Afro Nest - Naha, Okinawa

Located off the main street of Kokusai-Dori in downtown Naha, Afro Nest is not your usual bar. First of all, all the workers are really friendly and they have AFROS! While there are wigs provided for customers who want to join in on the fun, the staff spare no expense (a quick search reveals that an afro perm costs around 10,000yen) to metamorphose their manes into flocculent 'fros (was it too much to try for the alliteration?). For a reason unexplained (because I didn't ask or remember?), they also all wear orange/red overalls, which thinking about it now, reminds me of Super Mario.

Secondly, they have (at least they did in 2012) a 3-hour all-you-can drink (nomihoudai) option for the fiscally irresponsible price of 2000yen! I was told that every drink marked with a star was eligible, which seemed like half the drink menu! Afro Nest is located in a basement floor so you need to keep your eyes at street level while wandering the back alleys for the sign pictured below. The picture next to it is of the staff members: I did not ask why they put a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio. Sorry.

Pictured below is the Jerk Chicken which as you can see, has white wine poured on it and set ablaze BEFORE you eat it. Since this was the first time I had jerk chicken, I was not sure if this was customary or something they do for dramatic effect. If nothing else, it made for a good picture. What little I do know about jerk chicken is that it is spicy, and while it was not dangerously spicy, it was still quite good. As much as restaurants in Japan succeed at the presentation of food, it seems that food that is actually spicy, save for wasabi, is not remotely spicy. Someone with more experience (a seasoned veteran perhaps?) with jerk chicken may have a different opinion of Afro Nest's particular version, but I had no complaints because honestly, it's tasty chicken and they set it on fire. 

The second time I went back, I ordered the Afro Rice, which is their fancy version of one of my favorite Okinawan-American fusion foods, taco rice. It is what it sounds like: the fillings of a taco on top of rice instead of inside a tortilla. This version is an upgrade to usual taco rice, not just because they went and made it into a tower of rice, ground beef, salsa, and cheese, but they added a fried egg, which transforms it into some kind of loco moco-taco rice hybrid! Compared to some of the horrific attempts at making something resembling a loco moco that I have seen in Japan, I was surprised that I have never seen this variant before because it's brilliant!

Aside from the food and drinks, the atmosphere of Afro Nest is light and friendly as well as full of heart. One of the nights I was there, some of the customers were having a birthday party which featured the manager playing "Happy Birthday" on the melodica while the cake was brought out, followed by another staff member reading a sentimental letter written by the guest of honor's friends while the quintessentially sentimental Oda Kazumasa's 言葉にできない (Kotoba ni dekinai) played softly in the background. The one who read the letter, the youngest staff member (I think he was 19 at the time), "Anakin", also claimed to be good at monomane (imitation) as shown in the pictures below where he does his best 魔貫光殺砲 (makankosappo), literally translated as Demonic Piercing Light Murder Gun or "Special Beam Cannon" as performed by Piccolo in Dragon Ball.

I regret that it took long for me to start blogging as over a year has passed since I have been to Okinawa and many of the details of my visits to Afro Nest are not as clear as they used to but hopefully, I was able to convey some small part of how much I like and must recommend it. I will try to edit this post as I get more information and/or remember more (or when I go back again).There are a few tables but, unless you're with a large group or having a special event, sit at the counter to get the full experience and faster service.

 沖縄県那覇市久茂地3-9-11 アーバンビルB1   050-5796-3326
Okinawa-ken Naha-shi Kumoji 3-9-11 A-ban Building B1 050-5796-3326
19:00 - 5:00 (7pm - 5am)

Afro Nest's Facebook page

Soybean Farm - Kichijoji, Tokyo

I was in Kichijoji earlier today and decided I wanted to try somewhere different and ended up checking out Soybean Farm, which is a stylish little place on the north side of Kichijoji station (JR Chuo-Sobu, Tokyo Metro Tozai, and Keio Inkashira lines). Unlike previous entries, I was not so particular in detailing how I got there, but I will provide the address at the end so you can use your smartphone's map app to find it. Even if not, it's pretty much a straight line from Penny Lane, one of the named shopping alleys off of Sun Road (the main shotengai). Below is a picture and if I had gone during the day, the sign would probably be easier to see (and I would have been melting in the summer heat as well).

From what I had heard about this place, Soybean Farm is a miso soup place and right when you enter, there are several barrels of miso for sale. For those of you from Hawaii or other places where crack seed (話梅) is sold, the front of the shop looks kind of similar to one of those places. Perhaps next time I will check them out more carefully and buy some since it seems like every time I buy miso from the supermarket, I end up using only a tiny amount and throwing away the rest months later. Maybe if I raise the stakes and buy some fancy miso from a faraway land, I will be more inclined to cook things with it? Maybe not.

