WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:10.199 You're listening to Heritage Radio Network. Hi, 00:00:10.279 --> 00:00:13.080 everyone. Welcome to Potluck Food Talks. I'm 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:17.879 here with Phil San, who just returned from the 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:21.620 islands from the Far East. The Misty Islands. 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:28.320 The Promised Land. Exactly. So how was it? How 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.059 long was it? You went to Japan like for three 00:00:31.059 --> 00:00:34.859 weeks, two weeks? Not quite, just for 10 days. 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:38.700 But it was a really, really good amount of time, 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:42.600 actually. I mean, for people who don't know, 00:00:42.659 --> 00:00:44.960 I used to live in Japan before. I used to live 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:50.920 in Tokyo in 2014 for almost a year, working in 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:55.039 a special little restaurant called Ryugen, just 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:59.170 a casual little three Michelin star place. back 00:00:59.170 --> 00:01:02.429 then in rapongi now it moved um and yeah so it's 00:01:02.429 --> 00:01:07.329 been 12 years since i've been to japan and i've 00:01:07.329 --> 00:01:12.450 actually for a third of my career have cooked 00:01:12.450 --> 00:01:15.890 japanese food um which is pretty crazy to think 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:19.489 about and so i'm like i'm very into it and i 00:01:19.489 --> 00:01:22.950 was very excited to go back and wanted this trip 00:01:22.950 --> 00:01:25.909 to be more of a spread of like different experiences 00:01:25.909 --> 00:01:29.730 and i was especially interested in having like 00:01:29.730 --> 00:01:32.430 really real experiences i didn't just want to 00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:36.609 go to a hotel and go to this famous place and 00:01:36.609 --> 00:01:39.010 that famous place i wanted to have like real 00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:41.730 like japanese life you know i'm super happy with 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:44.170 how that went it was really really nice what 00:01:44.170 --> 00:01:47.049 was the itinerary where which cities did you 00:01:47.049 --> 00:01:50.090 visit so we arrived in tokyo and we stayed in 00:01:50.090 --> 00:01:52.909 tokyo for two days and then took a shinkansen 00:01:52.909 --> 00:01:56.569 to kyoto and stayed most of the time in kyoto 00:01:57.129 --> 00:01:59.069 That's what I thought. You worked quite a few 00:01:59.069 --> 00:02:02.390 days in Kyoto, right? Yeah, that was my focus. 00:02:02.590 --> 00:02:05.230 Because Tokyo, I love Tokyo. I mean, I could 00:02:05.230 --> 00:02:08.710 live in Tokyo very easily. I love it there. It's 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:11.729 super nice. There's so much going on. But there's 00:02:11.729 --> 00:02:14.930 like such a cool vibe. But I'd never been to 00:02:14.930 --> 00:02:18.289 Kyoto. And I know that Kyoto is a lot more sort 00:02:18.289 --> 00:02:21.030 of old school, more vintagey, more traditional 00:02:21.030 --> 00:02:24.490 in a way. And I really wanted to spend as much 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:28.129 time there as possible. and then we did two days 00:02:28.129 --> 00:02:30.490 in osaka but also just because our flight was 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:35.550 from osaka back to europe and um and yeah highlights 00:02:35.550 --> 00:02:38.770 food highlights city by city let's start with 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:42.189 tokyo oh man there were a lot honestly there 00:02:42.189 --> 00:02:44.990 really were a lot so i didn't just want to go 00:02:44.990 --> 00:02:46.930 to like the michelin star high -end places you 00:02:46.930 --> 00:02:49.629 know actually i wanted to do that as little as 00:02:49.629 --> 00:02:52.129 possible there were a couple that i went that 00:02:52.129 --> 00:02:54.270 were really nice also really happy i went they 00:02:54.270 --> 00:02:57.800 were exceptional But more than anything, I wanted 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:00.400 to go to this kind of like small hole in the 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:04.300 wall places that just do exceptionally good food. 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:09.000 I went to a really nice soba place near Kappabashi, 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:13.219 which was, I think soba is really, really underrated 00:03:13.219 --> 00:03:17.120 outside of Japan. Absolutely. There's ramen places 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:18.900 and stuff, you know, and like everybody likes 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:22.139 ramen. Then like there's a few like well -known 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:25.300 udon places as in like Paris, for example, or... 00:03:25.629 --> 00:03:28.009 um koya in london you know they've been doing 00:03:28.009 --> 00:03:32.669 udon for ages um but soba and like good soba 00:03:32.669 --> 00:03:35.990 is outside of japan i've never seen that yeah 00:03:35.990 --> 00:03:40.370 i i guess i agree uh i also think it's it's more 00:03:40.370 --> 00:03:44.490 difficult to communicate to the wider wider audience 00:03:44.490 --> 00:03:47.189 it's also like a more subtle more japanese like 00:03:47.189 --> 00:03:50.530 more elegant while ramen is more chinese it's 00:03:50.530 --> 00:03:55.409 like a in your face pork broth like super strong 00:03:55.409 --> 00:03:57.810 you know like that's easier for everybody to 00:03:57.810 --> 00:04:00.430 understand and like well this is something you 00:04:00.430 --> 00:04:04.949 have to get into it yeah 100 100 but if you like 00:04:04.949 --> 00:04:07.729 really experience it it's it's amazing yeah also 00:04:07.729 --> 00:04:10.349 the combination of like you know soba like handmade 00:04:10.349 --> 00:04:12.789 noodles buckwheat noodles with the condiments 00:04:12.789 --> 00:04:15.949 and then like really good seasonal tempura again 00:04:15.949 --> 00:04:18.089 you know and just like this like tiny place super 00:04:18.089 --> 00:04:22.399 beautiful And they had tempura of a spring green 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.060 called Angelica. Do you notice this herb, Angelica? 