Tokyo Eats - Nakameguro Area

From our time living in Yokohama, aside from Nabezo our neighbor S. also introduced me and hubby to Junkadelic in Nakameguro. Interestingly enough, when we arrived in Tokyo, we realized our then-new home wasn't too far from Nakameguro at all, just several subway stops away on the same Metro line! How convenient was that? We could go eat Tex-Mex anytime we wanted without having to dread the 2hrs. train ride there and back!

And what do you know, a couple of weeks into opening the new office, hubby's boss wondered out loud, "Does anyone know a good Mexican place around here?" Hubby and I looked at each other and he replied, "We do know of a decent one." And off the whole office went.

On the way to Junkadelic from Nakameguro Station.

Junkadelic!

Junka...whuhh?!? 

That was my reaction when my neighbor S. texted me about her favorite Mexican joint in Nakameguro (they have 2 other locations in Shibuya and Akasaka too, but Nakameguro is closest to us). Mind you, I don't doubt S., not even for a second. The gal's from LA and she knows her food, at least way better than we do. The last time we picked a random place and crossed our fingers, it didn't work out too well. Whereas S. swears by Junkadelic. She told me when she first found the place, she and her friends went at least once a week until they got poor from all the frozen margaritas!

So we went with S. and her friends on a week night over Golden Week, and we had such a spectacular meal two weeks later hubby and I went back, this time bringing different neighbors, D. and his wife M. D. is hubby's colleague, but since they moved into the same building as ours a year ago we haven't had a chance to sit down and have dinner. It just so happened that hubby ran into M. on his way to Tokyo and she mentioned she was craving Mexican food. Yup, that was that. And oh, remember to reserve your judgement for the food, not the restaurant's exterior. In my experience, the best food is almost always at hole-the-wall places anyway. That's really how it should be!

Hubby, D. and M. in front of Junkadelic Nakameguro.

Chicken Fajita

Hubby was craving Tex-Mex, but after our last failed attempt at getting something reminiscent of Mexican food, I thought I might as well just throw something together and hope it works. It sort of did, and we didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for it ^.^

Here's to the most half-assed thrown together Chicken Fajita ever (mostly due to a lack of ingredients, only a small portion is my laziness), and it wasn't that bad :P

Let's Pretend Mexican Food!

An outdated post here, but prior to our brief home visit, hubby was going crazy craving for some Tex-Mex and so he Googled and found La Salsa is located in Minato Mirai, on the 5th floor of the World Porters building. Off we went with our fingers crossed.

Comfort food

Hubby is at school and I have all day to explore the local supermarket. Those who know me in person will tell you my funny [and perhaps frustrating] habit of studying the menu from beginning to end whenever we go to a new restaurant. New supermarkets are no exceptions, especially in foreign countries, and I study their food shelves from one end of the store to the other :D

And usually, my restaurant menu-studying session is followed by my ordering several items from this menu because I just can't makeup my mind and just have to try a little bit of everything. Same thing with the groceries. I usually just grab whatever my heart fancies and bring them home to try.

Well, I still study Japanese menus and supermarket food shelves, but I can't order/buy to my heart's content anymore. Why?

Several reasons:

- There is not a car to temporarily leave the leftovers or transport the groceries. We walk everywhere, and it's a pain to have to carry food in icky hot and humid weather, not to mention our four arms can only carry so much.

- The icky hot and humid weather ensures quick spoilage of the leftovers/groceries.

- No space in the dorm room-sized fridge to store leftovers or groceries. In fact, we only have enough room a day's worth of groceries, so we have to shop daily for each day's meals.

- It gets really really, really, expensive very quickly, and we have to be careful to not get stuck with instant ramen for every meal (though some people do get by with this anyway!). Food is our (and probably most people's) highest daily living expense here in Japan.

With all that said, there are things hubby and I absolutely must stock in my cabinet and fridge, no matter how limited the space. They are our comfort food, so to speak.

