Tokyo: Asakusa

We did the touristy thing on New Year's Eve and, together with about half of the tourists in Tokyo, went to Asakusa to check out the Nakamise-Dori (shopping street). It was chaos!

But it was pretty interesting, food-wise. We tried a number of different things along the way. The first stop was this hot sweet sake shop. They serve you sake with a smile, as uncomfortable as it may be.

It was really interesting - hot, sweet and mildly alcoholic. Guess the alcohol must have evaporated during the heating process. This was very nice and warmed us both up.

We also stopped by a senbei (rice cracker) shop to pick up a pack, which we munched at a park bench in Odaiba subsequently. It's considered very bad manners in Japan to eat while walking, the only exception being ice cream.

Along the way, we decided to walk through the side lanes and, following our noses, came across this very interesting stall one street parallel to the Nakamise Dori.

It turned out to be a yakitori+tofu stew stall

It smelt so good we couldn't resist trying a few sticks

We had the tsukune, or chicken meatball. I could never understand why the Japanese liked it, but after eating this, I was absolutely hooked. It was tasty and moist, and with a bit of crunch because of the chopped-up cartilege inside. FABULOUS, especially with the chilli powder.
The yakitori was pretty good too. The chicken was fresh and tender, although a little less coooked than we would have liked. We had to send one stick back, which they promptly replaced with a fresh (and well-cooked) one. Both serves of the yakitori and tsukune cost 600Y each.

The husband saw this stall selling fried stuff and wanted to have a try.

It was some sort of mochi stuffed with sesame/lotus paste deep fried in tempura batter.

This one had sesame seeds on the batter coating as well.

After snacking our way through Asakusa, we headed for the terminal near the Golden Turd to board the boat to Odaiba.

The eating adventures continue!