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:29.319 No idea. So it's almost like a celery plant. 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:32.500 It's like quite a big, like wild plant. It looks 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:35.060 like a big bush, almost like a fennel. And in 00:04:35.060 --> 00:04:37.420 springtime, they're like bulbs. They're very 00:04:37.420 --> 00:04:40.459 tender and they get used for miso soup and for 00:04:40.459 --> 00:04:43.100 tempura more than anything. They have a very, 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:45.420 very particular flavor, a slight bitterness. 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:48.490 They're very healthy for you. Again, they have 00:04:48.490 --> 00:04:50.790 like a really, you know, like how, for example, 00:04:51.029 --> 00:04:55.610 Lovage has like a very, very unique aroma. It's 00:04:55.610 --> 00:04:57.850 kind of the same with that. It's a little bit 00:04:57.850 --> 00:05:01.350 Lovage -y, but a little bit more citric, I would 00:05:01.350 --> 00:05:05.529 say. Super nice, like a tempura of that, super, 00:05:05.610 --> 00:05:07.370 super tasty. Ah, super interesting. Yeah, it 00:05:07.370 --> 00:05:11.269 really does look like fennel flowers. Yeah, yeah, 00:05:11.290 --> 00:05:13.550 yeah, totally. And this is something that I hadn't 00:05:13.550 --> 00:05:16.370 seen in a really long time since actually I worked 00:05:16.370 --> 00:05:19.019 in London. And this Japanese restaurant, Koya, 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:22.920 where we would go foraging a lot. That was one 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:25.680 of the restaurants, one of the only restaurants 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:28.000 when Junior Yamasaki was there, who now has an 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:31.060 amazing restaurant in LA called Yes with double 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:35.040 S. The restaurant where I've seen Japanese philosophy 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.019 best lived out in a country that's not Japan, 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.959 which is seasonality, local ingredients cooked 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:47.829 in a Japanese way. And we would gather Angelica 00:05:47.829 --> 00:05:50.870 there. I know Noma used to use it also. And yeah, 00:05:50.889 --> 00:05:53.009 so that was really, really good. And then Kyoto, 00:05:53.189 --> 00:05:55.470 I mean, Kyoto was just like chock full of highlights. 00:05:55.750 --> 00:05:58.509 I went to this temple lunch that you recommended. 00:05:59.209 --> 00:06:01.850 Did you like it? It was fantastic. It was one 00:06:01.850 --> 00:06:03.509 of the best meals we had. Yeah, yeah. It was 00:06:03.509 --> 00:06:07.329 such a good recommendation. Yeah, also like spending 00:06:07.329 --> 00:06:09.170 the whole morning there, right? Like walking 00:06:09.170 --> 00:06:13.329 in the forest and finishing in the temple. Yeah, 00:06:13.350 --> 00:06:14.810 for me, it was also one of the highlights for 00:06:14.810 --> 00:06:18.220 sure. yeah 100 my mom was blown away like this 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:21.579 it was exactly like what she wanted to do i'm 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:24.079 so happy i'm so happy it worked out nice yeah 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.620 i mean it was very busy um because it's like 00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:30.100 sakura season so the garden and the temple garden 00:06:30.100 --> 00:06:32.120 was like very full of people but we went quite 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:35.259 early our lunch was at 11 30. that's just very 00:06:35.259 --> 00:06:37.819 similar to what we did it's like a great plan 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:40.439 to do it like that yeah and you know um i was 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:42.180 really curious to see what it was going to be 00:06:42.180 --> 00:06:45.540 like because back when i lived in tokyo I went 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:49.279 to this like very fine dining, kaiseki style 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:53.220 dinner, which was very similar. It was like vegetarian 00:06:53.220 --> 00:06:56.379 temple food. And it was a super beautiful restaurant 00:06:56.379 --> 00:06:59.879 in Ginza, like hidden away. You would get your 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:02.740 own private tatami room, etc. While the food 00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:04.819 was very interesting, they had a lot of similar 00:07:04.819 --> 00:07:08.000 things that we ate there. It was a little bit 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.379 underwhelming. And this time, going to Tenryu 00:07:11.379 --> 00:07:14.920 Temple. The food was so nice. There were so many 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:19.879 highlights inside of that meal. They had a nasu 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:22.699 dengaku, which is a miso glazed aubergine, which 00:07:22.699 --> 00:07:25.680 there was one of the... I've eaten it many times 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.259 and in many different countries also because 00:07:28.259 --> 00:07:31.439 people like to remake this dish. And there it 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:34.959 was the best miso aubergine that I've ever had. 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:39.199 It was so juicy and the meat of the aubergine 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:42.250 was flaky, almost like a codfish. I was like, 00:07:42.269 --> 00:07:45.009 what the fuck? This is so, so good. They had 00:07:45.009 --> 00:07:49.629 an amazing sesame tofu, gomadare tofu, which 00:07:49.629 --> 00:07:54.810 was incredible. They had this bamboo leaf that 00:07:54.810 --> 00:07:58.290 was filled with a mochi. That was one of the 00:07:58.290 --> 00:08:01.959 highlights for me. Yeah, that was wrapped in 00:08:01.959 --> 00:08:04.220 kind of like an origami kind of thing that you 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:08.540 had to open. I even thought that it was just 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:10.240 a creation, and then suddenly not. There was 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.500 the most amazing mochi I've ever had inside of 00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:16.959 it. I don't remember what the filling was. For 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:20.300 us, it was like a sweet yuzu kind of filling. