Went for a quick lunch to Red Pit in one of the many department stores above Shinjuku station. I'd searched it out online as somewhere near the bus stop where I can get a good Bibimbap (ビビンバ). I absolutely love 石焼ビビンバ (bibimbap served in a hot stone bowl) so I went for the variation with kimchi. On top of the rice was a raw egg, spicy sauce, beef, beansprouts and spinach. Because the bowl comes stupidly hot, stirring the dish before you eat it cooks the egg and makes the rice nice and brown. Last time I ate it I managed to catch my hand on the side of the bowl, so I was very careful not to do the same again this time!

I went round the corner to the local CoCo壱番屋 for a take-away curry, and got a keema curry with naan. Nice and spicy!

The prospect sounded good; a pizza restaurant called Fioravante owned by an Italian in a Small Italy-type area of Shinbashi. Unfortunately despite being greeted by an Italian lady and the waiters and waitresses all being Italian, for some strange reason the guy in the kitchen was Japanese. An Italian-speaking Japanese, but nonetheless still surprising for us. Also the service was hardly Italian-like, and wasn't friendly at all; I didn't see the owner smile once the whole time.
 
Their lunch set gave a choice of the pizza of the day - today was potato and mozzarella (a decidedly non-Italian combination) - or either the plain margherita or marinara alternatives. We had one margherita and one marinara as part of the 1000 yen (6 pound) lunch set, which included a salad, a couple of pieces of (possibly yesterday's) bread, and a tea or coffee. So not very expensive, however the pizza was really not very good; the tomato sauce on both pizzas was sweet - as is so often the case in places outside of Italy - and we didn't enjoy either of them. Below is a bad photo courtesy of Mr. Blurrycam.
 
Ah well, better luck next time. I still want to go back to Sciue' Sciue' in Shibuya as I rated their pizza much better when I first went 3-4 years ago. Last time I tried to go, however, it was closed for renovations.

After our late lunch we weren't really that hungry until later in the evening. Beforehand we'd walked through Shiba Park to the base of the Tokyo Tower, so we then felt more like eating again.

 The restaurant in Ebisu, on the west side of Tokyo, is called キムカツ (pronounced 'kimukatsu') and is famous for its tonkatsu. Instead of being a single piece of pork like most tonkatsu, the variation served here is made up of thin layers of pork, with some of the dishes having fillings including cheese, onions, garlic, black pepper etc. Tonight we went for a plain and a cheese, and they come with rice, cabbage (with free refills), miso soup and a drink. They gave us a choice of white or red miso soup, and we both went for the red (pictured below) which has quite a strong flavour. Finally there are two types of sauce to dip the tonkatsu in before eating with rice and cabbage.

 Of course being evening, and with me not having to drive, it had to be accompanied with a deliciously chilled beer! It was quite an expensive dinner in the end, costing 5190 yen (nearly 35 pounds), but we don't get to eat there too often and it's one of our favourite katsu restaurants.

Despite arriving by bus in the Shinjuku area (west) of Tokyo, we took the train to Tokyo (east) station especially so we could eat お好み焼き at きじ (Kiji), as we'd seen some good reviews online. Arriving at about 13:20 there was a queue of about 25 people, which meant nearly a 40 minute wait! Needless to say we were pretty hungry upon entering, and luckily we were given seats at the counter which meant some great views of the okonomiyaki being prepared by the four chefs.

 We ordered a pork and a beef, and watched them being made. The first photo is actually half the pork one and half the beef one - they divided them both in two for the two of us to share. They pile on the spring onion, and under that is the usual brown okonomiyaki sauce. Once we'd finished we agreed that the beef one was the best, so we couldn't help ourselves ordering another one to share. The beef it turns out is called 牛筋, pronounced 'gyusuji', and is the beef that surrounds the tendons/sinew of the cow which is softened for hours before serving. Doesn't sound so appetising written here, but it was really tender and delicious; hence us ordering two of them!

 I was in a great position to take some photos of the chefs creating a lot of different types of okonomiyaki all at once. In the photo of all of them together you can see, from left-right front-back: squid, pork, octopus, shrimp, beef (牛筋 like ours) and squid again. Once they're actually cooking they use the metal shields to make sure the customers don't get fat splattered at them. I have to say too that the customer service was really timely; they kept topping up our water, bringing sauces and toothpicks at the right time, and even new plates and napkins when we ordered the extra okonomiyaki. The whole meal was 3160 yen (about 20 pounds).

 After exiting the restaurant about 14:40 there were still more than 15 people waiting outside. It's certainly a popular place, and not without reason; it was very tasty! I'll definitely be back.

