TR: Japan & HK 7s, Sushi, Molecular Tapas and more
Mar 26, 2014, 2:02 am
#1
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TR: Japan & HK 7s, Sushi, Molecular Tapas and more
7.30am. My bags are packed and the apartment I have rented for the last 4 weeks in downtown Montreal is finally clean. First flight is at 10am and I’m waiting for a friend to give me a lift to the airport. I have not slept at all, planning to sleep as much as possible on the flights. She arrives shortly after and we get to the airport by 8.15. 10 minutes later I’m checked in and through security. I realize that there is no lounge in the domestic part of Montreal Airport, so I go to my gate to wait for my flight to Toronto.
There are no delays, I fall asleep for the entire flight and arrive in Toronto about an hour after departure. 1 of 2 flights down, however only 1 of 14 total flight time hours complete
. I have a 90 min layover so head up to the Amex lounge to grab a bite to eat and chill. The lounge here is nice, I was the only person in it so it was very quiet. Plenty of soft drinks and also some beers/wines/spirits. There were cheeses, cold meats and also some hot food – I chose some noodles, fried rice and some chicken dish. Food was fine, very edible and I had some fresh fruit salad with yoghurt for dessert.
I went down to the gate 15 minutes after boarding was meant to have started, only to see people standing about. General boarding had started so I went right up and took my seat – 19H on an Air Canada 777-300, which has no seat in front of it. Huge amount of leg room, was never knocked into by the cabin crew’s carts and the people beside me were able to get out without disturbing me too much. 2 hours of sleep, 3 meals, 4 films and many episodes of modern family later I arrive into Tokyo Narita after my 13 hour flight. The adrenalin was keeping me going as it’s my first time in Asia. My friend who is travelling with me on this trip is arriving from Boston, with a layover in D.C. His flight is due in 15 minutes after I landed so I hang around before immigration to meet up with him. After waiting a while I check my phone (free Wifi in Narita!) and see his flight is delayed for about 45 minutes. I breeze through immigration, getting asked nothing at all by the agent, and collect my bag from baggage claim. 30 minutes later I meet my friend at his carousel, go out through customs and work on getting tickets for the NEX (Narita Express).
The agents speak English so we were on the train very quickly. 90 minutes later we arrived into Shinjuku station and after a short walk we were in the lobby of our hotel, Hilton Tokyo Shinjuku. 21 hours door to door. Tokyo was near fully booked this weekend, 98% according to booking.com a day before we left. I had booked the hotel on last minute travel club’s site for well less than 50% of what it was on trivago. Our deal also somehow included breakfast, which would cost about $35 each per day normally. Since I booked on LMT, I was firstly hoping it was confirmed and secondly fully expecting to be near the ground floor in the standard room that was booked for us. Also I am not even a HHonors member. We walked up to check-in, I presented my passport & Amex card and asked if there was a complimentary upgrade for Amex cardholders. The check-in girl said she would look, but it was very full (All Japan Rugby 7s teams and support were staying there). Success, she found a room on a higher floor. 2 minutes later we are in the elevator, with keys for 3816, only to find there are only 38 floors in the hotel, great success!! Since we were on the executive floor we got a nicer, larger room and also free Wifi. Things were looking good for the week ahead.
-- up next, first 2 days in Tokyo - there will be pics
There are no delays, I fall asleep for the entire flight and arrive in Toronto about an hour after departure. 1 of 2 flights down, however only 1 of 14 total flight time hours complete
. I have a 90 min layover so head up to the Amex lounge to grab a bite to eat and chill. The lounge here is nice, I was the only person in it so it was very quiet. Plenty of soft drinks and also some beers/wines/spirits. There were cheeses, cold meats and also some hot food – I chose some noodles, fried rice and some chicken dish. Food was fine, very edible and I had some fresh fruit salad with yoghurt for dessert.I went down to the gate 15 minutes after boarding was meant to have started, only to see people standing about. General boarding had started so I went right up and took my seat – 19H on an Air Canada 777-300, which has no seat in front of it. Huge amount of leg room, was never knocked into by the cabin crew’s carts and the people beside me were able to get out without disturbing me too much. 2 hours of sleep, 3 meals, 4 films and many episodes of modern family later I arrive into Tokyo Narita after my 13 hour flight. The adrenalin was keeping me going as it’s my first time in Asia. My friend who is travelling with me on this trip is arriving from Boston, with a layover in D.C. His flight is due in 15 minutes after I landed so I hang around before immigration to meet up with him. After waiting a while I check my phone (free Wifi in Narita!) and see his flight is delayed for about 45 minutes. I breeze through immigration, getting asked nothing at all by the agent, and collect my bag from baggage claim. 30 minutes later I meet my friend at his carousel, go out through customs and work on getting tickets for the NEX (Narita Express).
The agents speak English so we were on the train very quickly. 90 minutes later we arrived into Shinjuku station and after a short walk we were in the lobby of our hotel, Hilton Tokyo Shinjuku. 21 hours door to door. Tokyo was near fully booked this weekend, 98% according to booking.com a day before we left. I had booked the hotel on last minute travel club’s site for well less than 50% of what it was on trivago. Our deal also somehow included breakfast, which would cost about $35 each per day normally. Since I booked on LMT, I was firstly hoping it was confirmed and secondly fully expecting to be near the ground floor in the standard room that was booked for us. Also I am not even a HHonors member. We walked up to check-in, I presented my passport & Amex card and asked if there was a complimentary upgrade for Amex cardholders. The check-in girl said she would look, but it was very full (All Japan Rugby 7s teams and support were staying there). Success, she found a room on a higher floor. 2 minutes later we are in the elevator, with keys for 3816, only to find there are only 38 floors in the hotel, great success!! Since we were on the executive floor we got a nicer, larger room and also free Wifi. Things were looking good for the week ahead.