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:24.079 Yeah, correct. It was so nice. I was like, what 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.800 the fuck? The texture of the mochi, the flavor, 00:08:26.899 --> 00:08:29.670 the flavor of the yuzu. just fucking perfect 00:08:29.670 --> 00:08:32.590 and it was super friendly and like the best thing 00:08:32.590 --> 00:08:35.450 also was that um you can book three types of 00:08:35.450 --> 00:08:38.029 packages depending how many dishes you get and 00:08:38.029 --> 00:08:39.889 i just booked the biggest one with the most dishes 00:08:39.889 --> 00:08:42.009 right because i did the same yeah and it was 00:08:42.009 --> 00:08:45.129 not it was not expensive at all yeah i think 00:08:45.129 --> 00:08:47.669 the big package was like 50 euros per person 00:08:47.669 --> 00:08:49.309 or something like that something like that yeah 00:08:49.309 --> 00:08:52.190 yeah she she gets who is the name of the restaurant 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:55.629 in the temple yeah yes yeah but yeah i'm not 00:08:55.629 --> 00:08:57.750 a peasant i'm not a schmuck I'm not going to 00:08:57.750 --> 00:09:01.649 book the basic package, right? And so it was 00:09:01.649 --> 00:09:04.429 really cool to go in. And like I said, the temple 00:09:04.429 --> 00:09:07.570 was busy as fuck. And we were the only people 00:09:07.570 --> 00:09:10.250 that got a private room. Everybody else had to 00:09:10.250 --> 00:09:13.870 sit in the communal rooms. Oh, nice, nice, nice. 00:09:14.029 --> 00:09:16.250 Which was very nice. Yeah, that was a definite 00:09:16.250 --> 00:09:19.750 highlight. Another thing that was like a massive 00:09:19.750 --> 00:09:23.529 highlight was Yakitori. I also think that Yakitori 00:09:23.529 --> 00:09:26.009 is super underrated outside of Japan. Where did 00:09:26.009 --> 00:09:29.370 you have Yakitori? I went to three places. Most 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:33.129 importantly, I went to Torishou Sai, which is, 00:09:33.350 --> 00:09:36.629 I think they have a mission in Star. Kevin recommended 00:09:36.629 --> 00:09:39.029 it to me and booked a table for me. They used 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:41.549 to go all the time. Yeah, amazing. It was just 00:09:41.549 --> 00:09:44.509 like, it's one counter. I think it's like 10 00:09:44.509 --> 00:09:46.850 people eat at the same time. Everybody, like, 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:49.070 it's just one seat. Well, one seating at a time, 00:09:49.090 --> 00:09:53.049 right? And they do like two or three seatings 00:09:53.049 --> 00:09:55.429 in the evening. You get like, I don't know, like 00:09:55.429 --> 00:09:58.870 14 courses or something. Super good. Super, super 00:09:58.870 --> 00:10:01.830 good. One of the best Sukune skewers I've ever 00:10:01.830 --> 00:10:05.690 had. What is Sukune? It's the meatball, you know, 00:10:05.730 --> 00:10:08.669 the meatball skewer. Yeah. Yeah, I also went 00:10:08.669 --> 00:10:10.570 to a super nice yakitori place. I don't remember 00:10:10.570 --> 00:10:12.929 the name. It was in Kyoto. And yeah, for me, 00:10:12.990 --> 00:10:17.889 it was incredible. It's so nice. Such a way of 00:10:17.889 --> 00:10:20.480 understanding the bird. Such an experience because 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:23.000 you get like this little cards that every bird 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:24.740 has just a little piece and they make a skewer 00:10:24.740 --> 00:10:26.919 with 10 of those or this kind of thing. That 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:30.039 is just incredible. Yeah, absolutely. Had some 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:32.480 really good sushi also. Really, really good sushi. 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:34.820 And also not just like the fancy. We went to 00:10:34.820 --> 00:10:39.679 Sushi Saeki, which is like capo style, super 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:41.480 high end. For people who don't know, capo style 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:45.080 is a very high end Japanese concept where you 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:47.379 have basically a counter and then behind that 00:10:47.379 --> 00:10:49.929 counter are the chefs. with like big chopping 00:10:49.929 --> 00:10:52.330 board surfaces and stuff and they prepare the 00:10:52.330 --> 00:10:55.570 food in front of you cutting plating cooking 00:10:55.570 --> 00:10:58.429 and then they just like reach over and put the 00:10:58.429 --> 00:11:01.610 plate down in front of you and that was a whole 00:11:01.610 --> 00:11:05.210 experience that was amazing uh we went to like 00:11:05.210 --> 00:11:08.090 just like small hole in the wall sushi places 00:11:08.090 --> 00:11:11.210 in tokyo and in osaka which again were also super 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:14.129 good and like a really good kaiten sushi place 00:11:14.129 --> 00:11:17.590 which is the conveyor belt sushi And in all of 00:11:17.590 --> 00:11:19.470 these places, you have these highlights. Like, 00:11:19.490 --> 00:11:21.090 for example, in the Kaiten Sushi place, they 00:11:21.090 --> 00:11:23.629 were selling a special, which was maguro tuna 00:11:23.629 --> 00:11:27.269 marinated in soy with yuzu on top, like fresh 00:11:27.269 --> 00:11:30.710 yuzu skin. And man, it's like you get this piece 00:11:30.710 --> 00:11:34.269 of lean tuna marinated in a nice soy sauce with 00:11:34.269 --> 00:11:36.990 yuzu on top. It's just fucking delicious. You 00:11:36.990 --> 00:11:41.889 could eat 10 of those. I remember going to Tsukiji 00:11:41.889 --> 00:11:44.700 Market. And there was this famous guy that is 00:11:44.700 --> 00:11:48.879 the tuna king. I had just, yeah, I think it's 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:51.919 the best tuna I've ever had. It's super touristy. 