A neighborhood in Shinjuku that I can navigate no problem.
One of my favourite things while in Japan is to just walk around. Not much brings me more joy than to walk around a neighborhood and say, “I know where we are!” That may sound simple, but in Tokyo it is especially exciting because none of the streets are named. Well, not none of them, only the most prominent streets have names. All of the side-streets and alleys (and there are a lot) are not named. You just have to know where you are and know the usual meeting spots. Recognizing your whereabouts makes you feel familiar with a place in an intimate sense. I hope I get to go back to Japan one day, walk around Shinjuku, and say, “oh, I know this place, I have been here before, I know how to get to our destination without a map!”
Yamachan, or 世界の山ちゃん (Sekai no Yamachan) as it is written in Japanese, is a chain restaurant which started in Nagoya that is most famous for their chicken wings. These wings are outstanding. They are deep-fried, tossed in a savory sauce, and coated in an obscene amount of black pepper. Each serving comes with 5 wings, which costs ¥480 ($5.75 Canadian). During our most recent trip to Japan we went to Yamachan twice and I look forward to the day when I can eat these delicious wings again, with a pitcher of the cheap beer to go with them.
One of the day trips outside of Tokyo we went on during our trip was to Mount Takao or as it’s called in Japanese Takao-san (高尾山 – these are the Kanji for Takao-san & they mean Tall, Tail, Mountain), which basically means Takao Mountain or Mr. Takao.
Mount Takao is 53km away from Shinjuku, which works out to be about an hour train ride from Shinjuku Station via the Keio Line Limited Express. The cost, one-way, was ¥390 (about $4.68CDN). The train ride itself is pretty standard when it comes to trains leaving Shinjuku statin and heading for the ‘country-side’. The majority of the ride is above-ground, in contrast to the almost completely underground rides in central Tokyo.
Upon arriving at Takaosanguchi Station you are greeted by a large billboard-esque sign showing you the variety of hiking routes on the mountain, as well as the 3 different ways to reach the base of the actual mountain. These 3 ways include; just straight-up walking up the whole entire mountain side, taking a chair lift, or taking a cable car. Both the chairlift and the cable car cost ¥490 for a one-way ride. We took the cable car because that is what I wanted to do and one of the main reasons that I wanted to go to Mount Takao. The cable car is a funicular line and is the steepest railway line in Japan with a 31° max. elevation. It travels a total distance of 1km with a vertical interval of 271m and the trip takes about 5 minutes.
Mount Takao is important in the world of ascetic Buddhism. Along the mountain there are many spinning stones that correspond with one of the six senses (ears, eyes, nose, tongue, mind, and body.) You are to spin all of these stones on your walk up the mountain in order to purify your sense. While I have no idea how many stones there are to spin because 1) I didn’t bother counting because I know I didn’t see them all & 2) can’t seem to find anyone who was counted them on the internet, I a certain there are over 100.
Unfortunately, some of the
trails were closed because they were damaged from Typhoon #19. However, this
did not impact our visit because there are far more trails than one can hike in
a day.
My favourite part of our Mount Takao visit was unexpectedly coming across a shrine built into the mountain. We were the only people in this particular spot. It felt like it was there just for us to discover. The first thing you see is a stone torii gate, which marks the entrance to the shrine. Before you may walk through the gate you must wash your hands & mouth (the washing station is to the left of the spinning stone), which is Shinto tradition. Walk through the gate (never through the centre, but on one of the sides), ascend the stairs (watch out for spiders!), and you reach the entrance to the mouth of a cave. The ceiling of the cave is so low that even I had to duck & it was dripping ice cold water. Once you make it down the short corridor you reach the altar. The experience of finding this shrine was one of the highlights of the trip for me because it was so unexpected and unplanned.
On October 20th we went to the second (and final) Michelin star restaurant of our trip, Tapas Molecular Bar.
Tapas Molecular Bar is a 1 Michelin star restaurant on the
38th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, which is a 5-star hotel
in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Even though Tapas Molecular Bar only serves 16 guests per
night (2 services of 8 people) it was very easy to get a reservation to; I sent
the hotels reservation line an email with my details and the date I wanted to
dine, I held our reservation with a credit card, and we were all set. The most
confusing and difficult aspect of this dining experience was finding the
correct elevator to take us up to the Oriental Lounge, where the restaurant is
located. This hotel is massive; there were many different elevators and guards
everywhere, what with it being a 5-star hotel. After wandering around for
almost 10 minutes searching, we finally asked an employee and they led us to
where we needed to go.
