So my cousin came to Tokyo for my long weekend, yay!! It was a fun 3 days with lots of alcohol. Lol.
Went to Haneda to pick him up and then went for breakfast together. It was my first time at Haneda International Airport. Seriously, it is a freaking small building out of nowhere. The arrival and departure is at the same place, and the waiting area at the arrival hall is only like as big as my room??? I don't know how are they going to handle the increase in international flights from this coming end-October. But heard from my colleagues that they are building new terminal, although I saw no construction anywhere when I was there.
So anyway, we came home after breakfast coz we barely slept the night before and then just crashed. Woke up, dressed up and went out for a late lunch, then headed to Kurihama in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, which was about a little more than an hour from my place. The Kurihama Perry's Fireworks Festival (久里浜ペリー祭花火大会) was being held there and I bought tickets for us a few weeks before. When we finally reached there, well, we were late. Walking from the station to the fireworks area took like more than 20mins? (That includes the time where we stopped by the combini to buy beers and sake). While we were walking, the fireworks started. So we kinda walked and watched the fireworks, and of course, drank.
After squeezing through crowds of people, we finally came to a stop as the road was packed with people and we couldn't get through. So I approached the nearest policeman and asked where was the seating area. And guess what? We had to fight our way through the crowd all the way back from the way we came and walked a further dunno how many metres and then finally to the pier area. When we finally reached our seats, we left like 2omins to watch the fireworks comfortably. But it was nice. Kurihama is a residential area, far away from the city, so it was a fresh respite from busy Tokyo. The fireworks festival was not the huge famous kind, but just a small festival. All the same, we enjoyed it while downing the beers and sake (most of it by my cousin, of course).
After the fireworks we headed back to my place and went to a bar and drank till 2.30am. It is a nice bar and it was the second time I went there. This time I set at the counter seats and watched the bartenders mix our drinks. It was interesting and nice. So we just set there and talked and talked.
The next day, we met sis at Shinjuku for lunch and then headed to Harajuku to shop. Bought loads of stuff and definitely did not have ample time to shop. We then headed to the Ninja themed restaurant in Akasakamituke as I reserved a table for us for dinner! On the way there, we transferred at Shibuya and I finally found Mr Bean! So of course we stopped to buy soya milk and pancake! How can I miss out on Singaporean food when it is right infront of me?!
Keema curry pancake! We don't even have this in SG. It was good.
We finally reached Akasakamituke and found the Ninja restaurant. Below are all the pictures!
Entrance
Cocktails and a whole bottle of sake!
The cocktails came with a spoon of bird's nest!
Cocktail + Rose petals + Bird's nest
Starters! Ninja throwing stars (shuriken) cookie with foie gras.
Crab tofu. This was good. Something different and refreshing.
Dark in this photo but it is actually asparagus with cashew nuts with some kind of dressing which was whipped to foam.
Escargot served with a flourish with some 'ninja power'?
Tempura with a dip that is whipped to foam. Different from normal tempura.
Bouillabaisse, soup. This was cooked infront of us with a hot stone which was put into the pot. Basically this stone is really hot and with the heat, raw food like meat and vegetables were put into the pot together and they all started cooking. At the end, the stone is taken out before serving.
Garnish for the soup. Parsley, tom yam paste and spring onions (from left to right).
Tuna sashimi (maguro) with avocado and a curried flavoured stick.
There was a magic show too. There were ninjas that went table to table to perform magic tricks.
A palette cleanser before the main course, which was a yuzu flavoured ice ball with mint leaves.
Our main course! Foie gras with veal.
Sushi
Dessert which was apple sorbet.
Below is the menu taken from the website. We ordered the Surprise course menu (びっくりコース)
*
Shuriken star-blades grissini
1.
Creamy lobster pudding, tofu-style
2.
Turban shell bombs a la escargot
3.
Ninja-style tempura, summer transformation
4.
Summer vegetable cocktail topped with whipped Japanese stock
5.
Special stone-boiled soup (Japanese bouillabaisse)
6.
Tuna and avocado tartar seasoned with mustard and vinegar-flavored miso bean paste
7.
Sherbet candy in summer flavors
8.
Foie gras and veal a la creme brulee or Fish of the day
9.
Ancient purple rice rolled in yuba soymilk films and sushi of the season
10.
Today's desserts
Drinks are charged separate and there is service charge too. The course itself was already 7,777 yen. The total bill was well...about 10,000 yen per person. It is really fine dining, so ya, expensive. But it was an interesting experience, and definitely the best themed restaurant that I have went so far (3 including this). I like the bouillabaisse the best of all the food. It was really good. I will recommend the place if you are willing to spend. =)
On the final day we just hung out around my area and did some shopping before heading to the airport. Didn't get to show my cousin more of Tokyo, but I thought it was a nice 3 days of catching up.