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:56.279 You're not allowed to create content, to upload 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:58.919 it without permission. So they're super restrictive 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:02.820 with that. And the guy looks like this, bigger 00:12:02.820 --> 00:12:06.480 than life, celebrity, tuna lover. Apparently 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.820 every year in the tuna auction, he has to buy 00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:12.470 the first one. It doesn't matter how much he 00:12:12.470 --> 00:12:15.210 pays. He always gets the first one when tuna 00:12:15.210 --> 00:12:18.769 season starts. And it's like his thing. And it's 00:12:18.769 --> 00:12:21.490 like his marketing tactic. You know, like every 00:12:21.490 --> 00:12:24.409 year he does the same and he's everywhere in 00:12:24.409 --> 00:12:26.789 the news. He has like 10 restaurants. All of 00:12:26.789 --> 00:12:29.950 this sounds like not good for a place to go and 00:12:29.950 --> 00:12:32.350 visit, but it was incredible. The tuna was just 00:12:32.350 --> 00:12:34.990 incredible. Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. Like, I 00:12:34.990 --> 00:12:37.269 mean, the quality of stuff that you get, like 00:12:37.269 --> 00:12:39.429 even just the markets, the produce quality is 00:12:39.429 --> 00:12:44.899 just amazing. The tuna also like in Kyoto, I 00:12:44.899 --> 00:12:46.879 don't know if it's like a Kyoto specialty, but 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:48.419 I've never had it before. And I had it a few 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:51.500 times in Kyoto. It was this like roll, like it 00:12:51.500 --> 00:12:54.659 was either we had it as gunkans, which is how 00:12:54.659 --> 00:12:56.759 to describe a gunkan for people who don't know. 00:12:56.840 --> 00:12:59.460 It's basically like a little boat of like nori 00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:03.379 and sushi rice. You have the topping on top instead 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:05.600 of like a maki where the nori is on the outside 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.610 as a roll. But the filling was the same, which 00:13:08.610 --> 00:13:11.769 was like the tuna meat from the ribs. Like when 00:13:11.769 --> 00:13:14.129 you filleted the tuna, the meat that you scrape 00:13:14.129 --> 00:13:16.669 off the ribs. And then that's kind of like chopped 00:13:16.669 --> 00:13:20.730 up with pieces of pickled daikon radish. And 00:13:20.730 --> 00:13:23.669 so you have like a tuna and pickled radish roll. 00:13:24.049 --> 00:13:26.269 And you have this like crunchy, sour radish and 00:13:26.269 --> 00:13:28.769 the fatty tuna. And it was like, man, fucking 00:13:28.769 --> 00:13:31.149 hell. And we had that at like at Sushi Saeki, 00:13:31.289 --> 00:13:33.129 which was like super high end. And even just 00:13:33.129 --> 00:13:38.220 like the like. small, dirty sushi places where 00:13:38.220 --> 00:13:41.860 people smoke on the tables. I saw a place in 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:44.139 Tokyo like that. I couldn't get in because it 00:13:44.139 --> 00:13:47.159 was already completely booked and I was alone. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.679 But I saw the pictures and I walked by and I 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.679 saw inside and these were just little tables, 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.980 like plastic tables, nothing fancy. It was only 00:13:56.980 --> 00:14:00.019 working people and the tables were full of these 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:04.120 super long ribs of tuna. and you would spoon 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:06.779 out the you would scoop out the the meat and 00:14:06.779 --> 00:14:08.820 that that that's what you do there you know and 00:14:08.820 --> 00:14:12.059 every table had like this whole rib cage you 00:14:12.059 --> 00:14:14.299 know it was incredible damn that's so nice i've 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:15.700 never been to a place like that that's really 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:19.220 cool um yeah what else was good i had one of 00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:22.100 the best ramen that i've ever had in my life 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:25.259 and um like you were talking about ramen earlier 00:14:25.259 --> 00:14:27.580 you know these like pork broths that are very 00:14:27.580 --> 00:14:30.139 creamy and very rich they're very popular you 00:14:30.139 --> 00:14:32.590 know because they're very tasty and also And 00:14:32.590 --> 00:14:34.769 I had one that was similar to that. I had a pork 00:14:34.769 --> 00:14:39.230 ramen. I had a chicken ramen that was made like 00:14:39.230 --> 00:14:42.370 a tonkatsu. So chicken broth cooked for so long. 00:14:42.409 --> 00:14:44.250 So it like emulsifies all the fats and it gets 00:14:44.250 --> 00:14:46.389 really thick. And that was really cool because 00:14:46.389 --> 00:14:48.389 it tasted like, my mom was eating it. She was 00:14:48.389 --> 00:14:50.110 like, you know what this tastes like? This tastes 00:14:50.110 --> 00:14:52.590 like carbonara. And she was right because it 00:14:52.590 --> 00:14:54.870 was like fatty, salty. There was like onions 00:14:54.870 --> 00:14:57.409 on top of it. And you put in like black pepper 00:14:57.409 --> 00:15:00.769 and it really tasted like carbonara in a really 00:15:00.769 --> 00:15:03.389 nice way. I went to one because I really wanted 00:15:03.389 --> 00:15:06.190 to go to a ramen place that was broth focused 00:15:06.190 --> 00:15:08.190 because I love those sorts of places that don't 00:15:08.190 --> 00:15:11.610 do the creamy broths, but like the really intense 00:15:11.610 --> 00:15:14.850 consomme ones. I kept walking past this one place 00:15:14.850 --> 00:15:17.110 and there was always a huge queue outside. And 00:15:17.110 --> 00:15:18.649 so I was like, all right, this has to be good. 00:15:19.070 --> 00:15:22.809 And I get into the queue at like, you know, just 00:15:22.809 --> 00:15:25.789 before 12 o 'clock. So it's still early. And 00:15:25.789 --> 00:15:27.730 the waitress comes outside and she comes to me 00:15:27.730 --> 00:15:29.070 and she's like, do you have a ticket? And I'm 00:15:29.070 --> 00:15:31.320 like, what ticket? She's like, oh, I'm sorry. 00:15:31.460 --> 00:15:32.960 Like if you don't have a ticket, you can't queue. 00:15:33.179 --> 00:15:35.139 On all the tickets for today, they have already 00:15:35.139 --> 00:15:38.159 been handed out. So the people who are queuing 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.840 all had a ticket. Then I went home and I researched 00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:43.480 and it turns out that to go to this ramen place, 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:45.100 you need to get there at 10 o 'clock in the morning. