Nanohana: Cuisine from Sado Island

Nanohana could almost be mistaken for someone’s house if it weren’t for a small lectern, propping open an enthusiastically-scrawled menu. The restaurant is small and discreet, tucked down a side street, where its sandy-colored walls and wooden door with glass panels blends into a charming old neighborhood in Ueno in the east of Tokyo. We pull open that door to reveal a cosy, retro interior, a few dark wood tables, green lamps on the wall and an S-shaped counter behind which lies the kitchen. Most striking, however, is the paraphernalia from Sado Island – maps, old photos and bottles of sake line the walls. It’s clear we have stumbled into a home-away-from-home, a labor of love created by Nanohama’s owners, couple Tadahiro and Nami Ishizuka.

Sichuan Tantanmen Aun: Noodles That Turn Up the Heat

In Japan, people opting for new year noodles will most likely pick soba buckwheat noodles. Often eaten on New Year’s Eve as “toshikoshi soba” (literally, “year-crossing noodles”), which are served in a light dashi broth, they symbolize good luck, longevity, and breaking off the hardship of the previous year. During the chilly days of January, however, we find ourselves craving a different kind of noodle to start the year: tantanmen. Punchy, oily, and spicy wheat noodles topped with minced pork, this gloriously fiery dish might not give us a long life, but it’s something we’re planning to eat life-long. 

Best Bites 2022: Tokyo

Japan has finally reopened to international tourists, and many residents are not only ready to welcome back visitors, but are delighted to do so. While there are inevitable grumbles about the inevitable queues, these are outweighed by an excitement generated by the fresh energy that fresh eyes bring to the city.   Returnee visitors to Tokyo will find much has changed, but much has stayed the same as well. The capital has always been a restless, competitive city – pandemic or no – and restaurants often pop up like mushrooms, and disappear just as quickly.  

Koike no Iekei: Soul Food Ramen

Ramen has been, arguably, one of Japan’s biggest culinary exports in the past few years. Across the globe, new legions of converts will proclaim to be tonkotsu (pork bone broth) fans, avid followers of the shoyu (soy sauce) style, or miso ramen aficionados. Yet a new store in Sugamo, a northern Tokyo suburb, is throwing its weight behind a type of ramen – iekei – still little known outside of Japan. Sugamo isn't the kind of place that's known for being trendy. In fact, it's colloquially known as "Obachan no Harajuku" (Grandma's Harajuku) due to the array of shops catering to the elderly – although there are a couple of less salubrious streets geared towards a certain male clientele.

Tempura Dining Itoi: Tempura for the Times

It might easily be mistaken for a hipster café. From the street in buzzing Shinjuku City ward, a large window illuminates an open kitchen where Yuichi Itoi, sporting a baseball cap, white T-shirt and piercings, is prepping ingredients. As we step inside, we’re greeted by the sound of low-key hip-hop and the chatter of two young couples sat at the counter, sipping drinks. Two men are at a table butted up against a bare brick wall, an open laptop amidst their plates. But this is no café. Tempura Dining Itoi is a restaurant born from chef-owner Itoi’s devotion to washoku – traditional Japanese cuisine. Except here, he’s doing things his way. 

In Training

Japanese trains have garnered worldwide admiration and praise for their punctuality, efficiency and cleanliness. The country’s railway network is supported by a strong surrounding infrastructure, and some stations have become tourist spots in themselves. And whereas eating at a train station might be a last resort in other countries, in Japan, you might find yourself at a gourmet destination. In 2005, JR East, the largest of the Japan Railways corporations, began to push the concept of ekinaka – literally “inside station” – as a way to expand their business in the face of a declining and ageing population. Previously, stations might have had small kiosks selling magazines and snacks inside the ticket gates, and perhaps a standing soba noodle shop, cheap bowls purchased by a ticket vending machine at the door.

Menya Imamura

In 2015, a ramen store in Tokyo made waves by becoming the first ever to receive a Michelin star. Tucked down a street in a slightly shabby area near Sugamo Station to Tokyo’s north, the store, Tsuta, was flooded with hordes of noodle worshippers and subsequently issued a timed-entry ticketing system to manage the crowds (reportedly to spare the clientele of the love hotel across the street from embarrassment). Locals maintain, however, that the best ramen in the area is not found at Tsuta, which has since moved to a more upmarket location, but rather at Menya Imamura, housed one street over from the original Tsuta store.