Good Eats: Italian in Japan

When I was 23 years old, I had just finished my junior college, and was about to transfer to a four year college. We just found out that my dad got Leukemia for the first time. I decided to take a break from school and came home here to be near my dad for a year. I got some jobs here and one of them was a server/bartender at this Spanish Tapas bar.

I became real close with the head chef Kiyomi there. She and I used to go to this Italian restaurant her friend owned called "IL PIATTO," it's in Minami disctrict in Osaka, super tiny Italian restaurant that holds about 9 people or so. The food was so good, it was definitely our fave.

This time I came back, It's been about 4 years, and it turned out, the owner Suehiro-san has opened the second restaurant called "Shinmachi-Icchoume." "Shinmachi" is the name of the area, "Icchoume" means 1st division. Basically he took the address of the place as the name of the restaurant. Neat huh?

Although Suehiro-san wasn't there, it was still pretty damn good. They had basically the same menu as "IL PIATTO", so busy that there is no way we can get a seat without a reservation!! I bet he's making hella bank. Good for him ;)



Above is the Antipasto for two, it includes

chilled corn soup shot, Unagi-eel quiche, marinated veggies, grilled zucchini, marinated octopus, spoonful crab mousse, seared albacore tuna, sliced pork with Parmesan cheese and Italian parsley, prosciutto wrapped fresh peach...etc.

We had Gorgonzola cheese pasta for entree, then prosciutto and cheese pizza. That was wussup. SUPER YUM.




The girls I'm with are all ballerinas, danced in ballet companies in NY, Estonia, Russia, Japan etc, international girls night out it was. we all went to a chanpagne bar after, then went home feelin pretty saucy. I slept like a baby that night.

YUKI - メランコリニスタ

Japanes Pop Super Star. again, Yuki, you are God. Too cute.

yuki JOY

Her name is Yuki. She was in a band called "Judy and Mary"I fell in love when they came out. I was like 13 I think. I still am in love with her. There is nobody like her. She definitely is one of a kind.

木村カエラ butterfly バタフライ LIVE.mpg

Her name is Kaera Kimura, she started off as a model, then became a singer and an actress. at the moment preggo. She looks like this cute little doll, reminds me of Twiggy.

愛をこめて花束を Superfly

Yakitori!!

Yakitori (焼き鳥/やきとり/ヤキトリ^?), grilled chicken, is a Japanese type of skewered chicken.

It is made from several bite-sized pieces of chicken meat, or chicken offal, skewered on a bamboo skewer and barbecued, usually over charcoal.- Wikipedia

Yakitori makes a draft beer tastes 10 times better than it already is. This bite size Yakitori pops into your mouth so easily, and each bite takes you to the delicious birdie heaven.

I have this friend that I've known for over 20years, basically my BFF, who is getting married, him and his soon-to-be bride is having a wedding on 8/8, (get it? the eternal sign x2) How festive. So my dad since he is in the hospital right now due to his Leukemia, wanted to see them before they get married, so we all went to see him and chatted for a bit.

We were oh so hungry after we left, and the soon-to-be wife suggested we go to this Yakitori place called "Tori-kizoku" meaning　”Bird Nobility"...viva Japan.

We searched where we can find the Bird Nobility on the soon-to-be wife's phone, and believe it or not, there were 15 of them in the area. we popped in to one that was the closest. Everything on the menu is 280yen, basically little less than 3 dollers, including draft beer.

Besides those bite size heaven, there were more random stuff such as "chicken and salsa over Naan," "Vietnamese pho with soft egg," etc,,,they were all so so good, we all left very satisfied. Next time I see them will be at the wedding <3

Reversed culture shock

So I originally started this blog a while ago thinking that I should blog about my SF life, but my SF life turned out to be too busy with work and such, it took me this long to even start a blog. I'm not even in SF anymore. I'm in....Japan. Story of my life.

Japan is one of the coolest country, I am realizing this after being away for so long, like, 8.5 years. That's pretty long...but now I look at everything and appreciate it in such a different way, almost like a foreigner who get to live in Japan or something.

So, i am for real gonna start blogging, about my life in Japan.