Tokyo (archive) - Button Mushrooms

From the foodhalls of Fortnum & Masons to the stalls in Borough Market the meccas for foodies are plentiful in London. But, compared to the basement foodhalls in Japanese department stores there is no comparison. The variety and quality is amazing and some items are simply jaw-dropping.

Take the mushrooms in the above found in the Isetan foodhall in Shinjuku. Good size...fresh looking...beautifully presented...and 24,150 Yen. In proper money, about £100. These matsutake gems.....not exactly your typical pizza topping for an extra 50p!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsutake

Tokyo (archive) - The early bird gets the fish

Tsukuji fish market is a buzz of activity from the early morning and one benefit of jet lag is that you'll be up early to make the trip to this little gem in Tokyo. You have to have your wits about you though as the action is frenetic and getting run over by a trolley of fish is a real possibility.

By the entrance of the market there are a handful of tiny sushi restaurants. These consisted of just a counter from behind which the sushi chef worked. Now strangely some of these restaurants had huge queues outside whilst others were virtually empty. Given that the majority of these queues didn't look like locals I suspect this was the 'lonely planet' effect. I doubt, to the casual sushi eater, the quality between these establishments would be noticeable.

Tokyo (archive) - A world away

Whilst the next journey is some way off it's time to access the archives of my memory and look back over some past trips and the food encountered. Back in October 2007 I managed to get away to Japan for a couple of weeks taking the Shinkansen across Honshu and visiting a few major cities en route. So over the coming summer months I'll be posting some food photos and reliving some of the culinary experiences in the land where I feel tall.

Arriving in Japan it's a world away both by distance and culturally from the streets of London. Like London it's a massive city with thousands of people on the streets so things do seem familiar - but everything is just a tiny bit different - and arriving after a 12 hour flight it all adds to disorientation of a Christmas party hangover proportions.

With the brain not fully functioning and on standby mode it could be hard to find something to eat when you can't speak or read the language and English is hardly spoken. Thankfully, there are small local restaurants which use vending machines where you slot in your money and press the button of the dish you want. How do you know which dish to choose if you can't read the description on the button? Well, it's food by numbers as nearby there will be a display of plastic food and a corresponding number.

It is at this point you notice one of those tiny subtle differences between London and Tokyo. In Tokyo the vending machine actually does something rather gobble up your money offering nothing in return and no sight of a refund. The vending machine will print out a little ticket in return for your money! After the machine spits out your ticket you hand it over to the chef behind the counter and in a few minutes...hey presto...a hot bowl of noodles.

London - Fantasy Feasting

Based on the free papers on the Tube celebrities are forever eating out at restaurants. They may even be blogging about it for all I know. With all these celebrities forever feasting there is a good chance us mere mortals will see them whilst dining out.

It finally happened to me recently.

Before you scream 'what were you doing at the Ivy?' I have to tell you the location was a Dim Sum restaurant in the o2 centre on Finchley Road, North London, and the celebrity was Frank Skinner's other half, David Baddiel. (I'm sorry David but we're not exactly talking Hello magazine front page). I'm just happy we got a table after fighting our way through the paparazzi buzzing about outside.

Now the restaurant is part of a small chain in London so the menu is very familiar. I thought the dim sum was actually better cooked than the other restaurants in the chain and actually pretty good. The service though was poor with some our dishes never arriving.

Would I recommend this place? Well I have to say no as just getting there involves been stuck in a traffic jam in a car park. We must have been trying to get out for close to an hour; we even saw a couple of car prangs within the car park - no doubt caused by the frustration of the traffic jam (or maybe they were paparazzi?)

Traffic jams in car parks? Not really ideal for the quick celebrity get away after leaving the restaurant. No wonder it was only David rather than Kate Moss.

London - Sepp Platter

So what goes well with a few beers and the Champions League Final? Pub-grub and make it stodgy pub-grub. The location of this dish was the Captain's Cabin just off Haymarket. How do you find it? Well you walk down Haymarket to the Sports Cafe. Realise it is rammed. Then walk back towards Piccadilly until you find this establishment down a little side road to the left once you hit the Spar shop.

Firstly the beer. A fine selection of ales including the all-time-favourite London Pride. It is important that the first pint is well poured as this is the only pint you'll remember by the next day. Here, in the Cabin, the beer appeared well kept and in good condition.

As for the food....my expectations were not high. The Cabin had been a regular haunt during World Cup 2006 and the burger during one Poland v Germany game in particular had resembled a decent piece of shoe leather with a tomato on the side.

So it was with intrepidation, not normally seen until a penalty shoot out, that we ordered a couple of 'City Platters', two rounds of chips, and some deep fried onion rings to get our 5-portions a day quotient in. The platters consisted of some garlic bread, cocktail sausages, chicken wings, roasted new potatoes, nachos with guacamole and salsa, and a couple of pots of BBQ and sour cream dips. It did not disappoint. With an artery blocking fat content to keep a cabal of heart surgeons happy for a good few years the stodge content was perfect. The garnish of lettuce, which has no place on such a platter, was also consumed.

Well the Captain did steer a steady ship and the stodge/beer balance was maintained to perfection.

Singapore - T3 v T5

No - we're not talking about Arnie and Terminator movies. We're talking about the new T3 here in Singapore (opened in January) and Heathrow T5 (allegedly opened operationally in March). I admit I haven't visited T5 yet...I believe a trip to Cape Town in September may see me have that privilege.....but the general perception is not good. As mentioned previously there needs to be balance in life. Yin and yang....Cannon and Ball....etc. To T5's Dante's inferno we have the quiet tranquility of T3 here in Singapore where I sit now surfing the free wi-fi, listening to the tinkle of the piano from a live pianist, after visiting the free movie theatre and watching a bit of TV on the 103inch plasma screen. It's not too crowded and its very peaceful. Why can't all airports be like this?

My final meal in Singapore - it really should have been chicken rice but instead it was some ramen noodles here in T3. Teriyaki chicken ramen (dry) and a final Tiger beer....well maybe final....the heat in Singapore was too much so I got here very early.

The ramen were a revelation. I admit that at home I do partake in the odd packet of ramen noodles. Soften the ramen cake for a few minutes oin boiling water and dinner is served!! Even when in Japan last year I had assumed that the ramen would be similar to these so never had any. How wrong I was and what an opportunity missed last year. The noodles were firm and had substance to it unlike the home-made variety. They also had flavour.....I thought that was what the little packet was for? The teriyaki chicken was smothered in terayaki sauce and it was all complimented by some spring/salad onions (is there a difference?) and an egg.

Yummy.....yummy.....yummy.

Singapore - Is smoking bad for you?

The sun has been blazing during my time in this part of the world. From previous visits I very much expected clear and humid early mornings leading to thunderstorms and rain come late afternoon. Like a typical Londoner I’ve had an umbrella at hand for such occasions. So far I’ve seen rain only once and that was when getting a lift from Melaka bus station to the hotel. Apart from that it’s been sunny and humid....which has make the place awfully hot and humid all day and all night.

As with taxi drivers world-wide the taxi rivers here have also noticed the difference. The weather is changing – global warming. It’s been noticeably over the last few years they tell me. Well taxi drivers know everything even in this part of the world.

Well for lunch today it was smoked duck rice. Smoked duck rice? I’d never heard of it. After many visits to Kansas City I had tasted many smoked meats....but not yet duck. It didn’t taste very smokey to me but it was certainly tender. It came in an oyster sauce and the obligatory cucumber. Generally there were a few bones and but what do you expect given this 'venti' meal was only SGD$6.