meals i ate in japan that i can’t stop thinking about
théo and i went on our honeymoon in january and spent a good chunk of it in japan. i wanted to share a bit of a travel diary here, reflecting on some of the very special places we dined at. these are meals i have thought about every day since returning, some of the best meals of my life, and would go to again in a heartbeat if i could.
truthfully, there are many many more places i still daydream about near daily, and would love to eat at again, so if you’re looking for more recommendations from our japan trip (22 to be exact), you can find them on the amigo app. use the code PARISGO to skip the wait, and if you want my recommendations for paris, nyc (which i just updated yesterday with a new rec.), jersey city (where i live), the hudson valley, madrid, rome, and sicily you can find those on amigo as well.
heading into our early dinner at torisho sai, i was a tad disheveled - quite cold (we had just spent the afternoon outdoors at the gorgeous gardens of nijō castle), and a bit tired (it was the second day of our trip). however, as soon as we got in the door and took off our coats, my warmth and energy returned.
the restaurant itself is a converted home. it has dark wood with copper accents and large glass windows looking out onto a garden. guests are seated at a large table overlooking the multiple fires used for cooking all of the food. the fires both warmed us and lit the room beautifully. i felt like i had been welcomed into a friend's cozy home and they were about to cook me a phenomenal meal.
chef matsuzaki greeted each diner and showed us the different cuts of chicken we would be eating during the meal: skin, wings, neck, marinated eggs, loin, a leg cooked in broth, and additional vegetables. the chef and his team over the next two hours prepared incredibly delicious and flavorful dishes with a variety of techniques. with every dish i was wowed. despite all of them being chicken, each cut had their own unique texture and flavor. i left this meal with a full heart and stomach.
p.s. reach out through instagram to book
during this trip, i was a total passenger princess. théo, with help from eric (the pursuit of food perfection), planned and booked every single meal we ate. théo created an itinerary spreadsheet, and i would look at it each day to see where we would be eating next, perusing the google reviews.
one of the reviews for yamamoto menzou caught my eye: they described the udon noodles as very chewy on the inside and fluffy on the outside. upon taking my first bite of the spicy miso udon noodles i ordered, i could not agree more. it was so perfect: flavorful and soul-warming on a very cold day (i also love how they serve the spicy miso on the side so you can have a few slurps of the broth without the spicy miso before adding + play with the spice level). the burdock tempura was also delicious, a little bitter, sweet, salty, and crunchy. if you happen to go in warmer months be sure to try the cold udon dishes they are well known for (in the winter they only serve hot dishes).
p.s. reservations open three days in advance. i suggest having your hotel call to book.
we were only spending 48 hours in hokkaido, but we made sure to book a night at yoichi sagra, a ryokan (i.e., inn) and restaurant in the countryside. we took a train running along the sea. it was stunningly gorgeous, and we loved watching the waves crash into the snow-covered shore while snow continued to fall (throughout our stay in hokkaido it didn’t stop snowing, over 20” in total). after the train, there was a lovely taxi ride through the town. the trip itself was so beautiful.
upon arriving at the inn, we were very warmly greeted and went to our room to warm up and take a bath (the baths are great). just two hours later, dinner began. the restaurant only has three tables, and the menu changes near-nightly, led by the seasons. the first dish was a sticky, savory-sweet, and chewy roasted sunchoke. we had seen them outside the restaurant just three hours earlier when checking in… talk about farm to table. the entire meal was delicious, but highlights included the best piece of salmon i have ever had (it just melted on the tongue) with a bright and bitter salad on top, and the fried dough topped with cured fish and horseradish. we chose to go with the wine pairing, which is not to be missed and features exclusively wines from hokkaido. the wines were quite interesting and the bottles were not revealed until the end of the meal which was super fun.
the following morning we were served an unbelievable breakfast. among many other items, there was cured salmon, ikura, roasted deer, soup, and some of the best rice we had on the entire trip. before returning to sapporo, we took a walk through one of the neighboring wineries in the snow. it was the perfect end to a beautiful stay.
p.s. has self booking through the tock platform
fantastic sushi in an intimate setting. the chef here is so kind and we were so wowed by the food he and his team prepared. i could write more, but i think photos will be much more convincing.
