On my second morning, I managed to sleep in until 3:15am, which was a considerable improvement. In part I credit the HVAC system, which maintained a comfortable temperature quietly, and without jets of cold air near the bed. Having an actual bed instead of a futon didn’t hurt, either.
Saturday, March 29
Our plan for the morning was to visit the Toyosu Market tuna auction and then, our appetite for fish having been stimulated, to enjoy one of the fine sushi restaurants at the market along with the other early birds.
Our taxi driver wasn’t sure where we wanted to go, thinking we meant Toyosu train station. Fortunately, we had the Japanese text for the oddly named “P.R. Corner” and access instructions from the official site. We ended up reasonably close to the target and gave our umbrellas their first test as we headed for Block 7, the Administrative building. Once inside, we verified our identities and collected little paper tickets. We had about a 20 minute wait before our group headed down to the walk-in fridge, er, open-air viewing platform.
I was here six months ago and I didn't notice any changes. The auction was louder than I remembered. Perhaps because we were starting a bit later, the auctions were closer to the platform? The process is so fast; it seems the starting bell rang for longer than it took to sell the tuna. In one auction I watched to the end, the auctioneer doffed his cap to the customers who were thanking him for his services. Everyone seems to be friends here.
Back upstairs, we joined the queue at our first choice sushi bar. Having verified that we would fit into the first seating, we relaxed and pondered our menu choices. I like to joke that in Japan, the courses have 3 levels of quality and price. You don’t want to be too cheap and order the lowest level, but especially when out with others, you don’t want to appear extravagant by ordering the top level. So by default, the safe choice is always the middle level. And at Sushi Dokoro Yamazaki (寿司処 やまざき), that choice is the 9-piece set, “Tokujyou,” for ¥5,800. We got four.
Our itamae appeared to be the youngest, and from what we could see, he was well practiced with each item. Surprisingly, two pieces of rolled omelet were up first. Since these are mildly sweet, you might expect them later in the sequence. But we were hungry, so we did not dally in consuming them. Our nigiri sushi arrived in this order: Tai (snapper), Kinmedai (I missed the translation), Scallop, Aji (Japanese jack mackerel), Kuruma (Japanese Tiger prawn), Akami (lean red tuna), Chu-toro (medium fatty tuna belly), O-toro (fatty tuna belly), and Anago (Japanese conger eel). The kinmedai, aji and lean red tuna were especially good. Finally, three pieces of tekkamaki, featuring two cuts of tuna, impressed me with the tastiness of the seaweed.
We headed back to the hotel by subway. We explored the underground passage looking for the “direct connection,” but it eluded us yet again. Hoping for a bit of dessert, I paused at the hotel restaurant. After a brief delay, I was seated at a counter with a window view where they seat single diners. Aside from a mixed fruit cup, and a little chocolate croissant, I found only savory bites. So I tried a half dozen of those, including ground beef cooked with miso, sesame tofu, and konbu spiked with a little sansho pepper. Very good! I’ll need to get them all tomorrow.
After a shower, we headed to the Meguro neighborhood to meet up with Theresa's friend Rie for assistance with a prescription and for lunch at a favorite neighborhood soba restaurant, Kawasemi (川せみ). The weekend special at was sold out, so we ordered the standard sets of soba with tempura and your choice of hot soup or a cold dipping sauce. I love cold soba in the Summer, but today's drizzle and chilly gusts of wind called for hot soup. I drank it all, which might be ill-advised in light of our cooking class later this afternoon. I couldn't help myself. The cloudy soba cooking water, provided on the side to be drunk as a kind of tea, was interesting to try, but not something I plan to indulge in regularly.
We visited the nearby Hotel Gajoen Tokyo (ホテル雅叙園東京), which gives serious Crazy Rich Asian vibes. With richly decorated walls and ceilings, indoor and outdoor water features, and historic architectural details, it’s as much like a movie set as a hotel. It could be fun stay here someday, but for now, we’re just passing through.
We cabbed to Meguro station, changed trains at Shinjuku, and eventually arrived at Kunitachi station for our ramen cooking class. As befits the season, a stand selling sakura sweets distracted us briefly before we followed our navigation apps to the pin Nahoko had sent us. We left our shoes at the foot of the stairs and headed up to her place, barely large enough for our group of six.
“At Home with Nahoko” is a home-based cooking school we discovered on Cookly. We considered several ramen classes, some of which were just a restaurant tour and some of which involved going shopping and making various other foods. We settled on Nahoko’s because we wanted to experience hand-made noodles and home-made broth. Perhaps it was a mistake to sign up for a class from 3:30 to 7:30 so early in our trip; members of our group glazed over or nodded off a few times while Nahoko was explaining such topics as the migration of alkaline noodles from China and all the different possible sources of umami. While we took turns cooking, some younger folks napped at the table.
Nahoko had started the chicken broth in advance, but she put us to work stirring and skimming it after adding dried sardines for enhanced umami. We didn’t have to do much to prepare the toppings: boiled eggs with slightly soft yolks, chili oil, and stir-fried ground chicken marinated in soy sauce, mirin, and brown sugar. The hard work was making the noodles: the dough did not easily yield to kneading and at times seemed impossibly stubborn. By the time it finished resting, though, the tough lumps were just flexible enough to run though the pasta machine (although we had to hold it together to prevent it from popping apart under the pressure). Our chicken-sardine broth was flavored with a surprisingly tasty homemade chick pea miso. We cooked our noodles very briefly, rinsed them, briefly reheated them in the boiling water, then laid them in our bowls and topped them to taste. All in all, we made excellent bowls of ramen. Will we do all this at home? Hmm, it’s a bit much. Maybe for a party?
I don’t quite remember how we all got back to the hotel after class. Jet lag + heavy carbs = sleepy. We should all rest well tonight. (More photos for the day on Google Photos.)