shopping

A tour through a fabulous Japanese department store food hall - Yokohama Takashimaya

maki — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:56:10 +0100

One must-do in Japan for anyone interested even remotely interested in food is a visit to a depachika(see footnotes), or department store basement food hall. One of the more impressive food halls that I have seen is in the Yokohama branch of the Takashimaya department store. I recently had a chance to tour of the Yokohama Takashimaya food halls, with permission to take photos to my heart’s content (something which is usually not allowed in department stores).

Takashiyama is one of the oldest and most respected high-end department stores in Japan. The Yokohama branch (link to English floor guide download page), while not the biggest in terms of floor space, is the one with the most foot traffic and the highest sales in the entire chain, and the food department is a definite highlight. There are several other department stores clustered around the huge, bustling Yokohama train station, but for some reason the Takashiyama food hall floors are always the most busy by far — it always seems to be packed, especially in the afternoons and evenings. My mother, who is even pickier about the quality of her food than I am, swears by Takashimaya’s food halls.

I’m a big fan of department store food halls, and try to go and visit them wherever I go. In my opinion, in terms of quality, Yokohama Takashimaya doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Yokohama Takashimaya’s food halls are spread out over two underground floors. The upper level (B1) is taken up by counters operated by various well known vendors of prepared foods, from pastries (both Japanese and Western) to tempura to bentos to pickles, tea and more, plus a dry goods department. The lower level (B2) is where the fresh produce, meat, fish and so on are sold. While the upper level has a lot to offer, it’s the lower level that impresses me the most.

The first thing that catches your eye is the big vegetable display. All kinds of vegetables, both familiar and not so familiar to Western eyes, are sold here. Even in the middle of winter it’s a sight to behold. I can vouch for how fresh the produce is — their leafy greens for example are still in perfect shape a week after purchase and storing in the refrigerator. They have a mix of organic and regular produce, and everything is clearly marked by their place of origin (sometimes even down to the county or town.)

Gorgeous turnips and daikon radish, two quintessential winter vegetables:

A beautiful cucumber display. (These cucumbers are quite tiny by Western standards by the way, about 8 inches / 22cm long at most and 3/4 inch / 1.75 cm or so in diameter).

Their fruit is just as great. They were just starting to sell early strawberries (this was in early February) when I took these photos. You might think that strawberries in February would be hard and tasteless, but not these. They not only looked good, but tasted wonderful (there are lots of free samples on offer). Take a look at these monsters, a special kind of strawberry from Hakata on the southernmost main island of Kyush.! They too, tasted great, despite their huge size. (There is also a ‘fruit parlor’ where you can sample delicious, albeit rather expensive, sorbets and juices on the same floor, beyond the elevators.)

Then there’s the absolutely fabulous meat counter, which is operated by a famous butcher and prepared foods store based in the Ningyocho area of Nihonbashi in Tokyo, Imahan (Japanese only web site). I never really thought of meat (not charcuterie like ham and so on, but just meat) as being beautiful to behold before…but their display cases say something else. Everything they sell is domestically produced. Here’s some thinly cut wagyu beef with the most amazing marbling, for sukiyaki use:

Here’s some more wagyu, this time as steaks. Yes, they are rather mind-bogglingly expensive. (The price you see is yen per 100 grams, so a pound of the more expensive one on the left is around US $130 per pound…though that’s about what Lobel’s charges for American wagyu tenderloin steaks…):

Even their ground meat looks great though. The upper level has pork, while the lower level has ground beef and and ‘aibiki’ (mixed pork and beef, a common combination in Japan):

Here’s a section of their chicken counter. The upper level has ‘jidori’ or free-range, organically grown chicken with the place of origin clearly marked. The lower level has all the bits - heart, kidneys, liver etc.

And of course, there are the fish counters…from fresh to dried and everything in between. Everything is of the highest quality, and quite a lot of it is caught locally (in the seas around Kanagawa prefecture, where Yokohama is located).

These are some himono (干物), or semi-dried fish. They are salted and sometimes flavored with something else, and dried for a short while. They are eaten simply grilled.

Sashimi, ready to go…just put out on a plate and eat! A popular choice for a quick dinner.

Prepping some asari (small clams).

These are urume iwashi, semi-dried sardines. They are also eaten simply grilled.

I only took a few photos of the upper floor, since it was already getting way too crowded by the time I got up there (around 11am on a weekday). This is the place to purchase prepared foods, both for consuming yourself or as gifts. You can also pick up some great bentos here for lunch or dinner in your hotel room, but you need to get there by 11am or after 3:30 or 4pm to grab one of the popular ones.

Just a selection of their soy sauces…you barely, if ever, see any of these brands outside of Japan.

A shelf full of special-brand curry powders, roux and ready-to-eat cans. Again, all brands you don’t really see in supermarkets.

A peek at one of the several patisseries….

Some melon pan on display at a bakery counter (operated by a famous old-time bakery in Ginza).

(Want more photos? You’ll find them in my flickr stream.)

There seem to be several keys to the Yokohama Takashimaya food hall’s success. First and foremost, each section of their food halls is operated by a real expert, not just any department store employee. For instance, as I mentioned above, the meat counters are under the care of an outside vendor who is renowned for their quality. The same goes for portions of their fish department too. The guys in charge of the fresh produce are also real greengrocers who know when something is in season and when it’s not. (A couple of weeks after I took these photos, I went back there with my mother, who was after a certain type of satsuma orange or mikan. One of the greengrocers steered her to another type of mikan because he said the ones she wanted peaked earlier than usual this year, and that the lesser known type were at their real peak. The difference between the two in terms of high season was only about 2 weeks! But we could really taste the difference — even though they were both priced the same.)

