Fat And Furious: A Gluttonous Tour Of Japan (SQ Suites, ANA 787, RC Kyoto and more!)
May 13, 2015, 3:59 pm
#107
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 700
Eating Tokyo Part 3 - Cherry Blossoms and THE BEST STEAK EVER
On the initial stop in Tokyo we were hoping to take advantage of our jet-lagged body clocks to wake up in time for the daily fish auction at Tsukiji Fish Market. Based on our research, we had read that you really need to be there by 4AM at the latest to secure a spot. But we ended up going 0 for 2 on our attempts, although I fully admit that I only gave it a half-hearted effort. After all, while on vacation there's no way that you should be forced to wake up earlier than you do for work.
We decided to give it one final attempt on our last full day in Tokyo, but the black-out curtains served their purpose too well, and we didn't end up waking up until closer to 10AM. I would make a terrible, TERRIBLE fisherman.
Nonetheless, we decided to head over to Tsukiji around noon to check things out. By that time, the morning haul had long been packed up.
But the outer market was still jam-packed with hungry people in search of fresh seafood.
We made our way over to the inner market where all of the popular sushi spots already had lines stretching around the block. Given how small these restaurants were and the ridiculous number of people in line, I calculated that we'd be looking at 2-3 hour wait times.
As much as I wanted to eat there, I'm the type of person that gets annoyed when my fast food takes longer than a couple minutes to come out. So there was no way in hell that my patience would last that long.
So instead we walked back to the outer market and snacked our way through, tasting all the interesting catches from the day.
It's a strange feeling when the sight of a decapitated tuna leaves you drooling more than it disturbs you.
While we may have missed out on the popular sushi spots, there was no shortage of good eats. For example, this plate of super fresh tuna.
And my wife's choice of a bowl of roe topped with uni. I graciously passed on this one.
Next, we turned our attention to the beautiful cherry blossoms that had begun blooming all over the city. There were many good places to see them, and the public parks in particular were the most popular places to have hanami, or flower viewing parties.
Our first stop was Ueno Park which was one of the most crowded places we encountered, but for good reason.
There was a long walkway where the cherry blossoms hung overhead, which really allowed you to feel complete immersed in them. Of course, it was jam-packed with people, but in some ways I didn't mind since that made it easier to walk slowly and take pictures.
Another great public park was Yoyogi Park, which was probably just as crowded, but was so large that it didn't feel quite as claustrophobic.
Yoyogi had a ton of open, grassy space, and there was no shortage of people camped out.
As I mentioned in the introduction, I'm the type of person that doesn't like to sit in one place for very long while traveling. But this was such a beautiful and relaxing sight that even I had to take a moment to sit on a bench and soak it in.
There was a lot happening at Yoyogi, including an outdoor festival that featured a DJ and full-on dance party, along with an amphitheater where a rock concert was also going on.
With all the street food vendors in the area, it was a perfect time to grab a snack. I opted for some delicious yakitori which was grilled on-the-spot.
And my wife's okonomiyaki, which I of course ate half of.
Afterwards we summoned our energy and walked over to one final cherry blossom viewing spot located near the Tokyo Dome.
The screams from the roller coaster could be heard from far away.
Normally, I try to avoid eating Western fast food while overseas, but 1) dessert doesn't count and 2) this looked too good to pass up on a hot day.
We arrived at Koishikawa Korakuen and found a line at least a couple hundred people deep. Thankfully, it moved very quickly and the bottleneck appeared to be the ticketing booth.
This was the only paid park that we went to for cherry blossom viewing and the main feature of this park were the water views.
Similar to feeling "templed out" after several days of back-to-back temple visits in Kyoto, we were "cherry blossomed out" at this point and turned our attention back to the food.
On our 2nd to last night we decided to treat ourselves to the famous Japanese wagyu steak. After some research, we settled on DONS de la Nature steakhouse which is one of the premier steakhouses in Tokyo.
We walked over from the hotel through Ginza, which really lights up and comes to life at night.
DONS is located in the basement level of a nondescript building, and only has 6 tables in the entire restaurant. The menu makes In-N-Out's look complicated, because essentially there are just 2 choices - steak or steak.
That choice changes nightly, and for tonight we had the option of sirloin (bottom) or tenderloin (top). Of course, we went with the much fattier sirloin, which looked marbled to perfection. These particular cuts of Omi wagyu beef from Hokkaido happened to be among the chef's favorites, and he described how he preferred Omi beef over Matsusaka and Kobe since despite the high fat content, the steak doesn't come out oily after being cooked.