1. Tabasco sauces: there aren't many food that can be categorized as "American." But Tabasco? All American. Hubby is positively addicted to Tabasco and dubs it "America's national treasure." When I brought these home, he cheered.

2. Tea: this is more of a sentimental thing for me as hubby and I have a really good friend, C., who is a tea fanatic. C. introduced me to many sorts of delicious teas, especially dessert teas, and now I'm a convert. So despite the lack of space, I lugged home several varieties of teas, including the ubiquitous Earl Grey, Darjeeling, and English Breakfast.

I was excited to have found this Lipton Caramel Tea, but unfortunately it somehow managed to be bitter and bland at the same time, even after adding milk and sugar :(

I liked this Twinings' Instant Caramel Milk Tea much better, but being instant it was way too weak for my taste and I had to use 2 packages at a time.

3. Taco seasoning: I couldn't believe my local grocery carries taco seasoning and hard taco shells! And they were on sale too! So of course I snatched several packets :) Both hubby and I love Mexican food even if we mostly had ho-hum Tex-Mex. Still, it's a comfort food for us and we're just so happy that at least the seasoning is available locally.

4. Yogurt: we don't particularly like the yogurt sold in American supermarkets, but Japanese yogurt is something else. Depending on the brand, but generally they're delicious! If you've had Greek yogurt, Japanese yogurt tastes similar, only much lighter and, perhaps, smoother and sometimes runnier in texture. I spent 10 years in Vietnam and, seriously, I thought this is how yogurt was supposed to taste like until I came to the states and had Yoplait and thought, "What the...?!?" Mind you, Yoplait doesn't taste bad per se, just very...different.

Hubby's favorite is plain yogurt.

My favorite is peach yogurt.

There is actually a reason why my favorite Japanese yogurt is peach yogurt. It was when I first arrived in Tokyo 5 years ago as a JET, and, as if jet lag was just a myth, they ushered us right into orientation at the Keio Plaza Hotel the next morning at a ridiculous hour. On the 43rd floor.

The Keio Plaza Hotel

View from the 43rd floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel

View to the lower right

View to the lower left

If you are wondering why it looks so gray and rainy in the pictures, it was because there was a 6-point-something earthquake that hit Tokyo the night before we arrived, and for the couple of days after there were aftershocks and a typhoon (what's with me arriving into Tokyo and getting typhooned? There were one just a few days ago!!!). Now usually, you'd feel the aftershocks of an earthquake as small tremors and shakes. But then I was on the 43rd floor of a building, and it felt like I was on a freakin' boat. It depends on how tall the building is, but usually the whole thing will sway. They say by several inches at least, several feet at most. Feet!!! O.O

By the end of the second day of orientation, I was so sick from exhaustion, jet lag, and motion sickness I couldn't even swallow a bite dinner for fear of vomiting. I knew enough to seek help at the help desk, and good thing I did because the help desk folks were so kind. One of them helped me back to my hotel room (I couldn't even walk!) and another ran to a nearby conbini (convenient store) to get me something to calm my stomach. He came back with a pack ofonigiri in 3 different flavors and some peach yogurt. And let me tell you, a bite into that peach yogurt and I was in tears. And I'm not talking about just tears streaming down my cheek - I was bawling! In addition to being the most delicious yogurt I've ever had, the peach yogurt made me feel safe and that I could make it through this episode (and future episodes to come). So that's the story of how peach yogurt became my comfort food.

Yeah, yeah, whatever. Quit yer blabberin'!

Sorry for the long digress.

5. Cornflakes cereal: it's completely ironic that both hubby and I never eat cornflakes, or cereals in general, at home in the states. We only do so when we're abroad in Japan. It must be our homesickness manifesting in a strange way, but yes, we consume cornflakes in no small amount here, be it Kellogg's or a Japanese domestic brand. We just eat 'em. With milk, of course.

It's no surprise to anyone anymore that Japan is a baseball nation, and our Kellogg's box came with a New York Yankees baseball card ^.^