Another key is that, beyond knowledge, the service is absolutely great. From the speed and neatness at which the cheerful lady workers pack your groceries for you (with little ice packs, which are returnable and reusable) to their very reasonable same-day delivery service, they really have your back in so many ways. Here’s Mr. Asano, who posed rather shyly behind one of the meat counters for me:

There’s also the fact that the outside vendors that are invited in are under quite a lot of pressure to perform or else. If they don’t have good sales, they are pushed out and replaced by another vendor. So the competition between vendors is quite fierce indeed, and their products simply have to be good to attract customers.

Finally, there’s the fact that Yokohama station is one of the busiest in the country. Six train lines converge there, not to mention buses, so there’s lots of foot traffic (Takashimaya can be accessed directly from the station via the basement level, and the main entrance it just steps away from the ground level train station exit). Still, as I mentioned already there are several other department stores with similar easy-access from the station, that are not nearly as busy. Sogo on the other side of the station for example is never really that busy — even though they have quite a few of the same outside vendors that Takashimaya does! But then, their greengrocer for example is not nearly as good as Takashimaya’s. And they certainly lose out in terms of the level of service.

In any case, it was certainly a very enlightening experience to be able to get a glimpse of the workings of a successful department store food hall.

One Hundred Flavors Festival (Aji Huyakusen) and other Takashiyama fun

Besides the food halls, Takashimaya also periodically has a food festival called Aji Hyakusen (100 Selected Flavors), usually on the 8th floor. Various vendors from all over the country are invited in to sell their stuff, and it’s kind of a party atmosphere, with lots and lots of samples to try and little elderly ladies with sharp elbows and shopping bags poking you in the ribs or lower. (Incidentally I’m only 5 foot 3 or about 158cm tall but I’m still on the tallish side in Japan…) I have some pictures from the Aji Hyakusen held in February on flickr.

If you can manage to make it to any branch of Takashimaya before opening time (which is usually 10am), try to get to the main entrance with a good view of the glass doors. You may see the greeting ladies or girls, decked out in uniforms complete with hats, marching in rhythm and lining up in preparation for the opening. It’s pretty amusing in a sort of fascist kind of way, if that makes any sense. Certainly something you don’t see happen in American or European department stores!

I talked earlier about the great customer service Takashimaya offers. You’ll find this on any of their floors. For example, the other day I had to get a small non-stick frying pan in their kitchen equipment department. I finally decided on the cheapest 3,000 yen model, and asked for assistance. The store assistant led me to the counter, asked me to take a seat there, fetched the pan from storage, gift-wrapped it for me, and otherwise made it a most pleasant experience — for a cheap 3,000 yen frying pan!

Practical Notes on Yokohama

Yokohama Main Station (just called Yokohama, vs. Shin Yokohama, which is the Shinkansen station) is just about a 20-30 minute or so ride from Shibuya (depending on if you take a local, express or a special express train), on the Tokyu Toyoko line. Takashimaya can’t be missed - there are big signs pointing to it, and it’s right outside the West or Nishi entrance. There’s also access from within the station.

If you make a trip to Yokohama, you should also visit Sogo, which is at the East or Higashi entrance. Even though I did rather dismiss their food halls, they do have a branch of a pretty amazing dry goods store there called Tomizawa Shoten. They sell about 20 kinds of white wheat flour (for bread and pastries) alone. It’s sort of dizzying. Sogo also has a big branch of LoFT and a Muji (Mujirushi Ryohin) on the 7th floor. For bento and kitchen supply fans, there’s also a large Tokyu Hands about a 5 minutes walk from Takashimaya.

If you have the energy, you can combine a trip to Takashimaya and so on with one to Yokohama’s Chinatown, the oldest and most populated Chinatown (or so they say) in the world (outside of China, where they don’t actually have Chinatowns, obviously). Yokohama’s Chinatown or Chuukagai (中華街) is on the Minatomirai line, which connects directly to the aforementioned Tokyu Toyoko line.

Another place you can visit in Yokohama is the Shin Yokohama Raumen (Ramen) Museum (English site). This is near the Shin Yokohama station, which is a 10 minute ride on the Yokohama City Metro (Yokohama shiei-chikatetsu 横浜市営地下鉄）from Yokohama station. My report on that soon…

Other food halls

Most if not all department stores have food halls. One of the biggest and most impressive is the Tokyu Food Show, which is in the Tokyu Toyoko store in Shibuya station. Isetan in Shinjuku also has a very well regarded food hall.

Footnotes

In other cities, I might recommend going to the open-air markets for serious food action, but in the Tokyo metropolitan area I think it’s safe to say it’s the better department store food halls where the action is. (There is the Tsukiji market, but that is basically for wholesale.) Department stores are where regular people shop for ‘gourmet’ stuff, and competition between stores is fierce, thus raising the overall quality.
You may be familiar with the Takashimaya store on Fifth Avenue in New York; that store is really an anomaly since it’s more of a specialized boutique than a department store. The Takashimayas in Japan are regular department stores, selling a wide variety of products.
The term depachika (デパ地下), which is an abbreviation of the words　depaato (デパート) or department store and chika （地下）actually has derogatory connotations, so people who work there and so on don’t really use the term anymore, if they did at all. A depachika onna （デパ地下女）is slang for a woman (usually a bored housewife) who goes around tasting all the free samples on offer in a food hall, and never buys anything!
My thanks to Ms. Yokota of the Public Relations department for showing me around and letting me take tons of pictures (as well as patiently answering my questions!) 本当にどうもありがとうございました！

Cool stuff from Japan: Soy milk that's an instant tofu 'kit'

maki — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:47:37 +0100

During my stay in Japan, I thought I’d feature some cool stuff (or things that you all may find cool) that I’ve seen. Here is a bottle of soy milk or tounyuu (豆乳) that I got at a shop in the local Tokyuu line train station (or in other words, it’s not like a special brand or anything).

