April 09, 2010
Tokyo-Izu-Karuizawa Miscellany
とん亭・海人
Took advantage of the JR East Rail Pass to go as far as we could all the way out to the end of the Izu Peninsula to Shimoda. One of the first free-ports forced open by Perry and his Black Ships, Shimoda offered some interesting historical sights.
But first, lunch.
Wife chose a trio of mini seafood donburi: salmon roe, jackfish sashimi, and marinated tuna. Looks pretty and seems more food than there actually was, but perfect amount for her with just enough for me to get some tastes.
For me, local Shimoda jackfish 下田鰺 two-ways: whole fish breaded and deep-fried, and raw sashimi. The fish liver made into an accompanying paste. The bony whole fish and the pungent, fishy liver sauce might be off-putting to lesser men but it was right up my alley. Nothing fancy in the preparation, but went well with the big bowl of always-excellent Japanese white rice.
Grom
Loved Grom's sorbets and gelatos when we were in Florence, visiting it twice a day every day even though in the middle of winter. So I did a double-take and was thrilled when I saw Grom's distinctive Romanesque logo through the picture window while walking past one of the many 0101 department store branches in Shinjuku. Just had to grab the wife to stop in for a couple of scoops even though it was late in the evening and we haven't had dinner yet. It had been a long day's worth of travel and the itinerary wasn't particularly successful. But scoops of Crema de Grom and Salted Caramel gelato cured all ills.
腸詰屋
Stopped in Karuizawa on our way from Ueda back to Tokyo, mainly to hit the big outlet mall by the Shinkansen station. But Karuizawa is a charming little town in of itself, so we hurriedly took a walk around. Didn't eat in the crowded and boring mall restaurants, but we didn't have time for a drawn-out sit-down lunch, either. So when we passed by the local smoked meat purveyor, a sausage sandwich seemed like just the ticket. Beside the meat counter was the take-out station selling sausages cooked to order. Paprika brat with grain-mustard for me. Curry-dog with ketchup for her. Seemed very Japanese to have the bread just barely large enough to keep your hands off the sausage itself.
Atelier de Fromage
Wanted to visit some historical chapels and other sights in Karuizawa, but we went down the main boulevard a ways and realized that we won't be able to get back and catch our train in time if we went any further toward those destinations. So there we were at the intersection with a long redundant, long walk ahead of us. So we decided to first stop in at this cafe for a quickie dessert break before starting back. The store prides itself on milk products. So I had to have a taste of their sno-cone. Rich but clean milk flavor, without gummy fillers. The special spring-time-special sour-cherry sakura flavored mont-blanc wasn't my favorite, but 'tis the season and we're suckers for limited-edition varieties.
とん亭・海人
静岡県下田市東本郷1-4-3
+81-558-22-5500
GROM
東京都新宿区新宿3-30-13 新宿マルイ本館1F
+81-353-69-8966
腸詰屋 軽井沢二号店
長野県北佐久郡軽井沢町軽井沢1323-293
+81-267-42-7696
アトリエ・ド・フロマージュ 軽井沢売店（Atelier de Fromage）
長野県北佐久郡軽井沢町軽井沢東18-9
+81-267-42-7394
Posted by mikewang at April 9, 2010 01:00 PM