-- up next, first 2 days in Tokyo - there will be pics
Mar 26, 2014, 2:28 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Central California
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Welcome to the Japan Forum. In case you haven't found it yet, Flyer Talk has a nice Trip Reports sub-forum in the Community section of the site.
Hope you enjoyed your first visit to Japan.
Hope you enjoyed your first visit to Japan.
Mar 26, 2014, 3:56 am
#3
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Mar 26, 2014, 4:12 am
#4
Senior Moderator; Moderator, Eco-Conscious Travel, United and Flyertalk Cares
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Thanks for your report. I will moove it to Trip Reports.
l'etoile
sr. moderator
l'etoile
sr. moderator
Mar 26, 2014, 10:30 am
#5
Join Date: Jan 2013
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I'm looking forward to reading this trip report, I'm heading to Japan for the first time I. A few weeks and of course I want to make the most of my trip. Thanks for sharing, I can't wait for further installments.
Mar 26, 2014, 8:34 pm
#7
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After a very necessary shower and change of clothing we were recommended a couple of options for dinner. We chose a building across from us (Sumitomo Building) that on the 48th-52nd has just restaurants. Menus were looked at and a traditional Japanese place was picked (Yuian Restaurant – 52nd floor). It turned out to be a great selection as we left full of sashimi, braised pork, yakitori, Japanese beer and hot sake, feeling a bit more normal after the long day – if you are going here get your hotel to reserve a traditional Japanese dining table by the window for a both amazing views and experience. We then went back to the bar in the hotel and had a few more drinks before deciding that bed was now needed.
The next day started with checking out the gym, pool and Japanese bathes in the hotel. I decided the pool and bathes would be enough for me. 90 minutes later I felt very refreshed, with the 90C/195F sauna and cold plunge pool being particularly nice.
Then we had our breakfast buffet. After being seated, we helped ourselves to fruits, meats, juices, smoothies, bacon, sausages, potatoes, veg, Asian cuisine and the omelet station – I was most impressed with both how quickly they made it and also the fact that they used chop sticks! The breakfast was great, as was the service. We both could not believe that this was part of our hotel price.
It was now time to explore some of Tokyo. We decided to check out the Sensoji Temple at Asakusa so a trip on the subway was required. We had gotten a Sucia card (like an Oyster Card in London (travel card)) with our NEX tickets. This proved to be a good purchase as it means you do not need to buy a ticket each time, you just swipe your card. The temples and buildings were interesting to see and there was lots of stalls selling traditional foods. After we went for a couple of beers in the Asahi HQ’s restaurant & beer hall. It is a short walk from the temples, just across the river.
That evening we were given the suggestion of trying out Golden Gai, which is the nightlife area in Shinjuku. The bars are very very small, most being 3 metres (10 feet) wide and a couple of stories tall. We walked through most of them before deciding on a random one. Bar workers spoke ~10 words of English, we can say “hello”, “beer” & “thank you” in Japanese. The menus are purely in Japanese. This would normally prove problematic, but after a lot of pointing (at the things that were cooking) and thumbs up, we had a Sapporo, braised pork in a stew and a savory pancake each. Night off to a good start.
Savory Pancake
After our food and beer we went onto the next place, which is the bar that is listed when you put “golden gai” into maps.google.com, Albatross. This 3 story bar was packed but we managed to snag 2 seats on the ground floor. There were both Japanese and white people here. Crazily enough the guy to our left was English but had gone to Trinity University (Dublin, Ireland). We had gone to University College Dublin, who are bitter rivals of Trinity. This was a good starting conversation point and we later found out himself and his gf (also from England) live in Tokyo working for a major bank, with her brother and his gf visiting for a few days. They gave us some tips on good nightclubs to go to on the weekend. They soon left, so we went off to find our next place.
We searched around a bit and saw one bar with a note on the door “I love speaking English and you are very welcome”. After battling with the language barrier in first bar and having the English guy as a translator in the 2nd bar this seemed like the ideal choice. We walked in and there was about 10 seats total at and near the bar. Only 1 story in this place. The bar tender waved us over to the 2 free seats. He asked where we were from and we said Ireland. He wanted us to be more specific so he learned we were from Dublin. This got the interest of everyone else in the bar. 2 were also from Dublin, both of which went to different high school within a 5 mile radius of my HS, 2 were from the Irish countryside and the other 2 were from Manchester, England. 9 million people in Tokyo and we end up in a Japanese bar with this lot, small world.
The couple from Dublin worked in Dubai and were just on holidays. The countryside couple were in Japan to sightsee and go skiing, while the Manchester couple did a lot of travelling and this stop for them was Tokyo. Ken, the Japanese bar tender spoke very good English and it was very easy to get good information. My friend who lives in Boston on the trip with me, lived on the same street as Ken’s son did in Cambridge, Massachusetts. World gets smaller. The 6 others left between 1-3am, but we decided to stay on as he was open till 6! Ken ran out of beer at 4am, so we tried all sorts of Japanese drinks, which mainly consisted of Japanese whiskeys.
