Anyhow, I'm back now and will clear my Tokyo posts (which only one left!). This entry, I'm bringing you to visit one of my most favourite place in Tokyo - Depachika or food hall of Seibu Ikebukuro Department Store. Depa is shorten from Depato or Department Store and Chika means underground so it means basement level of department store which is Japan, they usually sell food. Seibu Ikebukuro's Depachika must have been one of the best places for food shopping since it has massive choices of food you can choose to buy for take home or eat there. They also separated into savoury section and sweet section. I gotta be honest that most of my time there, I spent most of my time in savoury section.
Aside from stalls selling food, there are small restaurant with no more than 8 seats available for hungry soul. I made a stop to try Soba from Mukoujima sumida (向島 すみ多). Everyone was going for original cold soba set but I decided to go for my favourite soba soup with duck meat.
The smell of duck was a little stronger than the one I had at Gonpachi. However, it was heaven sent dish. The soba was freshly made and it was perfectly done. They have some lemon zest as condiment to add in the soup which made the dish very refreshing and summer-ish.
sitting at the counter watching them cook freshly made food for you
The smell of duck was a little stronger than the one I had at Gonpachi. However, it was heaven sent dish. The soba was freshly made and it was perfectly done. They have some lemon zest as condiment to add in the soup which made the dish very refreshing and summer-ish.
in the hot dipping soup with leeks & duck meat
Half way through eating, obachan handed me the Soba's boiled water - now that's authentic Japanese way of eating soba! I think it was about 1350yen for this meal. It might not be the best but quite worth the money.Then next day, I decided to try Hayashi rice from Taimeiken which I was originally going to visit their original branch for Omurice but didn't coz of my tight schedule.
Hayashi rice is probably best to describe as stew rice. It wasn't spicy and quite buttery - by the time I finished this I quite wanted something spicy and tangy as it was too buttery for me. However, the beef in hayashi was amazing. When people said the meat melt in their mouths, I never quite get it coz I never experience it. But after eating this Hayashi rice from Taimeiken, I so know what they mean! The meat was tender and melt in your mouth. I wasn't expecting this coz the meat was like small and shredded so you would have thought they didn't use much of good quality meat. I was wrong. Definitely urge you to try or even visit Taimeiken main branch for their omurice and steak. Next time, I so won't miss it!
Hayashi rice is probably best to describe as stew rice. It wasn't spicy and quite buttery - by the time I finished this I quite wanted something spicy and tangy as it was too buttery for me. However, the beef in hayashi was amazing. When people said the meat melt in their mouths, I never quite get it coz I never experience it. But after eating this Hayashi rice from Taimeiken, I so know what they mean! The meat was tender and melt in your mouth. I wasn't expecting this coz the meat was like small and shredded so you would have thought they didn't use much of good quality meat. I was wrong. Definitely urge you to try or even visit Taimeiken main branch for their omurice and steak. Next time, I so won't miss it!I made some purchases for sushi at their take home stall. They are fresh so people don't worry about getting low quality food. I don't think low quality food is existed in Japanese Department Store's dictionary.
I bought this 4 pieces of ikura gunkan for 300 yen - dirt cheap, so cheap that I want to live in that country forever.
I bought this 4 pieces of ikura gunkan for 300 yen - dirt cheap, so cheap that I want to live in that country forever.
This Toro set is only 1,300yen with Otoro, Chutoro, negitoro and makuro. I used to say toro wasn't my favourite thing. Well, I take it back coz I never had fresh stuff like this and it's cheap too. I want to eat this again, worth every single yen I paid for.It would not be a good entry if I didn't have any sweet to show. Since I was in Tokyo during summer, they have this shop from Nikko selling their famous shaved ice.
What makes their shaved ice special is the ice they used is made from water in Nikko area that claimed to be natural with good taste. I know this shop before from watching Japanese TV show, Himistu no Arashi-chan when they had a special episode filming in Nikko couple years ago. So I sorta know how they made their ice and store them through out Winter/Spring in order to have enough ice for summer. It was quite cool to actually get to try stuff you see on TV!
What makes their shaved ice special is the ice they used is made from water in Nikko area that claimed to be natural with good taste. I know this shop before from watching Japanese TV show, Himistu no Arashi-chan when they had a special episode filming in Nikko couple years ago. So I sorta know how they made their ice and store them through out Winter/Spring in order to have enough ice for summer. It was quite cool to actually get to try stuff you see on TV!
I had melon shaved ice. The ice itself was very fluffy. I can't comment on good taste thing since I think ice taste probably the same like water but It was good esp. for summer. I read that this stall was only going to be in Seibu til mid September so they may come back again in Summer next year. Please look out for them.
Depachika
B1 level
Seibu Ikebukuro
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