It’s just plain soy milk, but it’s sold with a little packet of nigari (magnesium chloride), a tofu coagulant, and instructions for making tofu in the microwave. Freshly made tofu is soft and delicious, and this little kit makes it so easy to do. Compare this to making soy milk from scratch, which is a long and messy process.

Here’s a closeup of the nigari packet. There’s enough to make two batches of tofu:

I wish they’d do that with soy milk sold elsewhere!

Shopper's Guide to Pesticides iPhone App

maki — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:42:42 +0200

3 years ago, I mentioned a handy list of produce ranked by how much pesticide is used to grow them. The higher (=more pesticides) the ranking, the better it would be to stick to organically grown.

I recently got a new iPhone (yes…I’m the very opposite of an Early Adopter of tech gadgets) and discovered that the same list is available as a free iPhone app called DirtyProduce. Here’s a screenshot of the opening page:

It doesn’t do much beyond list the Dirty Dozen (the most heavily pesticide-treated fruits and vegetables), the Clean 15 (the last pesticide-used) and the full list of 47 produce items, but it’s handy to have around with you. Who knew for instance that peaches were the most pesticide-laden fruit or vegetable? I tend not to peel my peaches, and I ate, oh I don’t know, a few tons of them over the summer. I may start peeling them next season, or look for non-treated ones.

Anyway, if you do have an iPhone, take a look. And if you don’t, there is still the PDF list to print out and carry in your wallet.

EWG Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides

Borough Market, London: A Very Literary Food Paradise

maki — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:44:37 +0200

When I found out that I’d be in London this week for a couple of days, my thoughts immediately turned to what food-related things I could fit into my schedule. Tea and scones, check. Curry, check. A visit to Japan Centre, check. But at the top of my list was a proper roam around Borough Market.

Long time readers of Just Hungry may know that I absolutely love markets, and go to them whenever and wherever I can. One big reason I’ve decided to move to the south of France is because of the wonderful markets here. So, how does London’s oldest market compare to some of my favorites? While Borough Market is not the biggest market, nor does it have the widest selection, or even the best selection, of foodstuffs, it’s a very special place. In my opinion, it’s simply the most intellectually pleasing market there is.

Let’s start with the literary quotes on colorful banners, hanging from the beams:

Of course, there has to be at least one from Shakepeare.

I think this one is my favorite.

A little lower down, there are the boards displayed by individual vendors. This one is at the Fish Kitchen (aka Fish!), a fish and chips purveyor.

(This is the fish and chips they talk of, eaten sprinkled with vinegar and salt of course.)

This tree shaped sign stands next to a stall selling jams and chutneys.

This one is so beautifully done, I wouldn’t mind hanging it on my wall as art. I wonder if there are graphic design pros that create these display boards, or if the stall holders letter them themselves?

A sign of the times, but with a sense of humor.

How could you resist pies with such cheerful features?

Here’s the cheese display at Neal’s Yard Dairy. The contents and provenance of each cheese is carefully noted, though of course if you ask the cheesemongers they’ll happily explain it to you all over again, together with a sample.

One big cheese, made with love.

It’s not just the fans of the written word that are happy here. How about these displays of vegetables, just like still life paintings?

Even humble onions and potatoes get the artistic treatment.

I’ve seen witty signage and beautiful displays like this elsewhere in the UK, but at Borough Market you get to see the best, all in one place.

Food wise, the prepared foods are the main draw of Borough Market, especially for visitors. You can get everything from fish and chips to Thai green curry to hot dogs to chicken sandwiches. You can eat things on the spot, or take them home with you. And the samples are plentiful - here some rose-scented Turkish Delight; there some date and apple chutney; and how about some gluten-free chocolate brownies, or perhaps some Eccles cake? You could probably make a meal of just the samples. But don’t miss out on the meat pies, the sausage rolls, the domestic and imported cheeses, and so much more.

Having spent some of my growing up years in England, I have a special spot in my heart, not to mention my stomach, for British food. I know that British food still has a bad reputation in other countries, but a visit to Borough Market will do a lot to rid you of such misconceptions. At its finest, British food is grand.

Borough Market is open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Check for hours and directions on the official website.

(Footnote: My favorite food of the whole market:)

Japanese food shopping in Lyon, plus different Asian stores as sources for Japanese food

maki — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:43:42 +0200

This is a continuation of my series on Japanese food shopping, and frugal eating, in Europe. Previously I visited Paris and Düsseldorf’s Japantown.

Lyon, the third largest city in France and arguably the second most important one after Paris, does not have a large Japanese expat or immigrant population. However, there are some Japanese corporations that have factories or offices in the area, not to mention a large university population. So in terms of the availability of Japanese groceries in France, it ranks second to Paris, although it trails behind by a large margin.