One of the Japanese Whiskeys
We awoke the next morning (well actually afternoon) at 12.30 and realized we had missed breakfast.
Up next – 7s weekend, 2 days of rugby and beers
The next day started with checking out the gym, pool and Japanese bathes in the hotel. I decided the pool and bathes would be enough for me. 90 minutes later I felt very refreshed, with the 90C/195F sauna and cold plunge pool being particularly nice.
Then we had our breakfast buffet. After being seated, we helped ourselves to fruits, meats, juices, smoothies, bacon, sausages, potatoes, veg, Asian cuisine and the omelet station – I was most impressed with both how quickly they made it and also the fact that they used chop sticks! The breakfast was great, as was the service. We both could not believe that this was part of our hotel price.
It was now time to explore some of Tokyo. We decided to check out the Sensoji Temple at Asakusa so a trip on the subway was required. We had gotten a Sucia card (like an Oyster Card in London (travel card)) with our NEX tickets. This proved to be a good purchase as it means you do not need to buy a ticket each time, you just swipe your card. The temples and buildings were interesting to see and there was lots of stalls selling traditional foods. After we went for a couple of beers in the Asahi HQ’s restaurant & beer hall. It is a short walk from the temples, just across the river.
That evening we were given the suggestion of trying out Golden Gai, which is the nightlife area in Shinjuku. The bars are very very small, most being 3 metres (10 feet) wide and a couple of stories tall. We walked through most of them before deciding on a random one. Bar workers spoke ~10 words of English, we can say “hello”, “beer” & “thank you” in Japanese. The menus are purely in Japanese. This would normally prove problematic, but after a lot of pointing (at the things that were cooking) and thumbs up, we had a Sapporo, braised pork in a stew and a savory pancake each. Night off to a good start.
Savory Pancake
After our food and beer we went onto the next place, which is the bar that is listed when you put “golden gai” into maps.google.com, Albatross. This 3 story bar was packed but we managed to snag 2 seats on the ground floor. There were both Japanese and white people here. Crazily enough the guy to our left was English but had gone to Trinity University (Dublin, Ireland). We had gone to University College Dublin, who are bitter rivals of Trinity. This was a good starting conversation point and we later found out himself and his gf (also from England) live in Tokyo working for a major bank, with her brother and his gf visiting for a few days. They gave us some tips on good nightclubs to go to on the weekend. They soon left, so we went off to find our next place.
We searched around a bit and saw one bar with a note on the door “I love speaking English and you are very welcome”. After battling with the language barrier in first bar and having the English guy as a translator in the 2nd bar this seemed like the ideal choice. We walked in and there was about 10 seats total at and near the bar. Only 1 story in this place. The bar tender waved us over to the 2 free seats. He asked where we were from and we said Ireland. He wanted us to be more specific so he learned we were from Dublin. This got the interest of everyone else in the bar. 2 were also from Dublin, both of which went to different high school within a 5 mile radius of my HS, 2 were from the Irish countryside and the other 2 were from Manchester, England. 9 million people in Tokyo and we end up in a Japanese bar with this lot, small world.
The couple from Dublin worked in Dubai and were just on holidays. The countryside couple were in Japan to sightsee and go skiing, while the Manchester couple did a lot of travelling and this stop for them was Tokyo. Ken, the Japanese bar tender spoke very good English and it was very easy to get good information. My friend who lives in Boston on the trip with me, lived on the same street as Ken’s son did in Cambridge, Massachusetts. World gets smaller. The 6 others left between 1-3am, but we decided to stay on as he was open till 6! Ken ran out of beer at 4am, so we tried all sorts of Japanese drinks, which mainly consisted of Japanese whiskeys.
One of the Japanese Whiskeys
We awoke the next morning (well actually afternoon) at 12.30 and realized we had missed breakfast.
Up next – 7s weekend, 2 days of rugby and beers
Mar 27, 2014, 4:14 am
#8
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Realizing we had missed breakfast also meant that we were late for the start of the 7s tournament, which kicked off at 10am. After a quick shower we got straight into a taxi and made it in time for the 2nd round of today’s pool games, starting with Fiji vs USA. Food was very necessary, so we picked up a couple of hot dogs (with no buns, not popular in Japan maybe?), some fries and of course a couple of beers.
Samoa vs France was the next game up and we decided to bet a whopping 500 Yen (about $5 USD) on each game. One person would set the line and the other would then chose which side they wanted, alternating this each game. We found some good seats near the 10metre line (near ˝ way line) and began to enjoy the games. Over the next few hours we had been getting the crowd going for a lot of the chants, as people from all over the world attend to support their country (Ireland has no team, thanks to the IRFU). My friend got the whole section going with “Nippon” (Japan) chants when they were playing.
First set of seats
This stadium in Japan (and maybe all/most of them?) have very relaxed rules from any other stadium I have been to, namely:
1) You can bring your own beer into the stadium, which we found out later on in day 1
2) Real samurai swords are permitted in this stadium, also waving them around when Japan score seemed to be fine too
3) You do not get kicked out (or even warned it seems) when you run onto the pitch between games
When we heard about #1 above my friend went straight off to the local store and picked up about 8 beers, costing ~$2 USD each, which was better than the moderately priced (for a stadium) $5 USD beers there. There was a break at about 5pm and a lot of people left their seats, so we took advantage and got nice ones on the ˝ way line.