So I couldn't decide what to get, and citing the fact that I barely ate anything all day, I went with the omakase dinner. It's considerably more than what I would spend for dinner but I justified it because I have definitely spent more than 2800円 before on drinks alone and also because I've decided to try and be one of those "food blogger people". With exception of the after-dinner drink, I went with everything on the left side of the menu. I completely forgot to take a picture of this menu while I was trying to decide what to get so I ended up taking it right before I went to go pay.

First up was the 牛舌みそ漬けサラダ (gyuu tan miso zuke sarada) or "pickled beef tongue salad". I get that some people might be kind of grossed out about eating the tongue of a cow (I know, I have seen an entire beef tongue in my freezer before; it's gigantic!), but it is by far one of the best parts in my opinion. In this case, the beef is an almost beef jerky, or pipikaula (Hawaiian beef dish) sort of consistency. It's served on top of a few leaved of lettuce on top of shoestring-sliced (julienned?) radish and cucumber and a single baby tomato on the side. The dressing seemed to be made of some kind of sesame and miso and was semi-sweet. It almost did not feel like a salad because there was so much beef, but I wasn't complaining.

 Next was the ゴマクリームソースロールキャベツ(goma kuriimu sousu rouru kyabetsu) or "sesame cream sauce rolled cabbage" and the rice. I don't really eat rolled cabbage that often, but it is something that is fairly common in Japan, so much so that it has been used to describe men that seem to be passive (sōshoku danshi) on the outside but are actually aggressive (nikushoku danshi) because it's meat wrapped in vegetables. The opposite of a "rolled-cabbage man" would be a "bacon asparagus man" since it's a vegetable wrapped in meat. Anyway, click the links and learn more on your own time. 

While the rolled cabbage was quite good, I have no idea what kind of meat they put inside it, and I did not even ask (typical man?). The sauce was creamy sesame (and probably miso) based and went well with the rice which I dipped in it. The problem with that was that the rice was not quite as sticky as I am used to and fell apart so I used a spoon to scoop up the remaining grains (for 2800円 I wasn't going to leave any food to waste if I could help it!). I was surprised to see that the rice was not just a scoop on a place as I have been used to getting at other places and was wrapped in nori with a dollop of tart miso paste (it reminded me of Gohan desu yo!, what is the Japanese word for that stuff anyway?). Due to the aforementioned issue with the rice, I had to use the chopsticks and/or the spoon to get it completely on the rice.

The ポトフ（potofu) or pot-au-feu, French for "pot on the fire", literally a beef stew (my aren't they fancy with their fusion French-Japanese food?) was dominated by three large slices of simmered daikon that were firm yet soft with a few Japanese mushrooms (which I see all the time but have no idea what they are called), carrot and onion slices, a lone floret of broccoli, wedge of potato, and two chunks of stewed beef. There was a tiny scoop of dijon mustard which lent an almost corned beef and cabbage flavor to the dish. I wish I was more knowledgable about cooking soup so I could better explain the flavor of the broth, but for now I will settle for describing it as "light and refreshing" or "humble and unpretentious". In less ridiculous terms, it tasted like most Japanese soup broth taste but not quite so familiar. The beef was slightly juice and broke apart as slow-cooked meat should in the mouth.

The name of this dish is (in Japanese): ことこと煮こんだ牛肉と大根 (kotokoto nikonda gyuuniku to daikon), and literally translated into English as: "simmering (noise) cooked beef and radish", but I could be mistaken. "Menu Japanese" still presents a problem since the only time I see it is when I am looking at a menu. At the very least, "menu Japanese" tends to have a few more familiar characters in the names of things, but if all else fails, one can just point to it right?

For the プチデザート (puchi dezaato), "tiny dessert", I picked the 西京みそチーズケーキ (saikyou miso cheesecake) which apparently has as one of the ingredients, a special Kyoto-style white miso known for its sweetness. That is not a giant fork, the slice of cheesecake was bite-sized, but after having had everything else that came before it, I wasn't exactly craving something that looked like it came from The Cheesecake Factory. I did not take a picture of the iced tea that came with it because, in all honesty, how exciting is a glass of tea really?

In conclusion, Soybean Farm is a nice place with a relaxing atmosphere, polite staff, and good food even if it is not the kind of place that I would find myself frequenting. It might be because of the atmosphere of the place made me feel like I should be on an awkward lunch date with a Japanese girl who typically wears those semi-translucent smock-like loose fitting collared shirts buttoned all the way up over a black camisole, shorts or skirts that are baggy enough to leave everything to the imagination, and some kind of boot-like high heeled shoes. I am at a loss for a term to describe this look but there has to be one with all the young women I see wearing it in Tokyo. Perhaps I will edit this entry when I figure out the term for this kind of fashion is? The point is, Soybean Farm is a nice place, but it might be a little too "proper" for my liking. The entire time I was there, there were only women customers. Maybe this is a similar feeling that women get when they go to a ramen or gyudon place alone? Maybe it was all the estrogen in the soy getting to me? Maybe I'm just rambling because it's almost 3:30am?