The main reason I’ve been interested in Lyon as a source for Japanese food is that we are seriously considering getting a house in the Provence. Lyon is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Haut-Provence (northern Provence), the area we’re looking at, so it would be my closest source. (Marseille, which has a Paristore but no Japanese groceries, is about the same distance away, and Avignon, about a 45 minute drive, has two tiny Chinese groceries.) I could order non-perishables from the stores in Paris such as Workshop Issé, or from Japan Centre and so on, not to mention have stuff sent over or bring them back from Japan, but that doesn’t work for things like tofu, konnyaku, produce and frozen foods.

It also gives me a chance to talk a bit about where exactly you can find the Japanese ingredients that are mentioned here, regardless of the town you’re in, because the shopping options in Lyon are limited yet straightforward.

Option 1 - Kazuki: The Japanese-owned Japanese grocery store

Kazuki (storefront pictured above) is a tiny, jewel-like boutique. In terms of presentation, it has a lot in common with Workshop Issé, but where Workshop Issé is selling high-end food and alcohol, Kazuki is at its heart just a regular Japanese grocery store. Things like cans of wasabi peas, ochazuke packets and run-of-the-mill furikake which only cost a few euros at most are displayed as if they were Hermés scarfs on sleek shelves. This is the Japanese aesthetic and penchant for neatness gone to the extreme.

Everything about Kazuki is beautiful and well presented, even their takeout bentos, which are neatly wrapped up in ribbon:

With a few exceptions, Japanese grocery stores tend to be rather neat and tidy places (though I’ve never seen one as pretty as Kazuki). They also tend not to carry any other Asian ingredients, though they may have a few Korean items.

Obviously a Japanese grocery store should be the first place to look for Japanese ingredients. If you want things like Japanese soy sauce from Japan, real mirin (hon mirin) rather than mirin-flavored cooking liquid (mirin fuumi choumiryou), go to a Japanese store, However, they can be a bit more expensive than other options, and because many Japanese grocery stores are small, the selection can be limited, especially when it comes to fresh produce.

Option 2 - Kimchi: The Korean-owned Korean grocery store

Kimchi, which is just a few blocks away from Kazuki, is a tiny yet fairly typical Korean grocery store. Korean stores always carry a large amount of Japanese items; usually the selection runs around 50/50 Korean/Japanese. Older Korean people often speak some Japanese.

I really liked Kimchi, because it also carries some ‘biologique’ items such as nigari (used to make tofu) and kuzu or kudzu powder (used to make kuzumochi, goma dofu and other things).

If you are lucky enough to have a large Korean market near you, it may be your first stop in a quest for Japanese foodstuffs, since they are likely to have most of the fresh produce used in Japanese cooking too. (Kimchi is too small to have any fresh produce unfortunately.)

Option 3 - Supermarché Asie: A Chinese owned Chinese grocery store

In terms of larger Asian grocery stores, there are ones that try to cover all of eastern and southern Asia, and ones that just concentrate on a particular region. Supermarché Asie, which is in the same general neighborhood as Kazuki and Kimchi, clearly concentrates on east Asia: China, Korea and Japan. And, although I don’t speak a word of Chinese I can sort of tell apart Cantonese vs. Mandarin and different dialects/pronounciations (well, just aa bit), and I did get the impression that the store is owned by people from Taiwan. Taiwan has much stronger ties to Japan than mainland China, so a Taiwanese-owned store is much more likely to stock Japanese things.Of course, it’s difficult to tell apart a Taiwanese store from any other kind of Chinese store just by reading labels, so you’ll just have to look around.

The good thing from the standpoint of someone interested in East Asian cooking in general, is that a store like this can be a one-stop shopping destination.

Option 4 - Paristore: A general Asian/Exotic Food grocery store

Paristore is a chain of Asian supermarkets that has stores throughout France. I’ve only been to the one in Lyon so far, so my impressions are of this store.

Paristore is ostensibly a Chinese supermarket, but it also carries many other ‘exotic’ foodstuffs, from African to Middle Easten to Indian, Thai and so on. This does mean that the selection of Japanese products is quite small. While I did see Japanese-style rice (from Spain, Italy and California) and a few Japanese condiments, there were little else. However, many Chinese ingredients can be used in Japanese cooking, so it’s not a total waste of time to go to a store like this.

What you have to look out for (and this holds true of Supermarché Asie too) are products that may look Japanese, with Japanese writing on them, which really aren’t Japanese at all. For example, canned green tea is never sold with sugar in it in Japan, but it seems that green tea meant for the southeast Asian market often is. I also spotted some Chinese snacks (manufactured in Taiwan) with fake Japanese writing on them, in the way that many Japanese products have fake English, or Engrish, on them!

From the standpoint of Japanese ingredient availability, I think you can categorize most Asian markets in European and North American areas into these four categories. Three other categories are: Chinese stores catering to people who came from mainland China or Hong Kong (they carry very little if any Japanese food items); Thai/Malaysian Southeast Asian stores (these also carry very little if any specifically Japanese things); and south Asian/Indian stores (again not many Japanese ingredients if any at all, but may have vegetables that are used in Japanese cooking such as okra, taro root/satoimo, bitter gourd and sweet potatoes.) There are stores fitting all of these categories in Zürich, incidentally.

Special thanks to Céline, who has been great about keeping the Lyon and Provence sections of the Japanese Grocery Stores in France listing so up-to-date! That page is where you will find all the addresses and other pertinent information for the stores described below.