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.379 That's when they open the door and they start 00:15:47.379 --> 00:15:49.399 handing out the tickets. So you get a ticket 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:52.179 for a time slot and you have 20 minutes to eat 00:15:52.179 --> 00:15:55.200 basically. And it's common courtesy that after 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:57.559 you finished your food, you don't wait, you get 00:15:57.559 --> 00:15:59.259 up and you leave. You pay and you leave straight 00:15:59.259 --> 00:16:02.250 away. And so the next day I did that, went there 00:16:02.250 --> 00:16:04.690 at 10 o 'clock, got a ticket for like 12 o 'clock 00:16:04.690 --> 00:16:07.850 and got in. And even though you have a ticket, 00:16:07.950 --> 00:16:09.710 you still have to queue because they only have 00:16:09.710 --> 00:16:12.289 so busy, man. I don't know how many like bowls 00:16:12.289 --> 00:16:14.289 of noodles they have to. There's like four guys 00:16:14.289 --> 00:16:17.029 in the kitchen. They do two types of ramen and 00:16:17.029 --> 00:16:20.429 like three side dishes and that's it. And as 00:16:20.429 --> 00:16:22.809 soon as I got into that restaurant, this intense 00:16:22.809 --> 00:16:27.049 smell of very high quality dashi hits me. the 00:16:27.049 --> 00:16:30.509 whole place was just filled with the aroma of 00:16:30.509 --> 00:16:33.269 really well -made dashi. And I hadn't smelled 00:16:33.269 --> 00:16:34.950 that in a really, really long time. I think the 00:16:34.950 --> 00:16:37.149 last time I smelled that was, you know, back 00:16:37.149 --> 00:16:40.149 in Japan, because there's a huge difference between 00:16:40.149 --> 00:16:43.090 box standard dashi that people use for cooking 00:16:43.090 --> 00:16:46.049 and that like, you know, like places make, you 00:16:46.049 --> 00:16:48.429 know, just like for cooking and the sort of Ichiban 00:16:48.429 --> 00:16:51.129 dashi. Ichiban dashi means like the first infusion 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:54.309 of the dashi. And usually... Ichiban dashi is 00:16:54.309 --> 00:16:57.950 used for drinking and for soup dishes, like very 00:16:57.950 --> 00:17:01.049 where it's focused on the dashi. And then you 00:17:01.049 --> 00:17:03.070 have the second flush of the dashi, which is 00:17:03.070 --> 00:17:04.950 then used for cooking and stuff like that. I 00:17:04.950 --> 00:17:06.789 was standing there in this restaurant and I was 00:17:06.789 --> 00:17:09.509 really reminiscing about the smell because for 00:17:09.509 --> 00:17:12.690 me, it is the quintessence of Japanese cooking 00:17:12.690 --> 00:17:15.450 as I have experienced it and the quintessence 00:17:15.450 --> 00:17:19.720 of umami. Just full on umami, you know. Because 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:21.859 the seasoning is very low. It's like very low 00:17:21.859 --> 00:17:24.900 salt, very low sugar, very low fat, but it's 00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:27.779 just like full on umami from the kombu, the kelp, 00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:30.599 and the katsuobushi, and the soy sauce. These 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:32.940 guys also, they're very interesting. They specialize 00:17:32.940 --> 00:17:36.099 in two types of soy sauce. You could take the 00:17:36.099 --> 00:17:39.660 dashi, the ramen with white soy sauce, and you 00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:42.960 could take the ramen with black soy sauce. Where 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.660 was this? In Kyoto. Kyoto. Yeah, it's called 00:17:46.660 --> 00:17:52.609 ramen inoichi. inoichi okay can very highly recommend 00:17:52.609 --> 00:17:55.990 it so we get in we order one of each ramen um 00:17:55.990 --> 00:17:57.869 i really wanted to have the one with the white 00:17:57.869 --> 00:17:59.369 soy sauce because that sounded really interesting 00:17:59.369 --> 00:18:03.210 then they also did um shumai shumai dumplings 00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:06.470 which i thought was really funny they did a cold 00:18:06.470 --> 00:18:10.430 tofu with walnuts and japanese parsley and what 00:18:10.430 --> 00:18:12.069 else i don't really remember what else but the 00:18:12.069 --> 00:18:16.799 dashi man like once the ramen comes And you drink 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:19.819 the soup. It's just like, we talked about this 00:18:19.819 --> 00:18:22.079 here on the podcast before, but it's just like, 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:25.059 it's so deep and it's so well -rounded. It's 00:18:25.059 --> 00:18:28.480 so well -cooked. It's so saturated with flavor. 00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:33.000 It was amazing. And it really reminded me of 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.920 what I really, really love about Japanese food. 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:39.660 Did you do only Tokyo and Kyoto? I went to, we 00:18:39.660 --> 00:18:43.720 went to Osaka for two days also, but it was kind 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:46.019 of just for transit. I've not really been to 00:18:46.019 --> 00:18:48.720 Osaka very much. I'm sure it's very, very cool. 00:18:48.779 --> 00:18:50.799 I heard very good things about it. For the area 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:53.700 that we were in, it was very, very busy. It was 00:18:53.700 --> 00:18:56.579 very intense. Completely different from the rest 00:18:56.579 --> 00:18:59.920 of Japan, isn't it? The rest of Japan, for example, 00:19:00.140 --> 00:19:05.680 I have the feeling that Osaka is way more liberal. 00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:08.180 For example, there are things that you can't 00:19:08.180 --> 00:19:11.220 do in Japan, like smoking in the streets. In 00:19:11.220 --> 00:19:13.200 Osaka, you would see people smoking in the streets. 00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:15.460 You would see graffiti. You would see things 00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:17.680 that you'd probably get beheaded if you do it 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:20.759 in Tokyo or Kyoto. Yeah, you could really tell. 