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Why Would You Cook in Tokyo When You Can Eat Out So Well?Eating in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Why Would You Cook in Tokyo When You Can Eat Out So Well?

Why would you cook in Tokyo when you can eat out so well is something I’ve been asking myself every day. Tokyo is the first destination of our year-long grand tour where I haven’t cooked. If you’ve been to Tokyo, you can appreciate why. If you haven’t, then read on.

One of the huge advantages of staying in a holiday rental over a hotel is having a kitchen to cook in, which is what we’ve tried to show you so far this year on our global grand tour.

For us, cooking isn’t about saving money, although that’s obviously a bonus, but is more about being able to visit local markets, buy and cook fresh local produce, and to cook the dishes I’ve learned to make from locals (from Marrakech to Puglia), from chefs (in Barcelona, Paris and Kotor), and at cooking schools (from Venice to Paris).

Occasionally we’ll also do a bit of entertaining, whether it’s to cook dinner for new friends (in Ceret, Sardinia and Puglia) or hold a party or two (in Dubai and London). But mostly, food is an avenue way to get beneath the skin of the place we’re settling into for a while – in the case of this year-long trip, two weeks.

So why haven’t I wanted to cook here in Tokyo? Why would you cook in Tokyo when you can eat out so well?

Why Would You Cook in Tokyo When You Can Eat Out So Well?

So when I first laid eyes on the compact, well-equipped kitchen in our Tokyo apartment in Akasaka, I had all intentions of making some Weekend Eggs and doing a Tokyo edition of my series on The Dish, as we have in every other place we’ve settled into so far this year. That was until our third day in the city when we realised that eating out in Tokyo is such a treat that we were never going to do much more in the kitchen than make tea or coffee or mix an evening drink.

In the mornings we’ve found that we’re often not hungry as a result of some late-night nibbling, whether it be yakitori on Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane) or a long evening at an izakaya (a Japanese bar that serves food). And due to the worst jet-lag we’ve experienced in many years, coupled with late-night drinks and conversation, we haven’t exactly been up at the crack of dawn. Of course the crack of dawn appears to be 4.30am judging by the light coming through our windows.

Breakfast doesn’t seem to be a big deal for the Japanese either. The local favourite of rice, some fish, and a raw egg was one of the dishes that I could have recreated, but that probably wouldn’t suit everyone’s taste for my Weekend Eggs, would it? There’s an omelette dish called tomago yaki, but it’s generally made in a special cake-like tin and is sweet — not really breakfast material in my opinion. So, no Weekend Eggs from me this destination.

And with the definitive plate for The Dish for Tokyo, where do we start? Gyoza? Udon? Soba? Yakitori? Sushi? Oden? Shabu-Shabu? Tonkatsu? Tempura? Truth be told, I would have had a hard time making one of these dishes for less than you could buy them in any one of the dozens of dedicated eating establishments that specialize in them — not to mention making them as good as the local chefs do, even the humble ones in food trucks.

To do a sushi cooking class when you won’t be buying fresh fish from the Tsukiji Markets every time you attempt sushi seemed futile and ultimately frustrating – it takes years to learn the art of sushi making. Even buying the fish from the markets is an art, although I didn’t do too badly prepping tuna sashimi at Enrica Rocca’s cooking school in Venice recently. We’ll save the Tokyo sushi making course for a future (longer) trip.

Plus there are so many different styles of food to try in Tokyo that as it is we have had difficulty getting through them all. One thing I desperately wanted to experience, braised pork belly (butaniku no kakuni), hasn’t appeared on any of the menus in the places we’ve been to and we’ve been kept so busy eating as it is, I haven’t had time to seek it out.

Compounding this predicament (ah, the problems of travel writers… you feel sorry for us, don’t you?) has been the enormous selection of delicious take-home snacks in the supermarkets. Lara has consumed so many dried fish snacks she has started to meow like a cat in a cat cafe.

So I make no apologies. I’m guessing it could take months of living in Tokyo before I’d be craving something that wasn’t from Japan, because the cuisine here offers so much variety. Having eaten so well in Tokyo, I’m now going to find it hard to eat Japanese food outside Japan. I want to return and eat more, not try and replicate it at home. Is there a greater compliment to a cuisine than that?

