Jojo-en

One of the Miyake family's favorite places to go to is Jojo-en, a restaurant specializing in Korean barbeque. Jojo-en is about a 10-minute drive from Sarah's apartment located close to Roppongi. From what I hear, Jojo-en serves the best Korean barbeque in all of Tokyo. After trying it, I'm a total believer.


Jojo-en is a really nice place. It has very modern decor with marble and glass all over the place. It's nice too because we got seated in our own private room. As with almost all Korean meals, we started off with an assortment of small plates, including kimchi, tofu, pickled daikon, and seaweed.


The lunch set also came with this salad, which was a huge hit and major surprise. From the looks of it, it doesn't seem very impressive. However, the dressing on the iceberg lettuce was awesome. It was slightly tangy with a hint of sesame. If dressing in the States was this good, I'd probably eat salads more often.


The lunch set that Sarah's mom ordered came with the beef tartare dish shown above. This was my first time trying beef tartare, and the idea of consuming raw beef with egg doesn't seem all that appetizing. However, after trying it, it was pretty good although I'll probably need to eat it more often to really grow an affinity towards it.


So after the appetizer courses came the main attraction. We fired up the grill at the table and started cooking! My lunch set came with shrimp, beef tongue, and some wonderfully marbled sirloin. It was pre-marinated in some kind of vinagarette and garlic, so the meat was delicious as is after grilling. However, three kinds of sauces were provided for dipping as well.

As part of the dessert, we were served some orange slices in a jelly along with a choice of iced coffee, orange juice, or wheat tea. By the end of the meal, I was absolutely stuffed.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed lunch at Jojo-en. So far on my trip, it is hands-down my favorite meal. Everything, from the appetizer plates to the grilled meats to the dessert, was delicious. Some people think the idea of paying money to cook your own meal is absurd, but I love meals like Korean barbeque that are interactive and involve you as a diner. It's more fun and interesting that way.

Okonomiyaki

Despite the diversity of the Japanese culinary scene, I've made it explicit that I want to eat traditional Japanese snacks and meals that are less accessible to me when I'm back home in the States. After all, why eat pasta and meatballs in a country best known for sushi, azuki, and matcha? One such dish that is very "Japanese" is okonomiyaki, which I tried at a quaint little restaurant nestled inside the downtown area of Hiroshima.

The restaurant wasn't too big, and most of the restaurant space was taken up by the large kitchen area of which the sprawling grill top was the focus of attention. A handful of young, hip chefs manned the steaming hot grill and busily filled orders rolling in.


After trying it, I think of okonomiyaki as a cross between American omelette and Chinese scallion pancake. There are different versions of okonomiyaki, but it is mainly comprised of two pancakes that are first filled with various meats, vegetables, and egg and then pan-fried on each side on a grill top. It is eaten with various condiments like seaweed shavings or bonito flakes and then covered with bulldog sauce, a thick dark liquid that reminded me of barbeque sauce.



The okonomiyaki was very tasty. However, I think I would have enjoyed it even more had I eaten it on an empty stomach. I had been eating small snacks throughout the day and was pretty filled by dinner. I was absolutely stuffed after I ate the okonomiyaki, and that was even when Sarah and I shared one. The picture shown is half of one serving.

As I was eating the okonomiyaki, I couldn't help but think that it would be perfect chow after a long night of drinking. The huge portions in addition to the dish's savory, slightly greasy character would settle any drunk man's stomach. The way I'm talking here doesn't exactly make it out to seem like this stuff all that classy. It isn't. It is, however, some common, traditional Japanese food that truly enjoyed trying.