A Frugal Eats blitz through Düsseldorf's Japantown

maki — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:25:59 +0200

I’ve long been intrigued by the famed Japantown or Japan Quarter area of Düsseldorf, Germany, but haven’t had a chance to go there. It’s about a 5 hour drive from Zürich, and there was no work-related excuse to go there - until last week that is. So, following up on my mostly Japanese frugal eats blitz through Paris, here is my 2-day all-Japanese blitz through Düsseldorf.

Düsseldorf has a Japantown because a lot of Japanese businesses have their German or European headquarters there. It is said to have their third largest Japanese expat population in Europe. (I think the top two are London and Paris, though I can’t confirm this.)

The Japantown, or Japanese quarter, is centered around Immermanstr.. There are restaurants, travel agencies, appliance stores and the like, all catering to the expat population.

There are grocery stores too of course. The two that are on Immermanstr. are Shochiku and Taiyo Shokuhin. Shochiku is a cramped store that has just about all the Japanese groceries you could want. It seems to be Japanese owned and operated, since the store people were yelling out at each other in Japanese, though the cashier on the second day I went there was an extremely bored looking German woman. (She stared blankly at the Japanese customers asking questions in Japanese; eventually a young Japanese man showed up and sat near the register to politely respond to the Japanese customers. It was kind of funny.) It also carries a lot of Korean foodstuffs - about 60 to 70% Japanese food, 30-40% Korean. There’s a nice looking fresh fish and meat counter, which had sashimi-grade fish, and a small fresh produce section. There’s a small selection of prepared food like sushi and salads. I saw Japanese familes/couples with small children, Japanese businessmen on their way home from work juggling a shopping basket and a briefcase, and a few German people shopping there.

Dae-Yang Asiatische Lebensmittel or Taiyo Shokuhin is just a couple of storefronts down from Shochiku. It is Korean owned and operated (they were yelling at each other in Korean). The customer mix was similar to Shochiku, though there were more Germans there, perhaps because the aisles are bit wider here than at Shochiku. The stock is about 50/50 Korean/Japanese.

There are a couple of Japanese bakeries too. Here is Bakery Taka, again on Immermanstr.; they have things like anpan, melonpan and of course, Japanese white bread or shokupan. There’s a small eat-in area.

Maruyasu, with several locations in Düsseldorf, is a Japanese delicatessen. They sell bentos, sushi, and cooked food or osouzai. (I wasn’t that impressed by their sushi or bentos though. The sushi at Shochiku was better and cheaper, and the bentos were just ok. The onigiri were pretty mediocre to be honest. Surely green seaweed is not supposed to dye the rice a bright green.)

At Takagi, a small bookstore on Marienstr., just a short block south of Immermanstr., there were a noisy group of German tweens squealing in delight at some cute manga or Hello Kitty or whatever. (Actually there were quite a few Germans who seemed to be treating the area like a tourist stop. There was a group of about a dozen older teenagers in Taiyo/Dae-Yang getting all excited by the Japanese candies, and a group of 5 middle-aged people loudly wondering amongst themselves what this or that food was and making rather rude comments, as though they thought none of the Asians around them could understand what they were saying. A bit off-putting.)

Once more to the ramen

What cheap Japanese food does a Japanese expat crave? That’s right, ramen, as I did in Paris. From perusing some Japanese web sites, there aren’t that many ramen places in Düsseldorf, but the one we went to, Takumi at Immermanstr. 28, was not bad at all. All the seats, including the outside tables, were filled at 12 noon on Saturday, mostly with Japanese families. (At the table next to ours, a young mother breastfed her baby under a discreet large bib before tackling her ramen. That kid is going to grow up to be a ramen lover for sure.) Takumi is a Sapporo style ramen-ya, which means the soup is a bit lighter than other styles (Kyuushuu style, Nagoya style, etc). Here is negi ramen with shio (salt/plain) soup. It was very good, though the noodles could have been better. A level better than the ramen I had in Paris I’d say.

The Guy had their egg ramen (it had some cute name, like Ajitama Ramen or something, but I may have that wrong) with miso flavored soup. It was really nice, but what blew us away were the freshly cooked, crispy, juicy and meaty chicken karaage.

So is Düsseldorf worth a detour?

As a tourist destination, the city itself lacks the character and atmosphere that you get in many other German cities. It’s a strictly business kind of town. As for the Japantown itself, similar areas in say, New York’s East Village or Los Angeles or San Francisco, or even Paris or London, are really more vibrant and interesting. On the other hand, if you live nearby (especially in Germany) and want to do a bit of Japanese grocery shopping and the like, it’s a good place to go.

Overall though, I was a little underwhelmed by Düsseldorf. One thing I noticed was that the Japanese people walking around there really stood out, in the way that Japanese expats in Paris, or London, or New York, don’t (it’s easy to tell the tourists apart from the residents in New York for example). The way the girls/women dressed for instance was very Japanese and not at all adapted to their location, if that makes any sense. I am guessing that the Japanese community in Düsseldorf may stick to itself and doesn’t really try to become part of the overall city or German culture much. I could be wrong, but that’s the impression I got.

Addresses

Takagi GmbH Books & More 高木書店: Marienstr.41; 40210 Düsseldorf; TEL: 0211 2107238; Website; Japanese books, gifts, stationery; Japanese language learning aids. Has a small selection of Clickety-Clack bento boxes. The owner lady is very friendly.

Takumi: Immermannstr.28; 40210 Duesseldorf; TEL: 0211 1793308; Mon-Fri 12:00 - 15:00 and 17:30 - 22:30, Sat-Sun 12:00 - 22:00; Sapporo-style ramen restaurant. The young staff don’t seem to speak much German.