Soybean Farm
Kichijoji Honcho 2-15-2. Open 11:30am-2:30, 5:30-9:30pm (LO)     0422-21-0272

吉祥寺本町2-15-2　11時30分ー14時30分, 17時30分ー9時30分

Chili Parlor 9 - Kudanshita, Tokyo

I do not claim to be any sort of expert on chili, but having grown up in Hawaii and having eaten Zippy's chili since "hanabata days" (Hawaiian Pidgin English for "since I was a wee lad"), it's definitely on my list of comfort foods. As good and affordable as Japanese food is in a city like Tokyo, occasionally those cravings for something familiar start appearing from out of the shadows. For example, I don't really eat Mexican food that often when I'm stateside, but after a few months of eating stuff like gyudon, curry, and kaisendon on a daily basis, I start hearing "yo quiero Taco Bell" in my head. However, that is a story for another blog entry to be written in the near future, today's entry is about chili.

I saw a review for this place Chili Parlor 9 pop up on bento.com, which is a site I use often when looking for new places to check out in Tokyo. The only gripe I have with the site is that most of the places I find myself in often (Hongo and Mitaka) don't seem to have a lot of places listed, but maybe that's because they don't really have that many? Bento.com's review claims that this place is "Tokyo's only specialty chili restaurant" and so I had to go check it out. Because they're only open from 8am-8pm Monday through Friday, I gave up trying to go there at 7pm a few days earlier. The fact that they are located squarely in the middle of three different train stations did not help either. Google maps does not compensate walking time for traffic, hills, stairs or crowds when estimating walking times.

When I finally decided to go, I walked from Ichigaya station (JR Sobu, Tokyo Metro Yurakucho, Tokyo Metro Nanboku, or Toei Shinjuku lines) but it is also accessible from Iidabashi station (JR Sobu, Tokyo Metro Yurakucho, Tokyo Metro Nanboku, Tokyo Metro Tozai, and Toei Shinjuku lines) and Kudanshita station (Tokyo Metro Hanzomon, Tokyo Metro Tozai, and Toei Shinjuku lines). Regardless of which station you might be coming from, prepare to walk for about 1km (a little over half a mile for Americans). Chili Parlor 9 is located across the street from the South entrance of Yasukuni Shrine and right down the street from the Budokan, so you can add sightseeing to the agenda, instead of just making it a "food mission" as I did. I would have done more sightseeing but when it's sunny, 33°C (92°F) and over 70% humidity outside, the feelings of "I'll check it out next time" or "I'll just Google what it looks like later" outweigh any feelings of wanderlust.

Chili Parlor 9 as seen from the street corner 

South entrance of Yasukuni shrine

Lunch menu

As seen on the menu, chili comes with either rice, bread or a bread bowl and the option of either cheddar cheese of sour cream. There is also vegetarian chili and a "chili of the day" (which got cut off at the bottom of the picture). Looking at the picture of the menu again, I am kicking myself for not getting the Chili with hot dog or sandwich (hummus sandwich!) set or trying the Sanktgallen microbrew ale. Looks like I need to go back again "for further research" in the near future. I ordered the "Standard Beef Chili" (Large) in a bread bowl with cheddar cheese and an "onsen (poached) egg" (1000円). While the idea of chili with bread instead of rice seemed bizarre to me, how often does one get to eat something in a bread bowl aside from clam chowder in San Francisco?

In addition to the chili, there is a small salad and a bowl of cole slaw, which is also in a jar on the counter next to another jar filled with what appears to be homemade pickled vegetables. Which means, "all you can eat cole slaw and pickles! The pickles were good; as a guest on a variety show might say, "it makes you want some white rice to go with it" but the cole slaw might have been too fancy for my liking. But then again, if anyone out there really likes cole slaw, please direct me to some good stuff. If it's any consolation, this stuff was "streets ahead" of the mysterious green slop that KFC passes off as cole slaw. While not as meaty or spicy as I would have liked, at least there were 3 different hot sauces available to add some heat. The main problem was trying to figure out which one was the hottest since all the labels had the word "mellow" on them. Next time I will take pictures of the sauces as well as not wait until I am starving to go there so I can pay more attention. Adding chopped onions and cilantro to the chili made it seem fancier than other chilis I have had before, but at the same time, it's like adding avocados to poke. 