Me with the new seats
Nice Oracle building (the glass one)
By this stage, evening had arrived and it was beginning to get dark. The 7s was to finish at about 8.30pm, so we had another few hours. France vs USA was next game and my friend set the line at France -10, so I took the French side. A couple of minutes into the game I was shouting “Allez les Bleus”, which pretty much means “Go France” and some people from a section beside us responded with the same.
At ˝ time one of them came over to us and we were invited to join them. Most of them were French, living in Tokyo, there were also some Aussies in the group, also working in Tokyo. We explained why I was shouting “Allez les Bleus” and they thought the betting on the matches was fun. We had several beers with them until the end of the night. 2 long days in a row, and with the rugby starting at an even earlier 9am the next day, we retired to bed after a few more beers. My friend was up whole $10 on me for the day.
Rugby 7s Day 2 started with a bit of a panic when we awoke and I was told it was 8.30am, already running late. My friend hopped in the shower and I checked my laptop, realized he did the conversion the wrong way and went back to sleep as it was 6.30am. We had breakfast and then proceeded straight to the rugby stadium. Players from the teams starting later in the day were chilling in the lobby of the hotel. We arrived at the grounds, went to the store to get the beers for the morning and entered the stadium, again given no hassle with carrying in outside beers, what a country!
It was a bit before 9am and the ˝ way line was pretty packed, but we managed to get 2 good seats. Beers were opened and the first match started with Wales taking on Spain. As the games progressed and the beers started to dwindle, I decided it was time to look for the French guys and also pick up some more beers. After having no success with finding the French, I re-entered the stadium and saw Serge Betsen. He is a former French flanker, retiring from international rugby in 2008 and from club rugby in 2012 – he now commentates for rugby games on the BBC. I was wearing a Leinster rugby shirt, who Serge would have played many times, so I said hello and he shook my hand. I was looking forward to telling both my friend and the French guys that I just met Serge!
France got KOd by Scotland at about 1.30pm and we then saw one of the French guys from yesterday meeting with the French players who just lost. We called him over and he told us where they were sitting, so up we went to join them. Along with beers & wine that they brought into the stadium, they also had brie, salamis and bread rolls, typical French! We had some of everything and the food was good. I told them who I just met and was quickly informed that the seat beside them was Serge’s and that he would be back in a few minutes. Both disappointed and excited at the same time.
The games continued and Serge returned to his seat. We asked him if he was going to be the Hong Kong 7s and he confirmed he would be. He does a lot of charity work these days and he is attending the 7s to raise awareness for it. As the day drew closer to ending, my pick for the weekend, Fiji, were the first to the final when they beat New Zealand. The final came and my friend was up by $5 USD, he picked a line of -5 Fiji, so I took Fiji. They beat South Africa by 7 points, back to evens!
I told my friend we were going to take a team bus back to the hotel, he didn’t believe it. We met team Kenya at their bus outside the grounds, but they said they were having a team meeting so we could not get on, time to try the Argies. I asked their coach, who then asked where we were from, when we said Ireland he smiled and let us on. They had won the shield so were in good spirits.
The bus back was quick and after showering we decided to go to a sushi restaurant in the same building from the other night. On the elevator on the way down from the room we met a couple from England. It turned out that he was head of the citing committee for the 7s and his wife was along for the touristy stuff. It was interesting to meet him as we had a few questions from some of the referring decisions over the weekend. Unfortunately they had already eaten so we parted ways and headed for sushi. The food was nothing special for Tokyo (Asahizushi Sushi Restaurant – 50th Floor) but it was nice sushi.
We got back to the bar in the hotel a while later and saw the head of citing and his wife, they invited us to join them. He confirmed that most of what we said was correct and the referees were incorrect. There would be some sort of referee reviews so the same problems would hopefully not occur again. We drank with them for a few hours, trading stories before heading to bed for the night.
We had a great weekend, plenty of sun as my face shows, lots of beer, good rugby, met a rugby icon and got a team bus back.
Up next – Imperial palace grounds and Molecular Tapas Bar
Samoa vs France was the next game up and we decided to bet a whopping 500 Yen (about $5 USD) on each game. One person would set the line and the other would then chose which side they wanted, alternating this each game. We found some good seats near the 10metre line (near ˝ way line) and began to enjoy the games. Over the next few hours we had been getting the crowd going for a lot of the chants, as people from all over the world attend to support their country (Ireland has no team, thanks to the IRFU). My friend got the whole section going with “Nippon” (Japan) chants when they were playing.
First set of seats
This stadium in Japan (and maybe all/most of them?) have very relaxed rules from any other stadium I have been to, namely:
1) You can bring your own beer into the stadium, which we found out later on in day 1
2) Real samurai swords are permitted in this stadium, also waving them around when Japan score seemed to be fine too
3) You do not get kicked out (or even warned it seems) when you run onto the pitch between games
When we heard about #1 above my friend went straight off to the local store and picked up about 8 beers, costing ~$2 USD each, which was better than the moderately priced (for a stadium) $5 USD beers there. There was a break at about 5pm and a lot of people left their seats, so we took advantage and got nice ones on the ˝ way line.
Me with the new seats
Nice Oracle building (the glass one)
By this stage, evening had arrived and it was beginning to get dark. The 7s was to finish at about 8.30pm, so we had another few hours. France vs USA was next game and my friend set the line at France -10, so I took the French side. A couple of minutes into the game I was shouting “Allez les Bleus”, which pretty much means “Go France” and some people from a section beside us responded with the same.
