When I had the opportunity to some surf and turf in Japan I jumped at the chance. The place I went to was located in Akihabara. This surprised me at first because I have never come to associate Akihabara with good food. However, I was assured that this the place we were going was famous for preparing beef in a western style so my fears were partially assuaged.

They had various steaks as well as beef qualities as options. All beef was Japanese with high prices for higher grades. My eyes glazed over the pages as I saw picture after delicious picture of steaks. I locked onto one page that contained a piece of beef loin and a giant shrimp. This is the one I wanted, price was ¥6300, no big deal it was beef and I had to have it.

When it came to our table the meat and shrimp were on a heavy cast iron hot plate, the fat still sizzling from the residual heat. The portion of beef was puny compared to the cut you get at an American steak house. However, what it lacked on size it made up for in flavor. There was a nice beef flavor and richness that is hard to match. The marbling of the beef made it melt in your mouth. This combination made every bite a bit of heaven in your mouth and I wish for a bigger piece so I could eat more and continue to savor it. The shrimp was comparable in size to a lobster. It seemed like it was twice cooked, lightly boiled sliced in half and mayonnaise placed on top then grilled. The mayo gave it a tangy taste and infused it with an additional fattiness that one would normally get with melted butter. There was a lot of mayo for one which over powered the shrimp. I wasn't able to experience the sweetness of the seafood as much as I would have liked. However, the combination of the richness and tangyness of the mayo, with the sweetness of the shrimp went well together and it was a good combination. Overall the meal was fantastic and for the price I though was pretty reasonable. I would have liked a bigger piece of meat or even one from Matsuzaka, but that definitely would have made the cost of the meal exorbitantly high.

Whether your in one of Japan's massive train stations or a tiny outpost in a remote city there is one thing that will remain true. Someone will be selling bento boxes to weary travelers who need some food to eat. Although bento boxes are available everywhere in Japan, and they are also made at home for lunch time meals, some of the most extravagant ones are found at the many train stations that do the country. Some are even made with special foods from the city or region where they are from in order to differentiate them from the rest of the country. It almost becomes a tourist attraction of its own, traveling the country trying each stations unique bento.

Prices generally range from ¥800 to ¥3000 so there is a bento for any budget. The quality of the food is surprisingly good. The simplest bento is just rice, with something on top, its basically a donburi. Others are fairly extravagant with many items in their own little compartments. They are perfect on the train, eat them while enjoying the scenery on a slowly moving local train to the super fast shinkansen.

Train Stations can be massive, like the 15 story Kyoto station

A unagi bento from Tokyo Station

13 Item bento from Kyoto Station

Menchi Katsu sandwich box from Akihabara

Living in San Francisco most of the time, we have our fair share of good bakeries and the quality is excellent. I do think that we do take ourselves too seriously here sometimes, our quality is great, but some of the bakeries in Tokyo put us to shame. For example a chain store called Choco Cro, produces some amazing croissant buttery and flakey, cooked perfectly. For a chain store to maintain that level of quality is astounding especially since my perception of chain food is McDonalds and other fast food that is horrible.

When I was living in Roppongi there are too major urban developments in walking distance, the now famous Roppongi Hills, and the up and coming Tokyo Midtown. Both contain excellent bakeries. In Roppongi Hills just outside the main complex near Hollywood Plaza on the main street is a bakery called Pompadour. This small shop produces a number of classical French breads as wells as some more imaginative japanese varieties. Japanese varieties include one of the best version of curry pan that i've tasted, another deep fried bread stuff with tarako, and some corn mayo bread. The last one may sound really strange, and believe me its not one of my favorite flavors of any bread, but this version is pretty good.

Chain restaurants can have good food too

Curry pan is a deep fried bread that is stuffed with Japanese curry

Classic Pastries done with precision

I went to a Chinese restaurant that is located in the modern Roppongi Hills. The hills is one of the largest private urban development projects in Tokyo and is geared towards an upscale clientele. Since I was there for lunch they had a set menu which included four different kinds of Dim Sum along with rice and your choice of meat, I decided on roast duck. The four dumplings that were included were included were a deep fried mochi with meat filling, a Shanghai style soup dumpling, and two kinds of shrimp dumpling.

The deep fried dumpling was one of my favorites of the meal. I have only just tried this kind of dumpling a few months ago in San Francisco, and this version is levels ahead of that one. The filling was slightly sweet, and contained a mixture of ground pork, chopped shrimp, and shiitake mushrooms. The outside was crispy and not oily at all while the mochi was soft and slightly chewy.

Second was the Shanghai soup dumpling. I had some high expectations of this one. In San Francisco, Yank Sing, the dim sum place I frequent has this type of dumpling as one of its specialities, so I was hoping for something better out of this one. I'm saddened to say that one was not that good. For one it lacked a soup component, or more specifically there wasn't enough soup. When I think of a soup dumpling I think of it like a hot meat slurpy. The soup is mixed in with the meat filling to give it a chunky, yet drinkable texture. The filling itself was bland as well. There was a slight hint of pork, but completely lacked seasoning. It ended up being a bland slightly juicy dumpling that was forgettable.