Aside from the guy a few seats over at the counter sighing as if he was having the worst day of his life, atmosphere was nice. As an American-themed restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised to not hear a single familiar song playing in the background the entire time I was there. No rare feat since the music sounded like it came from an oldies station playlist and I spent many many hours in Honolulu traffic listening to the local oldies station when every other station seemed to play the same terrible songs every hour on the hour. But the state of radio in Hawaii is a topic for another time (and maybe another blogger who actually listens to the radio in Hawaii). In closing, I will be going back to Chili Parlor 9, perhaps when the weather is not trying to melt my face, perhaps earlier in the day to see what their breakfast menu looks like.

P.S. Why is it Chili Parlor 9? Are there 8 other locations? If not, what happened to them? Is this some arbitrary "add a number" naming ploy? Why is the K-pop group named 4 Minute when there are 5 members?

Kudan-Minami 3-7-12. Open 8am-8pm. Closed Sundays. 03-3234-2309

東京都千代田区九段南3-7-12　営業 8時ー20時　休業日曜日　

Kohrinbo 香林坊 - Nakano, Tokyo

I was going to try writing a review/entry about places that I go to often, but I got a bit pressured out and decided to instead, write about a place I have only been to once. 

 Located on the second floor of the Nakano Broadway shopping center at the end of Nakano Sun Plaza shopping street, Kohrinbo 香林坊 caught my eye as I was looking for places to eat located along the JR Chuo line. It's a small place run by a nice Taiwanese woman and with the exception of eggs, the food is meat-free. I'm by no means a vegetarian, but I have noticed that it seems to be pretty difficult to get vegetarian food, or even a decent salad that isn't 90% shredded cabbage in Tokyo.

Even though I was trying to be healthy, I was not sure what to get and settled on the "Adherence to a Vegetarian Diet Cutlet Set" (精進カツ定食, shoujin katsu teishoku, it really loses something in translation doesn't it?）for 1000円 and was pretty pleased with what I received.

It comes with two slices of pickled daikon, pickled eggplant, a nut (not sure what kind) omelette, a konbu soup and a bowl of rice (which you can apparently get a refill for free). The soup was light and refreshing in comparison to miso soup that tends to come with most food in Japan. The pickled eggplant was slightly tart and there was nothing particularly outstanding about the daikon (I usually don't expect much since I figure a lot of places just use the kind that comes in a jar from the supermarket). The omelette was nice, but with my terrible chopstick skills, it was a bit difficult to cut into bite-sized pieces. The imitation pork cutlet was not oily and with exception of the small pieces of carrot, didn't taste that much different than pork although it was a bit drier. It didn't really need any tonkatsu sauce as it was fine by itself, and even if it wasn't, the sauce dispenser seemed to be quite stubborn, not yielding any more than a thin ribbon of sauce despite my efforts.

Kohrinbo is open every day except Sunday 11:30am-3pm and 5-8pm. You can get there by taking either the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (light blue) or JR Chuo/Sobu to Nakano Station and taking the North Exit. Walk across the street to Nakano Sun Plaza until you get to Nakano Broadway, turn right and take the stairs to the second floor (the escalator goes straight to the third floor), turn right at Madarake and Kohrinbo is at the end of the hallway.

Anyway, this was my first attempt at writing a food blog entry. I hope it gets better as I keep doing it. I will either edit this entry or add another when I go back to Kohrinbo and try something else.

Kohrinbo

Nakano 5-52-15, Nakano Broadway 2F. Open 11:30am-3:30, 5-8pm. Closed Sundays.  03-3385-7005

中野　5-52-15、中野ブロードウェイ　2F　11時30分ー15時30分, 17時-20時、休業日曜日

Food Photography Leads to Food Blogging? 2013.07.30

 Anyone who follows me on Instagram (@sneakermania) knows that I take a lot of pictures of food and after receiving several "where is that?" comments, I have decided that maybe now is the time to move beyond simply taking pictures. Another reason for this is because, in the aftermath of my Master's thesis, I have decided that I should be writing more and more often, since writing is not something that someone is simply good at, that can be brought out and used as needed.

 As they say, "if you don't use it, you lose it", and I feel this is particularly true as communication online has become increasingly truncated due to micro-blogs and other social media platform usage. For a while, I was more on the side of thinking that having communication limited to 140 characters or a simple picture/video/link with a caption was a good thing because it freed people from from having to make such a big deal of what they post online, unlike a blog. I even thought of blogs as a sort of relic of Web 1.0, but perhaps I was just trying to ignore the degradation of my own writing skills?

 Anyways, it's been a while since I updated this blog and it's been even longer since I can remember having to write on a regular basis. I don't expect to have any brilliant writing in the beginning (or ever?) but at the very least, I have pictures that need words to go with them, and it would probably help to have more than a geotag or caption for future reference. There may eventually be a benefit to people who bother to read this blog, but for now the motivation is purely selfish. Sorry.