At ˝ time one of them came over to us and we were invited to join them. Most of them were French, living in Tokyo, there were also some Aussies in the group, also working in Tokyo. We explained why I was shouting “Allez les Bleus” and they thought the betting on the matches was fun. We had several beers with them until the end of the night. 2 long days in a row, and with the rugby starting at an even earlier 9am the next day, we retired to bed after a few more beers. My friend was up whole $10 on me for the day.
Rugby 7s Day 2 started with a bit of a panic when we awoke and I was told it was 8.30am, already running late. My friend hopped in the shower and I checked my laptop, realized he did the conversion the wrong way and went back to sleep as it was 6.30am. We had breakfast and then proceeded straight to the rugby stadium. Players from the teams starting later in the day were chilling in the lobby of the hotel. We arrived at the grounds, went to the store to get the beers for the morning and entered the stadium, again given no hassle with carrying in outside beers, what a country!
It was a bit before 9am and the ˝ way line was pretty packed, but we managed to get 2 good seats. Beers were opened and the first match started with Wales taking on Spain. As the games progressed and the beers started to dwindle, I decided it was time to look for the French guys and also pick up some more beers. After having no success with finding the French, I re-entered the stadium and saw Serge Betsen. He is a former French flanker, retiring from international rugby in 2008 and from club rugby in 2012 – he now commentates for rugby games on the BBC. I was wearing a Leinster rugby shirt, who Serge would have played many times, so I said hello and he shook my hand. I was looking forward to telling both my friend and the French guys that I just met Serge!
France got KOd by Scotland at about 1.30pm and we then saw one of the French guys from yesterday meeting with the French players who just lost. We called him over and he told us where they were sitting, so up we went to join them. Along with beers & wine that they brought into the stadium, they also had brie, salamis and bread rolls, typical French! We had some of everything and the food was good. I told them who I just met and was quickly informed that the seat beside them was Serge’s and that he would be back in a few minutes. Both disappointed and excited at the same time.
The games continued and Serge returned to his seat. We asked him if he was going to be the Hong Kong 7s and he confirmed he would be. He does a lot of charity work these days and he is attending the 7s to raise awareness for it. As the day drew closer to ending, my pick for the weekend, Fiji, were the first to the final when they beat New Zealand. The final came and my friend was up by $5 USD, he picked a line of -5 Fiji, so I took Fiji. They beat South Africa by 7 points, back to evens!
I told my friend we were going to take a team bus back to the hotel, he didn’t believe it. We met team Kenya at their bus outside the grounds, but they said they were having a team meeting so we could not get on, time to try the Argies. I asked their coach, who then asked where we were from, when we said Ireland he smiled and let us on. They had won the shield so were in good spirits.
The bus back was quick and after showering we decided to go to a sushi restaurant in the same building from the other night. On the elevator on the way down from the room we met a couple from England. It turned out that he was head of the citing committee for the 7s and his wife was along for the touristy stuff. It was interesting to meet him as we had a few questions from some of the referring decisions over the weekend. Unfortunately they had already eaten so we parted ways and headed for sushi. The food was nothing special for Tokyo (Asahizushi Sushi Restaurant – 50th Floor) but it was nice sushi.
We got back to the bar in the hotel a while later and saw the head of citing and his wife, they invited us to join them. He confirmed that most of what we said was correct and the referees were incorrect. There would be some sort of referee reviews so the same problems would hopefully not occur again. We drank with them for a few hours, trading stories before heading to bed for the night.
We had a great weekend, plenty of sun as my face shows, lots of beer, good rugby, met a rugby icon and got a team bus back.
Up next – Imperial palace grounds and Molecular Tapas Bar
Mar 28, 2014, 4:21 am
#11
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Ok, lots of pictures in this one!
Today was a pretty chill day, breakfast in the morning and then my friend caught up on his sleep. We had a booking for the Tapas Molecular Bar at the 8.30pm sitting and decided to check out the grounds of the Imperial Palace before it as they are pretty close to each other.
We took a taxi from the hotel to the grounds. This may have been the wrong decision as the subway may have been quicker (and much cheaper) – the traffic gets pretty bad in certain parts at this time of day (~3.30pm). We got dropped off at one of the gates and began to explore the grounds.
There was lots to see but of course we could get nowhere near the palace itself, too many guards, walls and water separated us.
One of the gates to the palace
Another gate, it was too big to get it all in
My friend at an entrance
Some of the wall and moat around the outer perimeter of the grounds
The ministry of Justice, which is across from the grounds
Nice trees at the grounds
Downtown Tokyo
Some weird building on the way to the restaurant
Our booking was for 8.30pm but it was getting cold out so we decided to go to the restaurant and sit in a bar before dinner. The restaurant was on the 38th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo. The concierge in our hotel sorted the booking, which saved us the hassle. Floors 37 & 38 (top floor) are where the bars and restaurants are located. There are obviously great views from these floors. We got off at the 37th floor and got some drinks at the Mandarin Bar. We had a nice seat (A long wraparound couch/sofa with many tables in it). The view was nice too
Sorry about the shaky picture
We started with a couple of beers each and then moved to cocktails, which would be less filling. After a few rounds it was time to move upstairs. I asked if our bill could be transferred to the restaurant and there was no issue with this, convenient! Drinks in hand we walked into the Oriental Lounge. The Tapas Molecular Bar is located inside of the lounge. It is long marble counter that sits just 8 people. It serves around 20 courses over a 2 hour period, like é inside of Jaleo in the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. Booking is definitely required as it is near always full. There are 2 sittings each day, one at 6pm and the other at 8.30pm
Photo taken from MO website
We were the first to arrive, but the 2 other parties showed up a couple of minutes later. 6 people in total and I was sitting at the end. There was a Japanese couple on the other end and in between us were 2 ladies, one from USA and the other lived in Tokyo now. Before the 1st course we learned that the 2 ladies actually worked for the Mandarin Oriental group and were “reviewing” the food, nice life. Our 2 chefs introduced themselves, our Head Chef was Ping originally from Hong Kong – we later found out he worked for someone I know when he worked in the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. Both chefs were very talkative about what we were eating, how it was made and life in general. Both chefs had perfect English, the other chef was originally from Vancouver, BC and he spoke fluent Japanese so he dealt mainly with the Japanese couple.