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the meal was interacting with the chef, who you could tell just lives and breathes steak. He explained the process by which he selects his beef at auction, and from there, his beef gets 2 full months of aging. Specifically, he dry ages his beef for a month, then wet ages for another month.
He also invited us to watch him cook the steak in a special grill that heats up to 1,500 degrees F. The steak is seasoned with only salt and pepper, then cooked for just 2-3 minutes on each side to a perfect medium rare. Although I prefer my steak rare, he recommended medium rare since the additional cook time allows the fat to melt which is important for a steak with such high fat content.
And the finished product. O. M. G. As promised, I lifted the steak off the plate and shockingly there was barely any oil at all. I've never tasted anything remotely close to this before. The steak seriously tasted like meat butter, and literally melted in my mouth.
On the portion size, while I'm the type of eater that can take down a 24 ounce tomahawk, this steak is all about quality over quantity. You actually purchase your steak by the ounce, with a minimum of 400 grams or approximately 14 ounces at a cost of 30,000 JPY (~$250 USD). My wife and I spit the minimum size steak roughly in half (mine was slightly bigger), and I thought that I'd be hungry afterwards with such a small piece, but the steak really fills you up because it was so fatty.
And after the meal we got a little souvenir to take home, along with a signed copy of the menu. Overall, this meal was just as special and unique as our kaiseki meal in Kyoto, and I'd highly recommended giving it a try especially if you're a beef connoisseur.
While DONS did have a selection of desserts, we decided instead to self-cater dessert and picked up a green tea cake from Henri Charpentier to eat back at the hotel.
On the final night, we wanted something casual and decided to eat across the street from the hotel where there were a couple small side streets filled with restaurants. My wife calls me a pig of an eater, so this restaurant looked tailor-made for me.
But instead we hopped into a small ramen restaurant for our last meal which was a perfect opportunity to use all the loose change I had accumulated over the past week.
For the non-Japanese speakers, just remember that the vending machines will be your best bet to easily order food, especially the ones that have pictures of the food on them. All my loose change was converted into food tickets, handed to the chef, and without having to speak a word we had 2 plates of gyoza and 3 bowls of ramen in front of us in minutes. Of course this was WAY more food than necessary, but I didn't care since it was our last hurrah. Afterwards we waddled back to the hotel fat and happy.
While the food was a major highlight of our trip, I think my biggest takeaway was just how friendly and hospitable the Japanese people were. Due to the language barrier I thought that we'd have some trouble figuring things out, but even when we did, total strangers were more than happy to take time out of their days to help and in a couple instances even escorted us for blocks.
So don't let the language or cultural piece intimidate you from taking a trip here - I absolutely fell in love with this amazing country and can't wait to return.
We decided to give it one final attempt on our last full day in Tokyo, but the black-out curtains served their purpose too well, and we didn't end up waking up until closer to 10AM. I would make a terrible, TERRIBLE fisherman.
Nonetheless, we decided to head over to Tsukiji around noon to check things out. By that time, the morning haul had long been packed up.
But the outer market was still jam-packed with hungry people in search of fresh seafood.
We made our way over to the inner market where all of the popular sushi spots already had lines stretching around the block. Given how small these restaurants were and the ridiculous number of people in line, I calculated that we'd be looking at 2-3 hour wait times.
As much as I wanted to eat there, I'm the type of person that gets annoyed when my fast food takes longer than a couple minutes to come out. So there was no way in hell that my patience would last that long.
So instead we walked back to the outer market and snacked our way through, tasting all the interesting catches from the day.
It's a strange feeling when the sight of a decapitated tuna leaves you drooling more than it disturbs you.
While we may have missed out on the popular sushi spots, there was no shortage of good eats. For example, this plate of super fresh tuna.
And my wife's choice of a bowl of roe topped with uni. I graciously passed on this one.
Next, we turned our attention to the beautiful cherry blossoms that had begun blooming all over the city. There were many good places to see them, and the public parks in particular were the most popular places to have hanami, or flower viewing parties.
Our first stop was Ueno Park which was one of the most crowded places we encountered, but for good reason.
There was a long walkway where the cherry blossoms hung overhead, which really allowed you to feel complete immersed in them. Of course, it was jam-packed with people, but in some ways I didn't mind since that made it easier to walk slowly and take pictures.
Another great public park was Yoyogi Park, which was probably just as crowded, but was so large that it didn't feel quite as claustrophobic.
Yoyogi had a ton of open, grassy space, and there was no shortage of people camped out.
