Tokyo Diary: Day 0.5

I arrived in Tokyo earlier this afternoon (late enough that I don't feel I can justify calling this Day 1) on my final trip before heading back to Seoul and then on to America (wow--that's unreal). After getting settled in my clean-and-nice-and-convenient-but-unremarkable hotel, I quickly made two dinner reservations: one for tonight at Cha Cha Hana and one for Thursday night at the New York Grill (the place from Lost In Translation, which is supposed to be very good and have some of the best views of Tokyo). I then managed to navigate the labyrinthine, busy, clean, and quiet Tokyo subway system to the Shinjuku neighborhood. I had an hour or so until my dinner reservation so went to the Golden Gai, which are a collection of bars in Shinjuku crammed into some alleys, which are known for their diversity and size--they are tiny places, some only having room for a handful of drinkers. I went to one recommended by my Lonely Planet guide, which was not busy yet and interesting enough. After having a beer and watching the bartender/cook make dumplings in the smallest bar kitchen I've ever seen, I left and headed to my restaurant.

Cha Cha Hana was recommended as one of the top three places to dine at by the NY Times. It was also predictably hard to find (it is featured in a slide show and article title Hidden Tokyo: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/06/15/travel/20070617_TOKYO_SLIDESHOW_1.html), but I managed to stumble onto the place. Once there, I was escorted to my seat, which was happily at a bar-style table that actually faced an open kitchen. One of the many interesting things about this place was that the open kitchen area I faced, as well as the spot I was sitting at, were both sunken so when you walked up it looked like you were going to be in a low table even though you weren't (it also had heated floors, which were clutch since it is snowy tonight and everyone goes shoeless in the restaurant). Fortunately, they also had an English menu. The food was served in tapas-sized proportions, so I had five items and dessert (which was enough to fill me up but not overstuff me). The menu was impressive, so I wrote down the printed descriptions of each item:

1) Blanched avocado and boiled beans dressed in bean curd skin sashimi-style
2) Braised pork slices and "Arame" seaweed in sweet soy sauce [this dish also had slices of lotus root, which were tasty]
3) Salmon in sweet vinegar marinade
4) Tempura brown beech mushrooms
5) Grated Japanese yam and yolk grilled on "Tohban" pan and topped with dried bonito and radish buds
6) Dessert: Homemade "Warabi Mochi" dumplings with brown sugar syrup [this came accompanied with a delicious, bitter Japanese tea that cut through the sugary mochi very well]

Needless to say, this was a delicious meal. I wish a real foodie would have been there with me (Josh, you missed out) because it was a great experience. I also had a small bottle of warm sake with the meal, which was also quite enjoyable.

During dinner, I planned my schedule for tomorrow. It is going to start early--around 6am--at the big Tokyo fish market, which supposedly is an unmissable place. After getting some pics there, I am going to have sushi breakfast at a highly recommended place, then spend the afternoon doing a variety of things that include some Japanese gardens, window shopping in a mix of 5th Avenue as well as Brooklyn-esque places, having Ramen at least twice (I spent well over an hour researching the best places, and have a list of four that I need to hit before leaving), and going to a contemporary art museum that is related to the MOMA in New York and is on the 53rd floor of a building here. Should be a great day! Hopefully I'll have some cool pics and memories to blog about soon enough.