By Mai Truong  Comfy seating on white cushion, a tray of simple, delicious lunch, and a look out to the Meguro river. In the middle of Tokyo, there seems to be always little coves like this for a cozy, relaxing brunch. The lunch set includes a nice big bowl of rice, soup, 3 sides of choice and dessert (or a finishing drink) for 1250 yen (~ 12 USD). The latte art may be wanting, but I’d rather dive into my matcha latte with no remorse than adoring little bears or cats too much to drink them. 😛 Address: Chano-ma at Nakameguro 〒153-0051 東京都目黒区上目黒1-22-4-6F chano-ma webpage
By Mai Truong  Yesterday Kristen posted on Facebook pictures of cutie fluffy four-legged pals that walk all around her in a cat cafe. I’m so jealous, Kristen! My jealousy is as high as Mt. Fuji right now. You know the (almost) first thing I did when I went to Japan? I looked for a cat cafe. Unfortunately, just about everybody decided to go to the same cat cafe that day (I wished I had found a less popular cafe, this one being on the internet with English and all just makes it too known). One middle-age man chased the cats around relentlessly. (He wanted their attention just as much as I did. I feel you, man.) Then after he was about to leave, a couple came in and the girl took over the chasing duty. >__> All of the cats retreated under chairs and onto inaccessible window sills. My phone sucks at taking their pictures. One cat semi-approached me, but somebody (either the middle-age man or the girl) inched to him and he left. Me devastated. I spent an hour there reading, trying to hide my misery, but I was too heart-broken to […]
Continue reading Cafe Calaugh – why no cats came to me?
By Kristen  Chuseok (추석) is a major holiday in South Korea; this year the holiday fell on September 8th. Chuseok celebrates the harvest and is referred to as “Korean Thanksgiving” and is similar to other harvest festivals that follow the lunar calendar, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节, zhongqie jie). It is seen as a time to spend with family and so people usually leave the major cities (such as Seoul) to go back to their hometowns to spend time with their families. This Chuseok, I had the pleasure of spending time with my partner’s family. We ended up eating out on Chuseok day itself and to an amazing restaurant, both in taste and in the amount of food! The restaurant is large and spacious. The name is 황도 바지락 칼국수 (Huangdo pajirak kalguksu…I’m not sure if this is the right romanization, so please correct me if I’m wrong…I’m still terrible at translating Korean sounds ㅠㅠ). Continue reading Chuseok Meal: 칼국수 (Kalguksu)
By Kristen  I am obsessed with these doughnuts (or is it spelled donuts?). I have a mild obsession with doughnuts…as in, once in a while, I will crave them but it’s usually pretty rare. However, after having a bite of this doughnut during a conference at Korea University this summer, I instantly became obsessed and have been craving them ever since. These doughnuts are “mochi doughnuts” and have the same chewy consistency as mochi but a little doughier. It’s like eating super fluffy, chewy, light-as-air dough. The texture kills me. And the chocolate frosting…yum! I did try a coffee flavored doughnut but it wasn’t as tasty and there is another flavor that is labeled as “olive,” which I have yet to try.
