Visiting fast food joints while abroad is a little guilty pleasure of ours. While we rarely eat McDonald’s and the like at home, we love to experience what it’s like in other countries, especially when they have unique, local menus. Japan is no different, offering some interesting takes on the all-American burger. During our visit to Tokyo we tried 3 different fast food burger joints.
To be honest, we were hesitant about making a reservation to Ninja Akasaka, a ninja themed restaurant that claims to recreate the “mysterious art of ninjas”. Most of the themed restaurant put effort into decor, branding (which was wonderfully done by this video production unit), atmosphere, and often times it comes on the expense of the food. After researching online and reading many posts and reviews, raving about the food, we decided to go for it.
Many things that are often mundane in other countries become quite fascinating in Japan. Japanese dogs is one of those things. Japanese love and care for their dogs and it shows. During my 2 week trip in Tokyo, I’ve encountered many dogs and worked to capture these cute little creatures. Well, on camera at least. How little are they? Very. Most of the dogs I saw were pretty small, and considering the size of an average apartment in Tokyo, that makes sense.
So enough with the blabber, let’s get some cuteness on screen.
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The Asian Deli is located in Hod Hasharon, not a city famous as a culinary center. However, we’ve been interested in this place ever since it opened so took the opportunity to come when we were in the area.
Fellows Burger is the best place where you could start here to know about the true essence of the burger. It is a Great gem hidden in the side streets of Harajuku. We arrived for lunch and joined the line in front of this extremely narrow building. The local Tokyo crowd simply looooves to queue, and by that time, after two weeks in Tokyo, we practically felt like locals and didn’t mind the hour-long wait.
Miazaki is perhaps the most anticipated food project in Shuk Tzafon (North Market). Miazaki is Yuval Ben Neriah’s (of Taizu fame) interpretation on a Japanese “Izakaya”. Traditionally Japanese Izakayas are a combination of a Japanese grill bar and a gastropub where food is served to accompany the drinks. The food being in the form of small dishes to be snacked while drinking. I think that in that sense the experience in Miazaki is far from the source. Not only are they focused on food rather than drinks, the bar chairs were bolted together so you couldn’t sit there. The only option is to pick up your lunch tray and go to find a table in one of Shuk Tzafon’s seating courts, which while being indoors provide little insulation from the cold. In addition, the experience of eating outside is not very pleasant – the indoor balcony is very crowded and the wooden floor decks transmit every vibration or movement caused by people walking or dragging chairs directly into your spine.
Ukai-tei is one of the 3 Michelin starred restaurant we visited in Tokyo, and was the only one that served lunch. Lunch service is usually less expensive than diner service, so opting for lunch allows us to experience more high end restaurants in our travels. So whenever there’s an option for a lunch meal, we’ll prefer it.
This restaurant is part of a chain in Japan, that specializes in Teppanyaki – Japanese cuisine that makes use of an iron griddle to cook food. We reserved our seats for the Omotesando branch, which is located at the top floor of the Chanel building in Harajuku.