As I mentioned in the introduction, I'm the type of person that doesn't like to sit in one place for very long while traveling. But this was such a beautiful and relaxing sight that even I had to take a moment to sit on a bench and soak it in.
There was a lot happening at Yoyogi, including an outdoor festival that featured a DJ and full-on dance party, along with an amphitheater where a rock concert was also going on.
With all the street food vendors in the area, it was a perfect time to grab a snack. I opted for some delicious yakitori which was grilled on-the-spot.
And my wife's okonomiyaki, which I of course ate half of.
Afterwards we summoned our energy and walked over to one final cherry blossom viewing spot located near the Tokyo Dome.
The screams from the roller coaster could be heard from far away.
Normally, I try to avoid eating Western fast food while overseas, but 1) dessert doesn't count and 2) this looked too good to pass up on a hot day.
We arrived at Koishikawa Korakuen and found a line at least a couple hundred people deep. Thankfully, it moved very quickly and the bottleneck appeared to be the ticketing booth.
This was the only paid park that we went to for cherry blossom viewing and the main feature of this park were the water views.
Similar to feeling "templed out" after several days of back-to-back temple visits in Kyoto, we were "cherry blossomed out" at this point and turned our attention back to the food.
On our 2nd to last night we decided to treat ourselves to the famous Japanese wagyu steak. After some research, we settled on DONS de la Nature steakhouse which is one of the premier steakhouses in Tokyo.
We walked over from the hotel through Ginza, which really lights up and comes to life at night.
DONS is located in the basement level of a nondescript building, and only has 6 tables in the entire restaurant. The menu makes In-N-Out's look complicated, because essentially there are just 2 choices - steak or steak.
That choice changes nightly, and for tonight we had the option of sirloin (bottom) or tenderloin (top). Of course, we went with the much fattier sirloin, which looked marbled to perfection. These particular cuts of Omi wagyu beef from Hokkaido happened to be among the chef's favorites, and he described how he preferred Omi beef over Matsusaka and Kobe since despite the high fat content, the steak doesn't come out oily after being cooked.
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the meal was interacting with the chef, who you could tell just lives and breathes steak. He explained the process by which he selects his beef at auction, and from there, his beef gets 2 full months of aging. Specifically, he dry ages his beef for a month, then wet ages for another month.
He also invited us to watch him cook the steak in a special grill that heats up to 1,500 degrees F. The steak is seasoned with only salt and pepper, then cooked for just 2-3 minutes on each side to a perfect medium rare. Although I prefer my steak rare, he recommended medium rare since the additional cook time allows the fat to melt which is important for a steak with such high fat content.
And the finished product. O. M. G. As promised, I lifted the steak off the plate and shockingly there was barely any oil at all. I've never tasted anything remotely close to this before. The steak seriously tasted like meat butter, and literally melted in my mouth.
On the portion size, while I'm the type of eater that can take down a 24 ounce tomahawk, this steak is all about quality over quantity. You actually purchase your steak by the ounce, with a minimum of 400 grams or approximately 14 ounces at a cost of 30,000 JPY (~$250 USD). My wife and I spit the minimum size steak roughly in half (mine was slightly bigger), and I thought that I'd be hungry afterwards with such a small piece, but the steak really fills you up because it was so fatty.
And after the meal we got a little souvenir to take home, along with a signed copy of the menu. Overall, this meal was just as special and unique as our kaiseki meal in Kyoto, and I'd highly recommended giving it a try especially if you're a beef connoisseur.
While DONS did have a selection of desserts, we decided instead to self-cater dessert and picked up a green tea cake from Henri Charpentier to eat back at the hotel.
On the final night, we wanted something casual and decided to eat across the street from the hotel where there were a couple small side streets filled with restaurants. My wife calls me a pig of an eater, so this restaurant looked tailor-made for me.
But instead we hopped into a small ramen restaurant for our last meal which was a perfect opportunity to use all the loose change I had accumulated over the past week.
For the non-Japanese speakers, just remember that the vending machines will be your best bet to easily order food, especially the ones that have pictures of the food on them. All my loose change was converted into food tickets, handed to the chef, and without having to speak a word we had 2 plates of gyoza and 3 bowls of ramen in front of us in minutes. Of course this was WAY more food than necessary, but I didn't care since it was our last hurrah. Afterwards we waddled back to the hotel fat and happy.
While the food was a major highlight of our trip, I think my biggest takeaway was just how friendly and hospitable the Japanese people were. Due to the language barrier I thought that we'd have some trouble figuring things out, but even when we did, total strangers were more than happy to take time out of their days to help and in a couple instances even escorted us for blocks.