Why would you cook in Tokyo? To prove my point, here’s a sampling of some of the meals we’ve had within walking distance of our apartment, just so you get whey I won’t be cooking in Tokyo this trip.

Where We Have Eaten in Tokyo in Walking Distance From Our Apartment

Izakaya

On our first night we went out looking for noodles, but ended up eating at an izakaya (Japanese bar with food) after stumbling across Nogizaka Uoshin, an izakaya with an emphasis on seafood. The seats were milk crates topped with cushions, the diners were all locals (most on an after-work eating and drinking marathon), and the affable staff had the day’s specials handwritten on paper signs stapled to their t-shirts. It was rowdy. It was fun. The seafood was fast disappearing from the open display at the front counter, and we were in heaven. Sashimi, oysters, tempura… we couldn’t have had a better welcome to Tokyo. Another night we tried an ‘upmarket’ izakaya called Takewaka. Every single morsel of food that hit the table was sublime from the little appetisers to the eel, from the octopus to the fish skewers. Sigh.

Ramen

On one late start to the day we were headed to our favourite Japanese burger joint, Mos Burger, up the hill in Roppongi when we saw a noodle shop and ramen specialist called Kohmen, jam-packed with slurping local diners. Not a tourist in sight. We couldn’t resist slipping in and not surprisingly had some fantastic food. The basil gyoza and little succulent pork appetisers were brilliant. And the ramen soups, ladled out of absolutely enormous pots, were stunning. The ramen may have come from a chain – they have three ramen restaurants in Tokyo – and might not be from some famous noodle king, but damn it was amazing stuff.

Sushi and Sashimi

Another morning we decided we didn’t really need to try a crazily-priced sushi restaurant (where the set menus can easily pass £100 without drinks) and decided instead to risk a more affordable and more local sushi eatery that we’d noticed was very popular with office workers for lunch and local residents for dinner. While the tuna was transcendent, everything else was merely great, but as we left they were filleting a whole fish for dinner service – that’s what you want to see! It turns out that the place, Itamae Sushi, is considered great by locals. Oddly enough, they are originally from Hong Kong and have made the news in Japan recently with their bids at Tsukiji Markets for whole tuna. That explains it.

The thing is that all of these places are within easy walking distance of our apartment in Akasaka. There are so many outstanding spots to eat in our neighbourhood that we could easily spend a month having lunch and dinner here and not walk through the same restaurant doors twice.

Is it any wonder I didn’t want to spend any time in the kitchen? Why would you cook in Tokyo? How many trips to Tokyo do you think it would take before you might be tempted to cook in your own kitchen and not eat out?

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About Terence Carter

Terence Carter is an editorial food and travel photographer and infrequent travel writer with a love of photographing people, places and plates of food. After living in the Middle East for a dozen years, he settled in South-East Asia a dozen years ago with his wife, travel and food writer and sometime magazine editor Lara Dunston.

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Comments

  1. Erika Kotite says

    June 28, 2010 at 6:42 am

    Hi Terence and Lara, This is a great post. I especially like the ramen shop where the waiters wore paper signs of the days’ specials on their t-shirts. Think I need to tweet about that.
    Look forward to hearing more and maybe getting some stories on Toque! Official launch is July 11; pre-launch for press July 7.

  2. Grace @ Sandier Pastures says

    June 28, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    I so agree with you! Tokyo or Japan for that matter offers a lot of options and varieties of food that I didn’t miss anything from my country at all (well, maybe occassionally every few years or so..). I learned to cook everything Japanese even when living alone at the school dorm that it would be a nightmare when a Japanese friend would invite me to their house and ask me to cook something Filipino!

    You can make a tamago yaki unsweet version by eliminating sugar and adding dashi and shoyu,along with mirin (will give a nice tinge of sweetness but not much) and Japanese cooking wine only. But still yeah, you would need the special square pan for that.

  3. Nadiah says

    June 29, 2010 at 11:16 am

    Hi, I was bumped into your blog from lonely planet. How i wish i can travel around the world like you. I love your blog! Anyway, thanks for your current posts. It helped me a lot as I’m going to Japan next week! :-D

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Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
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#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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