Menu
Green Apple and Cheese (this is them making the Green Apple “roe”)
Spring Landscape – vegetable tempura
Porcini Mushroom Cappuccino – chicken broth boiled into a coffee and mushroom mixed, then strained
Yurine Espuma – truffle based dish
Smoked Amadai (my tied favourite dish) – amadai fish that was cooked in oil and then smoked in front of us with cedar wood
Gyudon – wagyu beef fish
No name for this desert, it was a sorbet that was made by mixing liquid nitrogen with some raspberry “juice”
My other favourite dish was Lamb, Straw. It was a lamb chop dish with a yoghurt based sauce that you ate all in one bite, amazing flavours.
Overall the dinner was incredible. My 2nd favourite meal of the trip. It is constantly ranked in the top 10 on trip advisor for the WHOLE of Tokyo (over 44,000 restaurants) and I can certainly see why. The food was fantastic, but the chefs also had a major part of the overall enjoyment of the whole thing. Pictures were encouraged. We actually spent over an hour after our last course talking to the chefs, so keep this in mind if you are going – pick the 8.30pm slot as you are out the door at 8.10pm or so if you pick the 6pm slot. The meal is 15,500 Yen (~$155 USD) and is well worth it – there is a 13% service charge on top of this. Wine pairings are available, but neither of us would have gotten the enjoyment out of it so we just had 1 glass of wine each during dinner. We had a drink with the ladies after then proceeded home at about 12.30am.
Up next – Cherry Blossoms and my favourite meal in Tokyo
Today was a pretty chill day, breakfast in the morning and then my friend caught up on his sleep. We had a booking for the Tapas Molecular Bar at the 8.30pm sitting and decided to check out the grounds of the Imperial Palace before it as they are pretty close to each other.
We took a taxi from the hotel to the grounds. This may have been the wrong decision as the subway may have been quicker (and much cheaper) – the traffic gets pretty bad in certain parts at this time of day (~3.30pm). We got dropped off at one of the gates and began to explore the grounds.
There was lots to see but of course we could get nowhere near the palace itself, too many guards, walls and water separated us.
One of the gates to the palace
Another gate, it was too big to get it all in
My friend at an entrance
Some of the wall and moat around the outer perimeter of the grounds
The ministry of Justice, which is across from the grounds
Nice trees at the grounds
Downtown Tokyo
Some weird building on the way to the restaurant
Our booking was for 8.30pm but it was getting cold out so we decided to go to the restaurant and sit in a bar before dinner. The restaurant was on the 38th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo. The concierge in our hotel sorted the booking, which saved us the hassle. Floors 37 & 38 (top floor) are where the bars and restaurants are located. There are obviously great views from these floors. We got off at the 37th floor and got some drinks at the Mandarin Bar. We had a nice seat (A long wraparound couch/sofa with many tables in it). The view was nice too
Sorry about the shaky picture
We started with a couple of beers each and then moved to cocktails, which would be less filling. After a few rounds it was time to move upstairs. I asked if our bill could be transferred to the restaurant and there was no issue with this, convenient! Drinks in hand we walked into the Oriental Lounge. The Tapas Molecular Bar is located inside of the lounge. It is long marble counter that sits just 8 people. It serves around 20 courses over a 2 hour period, like é inside of Jaleo in the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. Booking is definitely required as it is near always full. There are 2 sittings each day, one at 6pm and the other at 8.30pm
Photo taken from MO website
We were the first to arrive, but the 2 other parties showed up a couple of minutes later. 6 people in total and I was sitting at the end. There was a Japanese couple on the other end and in between us were 2 ladies, one from USA and the other lived in Tokyo now. Before the 1st course we learned that the 2 ladies actually worked for the Mandarin Oriental group and were “reviewing” the food, nice life. Our 2 chefs introduced themselves, our Head Chef was Ping originally from Hong Kong – we later found out he worked for someone I know when he worked in the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. Both chefs were very talkative about what we were eating, how it was made and life in general. Both chefs had perfect English, the other chef was originally from Vancouver, BC and he spoke fluent Japanese so he dealt mainly with the Japanese couple.
Menu
Green Apple and Cheese (this is them making the Green Apple “roe”)
Spring Landscape – vegetable tempura
Porcini Mushroom Cappuccino – chicken broth boiled into a coffee and mushroom mixed, then strained
Yurine Espuma – truffle based dish
Smoked Amadai (my tied favourite dish) – amadai fish that was cooked in oil and then smoked in front of us with cedar wood
Gyudon – wagyu beef fish
No name for this desert, it was a sorbet that was made by mixing liquid nitrogen with some raspberry “juice”
My other favourite dish was Lamb, Straw. It was a lamb chop dish with a yoghurt based sauce that you ate all in one bite, amazing flavours.