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:24.859 People in Osaka are known for being more open, 00:19:24.900 --> 00:19:28.359 more friendly, in a way. While in Tokyo, everybody 00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:31.559 is very straight, very shy to themselves, very 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:35.720 polite. In Kyoto, everybody was really laid back 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:39.119 and friendly. In Osaka, people are much more 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:42.859 straightforward, open. Coming from Kyoto, where 00:19:42.859 --> 00:19:46.279 everything was very vintage -y, you felt almost 00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:49.440 like you were time -traveling a little bit. You 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:53.339 walk past the temples. I used to jet lag to my 00:19:53.339 --> 00:19:56.160 advantage. I went jogging in the morning to pass 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:58.200 the time, so I would always wake up at 4 .30 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:01.750 in the morning and just go for a run. and it's 00:20:01.750 --> 00:20:03.990 amazing what you find you know so you would just 00:20:03.990 --> 00:20:08.329 like run through a neighborhood and you come 00:20:08.329 --> 00:20:11.630 across beautiful cemeteries beautiful temple 00:20:11.630 --> 00:20:16.509 structures with like massive gardens and completely 00:20:16.509 --> 00:20:18.289 empty of course because nobody's awake at the 00:20:18.289 --> 00:20:20.710 time you know no not too many tall buildings 00:20:20.710 --> 00:20:23.509 like everything just really laid back and cool 00:20:23.509 --> 00:20:26.630 i really really enjoyed it it was amazing a completely 00:20:26.630 --> 00:20:28.789 different japanese experience and i can recommend 00:20:28.789 --> 00:20:31.890 this to anybody you know like do Do the big city, 00:20:31.990 --> 00:20:35.150 do Tokyo, go to Shibuya, go to Ginza, go into 00:20:35.150 --> 00:20:38.670 the fancy restaurants there. But then also the 00:20:38.670 --> 00:20:40.849 places that I booked to stay. I didn't book any 00:20:40.849 --> 00:20:44.970 hotels. I booked small ryokans. What's a ryokan? 00:20:45.250 --> 00:20:52.049 A ryokan is like an inn. And often these were 00:20:52.049 --> 00:20:54.069 just old houses that somebody would live in. 00:20:54.430 --> 00:20:58.380 We stayed in this one place. It's very brutally 00:20:58.380 --> 00:21:01.160 minimalistic. You have a room with a mat that 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:05.140 you sleep on, on the floor, and that's it. But 00:21:05.140 --> 00:21:08.019 it has so much character. And it's like, this 00:21:08.019 --> 00:21:09.700 is a house that somebody lives in, you know? 00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:11.900 It's a real Japanese house with a Japanese garden 00:21:11.900 --> 00:21:14.799 and a Japanese kitchen and an engawa that goes 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:17.640 around the house that you can access the garden 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:20.519 from, like, different sides. And then you go 00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:24.079 outside, you know, and you walk through the neighborhood. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:26.859 You see the cafes. You see the restaurants, it's 00:21:26.859 --> 00:21:29.720 only full of locals. You get a completely different 00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:32.380 experience of the country, because you're actually 00:21:32.380 --> 00:21:36.220 living the real everyday life, rather than the 00:21:36.220 --> 00:21:39.180 tourist side of it. Yeah, and Osaka, also the 00:21:39.180 --> 00:21:41.400 food scene, I was really impressed with it. Also 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:44.359 very different, I think very non -traditional, 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:49.720 what I saw. They defined it themselves as fusion. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:52.180 I heard the word more than once, like, yeah, 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:55.690 we do fusion Japanese, basically they add They 00:21:55.690 --> 00:21:58.670 do whatever they want, basically. Yeah. That 00:21:58.670 --> 00:22:00.769 is basically what that word means, you know? 00:22:03.609 --> 00:22:06.829 Yeah. Yeah, I've not, like I said, I've only 00:22:06.829 --> 00:22:11.029 been in Osaka like two days, barely. But yeah, 00:22:11.089 --> 00:22:12.609 I heard that the food scene is really, really 00:22:12.609 --> 00:22:15.430 fun. I went to one place. I had the best soba 00:22:15.430 --> 00:22:17.309 of the trip in Osaka. And I'm going to look up 00:22:17.309 --> 00:22:19.269 the name of the place. I took a photo because 00:22:19.269 --> 00:22:21.549 it was really, it was so much fun. It's exactly 00:22:21.549 --> 00:22:24.390 the sort of place that I like going and that 00:22:24.390 --> 00:22:28.900 I love about. about japan it's called te uchi 00:22:28.900 --> 00:22:35.180 soba shu shuhadi and it's basically like a like 00:22:35.180 --> 00:22:37.759 a barn so it's like a long building it looks 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:41.640 like yeah i'm looking at it yeah beautiful and 00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:45.220 you go in it's just like a row of tables there's 00:22:45.220 --> 00:22:47.779 artwork hanging on the walls there's jazz playing 00:22:47.779 --> 00:22:53.680 and it's no it's not fancy amazing soba like 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:55.180 little noodle room where they make the noodles 00:22:55.180 --> 00:22:58.500 they make amazing cold soba they make amazing 00:22:58.500 --> 00:23:01.960 tempura they make amazing duck soup you know 00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:05.059 soba in duck broth with slices of duck on top 00:23:05.059 --> 00:23:09.319 and like it's filled with people that are just 00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:12.700 coming in for a quick bite and it's just perfect 00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:14.640 it's just fucking perfect there's sake there's 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:17.180 beer everybody's laid back there's cool music 00:23:17.180 --> 00:23:20.130 playing absolutely amazing and i wish that these 00:23:20.130 --> 00:23:21.910 sorts of places would exist outside of japan 00:23:21.910 --> 00:23:26.950 honestly absolutely yeah um also tempura i don't 00:23:26.950 --> 00:23:28.750 know did you go to a cool tempura place when 00:23:28.750 --> 00:23:32.470 you were in in no not not to a tempura omakase 00:23:32.470 --> 00:23:35.490 i had a few very very good tempuras and yeah 00:23:35.490 --> 00:23:38.410 i i was in general impressed with the frying 00:23:38.410 --> 00:23:41.670 technique i think the japanese they don't understand 00:23:41.670 --> 00:23:46.240 frying not only as as like a as a dry cooking 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.180 technique, but also as a steaming technique. 