Next up were the two shrimp dumplings. The first was a typical one with a rice flower skin, the second had a rice flower skin as well, but it was also mixed with either maccha or green onions to give a green appearance. The regular one was not interesting. The filling was completely made into a paste so there was no chunks of shrimp in it. The flavor as well lacked something that would make me feel like it's a real shrimp dumpling. The green one however, was quite tasty. It was not as good as deep fried one but it was better than the other two. The filling was also different from the first shrimp dumpling. There were larger shrimp chunks and this one also included some green onions that punched up the flavor.

The main dish was the rice and roasted duck. Roast duck is one of my favorite chinese dishes and the one they do here is done right. It reminds me of the kind of duck that is used of Peking Duck, but better. There were no bones and the meat with incredibly rich. There was layers of fat that made that flavor of the duck spread throughout ones mouth and melting away. The sauce that came with it was also good and mixed well with the rice that was sitting underneath. The only complaint that I could make for this dish was there wasn't enough duck.

Final Rating:
Fried Dumpling: 10/10
Good flavor, these were the best dumplings out of the bunch.

Soup Dumpling: 4/10
Thoroughly disappointed, lacking soup, and flavor.

Green Shrimp Dumpling 8/10
Didn't get a a taste of what was they put in the green skin, but the filling was good.

White Shrimp Dumpling 5/10
A mediocre effort no big pieces of shrimp, lacked a flavor that usually makes these dumplings taste so good.

Roasted Duck: 10/10
The that duck was great no complaints.

Overall: 8.5/10
There were some highs, but there were also some lows. I am mixed giving it this rating on one hand The dishes that I liked, I loved. The dishes that I disliked weren't too bad, but I would never eat them again given a choice.

The cafe serves mostly desserts and some lighter fare. I had the seasonal tart, which had a topping of grapefruit, and was served with a honey sorbet. The plating was very elegant, yet still simple. The tart itself was fantastic. At first one would think that grapefruit would be too tart to have as the only fruit on the dish, but these were not that tart at all. The crust was perfect it had enough structure to hold everything in place, but was soft enough to cut with a fork without much effort. Below the fruit was a cream base that give the grapefruit that additional sweetness to offset the minor tartness of it.

The honey sorbet was magical, and has now replaced vanilla as a basic flavor that I enjoy. It was the perfect balance of a vanilla flavor with just a hint of honey in it. While eating it the first sensation is that of vanilla and as you swallow the honey flavor spread though the mouth.

Final Rating: 10/10
This was the perfect dessert. Everything was perfectly executed, the taste was just the way it should be.

I ended up ordering an omelet rice, which consists of a catsup style fried rice covered in a plain egg omelet with a little bit demi glace on top. The dish also came with a side of beef stew. The omurice it self was okay, rice lacked flavor and richness. The egg was well prepared and the sauce on top matched well with the flavors of the rice.

I ended up enjoying the beef stew more. The sauce that was in it was very rich and had a great depth of flavor. It contained some gnocchi or potato dumplings, carrots, broccoli, and beef. The vegetables were cooked perfectly and the beef was melt in your mouth tender. The bland starchy gnocchi complemented the rich sauce and give it balance.

For a drink I had a chocolate frappe type drink. I'm not sure exactly what was in it, but I believe it was blended with some kind of nuts or coca nibs. It was topped with an chocolate ice cream, and some whipped cream. The whip cream was extremely dense. The consistency was almost like custard, but it had a great mouth feel. The ice cream was very creamy too, it was soft, but not like a gelato. The actual drink itself on first taste seemed like it had bananas in it, but I could not confirm. Attempting it drink it was also a challenge, it was thick, which made it difficult to drink with a straw.

Final Rating: 8/10
Most of the food was good, the filling in the omurice was the only stumbling block. I feel like the version I make tastes better. Other than that it was a good meal.

Final rating:
Boss Coffee: 8/10
As far as canned coffee goes it was good.

Yakiniku onigiri: 7/10
The strong flavors made it hard to give this a higher score. The only thing that saved it was there wasn't a lot of the filling.

Overall: 7.5/10
A decent morning snack to get the gears going.

Final Rating: 7.5/10
The food was good. Though some items could have been better.

Today was a lot better then yesterday as far as selection. There was a good supply of almost everything on the shelves. So I picked up a couple of onigiri, a bag of chips, sushi set, and a drink.

The drink I picked up was called Paradise Tropical Tea, it described itself as "A choice blend of natural premium teas and tropical fruit taste". I'll believe the first part, but I didn't taste the fruit described in the second. Instead I got some floral taste to it, which is something I associate with a more herbal tea, so getting that flavor profile with a black tea is something that was strange. It tasted good, though it was unsweetened which is another thing that surprised me. Usually when I see fruit in a tea I expect it to be slightly to really sweet, this was neither.