Overall the dinner was incredible. My 2nd favourite meal of the trip. It is constantly ranked in the top 10 on trip advisor for the WHOLE of Tokyo (over 44,000 restaurants) and I can certainly see why. The food was fantastic, but the chefs also had a major part of the overall enjoyment of the whole thing. Pictures were encouraged. We actually spent over an hour after our last course talking to the chefs, so keep this in mind if you are going – pick the 8.30pm slot as you are out the door at 8.10pm or so if you pick the 6pm slot. The meal is 15,500 Yen (~$155 USD) and is well worth it – there is a 13% service charge on top of this. Wine pairings are available, but neither of us would have gotten the enjoyment out of it so we just had 1 glass of wine each during dinner. We had a drink with the ladies after then proceeded home at about 12.30am.
Up next – Cherry Blossoms and my favourite meal in Tokyo
Mar 28, 2014, 2:03 pm
#13
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,558
Good report.
We did the molecular tapas thing at the Mandarin when we stayed there last year, and thought it a bit hoaxy. We were both starved after the "meal" which took a LONG TIME.
My wife did not fancy the venue being in the BAR with all the smoking patrons.
We did the molecular tapas thing at the Mandarin when we stayed there last year, and thought it a bit hoaxy. We were both starved after the "meal" which took a LONG TIME.
My wife did not fancy the venue being in the BAR with all the smoking patrons.
Mar 31, 2014, 1:57 am
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2014
Programs: Amex Plat, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold, Carlson Gold, CM Presidential / *A Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 1,648
Today was our last day in Tokyo as we were leaving the hotel at a very unsociable 5.40am the next morning. Cherry Blossom season was close here and we found out that some had actually started already, time to check it out. After breakfast and booking the Haneda Airport “Friendly” Limo Bus it was onto the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.
The park is made up of 58 hectares, contains 20,000 trees, of which 1,500 are Cherry Blossom trees (thanks Wikipedia). Inside the park there is are many trails to wander about and also a very nice (and huge) greenhouse. We walked around the greenhouse but didn’t bother taking photos as our Samsung Galaxy S4 was no match for the ...... cameras that 95% of people were carrying. It took about 15 minutes for us to walk through it, but expect that people interested in the flowers and trees could spend a couple of hours there.
After the greenhouse it was time for the rest of the park. We had a map, in Japanese, so just explored it on our own.
A Cherry Blossom about to flower
The nicest Cherry Blossom that we saw all day in the park
Me between rows and rows of cool trees
3 Cherry Blossom trees overlapping each other
Me in theShinjuku Gyoen Taiwan Pavilion
We figure that we walked about 6km in total (including the walk to and from the hotel), so a rest on the grass was needed. A lot of people were doing the same including people in suits, presumably who were on lunch. There are many bridges and ponds in the area. The fish expect to get fed by people and they swim up to you with their mouths open. After around 3 hours in the park we left back for the hotel. I definitely recommend a visit here, especially on a nice day. It does cost 200 Yen (~$2 USD) per person, but its well worth it.
Back in the hotel it was time for gym, swim and Japanese bathes again. A couple of hours later we were back in the room getting ready for our dinner reservation for tonight, Sushi Bar Yasuda.
I had made this reservation about a month before we went after being unable to get a spot in Jiro’s. Sushi Bar Yasuda is constantly ranked in the top 10 restaurants in the whole of Tokyo on trip advisor. I got the idea about going there after seeing him on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown and we were very glad that we were able to get a booking.
Chef Yasuda moved to New York in 1984 and opened his own restaurant, Sushi Yasuda, in 1999. He left the USA in 2011 and opened Sushi Bar Yasuda at the end of that year. It is located about a 15 minute walk from the subway and is pretty easy to spot once you get there. It seats just 8 people and a lengthy reservation in advance is recommended (required even). We arrived on time for our 7pm sitting, quickly seated, presented with the menus, hot towels and asked what we would like to drink. Chef’s wife runs the front of house and is very quick at getting each person looked after at all stages of the dinner.
There seems to be a sitting at 6pm and one at 8pm, we were glad we picked 7pm as we did not have to leave until they closed. We may have just gotten lucky, so I would advise to pick 8pm so that you can enjoy many hours of Chef’s food and stories. The menu is simple enough, it just depends on how hungry you are, with options starting from 10 pieces right up to an Omakase, which we of course both chose. We were asked if there was anything that we favoured or disliked and then the food started to come out.
We didn’t take pictures of the first 4 rounds, but here are some of what we got after
Clam and clam guts
Fresh water eel, salt water eel, ebi, snow crab
O-toro and scallion hand roll
Yasuda gave us an “Irish” roll (scallions), red snapper, a shrimp preparation, needle fish
O-toro and chu-toro (3rd round of it!!)
My friend like the clam guts so he got more, also 2 pieces of Santa Barbra uni and one from Japan
The first few rounds consisted of cuts of both tuna and salmon.
The sushi here is probably the best I have ever had – incredibly close to Kabuto in Las Vegas and also Koiso Sushi in Maui in terms of fish quality. However, the dining experience here was the best I have ever had in a Sushi restaurant. Chef Yasuda speaks very good English due to being in the USA for so long, so he can explain everything in detail. It’s hard to get that at the other higher end places I have been to. He tells stories from his past and will answer all questions. The first group of people (6pm sitting) were pretty quiet, but it got more lively when they were replaced with the 8pm lot. Everyone from the 2nd sitting seemed to be really into sushi like ourselves and asked Chef all about himself.