All the other addresses mentioned are listed on the Japanese food stores in Germany page.

Addendum: We stayed at a low-service apartment-hotel via Central Apartment. A low-service apartment-hotel means that they don’t come to change your linens and make up your bed every day, but you have a small equipped kitchen, laundry in the building and other comforts of home. The apartment we got was in a residential area just a few blocks from Innermanstr., and was large, modern, light and impeccably clean. The kitchen even had a Zojirushi rice cooker, and JSTV was available on TV. (They seem to market quite aggressively to Japanese travelers.) The rates were very reasonable too. I liked it a lot more than a conventional hotel. The only thing against it was that the furnishings are on the Ikea level, and feel rather flimsy, but it’s basically just like staying at a friend’s apartment while they are out of town, without their clutter to deal with.

[Update: I got sick of all the debating about using the ß or double-s in the German word for street, so I’ve abbreviated all mentions to str. This is not a language/grammar site! No more comments on that particular subject will be published. If it bothers you, get over it.]

Workshop Issé: Purveyor of the finest Japanese food and sake in the heart of Paris

maki — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:22:20 +0200

From the outside, Workshop Issé looks like just another unassuming little Japanese grocery and gift store. There are quite a few stores of this nature scattered about Europe these days. But inside this little boutique in the heart of the Japanese quarter in Paris, you can experience something quite special: A crash course on top quality artisanal Japanese food and drink.

Inside the tiny store, sleek modern shelves are filled with what, to the untrained eye, might seem like the normal Japanese cooking ingredients - soy sauce, vinegar, spices, sake and other alcoholic beverages. Look closer though, and you soon see that these are no ordinary products. There’s a soy sauce that’s been aged for 2 years in ancient barrels; a pitch-black sweet miso that’s been aged for 3 full years; finely sliced and dried battera konbu seaweed for making marinated mackerel. There are salted cherry blossoms that have been matured for six months, so no trace of bitterness remains. There are gardenia seeds (kuchinashi no mi), used as a natural yellow colorant - I’ve never seen these for sale outside of Japan, anywhere. There are what seem like dozens of fine sakes and shouchuus, and vinegars of all flavors and colors. This is a store with some seriously high end foodstuffs for sale.

The variety and quality of the selection is a little overwhelming, even for someone like me who at least knows what the products are. This store would be quite intimidating to someone not familiar with Japanese cuisine. But the Workshop part of Workshop Issé’s name is a clue to their selling approach. Here, you can do a sampling of products, a degustation in fact (the method normally used to by a wine maker or merchant to sell wines), gently guided by a knowledgeable staff member, at least one of whom is a sake sommelier.

I had a chance to sit down and chat with with Monsieur Toshiro Kuroda, the owner and president of Workshop Issé. Having owned and run a Japanese restaurant in Paris for nearly 4 decades, he started Workshop Issé two years ago. His main reason, he said, was simply because he couldn’t get a hold of the high quality ingredients he wanted from Japan through existing channels, so he decided to import them himself. There are no mass produced products here. All are of the highest artisanal quality; a typical supplier has 20 employees or less, and has been in business for more than 200 years. Here’s M. Kuroda with his dog Pii-chan.

Besides selling via their web site and the boutique directly to customers, they also supply some of the best professional kitchens in France. For instance, if you’ve had the yuzu-flavored macaroons from Pierre Hermé, the yuzu juice and powder came from Workshop Issé. They also sell to the Michelin three star restaurant Troisgros.

I asked M. Kuroda about his marketing approach. He said that his mainly French customers take very well to the concept, since they are after all used to buying wine this way. They also don’t blink an eye at the prices for their Grand Cru equivalent sakes, which can cost up to €250 per bottle and more.

It’s obvious that M. Kuroda, not to mention his staff, take great pride in what they are doing. And no wonder - their product lineup would be impressive even in Tokyo. I don’t know of a store like it anywhere, certainly not outside of Japan.

My budget that day was not up to buying a Grand Cru sake, so I picked up a few things that intrigued me. Here are a bottle of ume vinegar, and aged soy sauce. I love the classic labels, and the simple list of ingredients - for the soy sauce, just soy beans, salt, wheat. The ume vinegar is made from organic ume plums.

And here’s some stone ground yuzu powder. Now I usually have this sent to me from Japan (or I buy it there), but it’s nice to know it’s available on this side of the world. The fragrance of this slightly coarse powder is wonderful, and the slightly bitter citrusy taste is addictive.

Is Workshop Issé worth a detour in Paris, even if you go to Tokyo regularly? I would say absolutely yes, unless you are thoroughly familiar with Japanese cuisine, speak and read Japanese fluently, or have a Japanese gourmet guide at your side. The combination of the carefully selected range of products and the knowledgeable staff, who speak Japanese, French and English, make this store a real winner. And if you aren’t going to Tokyo on a regular basis and live anywhere near Paris or are visiting, and love Japanese food and cooking, it’s a must stop.

I guess the only negative things about Workshop Issé are: They don’t really have much in the way of fresh ingredients. There is a small refrigerated section with a limited supply of things like tofu and vegetables, plus real grated wasabi in a tube (€15, but worth it). Also, their prices are not cheap by any means, but you are paying for top quality.

