Kyoto kaiseki meal from Minokichi @ Tobu Ikebukuro, Tokyo

Kaiseki is a traditional Japanese multi-course meal. The meal originated from many centuries ago in the simple meals served at tea ceremony but later evolved into extensive dining style with multi-course items. From kaiseki meals, special skills and techniques are required to prepare the meal which are carefully presented on plates that are chosen to enhance the appearance and seasonal theme of the meal. Dishes are beautifully arranged and garnished with leaves and flowers. Edible garnishes are added to resemble natural flora and fauna. We were amazed with the service here from the time we walk in until we left which is outstanding.

Taste:8/10(Delicious. The sashimi in the bento set is the best item. The food overall were good and balanced presentation of food).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. The bento set kaiseki lunch cost 2,160 Yen including 8% consumption tax).


The meal starts off with tofu sesame as appetizer.

The meal comes in the form of bento box.


This is what the bento box contains.

Grilled fish, tamago, prawn, tofu and some seasonal ingredient.

delicate bean curd, sashimi, tofu and dessert of fruits and vegetables.

Vegetable soup.

Rice with crab meat.

Pickled vegetables.

This slice of sashimi fish is amazingly good.

Some form of fish cake wrapped using leaves.

The staff there are so concern and helpful. They even have nice cloth to cover their customer bag to avoid any food which may drop on it.


Very nice restaurant and outstanding service.

Promotional set menu.

Food model on the display. Don't know Japanese, no problem. Just order by seeing what you like here.

Coordinate/GPS: 35.730823, 139.710297
Address : Spice Ikebukuro Tobu Bldg. 15F 1-1-25 Nishi-ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171-0021
Phone: +81(3)3980-8855
Public transport : 3 minutes on foot from Ikebukuro Station on the JR, Subway or Tobu Tojo line. (Take the west exit).

Halal Japanese BBQ at Gyumon @ Shibuya, Tokyo

Its difficult to find authentic halal food in Tokyo. There is only a few restaurant in Tokyo are certified as halal and Gyumon is one of them. Since I travelled with a muslim colleague, we try to have fun locating this restaurant which is around 10 minutes walk from Shibuya train station. It was a good experience for her to try the halal yakiniku in Japan and Gyumon pricing is within reasonable price range. What interesting is the halal certification is from Malaysia. I recommend those who like to have dinner at this restaurant, do make reservation by contacting them. The staff able to speak in English. The night we were there, the restaurant were full and have to wait for almost 1 hour in a cold night. Fortunately, the restaurant is nearby a huge 7-Eleven which have many facilities including rest room and eating place to hang out by trying some dessert.

Taste:8/10(Good. The BBQ set comes with 3 types of meat. The best were the beef rib loin. The meat were tender and good. The only complaint were the present of tough tendon in the meat which makes some of it quite chewy. I also prefer the beef to be cooked by the staff as they know which level the meat should be grilled).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. We took the BBQ set price at 4,320 Yen per person plus 8% tax. The meal set comes with beef shoulder, beef round meat, beef rib loin, choice of drinks, salad and rice).



Grilling process in action.

Waiting patiently until the meat turns medium rare.

The beef were fresh.

Blue colour Japanese soda.

A drawing showing parts of a cow.

Getting ready to barbecue. They use charcoal to grill the beef.

Salad.

Beef shoulder meat. These meat are marinated.

Beef round meat.


Beef rib loin. This is the most tender and best part of cow for BBQ.

Lightly grilled meat. Tender and fatty.

Very traditional looking restaurant.

Simple menu mentioning about the price and halal certification.


This is how the restaurant look like from outside.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.655574, 139.706561
Address: 3-14-5 Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0002, Japan
Phone: +81 3-5469-2911
Open hours: 5.00pm to 11.00pm. Closed on sunday.
Public transport: 10 minutes walk from Shibuya train station.