Osaka Restaurant, Tokyo

You get on a plane in NYC, get yourself settled and 14 hours later you are in Tokyo.  That alone takes a bit to grasp.  You have just left your home and before you know it you are half way around the world.  Just for beginners the time zone piece wacks you out.  

I began planning this trip sometime last spring.  I used the service Trip-Bod, hand crafted trips by locals.  Jessica worked for Sally Broom last summer who is the entrepreneur behind this company.  She connected me with a guy in Japan who has been incredible.  He has listened to everythng I have said and what we are looking for.  He had restaurants and stores on his list that I had on mine.  That is always a good sign.  Not only that but the attention to detail and coordination of cars, maps etc is impressive.  I am really excited for the next 10 days.

Last night we got in around dinner time.  The restaurant is a 10 minute walk from our hotel but the concierge recommended we cab it.  Two separate cabs.  They gave us a map and a google map photo of the building so we knew what we were looking for when we got there.  Not so easy.  Our cab went to the wrong place first and I pushed him that it was not the right location because the photogaph did not look like the building.  Fred and Jessica were not so lucky.  They got out, they got lost, Josh and Emily had to send them the location of where we were through Google Maps.  Kind of harrowing but they eventually found it about 30 minutes after we got there.  Supposedly this is typical of cab drivers in Tokyo.  

The restaurant, Osaka, is only about 24 seats. tops.  6 of them are at the bar.  The menu is in Japanese so I had discussed earlier with our guide what we would eat.  We began with sake.  I love these small bottles that the sakes comes in.  It is like getting your own soda can.

We began with crunchy marinated cucumber sticks in a sesame spicy sauce.  Really good.

Stir fry mushrooms in a light soy based sauce.

Asparagus with a mayonaisse dipping sauce.

Grilled scallops with spinach.  Super simple and delicious.

Steak that was light, flavorful and had the consistency of butter that we dipped into a ponzu sauce mixture and salt.  

A mixture of stir fry vegetables and seafood in an egg mix allowing the mixture to set.  Then a Japanese bbq sauce and shaved benito over the top.  

They obviously knew we just got in.  

We walked home since we had our bearings straight.  What a day or two.  It is just a blur right now but I am sure in a day or so I will be on the program.