Workshop Issé: 11 rue Saint Augustin (Paris 2); Tel: 01 4296 2674; Open 7 days, 11:00 - 19:30 with no lunch break. Closed on national holidays.; French and Japanese website. Mailorder within France and throughout Europe (but verify if they can ship something to your destination first).; Besides food and alcoholic drinks, they also have a small selection of dinnerware and gift items (they did have a couple of nice bento boxes).

You may also want to check out the rest of the Issé & cie. Japan-in-Paris mini empire: Bizan, a high end kaiseki restaurant; Issé, a ‘tempura and tapas’ restaurant; Momonoki, a tonkatsu and obento restaurant; and O-bento, a bento delivery service. All are described on this page (French). You can buy some readymade foods (osouzai) from the last three establishments at Workshop Issé too.

For a look at cheap Japanese eats in Paris, see A Frugal Eats mostly Japanese blitz through Paris.

(Merci beaucoup to Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini for telling me about Workshop Issé!)

A Frugal Eats (mostly Japanese) blitz through Paris

maki — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:54:30 +0200

As I wrote a couple of days ago over on Just Bento, I recently spent a scant 3 days in Paris, on the way from Brittany back to Zürich. A normal person would spend such a short time in the gastronomical capital of [insert your favorite geographic superlative here] exploring la cuisine française. But my objective for this trip was different. My digestive system and palate were rather exhausted from 2 weeks of consuming the delicious salty cultured butter, crême fraiche, galettes (crêpes), seafood in creamy sauces, and oh yes, pastries to die for, all washed down with cider both brut (dry) and doux (less dry), that are the specialities of Brittany. I was craving the plain white rice and tea like you wouldn’t believe.

Because of a lack of planning, we had to book a rather expensive hotel in Paris, which meant our food budget was really tight. No indulging on sushi fests and kaiseki dinners, even though both are possible there. So I made it my objective to pursue cheap Parisian Japanese eats. Therefore, this article is part of Frugal Food Month. (See how I shoehorned that in?)

There seem to be three major concentrations of East Asian food in Paris. One, and the biggest, is the Chinatown area in the 13th arrondissement. Then there’s another enclave of sorts in the 15th arrondissement. But for tourists with little time, like myself, the most convenient area especially for Japanese food is the area that straddles the 1st and 2nd arrondissements near the Opéra. Every other storefront on certain streets there seem to be either a Japanese restaurant, or a Japanese-oriented store.

You do need to take a good look at those allegedly Japanese restaurants though. I have been reading a lot of Japanese expat bloggers (and there are quite a lot of them in Paris), and most complain that these so-called Japanese restaurants are not good. Not all are run by Japanese people or have Japanese cooks. That does not of course preclude an establishment from not being good, but I guess you could say that the odds may worsen.

So, the best thing to do may to just follow the crowds. By 19:00 (7pm), the popular restaurants are crammed full. Some even have lines around the block.

The center of this Japanese community in Paris is arguably Kioko, a small grocery store that’s been in business for 37 years.

Inside, you’ll find a regular Japanese grocery store. The selection is comparable to similar stores you’ll find elsewhere - nothing fancy, all the basics. They also have a baby food club (join up to order Japanese baby food), special events, a free Japanese community paper, and so on. (For bento fans, they do have a small selection of boxes upstairs.)

BookOff is a Japanese second hand book store, with branches throughout Japan as well as in several North American cities. They have two stores in Paris right by each other. This is the Opéra store, at 29-31, rue Saint-Augustin. They have a Point Carte that you can also use at Kioko (get enough stamps on your card, get free stuff.) (Book Off English web site.)

There are also Korean grocery stores that carry a lot of Japanese food. Here’s Ace Opéra. I found their prices to be a tad cheaper for things like bottled green tea compared to Kioko and the bento store Jujiya.

The food

So, what did I eat? Well, the best cheap food I found in the area (besides takeout bento) was ramen. We tried a couple of places, and weren’t disappointed at either. Here is tonkotsu ramen (pork bone soup ramen) at Sapporo Ramen.　The soup was very good, the noodles could have been better. But then, this is Paris, not Tokyo, and I was happy.

And here’s negi ramen (ramen with lots of sliced leeks) at…I think it was Higuma. Again, soup was fine, the char siu a bit fatty but good, noodles could have been better, but was still ok.

A bowl of ramen on its own is around 7 to 9 Euro; as a set menu with gyoza dumplings and such, it’s around 12 to 14 Euro. It compares favorably to set menus at French restaurants in the area.

(On the other hand, cheap sushi in Paris - just say no.)

We did venture out beyond the Opéra Japanese area. Following up on a rave review on a Japanese blog/site aimed at expats and tourists, we sought out some Korean fried chicken at Han Lim, an established Korean restaurant in the 5e, right off the Rue Mouffetard at the Place Contrascope.

I had been craving KFC ever since…oh ever since I was in New York in November, to be honest. And the version here did not disappoint. It was some of the best Korean fried chicken I’ve ever had. Crispy, light, and juicy; very more-ish. It was 14 Euro per person for a menu starting with soup (I had a delicious spicy-pork soup), the KFC with the usual delicious Korean vegetable side dishes (kimchi, namul) and rice, and tea. I seriously wanted to take home a bucketful of that chicken, but was reluctantly convinced not to since we had other dinner plans. Not to mention scheduled afternoon stopovers at Sadaharu Aoki and Berthillon. I sometimes wish that I had an extra stomach. (Besides, I don’t think they do takeout…)

I wasn’t able to stay 100% focused on Japanese/Asian food. I couldn’t resist a stopover in the Marais (my excuse: I wanted to check out the newer bento boxes at Muji) for a Middle Eastern food fest at Chez Marianne.

