You might wonder what the four things in the title of my post have to do with each other. Well, to start with, my accommodations for this trip were in Ikebukuro. This was my third time in the area and I've grown a little fond of certain aspects of it.
Like finding great places to eat. Such as Manmaru Ikebukuro Unagi. That う looking a little bit like an eel in the sign...
After my expedition to Maronouchi on March 19th, I finally made it back to Ikebukuro. And I had one goal.
Unagi don at Manmaru.
What I didn't know is the place loves a certain Western thing. That is, the Beatles. Be prepared if you go here, because that is all they play. Which is fun and makes a person feel welcome.
What also makes a person feel welcome is sake. I decided to use what I had learned from "Wakako-zake" and I went with what they recommended. By the way, my waitress was wonderful. She spoke some English and also had a hairband for me.
Ah! A real "Wakako-zake" moment! I did a silent "pshuuu" while drinking this lovely sake. It might seem silly to some, but it was fun to watch the sake fill the glass and then the bowl holding the glass.
You may wonder what this is. Well, it's deep fried eel spines, hone-senbei. Because one of the beauties of Japanese cooking is not to let anything go to waste if possible. And I did eat them.
I also ordered tsukemono, or Japanese pickles. There was some daikon, cabbage with fresh gari or ginger, and cucumbers. I don't remember what the dark brown pickles were, they may have been narazuke, fermented in sake lees. It was all good.
And my dinner. Unagi don! And this was the best unagi don I have eaten. They grill it over charcoal and it adds so much umami to the flavor. There was also a nice bowl of miso soup.
And more kyuri asazuke, but I didn't mind.
Sorry my photo of my unagi don isn't super clear. It just means I need to go back and get another bowl. I would do it even if the photo was clear because I really enjoyed this meal. Not expensive, near where I was staying and really nice staff. I'm looking forward to dining there again.
Another fun place in Ikebukuro was a place I stopped at a day or two before this. Naruto Taiyaki Honpo. I was on my way back from a late run to Harajuku and I could not resist how appealing this place looked.
Fresh warm azuki and satsumaimo filled taiyaki. Very nice.
As for the reason for my late evening trip into Harajuku, was because Closet Child got a few "new" items in. I missed a couple other things I wanted but I was able to get a Moi-même-Moitié Logo Cross. Which I was happy to find.
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