So don't let the language or cultural piece intimidate you from taking a trip here - I absolutely fell in love with this amazing country and can't wait to return.
May 14, 2015, 9:20 am
#110
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 700
I still fantasize about that steak *drooooool*
May 14, 2015, 11:08 am
#111
Join Date: May 2015
Location: YVR
Programs: AC Aeroplan, AS Mileage Plan, BW Diamond
Posts: 7
Mmmmm, I'm feeling hungry all of a sudden. Although I must say that the pics from DONS de la Nature should have an NSFW warning 
Reading this TR definitely has me thinking of Japan for our next big trip. Although I'm worried that it would turn me off of the sushi here in Vancouver after we return...
Reading this TR definitely has me thinking of Japan for our next big trip. Although I'm worried that it would turn me off of the sushi here in Vancouver after we return...
May 14, 2015, 11:44 am
#112
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 33
Rather OOT, but I always tell my friends to try the Mac's in Japan, because they have pork and we don't where I live.
May 14, 2015, 5:09 pm
#113
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Wellington
Programs: QFWP (LTSG), NZ (Jade), TG ROP (Forgotten), OZ (Silver), AA (Cardboard), EK (Lowest of the Low)
Posts: 4,669
Well for me I rate a trip report along the following lines:
1) Was it enjoyable
2) Were you eager to read the next installment
3) Did you feel part of the trip
4) Do you now want to travel to the destination
5) Have you booked your trip
Your score is 4.5,
due to circumstances I could not complete the booking for the family but did look into it. 
I think this is one of the best reports I have read, and I am very picky over what I read.
Mrs Blackcloud enjoyed your report as well.
So a big thank you for writing this report I really appreciated it.^
1) Was it enjoyable
2) Were you eager to read the next installment
3) Did you feel part of the trip
4) Do you now want to travel to the destination
5) Have you booked your trip
Your score is 4.5,
due to circumstances I could not complete the booking for the family but did look into it. I think this is one of the best reports I have read, and I am very picky over what I read.
Mrs Blackcloud enjoyed your report as well.
So a big thank you for writing this report I really appreciated it.^
May 16, 2015, 11:36 am
#114
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 700
Mmmmm, I'm feeling hungry all of a sudden. Although I must say that the pics from DONS de la Nature should have an NSFW warning
Reading this TR definitely has me thinking of Japan for our next big trip. Although I'm worried that it would turn me off of the sushi here in Vancouver after we return...
Reading this TR definitely has me thinking of Japan for our next big trip. Although I'm worried that it would turn me off of the sushi here in Vancouver after we return...
Agree that once you get the taste of true Japanese quality sushi it's hard to go back to the real world where sushi isn't as good and costs twice as much.Well for me I rate a trip report along the following lines:
1) Was it enjoyable
2) Were you eager to read the next installment
3) Did you feel part of the trip
4) Do you now want to travel to the destination
5) Have you booked your trip
Your score is 4.5, due to circumstances I could not complete the booking for the family but did look into it.
I think this is one of the best reports I have read, and I am very picky over what I read.
Mrs Blackcloud enjoyed your report as well.
So a big thank you for writing this report I really appreciated it.^
1) Was it enjoyable
2) Were you eager to read the next installment
3) Did you feel part of the trip
4) Do you now want to travel to the destination
5) Have you booked your trip
Your score is 4.5,
due to circumstances I could not complete the booking for the family but did look into it. I think this is one of the best reports I have read, and I am very picky over what I read.
Mrs Blackcloud enjoyed your report as well.
So a big thank you for writing this report I really appreciated it.^
May 20, 2015, 10:38 am
#115
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 700
ANA Business Class Lounge at NRT
All good things must come to and end, and as much fun as we'd had over the past week eating our way through Japan, it was to time to pack up and head home. After checking out of the hotel, we jumped on the Metro for just 1 stop to Tokyo Station, and connected to the Narita Express (NEX) for a smooth 1-hour ride to the airport.
By now we had been accustomed to the amazing Japanese efficiency, and took for granted how we were literally through security and at the entrance of the lounge in minutes.
Last time I had a long layover at Narita I had been able to access the ANA Suites Lounge, but this time as a lowly Business Class passenger I'd been relegated to the Business Class Lounge. Upon entering, the place looked like a zoo.
But it turned out that the seating area at the entrance was just one of several, and we found our way to the back of the lounge which was practically deserted.
We found a little nook to call home for the next hour, dropped off our stuff, and went searching for food.
