I ate a lot of interesting things in Tokyo. FYI I’m not a vegetarian, not really a picky eater and above all that I like to be especially adventurous with cuisine while traveling. Even if I may VOM. WARNING: some of these things might make you VOM. Esp if you are a hardcore veggie.
God this beef was SO GOOD
Tonkatsu (pork cutlet with shredded cabbage) See that swoop of mustard? Didn’t know it was going to be so hot and my cheeks started trembling. We agreed it was the most traumatic thing I ate during the whole trip.
Noodles! (think this was Ramen)
Lots of Gyoza
Japanese Curry with Chicken Cutlet
Daikon in various ways (some kind of sea moss or something on the top here?)
Jellyfish (looked like grapefruit and was crunchy)
HORSE (taste was fine but the thought of eating My Little Pony was a bit unnerving)
Cow tongue ( I know you can get tacos lengua here in CA but I have this rule: Do not eat anything I can french kiss. I just imagine this tongue in my mouth swishing around and not in the sexy way. But I tried it anyway and after chewing this rubber for a whole minute and still wasn’t able to swallow it. I was fearful I was just going to spit it out, but I conquered! Eyes were a little watery. Thankfully I had a giant MUG of vodka to help it go down.
And lastly, Nato (fermented soybean with a sticky icky texture, mixed with mustard and some sort of sauce. Baby girl could NOT do this one: reminded me of a scene in Problem Child 2. Props to Emi who said it was similar to gorgonzola)
Now treats to cleanse your eyes…
Cupcakes upon our arrival to Tokyo (thanks Nate!) These were so soft and delicious.
Cute donuts that came in a variety of toppings and melted in your mouth!!
Ice cream to cool us off at Ghibli! I had banana!
Daikon again! This time with ice cream (I prefer it this way to the sea moss tower)
Oh GAWD cross between an ice cream /snow cone. I’m in LOVE
ahhh let me taste the beers of your country!
My absolute favorite thing I ate in Tokyo. I had the BIGGEST sweet tooth over there btw. Crepes from Angels Heart in Harajuku!
Come to me cheesecake caramel delight!
And now I must go on a diet. Which is hard because you know how I missed me some tacos. Would you eat any of these things? Horse? Jellyfish? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?
26 comments
i’m hongry
I think the best part of the gyoza was the baby deer on the plate.
That fermented soybean stuff always makes me think of The Sneeze. I left baked beans in my sink ‘soaking the pot’ for two days and had something resembling that. the HORROR!
I wouldn’t eat those now because I’m vegan and all but I’m ususally open to trying things and willing to risk getting sick. Like street vendors, etc.
I’m trying to think what weird stuff I’ve ever eaten and it hasn’t been too crazy though. I guess alligator would have to be it.
Lame.
GIMME DEM CREPES
i gotta give you props on the horse meat. seriously. i think i may give you a crown.
The soup looks yummy!
I ate horse *accidentally* in France – apparently it’s more common than beef…it did taste just like beef though.
I’ve also had Shark (not so nice), Kangaroo (couldn’t help but feel bad thinking of eating Skippy!), Ostrich (nice) & Wild Boar (nice too).
I don’t do offal, most seafood/shellfish or baby animals! (i did once eat Veal @ a wedding & it was tasty but when i found out what it was i almost cried! Ha!)
Did I tell you about eating Harsmar? For a wedding banquet? I’ll let you read about it yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasma
i am glad you put the desserts last because i was a little unnerved for a hot minute there but those delicious looking treats made it a little better.
Ha, that baby deer is so CUUTE! I hope you saved it, I would stick it on a headband if it’s as small as it appears.
Also: major props for really diving into the culture and getting the full experience! I wouldn’t eat horse because I own one and I love her… but spicy mustard? Bring on the fiiiiiiiiire!
So…why is it that there’s a fuzzy little deer by the dumplings…?
I’m so sad that I’ve never gotten to try horse, but I can swear…nato is the one thing that I’ll never give a second chance!
i’m sorry, is everyone just going to ignore the fact that Miss Mace Elaine ate a fucking frogs fallopian tubes?
baby girl i do not know you but i’m gonna go ahead and say you are a god amongst men in my books for that.
she just blew my fucking MIND with FALLOPIAN TUBE DESSERT SON!
RIE RIE?! do you hear this? she basically told us to sit the fuck DOWN with our horsemeatjellyfishnato bullshit. she said das churrens foodz bo. we better stop playin Rie! fallopian tubez YA HURD?
SICK props goes out to mace.
what did it taste like?
Ramune!!!
