trio of yumminess
outside of the shop i frequented
placing order is as easy as pressing a button
kitchen in the back half the shop
It seems that one of the great things about visiting any of the countries in Asia has got to be the food. Based on the short time I got to spend in Tokyo, Japan has definitely got game. Not far from the hostel which I stayed at were a row of cafe’s and noodle shops. Each shop was slightly different, but based on my sampling, they were all pretty good.
The thing i loved about this particular shop was how easy it was to order, and actually know what I was ordering. For starters, there was a huge picture menu on the outside window, so going in I already had an idea of what I wanted. Once I was able to narrow in on just one selection from the countless number of seemingly tasty choices, walk inside where I saw the machine to order from.
While it appeared that ordering would be easy, it was made even easier when a local customer happened to walk in right after me, and I was able to let them go ahead so that I could watch and learn. As expected, placing an order was as easy as 1, 2, 3. First deposited money into the machine. As you place in money, the various items which you can afford will light up. Each button corresponds to a particular dish. Deciding upon the Shrimp tempura with the soup, I place in my five 100 yen coins, press the button for the soup/shrimp combo i wanted (visible on the button) then collect my change. A little receipt prints out which then gets handed over to the person working behind the counter. In this case, a quite friendly gentlemen who seemed extremely warm and inviting…even more reason to like this place.
After a short time, probably no more then three minutes, my order is ready to delight. I tried to capture what I was given but ran into two problems: 1) extreme hunger. Admittedly I started picking at the food before I remembered I wanted to photograph it. 2) camera issues. It seems that the small canon g10 that I’ve been using is having a hard time focusing on food, that or I’m unsure how best to do it. But all that being said…trust me when I say, it was quite delicious and yet another reason why I can safely say, I love Japan.
This isn’t the only great place to go…far from it. In reality I had tried a handful of the places just in this one small area, and was quite pleased with them all. The quickness for which the food came, the satisfaction that I got after eating it, the price that it came out to be and the perceived quality of the food were all amazing. The reason I decided to focus on this particular spot was merely that it happen to be my first true encounter with this sort of dining, the man working that night was extremely nice and helpful, and the food definitely hit the spot. Oh, and if you find yourself “slurping” don’t worry as its acceptable here in Japan, so slurp away.
In case you’re curious, this place is located just outside the Asakusa bashi stop of both the Asakusa Toei Line and the JR Line.
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