some may ask, where are tom and joel these days? well here, you can find out.

Thursday 10 April 2008

Food in Fujino

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I've come to a personal conclusion of what makes exquisite food. Not just good food, not food that you enjoy in a restaurant, perhaps to go to that same restaurant again and maybe try something else, but the food that makes you return to that restaurant just for that dish, to eat over and over again. I've been experiencing a lot of it recently, but the food we ate last night in a restaurant in Fujino finally made my mind really realise how a dish can be more than just, well, food.

This wasn't just any old restaurant in Japan. This is Shu, a local place set high in the mountains of Fujino, hidden away from the tourists (like us) of Tokyo, and so the atmosphere is truely Japanese. Toshikatsu tells us they often have live jazz bands there. The beer came in foot long glasses, the way good beer should, and the white wine went down incredibly easily with the six courses of salmon, caviar, juicy pork and fresh organic vegetables grown directly outside the restaurant. Unlike many salads, where the dressing overpowers everything else because its been bought from a shop, and the vegetables are too mild and meek to stand out for exactly the same reason, everything here stood out in your mouth, begging your tastebuds to focus their attention on each individual greenery. Unfourtunately I don't have the culinary experience to tell you the names of every vegetable we had, you'll just have to come and experience it for yourself.

The final dish, desert, something that i usually disregard, was the icing on the cake, or in this case, pumpkin pie. The only times i've tried pumpkin pie i've literally spat it out in disgust, pumpkins in my opinion were for making ugly faces with, whether eating or cutting them up. But eating is was final reason for writing this blog, it is a perfect example of my idea of superior grub. I believe the trick is to work in opposites in texture, taste and flavour in one bite, and for it to work well. Holding one mouthful of this pie on your tounge you could feel a very slight tickling powderyness, but at the same time the moist flavour enveloped everything. At first the pumpkins mild sweetness calmed and cleared the palate, though one bite of a hidden pumpkin seed cut straight through the sugar with a slight bitterness.

So yes, thought i might make you all a bit more jealous. Me and Joel were talking about how my ideal job would be a Travel Food Photo-Journalist, so i thought i might give the writing part of it a try.

Other things that have happened:

Went to the hot springs, got naked and enjoyed the naturally heated 42 degree water from 1km underground.
Ate more sushi
Teed off into the moutains of Fujino, certainly made golf a lot more fun
Met some local potters who gave us some umbrellas
Had our first experience at the laundrettes (In Nepal they did it all for me)

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view in the morning

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, that's a bit different from Tesco value noodle, frozen spinach and egg!
Imagine the challenge would be to be able to write an equally enthralling paragraph, or two, about a very awful meal. AA Gill and Michael Winner - eat your heart out, better watch out.
Would love to see some pictures of proper Japanese Sushi.
Gotta go eat instant noodle and to meditate on loving kindness and non jealousy of one's offspring.Ha ha.
Love Mum
x

Parma Violet said...

Tom you should read http://www.eggsonsunday.wordpress.com

It's my favourite food/photo blog ever. Amy the writer doesn't do much travelling, but her passion for food makes life BRIGHTER!

Roo said...

ahem, why havnt you eaten mister donuts yet?

tomjgibbs said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joel said...

We have! In Akihabara. They were tasty but expensive. But we got some sort of loyalty card.
Nice.

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