I am not sure what I like the best: the tarama, the falafel, the bland yet oddly addictive chopped liver, or the green olive tapenade. It’s all good though. With a big basket of bread it’s 12 Euro per person.

And speaking of falafel, there’s also l’As du Falafel, right around the corner…we passed on it this time since we were full to the brim from Chez Marianne, but next time…

Epilogue: ‘Other cuisines’ and Paris

As I write this and look over my photos, it really strikes me that there’s something seriously wrong about the last sentence in this article about Paris ‘never embracing other cuisines’. Maybe not by the kind of people who participate in Zagat surveys, but judging from the lines forming around ramen places and okonomiyaki places and falafel places and more, it seems clear that many other Parisiens are embracing good food, whatever the origin. I would argue that people who are used to good local cuisine are likely to know what good ‘other’ cuisine is as well.

In any case, now that it looks even more likely that I’ll be moving to France, I’m looking forward to exploring Paris and its inexpensive yet good ‘other’ cuisines as often as I can. 3 days was far, far too short.

Next time, I’ll be talking about a very special Japanese store in Paris, one that’s not quite frugal.

A few addresses

The grocery stores are all listed on the Japanese grocery stores in France handbook page.

Han Lim: 6 rue Blainville 75005 Paris; Tel : 01 43 54 62 74; Métro: place Monge (7); Wed - Sun 12:00～14:30 / 19:00～22:30; closed Monday, Tuesday lunch; Korean restaurant. Has all the usual things - barbeque, soups, etc. The fried chicken is a house speciality. Yum!

There are many ramen stores in the Opera area; here are just two. Look at the menus in the windows, judge the number of people inside and waiting in line, and dive in accordingly.

Higuma: 32 bis rue Sainte Anne, 75001 Paris; Tel: 01 47 03 38 59; Métro: Pyramides or Opera; Ramen (or as they spell it on the storefront, Lamen) restaurant. Japanese spoken.; Mon - Sat 11:30 - 22:00, closed Sun; Also at 163 rue St-Honoré, near the Louvre

Sapporo Ramen: 37, Rue Sainte-Anne, 75001 Paris; Tel.: 01 42 60 60 98; Métro: Pyramides or Quatre-Septembre; Mon-Sun 11:30 - 22:30; Ramen restaurant. Chinese spoken.

Chez Marianne: 2, Rue des Hospitalières-Saint-Gervais, 75004 Paris; Tel. : +(33) 1 42 72 18 86; Métro: Saint-Paul, Pont Marie (Cité des Arts); Mon-Sun 12:00 - 00:00; Middle Eastern restaurant; a few tables, plus a takeout window.; L’As du Falafel is right around the corner on Rue des Rosiers.

For a report on a definitely not cheap Japanese food store in Paris, see Workshop Issé.

Zurich shopping news: Best of British store opening

maki — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:31:11 +0100

(This item is only of interest if you live in Switzerland, specifically in the Zürich area. Everyone else, just move along.)

The Cheese Club (previously), a mailorder purveyor of fine British and other artisanal cheeses, is teaming up with Spiffing Ales, a microbrewery specializing in British style ales, to open a Best Of British store in Thalwil, ZH. The official opening date is November 1, but they’ll be open tomorrow (Thursday Oct. 29) and Friday from 15:00 - 19:00 for a ‘practice run’. On November 1st they’ll have their grand opening from 10:00 - 19:00, and thereafter they’ll be open to the public on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and early evenings (the rest of the time they’ll be doing wholesale; consult their web sites for more info when they’re posted).

Besides cheese and beer, other British delicacies like back bacon and sausage, handmade pies, tea and biscuits, Christmas puddings and more are promised.

The address is 11 Seestrasse, 8800 Thalwil. The nearest SBB station (and parking) is at Obberieden BH, a 3 minutes walk away. Map. See also.

Silly product warning labels

maki — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:34:11 +0100

I was just opening a new pack of umeboshi (pickled plums) today, when I noticed this warning on the lid in Japanese:

WARNING: Umeboshi have seeds, and sometimes the seeds can be pointed.
So please be careful.

Here’s the label, with two pointy seeds.

(Edit: I could understand the umeboshi warning if it was in English (or language of the country in which the pack was being sold), since people may be unfamiliar with umeboshi. But this was a pack imported from Japan, with Japanese writing, so they are warning Japanese people, who are, or should be, familiar with umeboshi and their pointy seeds. Ume are related to apricots, so maybe apricots should have pointy-seed labels too.)

WTF? So…has it come to this now? We have to have warning labels on natural foods?

I can understand warning labels on manufactured products, say a pesto sauce, to warn about the existence of finely ground nuts. A small percentage of the population is very allergic to nuts.

But, surely the nut-allergic shopper knows to stay away from whole peanuts for example. Or will we have to have labels on those too? “Warning: This bag contains peanuts.” ….

What about warning labels on bags of beans? “Warning: This bag contains beans, which may cause flatulence and socially awkward situations.” Meat? “Warning: This pack contains meat, which comes from an animal. Vegetarians are known to have an aversion to meat.” A bunch of bananas? “Warning: Bananas have slippery skins. If dropped on the ground, they may cause an accident, or a horde of circus clowns to show up.”

Is this labelling gone too far? (Japan is not as litigious as the U.S. for example, but it’s slowly getting there.) Are there any other nanny-state labels you’ve seen?