By Kristen  It has been a little over 2 weeks since I have arrived in Seoul, although it feels alternatively like I’ve only just arrived here and like I have been here for ages! I have to be honest in writing that I still feel homesick at times and that adjusting is a little more difficult when I realize that I’ll be staying in Seoul for a longer time period than just a vacation. I just began Korean language classes and may potentially audit a course with my faculty advisor at Ewha so I think the routine of being a student will help me to feel more settled. Of course, my partner and his family have been so supportive as well and I feel so lucky to have them because otherwise I would be even more of a nervous wreck than I already am! I supposed I should move on to the food though…this time, I am profiling a restaurant that I ate at over the summer with a friend. The restaurant’s name is PLANT and it is located in Itaewon, an area of Seoul that is particularly known for being foreigner-friendly. I knew of the restaurant through the […]
Continue reading PLANT in Itaewon
By Mai Truong  There’s a Mister Donut near our apartment, but I still haven’t walked into it once (*). As much as I like Mos Burger (which is better than McDonalds Japan, which in turns is inarguably better than McDonalds US, of course 😉 ), I prefer the fastfoods that we don’t have. 1. Takoyaki Fluffy and bouncy. Inside each of these shining orbs is a piece of real octopus. When I die, I want to be buried with takoyaki (which is also the name of my phone, by the way)… 2. Taiyaki Continue reading Flavor Japan: best Japanese fastfood
By Mai Truong  When I saw GaijinPot published 2 pieces on summer food and summer festival food in Japan, I wanted to write a piece on the same topic, but I got skewered like a dango stick in work. Now that summer is on its way out, here’s an account of what we can (and should) eat in summer in Tokyo – for next year, that is 😉 . THE SAVORY: Unaju at Oodawa (~ $20 per set) Continue reading Flavor Japan: Summer eating in Tokyo
By Mai Truong  The third installment of the “Flavor Japan – Noodles” series: somen, i.e., Noodles Part 3. Somen is thin white wheat noodle, much thinner than udon and much lighter than soba (buckwheat noodle). Why have I not seen any somen in The States?!! It most closely resembles the Vietnamese bún in bún thịt nướng (grilled pork with rice vermicelli). Is that why I love it the most now, more than ramen, udon or soba? Maybe. This noodle is such a beauty. The day we had it was also a beauty. We were wandering around Fukagawa at 10:45 or so and no restaurant that we wanted to try was open. Then I heard drumming and chanting, so I dragged Mutsumi toward the sound and ended up in Naritasan Fukagawa Fudoudou. Two imageries of this big temple will stay forever in my head: 1. a modern hall whose white outer walls are covered with a Sanskrit mantra in black, and 2. the fire ceremony with powerful drums, beautiful garments of the monks, and exceedingly warm and mellow chanting. We came in the middle of the ceremony, and it went on […]
Continue reading Flavor Japan – Somen
By Kristen  Dear Flavor Boulevard Readers, It has been a LONG time since I’ve written for FB and I feel terrible! Although I suppose I am lucky just to share space here with the beautiful Mai and her equally gorgeous photography, and I can only hope that my posts contribute to the overall site. Long story short, the main reason why I have been away from the blog is because I was studying for my QEs (qualifying exams) and have been traveling in/around Seoul. I am finally writing this short post to announce a new segment: Flavor Abroad: Boulevard-ing in Seoul. This announcement goes hand-in-hand with my upcoming move to Seoul, South Korea where I will be spending at least the next 10 months beginning in mid-August for my dissertation research. While I will hopefully explore outside of Seoul, this little space will explore the foods that I ate/have eaten while primarily traveling/living in Seoul! I was also in Seoul this summer for a little over a month, so I have quite a few posts already planned! I am also hoping that the “boulevard-ing” part of this title would also give me an opportunity to share some photographs and stories that […]
Continue reading Flavor Abroad: Boulevard-ing in Seoul
By Mai Truong  Ramen is all hip now and if I were that into ramen, I probably would try a ramen shop everyday until I exhaust all options in Tokyo (it will take only a few lifetimes). But honestly, there’s SO MUCH MORE about noodles in Japan that I’m glad I didn’t spend all my time with ramen. I don’t regret one bit that I had only ONE bowl of ramen in Tokyo the entire stay. When I think about the spaghetti with boiled anchovy (you can also have it raw) or somen and rice with clam(*), I’m filled with joy. (I really am!) Ziggy’s Pasta is an unassuming shop a stone’s throw away from Koutoku-in in Kamakura – the temple with the great copper statue of Buddha, where 60% of the tourists stick their hands out for a statue-carrying pose. When we visited in Kamakura, my life goal was too eat shoujin ryouri (精進料理) – traditional Buddhist vegetarian meal, but that goal was quickly quenched because everybody and their grandma were lining up outside every restaurant during lunch time, and no shoujin ryouri restaurant was opened […]
Continue reading Flavor Japan – Noodles Part 2
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