Food Hunt Around Sendai

"All you need is love. 

But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt."

Charles M. Schulz

I've been to Sendai twice. Once as a volunteer in the tsunami disaster area, twice for pleasure. 

This city in the northern region of Honshu island is blessed with rich nature and enjoys fruitful harvests from both land and sea. The region has produced unique delicacies since ancient times and its seafood has established a solid reputation for freshness. Fresh sushi and oysters from Matsushima Bay are among the most famous Sendai specialties. Sukiyaki made with Sendai beef and fish tempura are also both highly recommended.

Sendai Station, the landmark of the city.

The city is currently holding a campaign called "Sendai Destination Campaign" to promote tourism around the city.

In all, there are lots of local food to eat in Sendai. However, if you are there, there should be only one thing in your mind - gyutan (beef tongue). Sendai is so famous for this piece of thing, grilled over charcoal that you will find gyutan restaurants literally littered around the whole city. You can read my first time trying out this delicacy at the end of this post. 

Here, I would like to introduce several Sendai specialties that I got to try from a half-day food hunt around the city.

This is Zunda Saryo (ずんだ茶寮),  a famous brand that specialises on zunda-based mochi, cakes and snacks, found at the west exit of Sendai Station.

A huge varieties of zunda (sweet edamame paste) products, including fuki dorayaki (富貴どら焼) on the left.

There is a cafe which is next to the shop selling the zunda products.

Zunda mochi (ずんだ餅). One word to describe its taste - out of this world!

Next up was this small little hut hidden in between huge shopping malls. The shop has a simple name - Taikichi (鯛きち). Tai is a Japanese word which refers to sparidae, or more commonly known as sea breams. This shop sells taiyaki (たいやき), a type of Japanese pancake-like snack shaped like a fish and usually containing sweet filling in the middle.

What makes the taiyaki in this shop unique is the specially made gyutan curry taiyaki, which I believed is only found in Sendai.

Clis Road Shopping District, a pedestrianised and covered shopping arcade near Sendai Station.

The banner which promotes its popular menu - gyutan curry taiyaki (牛タンカレー).

Another one not to be missed is the maccha whipped cream taiyaki.

Caught this fish which has beef tongue flavour curry inside for 100yen.

Here is how it looks inside. The curry overwhelmed the flavour of gyutan.

Served chilled, this maccha whipped cream was good.

The next stop was at Abekamaboko (阿部蒲鉾) to try out another speciality - hyotan-age (ひょうたん揚げ). It is a Sendai-style corn dog with kamaboko (fishcake) instead of sausage inside. It is usually served together with spicy ketchup. 

Apparently, everyone from Sendai knows this shop, located along the famous Cris Road shopping arcade near Sendai Station. The hyoutan-age from this shop is really delicious, that it is common to see long lines queuing up to try it out.

The little shop at the corner of the shop lots, which sells hyoutan-age.

The size is relatively huge, and one stick costs 150yen.

However, if you are lucky, you can get another stick for free. Anyone who has his wooden stick with the atari (当り) carving will get another stick free of charge!

And guess who was the lucky boy on that day?

Food hunt continued and we stopped at this interesting-looking stall selling fried dango (揚げ団子).

Hot and chrispy outside, and sticky inside. The small piece of seaweed was the icing on the cake dango.

Another interesting snack called kashiwa mochi (柏餅), a Japanese traditional sweets eaten on Children's Day on May 5th.

Kashiwa mochi is a kind of steamed mochi made with glutinous rice flour, joshin-ko (上新粉) and shiratama-ko (白玉粉), wrapping sweet red bean paste inside.

Each of them is then wrapped with kashiwa (oak leaves).

Dropped by the souvenirs shops at the basement of the station to grab some souvenirs back to Tokyo.

Zunda is so popular in Sendai, that they even came out with zunda jam! The world's one and only it says.

Bought a box of zunda manju and okanemochi lol! To those who doesn't speak Japanese, okanemochi (お金持ち) can also mean "rich" hahaha!

Finally, after a couple of days, it was time to return to Tokyo.

Took the stylish green Hayabusa shinkansen home.

It turned out to be the wrong train. Look where it took us to! A very ayashi place hahaha!