00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:51.819 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's exactly my experience 00:23:51.819 --> 00:23:54.579 also. Back when I had my first experience with 00:23:54.579 --> 00:23:57.220 that, it really changed the way that I think 00:23:57.220 --> 00:24:00.460 about it because you think it's like fried and 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:02.819 then it's like crispy and blah, but you have 00:24:02.819 --> 00:24:05.460 to kind of forget the oil part of it. It's really 00:24:05.460 --> 00:24:09.779 encoding something in a layer and then it's cooking 00:24:09.779 --> 00:24:13.059 in its own juices inside of that layer. And the 00:24:13.059 --> 00:24:15.940 layer being like very thin, usually very thin, 00:24:15.980 --> 00:24:19.500 very light. I had one thing that like blew me 00:24:19.500 --> 00:24:21.579 away because I, on the very, very last day, actually 00:24:21.579 --> 00:24:24.460 for lunch, before we went to the airport, our 00:24:24.460 --> 00:24:25.980 flight was at 10 o 'clock at night. I was like, 00:24:26.059 --> 00:24:29.960 okay, let's do one more like high -end tempura 00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:32.519 place. And it was really cool because my mom, 00:24:32.539 --> 00:24:35.279 it was her first time. And she had exactly the 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:38.380 same experience that I had back then when my 00:24:38.380 --> 00:24:42.500 old head chef. Seiji Yamamoto took me to a tempura 00:24:42.500 --> 00:24:44.539 place because she was like, yeah, I like tempura, 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:47.660 but how good can it be? Even I was surprised 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:50.019 again because, for example, a piece of eggplant. 00:24:51.059 --> 00:24:53.119 And I'm not a big fan of eggplant, honestly. 00:24:53.339 --> 00:24:57.859 There's ways of doing eggplant that it's okay, 00:24:57.980 --> 00:25:01.539 but I would rarely pick it up myself in the supermarket. 00:25:01.900 --> 00:25:04.079 And this guy literally takes a piece of eggplant, 00:25:04.420 --> 00:25:09.619 flours it, dips it, fries it, rests it. cuts 00:25:09.619 --> 00:25:12.920 it and just puts it in front of you. And the 00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:16.960 amount of juice and tenderness and flavor inside 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:20.640 of this aubergine is absolutely amazing. It's 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:23.200 also one of the things that also I think makes 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.480 a big impact is the freshness and the immediacy 00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:28.420 of like, it's not something that's cooked and 00:25:28.420 --> 00:25:30.440 it comes to the pass. You put it on the plate, 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:33.019 you wait for one of your stupid fucking waiters 00:25:33.019 --> 00:25:35.960 to come and pick it up until they find the table, 00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:41.539 put it down. sorry to the front of house our 00:25:41.539 --> 00:25:48.660 listeners but you know like the chef and with 00:25:48.660 --> 00:25:51.660 yakitori also they cook it until they find that 00:25:51.660 --> 00:25:53.660 it's perfect and they put it in front of you 00:25:53.660 --> 00:25:56.500 and if you go to a yakitori place that you go 00:25:56.500 --> 00:25:58.380 to a tempura place like that or a sushi place 00:25:58.380 --> 00:26:00.779 for that matter you're ever in that situation 00:26:00.779 --> 00:26:02.859 do the chef the courtesy and eat the thing straight 00:26:02.859 --> 00:26:05.609 away It's not meant to sit there in front of 00:26:05.609 --> 00:26:09.089 you while you talk to your neighbor about your 00:26:09.089 --> 00:26:12.589 ski holiday in Aspen. It's for you to eat it 00:26:12.589 --> 00:26:17.789 when the chef deems it to be at its best. And 00:26:17.789 --> 00:26:21.190 when you do that, you realize that things have 00:26:21.190 --> 00:26:24.049 a very, very short window of being absolutely 00:26:24.049 --> 00:26:28.269 exceptional. Things can be good in a larger window, 00:26:28.349 --> 00:26:30.630 depending on what we talk about. But from sushi, 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:33.309 as soon as he makes the nigiri, he puts it down. 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:35.220 Sushi goes down, especially when you're at a 00:26:35.220 --> 00:26:36.839 really good sushi place, because they don't press 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:39.440 the rice into a block. I've had this experience 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:42.140 at Sushi Saeki. He put a nigiri down in front 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:47.559 of me, and I would claim that a sushi chef tries 00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:50.599 to get the rice just to the right consistency 00:26:50.599 --> 00:26:53.259 that it holds, but not any more, so that the 00:26:53.259 --> 00:26:56.480 rice is very loose, right? And very, very tender 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:59.279 in a way. And I picked it up, and he could see 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:00.880 that I was struggling a little bit. This one 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:02.880 part wasn't quite there. And he apologized to 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:04.880 me. He was like, oh, I'm sorry. And the next 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:08.519 Nagiris that he made, every time that I picked 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:10.559 it up, I could see him kind of looking over whether 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:13.519 it would happen again. So they really care about 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:15.440 this. And as soon as he puts it down in front 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:17.039 of you, the momentum goes down. We've talked 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:18.839 about the momentum before on the podcast. Yeah, 00:27:18.859 --> 00:27:22.099 a couple of times. Same with Yakitori. He puts 00:27:22.099 --> 00:27:24.000 it in front of you. It's perfect. It's full of 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.410 juice. It's full of life. The longer you talk 00:27:26.410 --> 00:27:31.089 about your fucking, you know, whatever, your 00:27:31.089 --> 00:27:37.410 fat suction operation in Cancun, the less delicious 00:27:37.410 --> 00:27:39.390 your skewer is going to be. Yeah, going back 00:27:39.390 --> 00:27:43.769 to skewers and fries, fried stuff, I also mentioned 00:27:43.769 --> 00:27:46.670 this before. One of my favorite places was a 00:27:46.670 --> 00:27:50.230 kushikatsu place in Osaka called Kushiage 010. 