Next up the two onigiri. I picked up a salmon, and a tuna mayo one. These were really great. A big step up from yesterday. The rice was nicely cooked and the fillings were great. The nori had lost its crispness since there packaging was not the kind that that separates the nori from the rice. I tried the tuna mayo first, the filling looked brown so that was my first sign that it wasn't only tuna and mayonnaise. It turned out to be soy sauce. The combination was really good the saltiness of the soy sauce and the richness of the mayo combined well with the tuna. The only complain I had was that I wish there was more tuna in it. The salmon onigiri was also good. Its' consistency was different the usually flakiness that I've come to expect from a salmon onigiri. This one was a little more moist similar to the tuna mayo.

Afterwards I began on the sushi set. It consisted of two pieces of inari, two tamagoyaki nigiri, and two different maki rolls. Like the onigiri the rice was nicely cooked. However, the flavoring of the rice was kind of bland. There wasn't a good vinegar or sweet taste to it. The inari was okay just like I expected, better than equivalents you can get in the states. The egg in the tamagoyaki was good, nice and moist with a good level of sweetness. The two maki were okay there was little in the center.

Finally there were the chips. The flavor was Grilled chicken and Garlic. Calbee is a brand of chips that I am very familiar with. They are usually sold in many Japanese markets in San Francisco as well as other places in the city. The taste was great, it had that flavor of grilled chicken but without a strong meaty taste that some chips have. The garlic flavor was also good, it wasn't overpowering. The primary taste you got was of the chicken seasoning flavor, then at the end you got just a hint of garlic.

Final Rating
Paradise Tropical Tea: 7/10
Flavor was good, but didn't live up to expectations and promises on the label.

Salmon Onigiri: 7/10
Average for a salmon onigiri.

Tuna Mayo Onigiri: 8/10
I enjoyed the combination of the tuna, soy sauce, and mayo.

Sushi set: 7.5/10
As a whole the set was a lot better than what you could pickup at Safeway. I would say it was about the same or marginally better than what you could get at a Japanese market in Japantown. The variety in ingredients was nice.

Calbee grilled chicken and garlic potato chips: 8.5/10
These were really good. After eating over three quarters of the bag the flavor became too intense, it was a little hard for my palette to finish the rest.

Overall: 7.5/10
This was a big step up from yesterdays choices, I can see why the things I choose yesterday were the last on the shelf. The food I had today was what I was expecting to see from a combini. Nothing really blew my mind, but everything was good, or great.

When I got there the selection was a little sparse, my guess I was a little early for the restocking truck to come by. Combini usually restock several times a day, they keep on hand quantities low to insure freshness of the product. At most there is usually 10 of a single item, for popular things like onigiiri, and average of 3-5 for other food products.

I picked up a bottle of lemon water, a onigiri, and a melon pan. The lemon water is by far one of my favorite drinks I have come across. It is a slightly sweet, slightly lemony drink. All the major Japanese drink manufacturers have their own brands and I've tried them all, but my favorite of all of them is the House Wellness brand of the stuff. It has just the right combination that I am looking for. Sadly for me, when I'm in the states they rarely import the stuff, so it's really difficult to find. Strangely almost all the other brands are available at one time or another.

The onigiri was the only one they had in stock. Onigiri are rice balls with filling inside of them and wrapped in nori or some other product like beefsteak leaves, though they aren't always shaped like balls, usually you see them as triangles. They're portable easy to eat and cheap. I'm not exactly sure what it was when I had it, but it had a tart taste to it. I think it was on the shelf for a while because the rice had gotten all mooshy and gummy so it was kind of hard to eat, the filling was good though. As a side note, the Japanese markets in America also sell onigiri too, but they are horrible at packaging. They tried to replicate the packaging done in japan to separate the nori wrapper from the rice to keep it crisp until serving, but when you try an open the american version it always breaks the nori apart, Japanese wrapping doesn't seem to have this problem. This is due to the placement of the stickers on the american version and also the materials used in said sticker don't tear easily as Japanese counter parts.

Finally was the melon pan, this is one of those strange Japanese dishes the emerged as their unique take on western foods. Contrary to the name most melon pan does not have any melon in it. The name comes from the shape of the bread which resembles a melon. Melon pan consists of two parts a sweet bread at the core similar to a sweet dinner roll and the outer crust which similar to a cookie. Due to the different cooking times for the different parts the outer cookie crust never fully cooks through which results in a sticky outer layer. The melon pan I had tasted like many of the prepackaged breads available in the states, kind of dry and not fresh. That lack a freshness I feels is part of all the preservatives that are usually included in packaged items to extend their shelf life. Even though I don't think that any of the items on the shelf have been made more than a day ago. Maybe it was the jet lag or maybe just after all the food and drink from the flight, but I couldn't finish it.

Final rating
Lemon Water: 10/10
I love the stuff, its perfect.

Onigiri: 5/10
The filling was good, but I couldn't get past the texture and consistency of the gummy rice.

Melon Pan: 5/10
I'm not a big fan of packaged breads. The melon pan was dry and bland, it tasted too similar to the dinner roll I had on my flight over to japan.

Overall: 6.5/10
Originally I was going to give it a 5.5, but I'm going to give some of it the benefit of the doubt. Due to the flight and the lack of appetite I think my taste buds were just tired out.