City Lunch @ Akasaka

The city lunch in Tokyo is a very different experience than heading to a Melbourne CBD local. I was joined by a couple of Bakers' cohorts as we ventured into a local Akasaka eatery actually on a search for Fugu (the poisonous Japanese blowfish). The specialist Fugu chef had since left the building so we decided to take our chances on the non-life-threatening menu.

Japanese food in Japan is totally different to Melbourne. If you think you are going to walk into a Suji-Sushi-esque establishment and pick up 3 hand rolls you are sadly mistaken.

With some valued assistance from my co-worker, I went straight for the Sashimi - as you can see, the presentation of all the dishes is incredible, like a work of art. Besides the Sashimi being incredibly fresh and delicious, I love the fact that you get multiple dishes. The miso is a highlight, with a rich flavour derived from the small clams (or pipis) that are floating in the bottom of the bowl.

I'll let the pictures do the talking on this one - no need for anything else.

Welcome to Tokyo (ようこそ東京へ)

From now my adventures will be coming to you direct from Tokyo, where I will be for the next 4 months. 

Tokyo is an intense, mad, crazy and debaucherous city filled with even intenser, madder, crazier and more debaucherous people.  My first impression: Tokyo is like New York City on acid.

The contrast to life in Melbourne is dramatic.  Whilst venturing into the Melbourne CBD late on a weeknight might be like visiting a morgue, Tokyo is pumping like a heart that has just been ripped out of a man's chest Indiana Jones-style.  You get out of the subway at Shinjuku and you can feel the pulse in you - the fluroscent lights, the streets filled with people, restaurants jam packed, everyone going somewhere.

From my office in Akasaka, the city looks no different to any city.  But when you hit the street and walk across the road, you know it's on.  Each street is lined with multi-storey buildings and each floor has a business, most of which are restaurants or bars.  Imagine Curtin House in Melbourne (home to Cookie, the Toff and Rooftop Bar) lined up on each side of the road for miles on end. 

Food-wise, I am yet to have a bad meal - fresh sashimi sliced in front of your eyes, generous helpings of soba noodles served with spicy miso broth, crunchy perfectly cooked chicken katsu - the list is endless and will feature in more entries to follow.

Like any big city, the challenge is always avoiding the distractions and getting to the soul of it - finding the source of the pulse.  That is my goal in Tokyo and I hope you'll all follow me on this wild adventure.

Sayonara!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Supper/Last Pizza @ I Carusi II

I Carusi II 231 Barkly Street, St Kilda

I Carusi II in Barkly Street is one of those places where I actually don’t care that the food is not as good as other places. 

I love everything else about it – the drinks (Sardinian beer Ichnusa and the quality wines served in simple Italian glasses), the service and kitchen (all with singing Italian accents) and the place (whether it’s sitting outside on Barkly Street on a beautiful St Kilda evening or inside in the tightly fitting and bustling main room).

There is often debate about the best pizza in Melbourne and the usual suspects are bandied about (Pizza E Birra, Ladro, Supermaxi).  They are all great places and very hard to falter.  In terms of pizza, I Carusi doesn't fall into this upper echelon but it certainly comes close and it definitely tops its rivals when it comes to the venue, ambience and unpretentiousness. 

Sitting around the old wooden table, and following some heated debate about selections, we ordered.  Highlights were the broccoli pizza (broccoli, pecorino and chili), pizza for a friend (roast pumpkin, goats cheese and rocket) and the Napolitano (tomato sugo, anchovies and mozzarella).  The other 2 were not as memorable (one so heavily loaded with the tomato sugo it could not be lifted off the plate).  Also worth noting was the dessert pizza covered in strawberries and chocolate served with vanilla ice-cream – outstanding!

Overall I love this place – it reminds me of travelling through Italy and being in Sienna where my backpacking companion and I treated ourselves to a night at a local restaurant in which scores of Italian families were sitting around tables (talking, gesticulating, arguing) in a setting that did not look too dissimilar to I Carusi. 

So what a way to farewell Melbourne then by sitting with family and friends, enjoying a great meal at I Carusi.  '

Apart from the above, my top 5 pizza places in Melbourne (no particular order) are:

1.  Pizza E Birra (60 Fitzroy St St Kilda)

2.  Supermaxi (305 St Georges Rd Fitzroy North)

3.  Ladro (125 Greville St Prahran)

4.  Oskar (1 Errol Street North Melbourne)

5.  Little Havana Pizza (279 Carlise St St Kilda) Highly recommend for a non-gourmet, Sunday night special.