NOODLE MUDDLE

My quest for ramen ended on my last night in Tokyo. I'd just found a cache in Akihibara, the haven district for techno-geeks and rounded a corner when I spotted this little shop. Argh! It had one of those token-dispensers. You select the food you want, drop in your coins and the machine spits out the paper token with the order. Present that at the counter and the cooks whip up your choice.

Except here, there were no pictures to help me choose. Just text. I waved over a counter guy and he gestured, suggesting I take a look at the poster outside the shop. Not much of a choice for me then - just 5 dishes on display! Sigh. He plonked in the coins and pushed buttons for me. I then sat myself at the U-shaped counter (that was all the seating there was!). While waiting, I was quite amused by the silence in the shop - all were solo diners, just in after work, briefcases in hand. And all making slurp-slurp sounds as they shovelled the noodles into their mouths. I was hungry. In the kitchen, the staff were chattering - in, of all languages, Mandarin!

My noodles were al dente and yummy. I wish ramen shops are more generous with meat though. I ordered gyoza (guo tie) to up my protein count. And had to sniff the condiment bottles to find out what each contained!

Pedestrians on the way home from work stop to buy snacks from itinerant hawkers and I decided to join in. This old man was just at the entrance to a Metro station. He was in a jolly mood, joking with a customer. When my turn came, I signalled how many I wanted. While waiting for him to fill the griddle with fresh batter, he gave me some ready ones to snack on. They weren't filled with anything and were best eaten fresh off the griddle.

Our hosts took some of us - just the Singaporeans and Malaysians - (after they returned from Disneyland/Disney-at-Sea) to a shabu-shabu restaurant. The food was good, but aiyah, how to rave about food you cook yourself?! The dipping sauces were tasty. Our hosts had a hard time catering to the pickier guests (no beef, no alcohol, no meat etc). I had choya oolong with the food. Quite nice and light. BC said I should visit Isetan's food hall. So I did in the few hours before my flight home. My the food hall was a sight to behold! Longs stretches of counters with uniformed staff at the ready to pack your orders in a pretty box and then wrap it up in matching paper topped with a ribbon. It's all in the presentation.

There was no clear dessert du jour this year - when BC was there, cream-filled choux pastries were the in-thing. And no, no one shoved food samples in my face to try. But I was just amazed at the miles and miles of food. A whole section with fruits on display, another stretch of just salads, another for rice dishes, sushi and maki. Oh, and snacks are in another section altogether. Pick the crunchies you want and they put them together in a presentation box!

But the yummiest dessert I had was the simplest! A family-sized bowl of fruit jelly I bought from a supermarket for 299 yen. It was chockful of slivers of orange segments!
PS: Just had ramen at Manpudo at Atrium @Orchard. The pork-bone soup was creamy and tasty with bits of meat at the bottom of the bowl. The ramen could have been more al dente. But the char siew was yummily melt-in-the-mouth. We removed the fat rind, of course!