Once we ascended to the 38th floor we were,
obviously, still in an immensely luxurious world. I had never and will probably
never in the future be in such a beautiful lounge/restaurant/bar. We were first
seated in the lounge area, as it was not time to be seated for dinner. We were
handed an incredibly extensive drink menu and ordered a couple of cocktails to
go with our dinner. When it was time for
our dinner service we were led to bar style seating to begin.
The first thing you see when you are seated is a small tool
box wrapped in a bandana; the bandana is to be used as your napkin. All of the
guests bandanas are different colours and you are told you are welcome to
switch if you’d prefer a different colour. I stuck with the red one I was
given. After you settle on your bandana colour the chef tells you to open your
tool box, that you will be using everything in this tool box throughout the
meal, and to please locate your menu. At a normal
restaurant locating ones menu is simple, menus are always on some form of paper.
Not here. The menu was printed on the backside of a tape measure. This really
sets the stage for the fun dining experience you are about to have.
The meal consisted of 10 dinner courses, followed by 4
dessert courses. Everything was spectacular. The chef was a joy to converse
with and just happened to be from Vancouver.
My stand our courses were; Course 2: Foie Gras Saag Paneer and Course 11 (dessert #1): Mushroom
Overall I had a fantastic dining experience. The dishes were creative and delicious. The chef was friendly and thoughtful. I had a lot of fun and if you are ever in Tokyo and really want to splash out on a meal, I highly recommend this place.
And now, the photos!
All courses are pictured except for the final dessert course, which was a take on the After Eight. A mint chocolate meringue is dipped into liquid nitrogen and you are instructed to pop it into your mouth, chew it like crazy (or else you could burn your mouth from the intense cold), and breath out of your nose while you chew (because it makes smoke come out of your nose and looks cool).
Our adventure to Den really started on August 13. They only take reservations by phone and they release the dates 2 months in advance, so you have to call exactly 2 months before you want to go or you may be out of luck. In order to call Japan I subscribed to a free calling subscription on Skype which gave me 300 minutes. At 8pm on August 13th, I started calling. They only have one phone line, with one person taking the calls. Most of the calls I made were dropped and about 10 actually rang, but after 40 minutes and 200 calls I finally got through to a human and made our dinner reservation! On October 10th at 7:30pm we would be dining at Den.
A little information about Den
Den is a 2 Michelin star restaurant in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. In 2018 it was rated as The Best Restaurant in Japan and in 2019 it was rated No. 2 Best Restaurant in Asia. (by theworlds50best.com)
My experience
Den was the
first Michelin star restaurant I had ever been to and it was above and beyond
what I expected. It was an unforgettable experience.
The hospitality was exceptional. The food was outstanding. The atmosphere was
warm and welcoming. They truly think of everything to ensure your dining
experience is phenomenal.
During the 9 course meal I, obviously, became increasingly stuffed. I normally can’t eat very large portions and 9 courses was becoming a lot. The genuine concern they had for me as I showed outward signs of discomfort was touching. During the final few courses they brought me smaller portions, which I was still unable to finish. Even so, the meal was so positively memorable that, a month later, I can still recall specific ingredients used in the dishes and the Japanese names of the ingredients.
The Food
Course 1: A take on the Japanese dessert, Monaka. Traditionally these are wafers filled with red bean, but this one was filled with foie gras and persimmon jam.
Course 3: DFC (Dentucky Fried Chicken). The DFC wing was boneless and stuffed with wild rice and a few veggies. There are two different versions of the DFC box, each with a list of the chefs favourite restaurants from around the world.
On October 7th Aaron and I will be making our second trip to Japan. Our first time traveling there was last September for 2 weeks. This time around we will be there for 30 days. We will be spending the majority of our time in Tokyo, since it has so much to offer. We will also be spending a few days in both Osaka and Kyoto, as well as taking a few day trips; Nikko, Kamakura, Yokohama, and Mount Takao.
Goals for this trip
Megan
To eat all of the food!
Last year upon returning home I had many food regrets.
Did I eat as much as I could?
Did I try as many new and
interesting foods as possible?
Did I cross enough foods
off of my Food Bucket List?
My answer to these questions is; NO!
This time I have a list of well over 200 bars, restaurants,
and bakeries to try.
I do not intend to eat at all of them, but I will make a big dent in this list.
We have reservations for a couple of Michelin star restaurants;
these will be our first Michelin star experiences.
Aaron
To me this trip is largely symbolic. It is the big event before we start to transition to the next stage in our life.
Megan and I plan to start a family soon after this trip and I want to have an epic and memorable adventure prior to this.
Adventure to me means novelty, excitement, and fun! I want us to have a blast!
We have done an immense amount of research and cognitive work to make sure we have the experiences we will enjoy the most.
My goal is for each day in Japan to have a memorable experience that we can look back on for the rest of our lives.