one of the first dishes we had was thick cuts of abalone in a delicious and rich monkfish liver sauce. we happily got to enjoy this a second time right after the course finished (this time with rice).
the otoro (if i’m remembering correctly) was lightly cured in soy sauce, while the akami took a quick bath in soy sauce before being served (it was so great we ordered a second piece at the end of the meal). the shrimp was just barely cooked, bringing out a delicious texture and sweetness.
the most memorable dish was the makizushi. the outside of the rolled sushi was fish with shiso leaf inside. the technique is amazing, so beautiful and so delicious.
p.s. book through tableall
while eating at tonkatsu narikura i was unusually quiet. when théo turned to me and asked if i was okay, i responded, “this is the best tonkatsu i have ever had, or will ever have, in my life.”
when dining here, you get to try many different cuts of tonkatsu: the rib, which is half lean, half fatty, and quite flavorful; an incredibly soft loin; and the millefeuille (layers of thinly sliced meat packed together) which is both tender and fatty. to compliment the perfectly cooked meat, the fry is also perfect - light, crisp, and crunchy. the meal is rounded out with some accompaniments: miso soup, pickles, rice, cabbage salad, tonkatsu sauce, and mustard. we also ordered a few of the specials – fried shrimp and chicken – both perfectly cooked. the chicken was sublime, super tender with a delicious tartar sauce.
p.s. book through omakase
absolutely phenomenal ramen. there's not much else to say other than run, don’t walk. the broth is light but packs a ton of flavor, the meat is delicious and tender, the noodles are perfectly cooked and chewy, and every component in every bowl is perfectly executed. if you go with someone else (or a group) get multiple kinds so you can share. there were three of us and we each had a different favorite. i also highly recommend ordering the shumai to start.
p.s. this restaurant is walk-in only (you grab a ticket, place your order, and come back at your assigned time).
getting a table here is not easy (and requires taking a 60 minute bullet train from tokyo and a 25 minute walk through shizuoka), but it was well worth it. dining here was one of the best experiences of my life.
at the beginning of the meal, the chefs were preparing the vegetables - at 12:46 pm the sweet potato had been scored and put into the fryer. about 90 minutes later it was taken out of its oil bath and then cracked apart into pieces at 2:33 pm (according to the time stamp from the video above). it was one of the most heavenly bites of food i have ever tried, warm and unbelievably creamy with a little bit of crunchy salt and some crunch from the fry to balance. i seriously had no idea a sweet potato could be like this. it was one of the best desserts i have ever had and has changed my perception of what a dessert can be.
long before we tried the sweet potato, we were wowed by the first piece of fried fish we had, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at our first bite (and embarrassingly, according to my videos of the food, a lot of “wooooowwww” when looking at dishes on the plate). we told the chef it was the best piece of cooked fish we had ever had. shortly thereafter we had the next fish course, which was somehow even better, and the one after that too… théo and i started laughing, in part out of glee that everything was so phenomenally perfect, and in part because we could not stop ourselves from expressing to the chef that each dish was one of the best things we had ever eaten in our life.
while every dish was a standout, some incredibly memorable ones were the fried onion (i love onion rings, and this is the best fried onion i’ve ever had, from the green tops down to the roots), lotus root served with bonito flakes that texturally was one of the more things i have ever tried in my life - and put a big goofy grin on my face, and squid heads stuffed with squid legs.
i would love to tell you more, but i don’t want to give too much away. i could not recommend this restaurant any more strongly, it was one of the most humbling experiences of my life as a chef.
if you want to read more of my recommendations for japan – or you’re planning a trip to paris, nyc, the hudson valley, madrid, rome, or sicily – you can find those recommendations on amigo and use the code PARISGO to skip the wait.
to wrap this up, i want to express my gratitude to both my husband and eric from the pursuit of food perfection, who worked together to plan our dining itinerary and book the restaurants! i felt like the absolute luckiest girl in the world, and this was such a special way to celebrate our honeymoon.
What a fabulous way to mark your honeymoon! The memories will last a lifetime 💐