When I lived in Christchurch (in New Zealand) we had something called “the challenge” by where we would blindfold a friend and present them with a bottle of Ramune. We would then remove the blindfold and they would have to figure out how to open it. Longest was 30 minutes! haha
They may originally be French, but I think the Japanese can lay claim to the best crepes in the world. There’s a Japanese-owned crepe stand in the centre of town (seriously, dull little English Midlands town but this place looks like it’s owned by Hello Kitty, it’s amazing) and they’re absolutely delicious!
I’m with Emine! Fallopian tube dessert! I’m done. I can’t win this one!
wow, love that you’re so adventerous!! Those sweets just made me want to cheat on MY diet SO bad!
@Hena – me too mommacita
@Joelle – oh god The Sneeze!! UGH makes me SO grossed out and it takes a lot for me to be grossed out!
@Poochie – Alligator!! How was that? Sounds like it would be tough like that cow tongue!
@Tiffany – I MISS DEM
@Ladyminky – Holy shit kangaroo!!! How was THAT?? At one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in LA they have ostrich tacos. They are really tasty!
@Mace – YOU WIN. Hands down. Your short yet POWERFUL comment caused a flurry of text messages to me at 12am. (see emine’s comment) YOU WIN GIRL. FALLOPS!?!? Please tell us MORE
@Mickay – I know boo! You know you are the #1 person I think of when I eat/look at weird things of nature. HIPPIE! jk love 2 love you!!
@Limespark – the baby deer was a present we brought for a friend in Japan! She was clever enough to set it on the plate for a nice photo prop! Take the mustard! I’ll take your horse and a piece of bread!! JUST KIDDING!! That’s a terrible joke!! WHAT AN ASSHOLE
@Alice – it was a present we brought from LA to our friend in Japan! Didn’t come with the gyoza although maybe it should have! I commend you for trying nato a first time. I couldn’t bring myself to!!
@Emine – I CANT. I KNOW. YOU ARE KILLING ME HERE WITH YOUR DISBELIEF AND AWE AND LOLs. I am about to send a message to Mace immediately to get more information!!
@Vixel – It’s just proof that Japanese just does everything BETTER THAN EVERYONE! Well maybe that’s going too far but gawtdamn those crepes. I would slap MYSELF with a bag of hot silver dollars to have just ONE MORE TASTE. The place you talk about sounds cute!! Pic?
@Jaka – Have you eaten anything weird though?? I wanna know what!!
@Ibelle – Thanks! Seriously. I have to diet so freaking hard after this trip!!!
/laughs: Alrighty! I’ve eaten shark, snails, alligator, chicken feet, squirrel, and ostrich. I think there’s other weirdo things, I just can’t come up with them at the moment.
Gator is actually really amazing and not tough at all if it’s cooked properly). It’s got a consistency similar to tender pork or (and I hate to say it) fully-cooked chicken. I had it cooked in a creamy sauce on top of (real not Cream of Wheat-style) grits down in New Orleans. I’m drooling just thinking about it!
Ahahahaha I was going to check here again and I forgot.
So it was at a Chinese wedding banquet, where they pull out all the stops. And this ain’t no Americanized shit, either. There were 10 dishes, all more extravagant than the last, but semi-mundane: abalone, whole baby octupuses (boo), goose feet, shark fin soup, and the like. The menu was on each table, translated into English for, basically, our table (the only white people table out of 18). The only thing that wasn’t completely translated was the last dish. It said Harsmar with red dates. None of us knew what it meant. My boss said that they had something like that near his house, and it mean “snow frog” or something like that. I figured it was just a colloquialism.
Really, it just seemed like a sweet, loose pudding. I didn’t eat very much because I was stuffed to the gills.
Trevor and I looked it up the next day, laying in bed. It was dead silent in my apartment for about five minutes. DEAD SILENT. And then we spent the rest of the next day telling EVERYONE WE KNEW what we had done.
I’m just now catching up on your TOKYOOOO posts and of course I admire the FOOD POST. So honry.
GIMME SUMMA DAT BEEF, BB.
A SWEET LOOSE PUDDIN’ M’LOOOOORD PLE HALP ME
luv2luvUmace!
It probably doesn’t look anywhere near as cute when it’s not in the dull grey concrete context of the rest of the town, but I’ll try and snap one when I go shopping on Saturday!
Holy WHAT? You had you some horse?! BRAVE! The weirdest thing I’ve eaten was, in the same sitting, but different courses, lamb brain and lamb testicle. Both tasted, felt and, yes, popped, exactly as you would think. NO MORE PLEASE!
That Gyoza looked delish!
I’m betting the food out there has 1,000% more overall flavor than food in even the finest Japanese restaurants out here. Oui ou non?
The second half of that was totally drool inducing.
must. have. cute donuts.
Brica-brak deers on da plate!?!
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