That's all for my short Sendai trip. Hope you enjoy reading. And ohhh by the way, getting to see *ehem* comments *ehem* from my readers will always turn me like this ^.^

Cherry Blossom From Inokashira Park

"A perfect cherry blossom is a rare thing.

You can spend your whole life looking for one, 

and it will not be a wasted life."

Kusamoto (Ken Watanabe)

The Last Samurai

Spring at Inokashira Park.

Tokyo. Japan's capital and largest city to boot is well known for its tightly packed skyscrapers, convenient and timely public transit systems, and bustling, exciting atmosphere. What many may not realise, however, is the number of beautiful parks and tree-lines lanes that smatter this great metropolis. These verdant oases provide residents and visitors alike a respite from the steel and concrete hustle and bustle, and in the spring many parks, gardens, medians and even curbside explodes with colourful cherry blossoms. 

One of the popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spot is Inokashira Park, a spacious and well-kept park in the somewhat bohemian, counterculture-centric neighborhood of Kichijoji in the far west end of central Tokyo. The park, known as one of Japan's top 100 cherry blossom spots, is located south of Kichijoji Station of JR Chuo Line, at a 5 minutes walking distance. The entrance to the park is free. 

 

 Enjoying the cherry blossoms from the boat.

 The wooden fences along the paths are very characteristic to Inokashira park.

The cherry trees hang out over the park's large central pond.

Hanami from the rowing boay.

Hanami from the pond in Inokashira Park.

 

Lots of space under the trees for hanami parties.

The land was given to Tokyo in 1913. On May 1, 1918, it opened under the name Inokashira Onshi Kōen (井の頭恩賜公園), which can be translated as, "Inokashira Imperial Gift Park". Thus the park was considered a gift from the Emperor to the general public. This was the first time in Tokyo that a park was founded in such a manner. 

Spring in Inokashira Park is the season of the blooming cherry trees that line a central pond. There are nearly 500 cherry blossom trees in this park, which are primarily concentrated around the scenic pond, which constitutes the center of much of the park's eastern side and feeds Kanda River. 

Break open a cherry tree and there are no flowers, but the spring breeze brings forth myriad blossoms (Ikku Sojun).

Blossoms are scattered by the wind and the wind cares nothing, but the blossoms of the heart no wind can touch (Yoshida Kenko).

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit (Khalil Gibran).

Under the cherry blossom trees, hope resides, safety embraces and its devastating beauty sweeps over, blindly mesmerizing you.

Inokashira Park has lots of space under its trees for picnicking and is an extremely popular place for hanami parties. Young and old will gather throughout the day to eat and drink. The parties used to go on all night, but complaints about noise and litter now mean all parties finish at 10 p.m. during the cherry blossom season. 

In addition to the cherry blossoms, the park has some well known places to visit. Visitors here can rent rowboats and swan-shape paddle boats to explore the pond, Inokashira Park Zoo, bird sanctuary, aquatic life park, the surrounding town of Kichijoji itself, and perhaps even the Ghibli Museum which lies on the Mitaka side of the park opposite Kichijoji Station. The park also popular with artists, musicians, joggers, photographers, and dog walkers.

A pond is featured in the park where people can rent a boat to get close to the cherry trees.

Cherry trees along the shores in Inokashira Park.

A fountain found on the edge of the pond.

Inokashira Park Zoo, a popular spot for the kids.

Looking from the Nanai Bridge, which crosses the pond near the center, the branches of the cherry trees extending from the shore bloom so densely as to all but cover the surface of the pond. The pale color of the blossoms contrasts with the sky and water's surface. During the blooming period of cherry blossoms the park receives many visitors. 

In addition, on the west side of the park there are many flowers to be seen in the flowering plum grove before the blooming period of the cherry trees. On the north side of the plum grove, on the edge of the pond, there is a spring, but its flow is nowadays weak.

 My favourite shot from Inokashira Park.

Although the park is not as spacious as Shinjuku Gyoen Park, another popular hanami spot in Tokyo, Inokashira Park is certainly worth a visit during the cherry blossom season. The light sprinkling of sakura petals enhanced the atmosphere, and the park should be very nice for hanami parties. 

Nothing beats the pink perfection of a Japanese spring.  Blue skies rain pink petals that gently float to the fragile floor. Happiness consumes you, romance perfumes the sweet air, echoes of laughter quietly hum along.