I figure that we ate at least 30 pieces each in total. The Omakase consists of probably 16 pieces each so the other pieces were what we liked again and also more recommendations from Chef Yasuda. The only piece I disliked was the clam guts. Most of the fish melted in your mouth and the rice was fantastic. We didn’t use any additional soy sauce as Chef had it balanced very nicely. We had 2 bottles (seen in some of the pics) of his hometown’s sake and several beers each too. A dessert sake was recommended after the meal so we each had one. The bill came to about $400 USD, which I think was pretty good value for the 2 of us. We left his place well after 11.30pm and headed out for a few more drinks.
In case it was not clear from the above, this place is a MUST for any sushi lover who is visiting Tokyo – just don’t book my spot when I’m returning next
The park is made up of 58 hectares, contains 20,000 trees, of which 1,500 are Cherry Blossom trees (thanks Wikipedia). Inside the park there is are many trails to wander about and also a very nice (and huge) greenhouse. We walked around the greenhouse but didn’t bother taking photos as our Samsung Galaxy S4 was no match for the ...... cameras that 95% of people were carrying. It took about 15 minutes for us to walk through it, but expect that people interested in the flowers and trees could spend a couple of hours there.
After the greenhouse it was time for the rest of the park. We had a map, in Japanese, so just explored it on our own.
A Cherry Blossom about to flower
The nicest Cherry Blossom that we saw all day in the park
Me between rows and rows of cool trees
3 Cherry Blossom trees overlapping each other
Me in theShinjuku Gyoen Taiwan Pavilion
We figure that we walked about 6km in total (including the walk to and from the hotel), so a rest on the grass was needed. A lot of people were doing the same including people in suits, presumably who were on lunch. There are many bridges and ponds in the area. The fish expect to get fed by people and they swim up to you with their mouths open. After around 3 hours in the park we left back for the hotel. I definitely recommend a visit here, especially on a nice day. It does cost 200 Yen (~$2 USD) per person, but its well worth it.
Back in the hotel it was time for gym, swim and Japanese bathes again. A couple of hours later we were back in the room getting ready for our dinner reservation for tonight, Sushi Bar Yasuda.
I had made this reservation about a month before we went after being unable to get a spot in Jiro’s. Sushi Bar Yasuda is constantly ranked in the top 10 restaurants in the whole of Tokyo on trip advisor. I got the idea about going there after seeing him on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown and we were very glad that we were able to get a booking.
Chef Yasuda moved to New York in 1984 and opened his own restaurant, Sushi Yasuda, in 1999. He left the USA in 2011 and opened Sushi Bar Yasuda at the end of that year. It is located about a 15 minute walk from the subway and is pretty easy to spot once you get there. It seats just 8 people and a lengthy reservation in advance is recommended (required even). We arrived on time for our 7pm sitting, quickly seated, presented with the menus, hot towels and asked what we would like to drink. Chef’s wife runs the front of house and is very quick at getting each person looked after at all stages of the dinner.
There seems to be a sitting at 6pm and one at 8pm, we were glad we picked 7pm as we did not have to leave until they closed. We may have just gotten lucky, so I would advise to pick 8pm so that you can enjoy many hours of Chef’s food and stories. The menu is simple enough, it just depends on how hungry you are, with options starting from 10 pieces right up to an Omakase, which we of course both chose. We were asked if there was anything that we favoured or disliked and then the food started to come out.
We didn’t take pictures of the first 4 rounds, but here are some of what we got after
Clam and clam guts
Fresh water eel, salt water eel, ebi, snow crab
O-toro and scallion hand roll
Yasuda gave us an “Irish” roll (scallions), red snapper, a shrimp preparation, needle fish
O-toro and chu-toro (3rd round of it!!)
My friend like the clam guts so he got more, also 2 pieces of Santa Barbra uni and one from Japan
The first few rounds consisted of cuts of both tuna and salmon.
The sushi here is probably the best I have ever had – incredibly close to Kabuto in Las Vegas and also Koiso Sushi in Maui in terms of fish quality. However, the dining experience here was the best I have ever had in a Sushi restaurant. Chef Yasuda speaks very good English due to being in the USA for so long, so he can explain everything in detail. It’s hard to get that at the other higher end places I have been to. He tells stories from his past and will answer all questions. The first group of people (6pm sitting) were pretty quiet, but it got more lively when they were replaced with the 8pm lot. Everyone from the 2nd sitting seemed to be really into sushi like ourselves and asked Chef all about himself.
I figure that we ate at least 30 pieces each in total. The Omakase consists of probably 16 pieces each so the other pieces were what we liked again and also more recommendations from Chef Yasuda. The only piece I disliked was the clam guts. Most of the fish melted in your mouth and the rice was fantastic. We didn’t use any additional soy sauce as Chef had it balanced very nicely. We had 2 bottles (seen in some of the pics) of his hometown’s sake and several beers each too. A dessert sake was recommended after the meal so we each had one. The bill came to about $400 USD, which I think was pretty good value for the 2 of us. We left his place well after 11.30pm and headed out for a few more drinks.
In case it was not clear from the above, this place is a MUST for any sushi lover who is visiting Tokyo – just don’t book my spot when I’m returning next