Tonight we went to Ichibun like many times before, and we got to try a couple of great new dishes.

 First was a jacket potato with spinach and ham. Second was a thin okonomiyaki with tomato ketchup and mayonnaise on top (which we spread over the top before eating).

 Finally after the usual ramen we were given some deliciously sweet yoghurt-flavour ice cream to finish with.

Great title that. In Japanese, our lunch for today has the name Genghis Khan (ジンギスカン). Basically it's mutton and vegetables, which you cook yourself on a grill at your table yakiniku-style - which allows you to decide yourself how rare you want the food - then dip it in a sweet garlic sauce before eating. The plate of meat and vegetables in a size meant for three people came with rice, tofu, miso soup and kimchi for each of us.
 
It was pretty good, but a little chewy for my taste. Quite pricey too at 1500 yen each (about 10 pounds) but something I had to try having not had it before. On the way out I noticed some posters on the wall introducing some of the sheep that they've presumably bred and then slaughtered to serve to their customers. I found myself wondering if these photos were supposed to tempt you into eating the mutton here. The girls of course just said 'かわいい' ("cute") which was a little surreal considering they had probably just eaten one of their siblings.

This evening, before heading to the cinema to see The Taking of Pelham 123 (which is your average action flick), we went for a meal at one of our old favourites, Poco-a-Poco. Their オムライス (chicken and vegetable fried rice with an omelette on top, pronounced 'omrice' from the English omelette-rice) is legendary; our favourite of anywhere we've ever eaten it. We like it mostly because instead of the usual Japanese オムライス which is made with tomato ketchup, the オムライス at Poco-a-Poco is made with Worcester sauce (yes, the proper Lea & Perrins stuff). They also make their own chunky tomato sauce to go with it which finishes it off a treat.

 We always order the home-made bread rolls as an accompaniment, a large green salad, and finally their huge home-made プリン. Pronounced 'purin', it comes from the word 'pudding' but unlike the generic English term for dessert, in Japanese it means a dessert identical to creme caramel. Again theirs at Poco-a-Poco is top-notch; I have yet to eat a better one anywhere.

Dad would have certainly loved these grapes! The bunch of purple grapes alone are sold for 2000 yen (about 12 pounds) so it's a good job we enjoyed them. They're called Shinano Purple and are seedless, as are the red and green ones.

 The red ones were the sweetest and most like the grapes in the UK. The green ones also had a sweet taste but also strong and wine-like, so they were my least favourite. The purple ones were not sweet but had a real full taste, very nice.

Due to a chain of unforseen events involving a thunderstorm and the consequential stoppage of all outbound trains(!) we ended up at Ichibun again this evening.
 
After stepping inside we were immediately given a dish of おから (okara - fried soy pulp and vegetables) - I wish I'd taken a photo but unfortunately I was so surprised to see it (as I love the stuff) that I wolfed it down before I remembered to take one. After seeing the evening menu we immediately decided to try the モヤシのオイスターソース炒め (bean sprouts and pork fried in oyster sauce) and salami pizza and they were great, particularly the bean sprouts as they were really salty (I love salty).
 
Of course those were just a starter really (erm) so we then went with 生姜焼き (pork in ginger on rice) and their ramen. Finally the restaurant owner brought us out desserts of home-made orange-flavour jelly (again no photo due to wolfing, sorry) which was a great finish.
 
The whole meal cost us 1800 yen (about 12 quid), superb.

As I was due to be travelling on the bus back to Nagano between 17:40 and 21:30 I thought I'd get a bento box from the Takashimaya department store food hall.

Have to say it was really good! Under the katsu were caramelised onions and the sauce was a bit sweet, not like normal katsu sauce. A winner for sure, and not too expensive at 999 yen (about £6.50).

I decided to push the boat out a little, and ate at Imahan (今半), within the Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku.

 I felt really hungry, so I went for the 特盛牛すき焼弁当 (large beef sukiyaki lunch set) which has 1.5 times the meat of the normal-size version.

 Sukiyaki, if you've not tried it, is where you dip the meat/tofu/ vegetables (pre-cooked in sauce) into raw egg before you eat it. The rice also had free refills, and the miso soup was great. I hadn't had sukiyaki for quite some time (it's often a winter dish) so it was a really nice treat!

A visit to Tokyo means a visit to Din Tai Fung (ディンタ イフォン in Japanese), a Taiwanese chain restaurant. We had a couple of plates of both the 小龍包 (pork and broth-filled dumplings) and the 海老蒸し餃子 (steamed prawn gyoza). Very satisfying!

Lunch at The Great Burger: http://www.the-great-burger.com