagoyaki; a sweet Japanese Omelette often eaten at Breakfast, but also served alongside Sushi. Sushi rice is already prepared ahead of the class due to time restraints, but a full recipe is emailed to you after the class. Yukari introduced me to Yuzu Sake, which I loved so much, I had to buy a bottle and bring it home. I’d been saving it for Christmas and finally cracked open the bottle on Christmas Day. The second cooking class with Yukari was a Ramen and Gyoza class. Yukari greets everyone she meets as an old friend and is full of recommendation, whether it’s things to do in Tokyo, the best places to buy Japanese food to take back home or where to get the best Japanese cookware to help you recreate the dishes at home. If anyone is looking for the best cooking classes in Tokyo, look no further than Yukari and her cooking studio. Be sure to put a pin in the map Yukari has in her studio, it’s full of places her students have travelled from.

In the days following my first cooking class with Yukari, I took part in a food tour at Tsukiji Fish Market, I’d eaten that much fish over that first week that I never wanted to see fish again, whether it was raw or cooked, I didn’t want to see it. The final part of the food tour was a meal at a restaurant above the Fish Market. The final bowl of food was bigger than expected and after spending 2 hours eating food, I struggled to finish it.

During my second week in Tokyo, I spent the best day ever at Tokyo Disneyland eating Churros and Pizza, riding It’s a Small World until I could sing the song in my sleep and watching the firework display, a long held bucket list item since my childhood.

I still had one final thing to cross off my Tokyo food bucket list… a Bento Box. Bento translates to Boxed Lunch and it does what it says on the tin, it’s eaten at lunch. I found a store in Tokyo Station which sold a variety of different Bento, from cold Bento to ones with strings, if you pulled the strings, it would heat the Bento. I chose 2 different boxes, a Yakitori Bento and a variety Bento. I started with the variety Bento, half of the box taken over by Rice. The other half Gyoza, something I think looked like cubed Yams and also something with pink on the outside and the texture of hard boiled egg whites. Gyoza, I cannot rave about them enough, well not just Gyoza, just any form of dumplings. I will eat my body weight and more in Gyoza/Dumplings. The Yakitori was a little disappointing, it was dry and tasted more like Chicken Satay rather than Yakitori.

All too soon it was time for me to pack the suitcase(which was a struggle), and head to the airport to my next destination… Singapore.

My tips for Tokyo:

• The last thing you want to be doing after a long flight is navigating the trains from Narita to your accommodation, it takes at least 75 minutes to get to Tokyo Station from Narita. Consider spending your first night at a Hotel near the airport to get some rest before travelling onto your accommodation in the city centre the next day.
• Some stores will offer Tax Free shopping to tourists if you spend a minimum of 5000 Yen. Look for the logo to see if tax free is offered. You will need to present your passport upon request and keep the items in the sealed bag until you leave the country. You may also be asked to show these items at the airport so it might be best to keep these in your hand luggage.
• Make sure you have cash with you, there are plenty of vending machines on the streets of Tokyo, some are cash only. If you have an IC or Pasmo card for the trains, you can pay at vending machines using this, but you will need cash to top up the card, as well as cash for doing laundry at your accommodation.
• If you are coming to the end of your Japanese adventures and still have a lot of coins weighing down your wallet, head to the arcades to get rid of unwanted change. It also makes for a fun afternoon.
• Make sure you take an empty suitcase, you will buy more than you expect in Japan and will definitely need an extra suitcase. I only just managed to fit everything that I had bought in Tokyo in my suitcase but I still ended up buying a new suitcase as soon as I landed in Singapore .
• The toilets in Japan… just the toilets. I have no other words for them, they are next level and need to be everywhere.

The Fine Dining Foodie

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