From what I could remember, the food options here were really quite similar to those at the Suites Lounge. There were 4 types of sushi rolls, although none of them contained any raw fish, just fillers such as pickles and shredded meat. I didn't care since I was starving at this point, and was more than happy to stuff my face with these rice balls.
There were a few finger sandwich options, although none of them really looked that appetizing. Surprisingly, the potato salad was quite delicious.
And an array of sweets and cookies. However, after watching a little kid literally run his fingers through every cookie in the tray, all of a sudden they didn't look so appetizing anymore.
In addition to the finger foods, there were a few hot food options including a noodle bar. Big thumbs up for the curry noodles and curry rice dishes which were the best of the lot.
And another hot food station with stir-fried noodles and some ridiculously good Japanese fried chicken. Like pizza, fried chicken is generally good to begin with, but I have to say that the fried chicken in Japan is really, REALLY good.
Since we had skipped lunch we definitely went a bit overboard here - one of the many plates I had.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the lounge were the drink options. There was a high-tech Japanese beer machine that tilted the glass while pouring.
And all the fizzy soda that you could ever ask for to get yourself hopped on sugar right before a long flight.
There were even several different options of sake on tap.
And a nicely stocked liquor cabinet to round things out.
Outside of the lounge there was also a shared shower area (individual booths, not locker room style of course!) between the Business Class and First Class lounges. While the facilities are the same, the main difference is that First Class passengers are provided with a separate Shishedo kit with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, while everyone else has to make do with those little disposable packets. Out of sheer boredom and in hopes that it would help me digest, I decided to take a shower to freshen up before the flight.
Overall, this is a great lounge with plenty of seating, good food, shower facilities, and blazing fast wifi which is really all you can ask for in a Business Class lounge.
By now we had been accustomed to the amazing Japanese efficiency, and took for granted how we were literally through security and at the entrance of the lounge in minutes.
Last time I had a long layover at Narita I had been able to access the ANA Suites Lounge, but this time as a lowly Business Class passenger I'd been relegated to the Business Class Lounge. Upon entering, the place looked like a zoo.
But it turned out that the seating area at the entrance was just one of several, and we found our way to the back of the lounge which was practically deserted.
We found a little nook to call home for the next hour, dropped off our stuff, and went searching for food.
From what I could remember, the food options here were really quite similar to those at the Suites Lounge. There were 4 types of sushi rolls, although none of them contained any raw fish, just fillers such as pickles and shredded meat. I didn't care since I was starving at this point, and was more than happy to stuff my face with these rice balls.
There were a few finger sandwich options, although none of them really looked that appetizing. Surprisingly, the potato salad was quite delicious.
And an array of sweets and cookies. However, after watching a little kid literally run his fingers through every cookie in the tray, all of a sudden they didn't look so appetizing anymore.
In addition to the finger foods, there were a few hot food options including a noodle bar. Big thumbs up for the curry noodles and curry rice dishes which were the best of the lot.
And another hot food station with stir-fried noodles and some ridiculously good Japanese fried chicken. Like pizza, fried chicken is generally good to begin with, but I have to say that the fried chicken in Japan is really, REALLY good.
Since we had skipped lunch we definitely went a bit overboard here - one of the many plates I had.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the lounge were the drink options. There was a high-tech Japanese beer machine that tilted the glass while pouring.
And all the fizzy soda that you could ever ask for to get yourself hopped on sugar right before a long flight.
There were even several different options of sake on tap.
And a nicely stocked liquor cabinet to round things out.
Outside of the lounge there was also a shared shower area (individual booths, not locker room style of course!) between the Business Class and First Class lounges. While the facilities are the same, the main difference is that First Class passengers are provided with a separate Shishedo kit with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, while everyone else has to make do with those little disposable packets. Out of sheer boredom and in hopes that it would help me digest, I decided to take a shower to freshen up before the flight.
Overall, this is a great lounge with plenty of seating, good food, shower facilities, and blazing fast wifi which is really all you can ask for in a Business Class lounge.
May 22, 2015, 12:32 am
#117
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 700
We were there at the very beginning of Cherry Blossom season and the crowds were big, but still manageable. I can only imagine that they become unbearable during the peak of Cherry Blossoms, but I guess just comes with the territory if you want to go during that time.
Jun 1, 2015, 9:39 am
#119
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 700
Thanks for the reminder, I still have one segment left and hopefully will get to it this week.
I'd love to see a Fat and Furious franchise of reports around Asia!
I'd love to see a Fat and Furious franchise of reports around Asia!
Jun 4, 2015, 7:29 am
#120
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: BTR/MSY
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LTP, Hilton Gold
Posts: 1,258