00:27:50.759 --> 00:27:52.680 And I remember that there was a frying master, 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:55.519 which was like an old chef, and a younger chef 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:57.940 who was, I don't know, like his protege, his 00:27:57.940 --> 00:28:02.019 apprentice, whatever. And they would really, 00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:05.200 like, have timers for the frying, so they were 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:08.649 really looking into the stuff, and yeah. Whatever 00:28:08.649 --> 00:28:10.890 it was, it could be a prawn, it could be a piece 00:28:10.890 --> 00:28:12.910 of pork, it could be a vegetable, whatever it 00:28:12.910 --> 00:28:15.730 was, if you bite it and you looked on the inside, 00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:19.250 it was perfectly medium cooked the way it should 00:28:19.250 --> 00:28:22.809 be in all of the cases. And very different products, 00:28:22.970 --> 00:28:27.490 like vegetables or seafood or meat. That was 00:28:27.490 --> 00:28:31.609 pretty cool. Yeah, it's amazing. It's really 00:28:31.609 --> 00:28:35.730 crazy and it takes so much skill and so much... 00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:38.160 so much knowledge so much of this like thing 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:40.460 that you know fergus henderson calls the jedi 00:28:40.460 --> 00:28:43.019 sense you know of like knowing what's happening 00:28:43.019 --> 00:28:46.400 without seeing inside of the product um and i 00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:49.000 think that's really really amazing if uh if you've 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.539 not been to japan and you've been thinking about 00:28:51.539 --> 00:28:54.819 going but you have this hesitation um just go 00:28:54.819 --> 00:28:57.740 like just just just book a flight and go you 00:28:57.740 --> 00:29:01.240 know it's it's if you're in any way interested 00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:04.880 in cooking and in food It is by far one of the 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:08.859 reference places in the world. And to me, back 00:29:08.859 --> 00:29:12.559 then, it was life -changing. This time around, 00:29:12.759 --> 00:29:15.940 it was incredibly inspirational again. And I've 00:29:15.940 --> 00:29:17.880 actually decided that I'm going to try to go, 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:20.759 like, if not, I'm actually kind of thinking of 00:29:20.759 --> 00:29:24.000 going once a year now. I thought the same last 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:26.460 time I was. Right now is a good moment, like 00:29:26.460 --> 00:29:31.859 the gen. is lower than dollar and euro and for 00:29:31.859 --> 00:29:34.519 that reason it's cheaper than it used to be so 00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:37.180 everybody has this idea that japan is very expensive 00:29:37.180 --> 00:29:41.700 and today it's not at all not at all yeah and 00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:45.079 even if you're smart and choose like the right 00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:48.200 season you can find very affordable flights as 00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:51.359 well oh yeah absolutely absolutely um i mean 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:54.839 i flew in the middle of sakura season and it 00:29:54.839 --> 00:29:56.539 was very expensive and like of course the flights 00:29:56.539 --> 00:29:59.190 are going to be expensive but You don't need 00:29:59.190 --> 00:30:01.789 to go to Michelin star restaurants in Japan to 00:30:01.789 --> 00:30:04.869 have exceptionally good food. Really, really 00:30:04.869 --> 00:30:09.769 outstanding good food. You can eat on an average 00:30:09.769 --> 00:30:14.269 of 30 quid per person and eat plenty of food. 00:30:15.269 --> 00:30:18.950 I was once again really surprised how affordable 00:30:18.950 --> 00:30:22.710 the food is there. And just in general, coffees 00:30:22.710 --> 00:30:24.609 and stuff like that, super, super affordable. 00:30:24.829 --> 00:30:26.710 Nothing at all. Transport's also super fine. 00:30:27.579 --> 00:30:30.539 So if you plan a little bit smart, it's totally 00:30:30.539 --> 00:30:35.059 doable. Just don't be this person that I met 00:30:35.059 --> 00:30:37.920 on the bus where she's like, oh, yeah, you're 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:39.740 from Germany. I'm from Germany, too. Yeah, I'm 00:30:39.740 --> 00:30:41.559 here with my friends. Yeah, we thought it was 00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:43.980 going to be really expensive, but we just go 00:30:43.980 --> 00:30:46.460 eat at 7 -Eleven every day. Don't be that person. 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:52.019 Don't not go to 7 -Eleven because konbini food 00:30:52.019 --> 00:30:56.160 is amazing, right? Yeah, exactly. Don't be a 00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:59.430 fucking trash panda. And just live at the Konbini. 00:31:03.529 --> 00:31:06.069 That's it for this week's episode of Potluck 00:31:06.069 --> 00:31:08.450 Food Talks. If you like what we're doing, make 00:31:08.450 --> 00:31:10.710 sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never 00:31:10.710 --> 00:31:13.369 miss an episode. You can also find us on Instagram 00:31:13.369 --> 00:31:16.869 and TikTok as Potluck Food Talks. The show airs 00:31:16.869 --> 00:31:17.329 every Monday.