mutelife

On this post we’re skipping ahead a couple of days. One of those was entirely for the kids, spend on Toyko Disneyland (also see DisneySea). Well, mostly for the kids. The adults also had fun.

The other day we’re skipping ahead was one of the hottest days in Japan. After spending the previous day without a camera at Disney, I didn’t feel like carrying it again, so have no photos.

We just took it really easy and spent some time in the Ginza area. During the morning we had breakfast at RIC TOKYO while our clothes got washed at a nearby laundromat, visited a TAMIYA shop looking for a t-shirt, and ate some Go!Go!Curry!.

After lunch we looked at Gundam figurines and bought more stationary at Itoya and a suitcase at Don Quijote to replace our old one. Tried to get sushi in Marunouchi at the renowned Hanamaru and at Manten Sushi. Both were packed so we ended up having ramen at Ippudo.

Back to the present day. Also a very hot day, but that goes without saying at this stage…

Our vacations were almost over and we hadn’t had a proper sushi meal, so frustrated by the failed attempt of the previous day we looked up options near Akihabara, where we decided to spend part of the day, and found Tsukijisushiko Akibatorimuten.

Had affordable lunch menus and the sushi seemed very fresh. We ordered a tuna selection that included otoro — fatty and delicious tuna belly. It was the first time the kids ate a full sushi meal too. Leo is especially picky with textures and did not complain too much.

Then it was time to explore the crowded Akihabara streets and stores.

For dinner we had made reservations the previous day for Linku, a fancy teppanyaki restaurant in Ginza (GMaps).

It was our big splurge of the entire trip and worth it, even though we were apprehensive whether it was too fancy and formal for us up until 15 minutes after we sat down at the table.

The space is divided in two and each group gets their own room and chef. The restaurant was decorated and furnished with Louis Vuitton stuff. Even the plates and silverware were apparently from LV. Pointless, but ok.

They then asked us about drinks, brought out the first dish as well as the kids’ food. We over-corrected the kids’ a couple of times, asked them to speak quieter and apologized for their behavior. In hindsight, this doesn’t make sense, but we were concerned about being the loud tourists that are clearly out of their place.

To our surprise, the people that were serving us laughed at told us it was ok — “daijoubu” — and both Lena and I could relax after that knowing that, despite being a fish out of water, we would still enjoy the experience.

Here’s the menu and pictures below.

• Appetizer: Conger eel frit. Grapefruit flavored balsamic sauce.
• Hot appetizer: Wagyu charcoal grill with young corn.
• Iron plate cooking:
  • Canadian lobster
  • Fishigaki beef, sukiyaki style
• Main dish: Wagyu sirloin & filet with 10 kinds of condiment.
• Final dish: Fried rice with garlic. Minamiuonuma Shiozawa areas [Koshihikari Rice].
• Dessert: Flan with truffled caramel and sesame ice cream.

I need to point out that while every single deal during the meal was superb, the wagyu beef struck a chord with me. It was emotional…

Perhaps because it was the apex of the meal, or perhaps the past few weeks of this unbelievable trip with the family came rushing to mind. Could just have been sharing that moment with Lena and the kids…the truth is that when I put that first bite in my mouth it made my eyes water a tiny bit.