Dinner at Asakusa with 5 Singaporeans + Nobu

After Yasukuni, all the 'followers' (the 5 who tagged along to Yasukuni except for Jon - so basically all the Singaporeans) trooped down with me to Asakusa to meet Nobu for dinner. Nobu just graduated from Toudai about 1 year ago or so and he was on a 1-year exchange to NUS during which he stayed at Eusoff (yay). He just got back from a business trip in KL and he got me KARI, which then became the basis for the meetup.

First time in Asakusa for me, though I've always heard it's pretty and a more traditional looking part of Tokyo. It was dark already when we got there at 5.30pm (the sun sets at 4.30pm) but the streets to the temple were prettily lit.

So pre-dinner snack at a tentage stall - amazake (甘酒), oden () and some bean paste soup. The bean paste soup and oden were okay - Yong Tau Foo is still nicer hehe - but the amazake was yummy! It reminded me very much of the peanut soup in ahballing (glutinous rice ball dessert). Contrary to its name, amazake actually has no alcoholic content, so even children can drink it.
(Pre-dinner in this temporary stall under the tent.)
(Oden - very similar to Yong Tau Foo but alot less tasty and soggier too.)
(Delicious amazake! Yoshi recommended it to Isabel and me the last time on Takao-san. Have to say he's right that it's yummy!)

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Then dinner. Walked into one of the many izakayas lining a street and what a feast it was. A feast of novelty. Take a look at the menu:

(Beer - Nama biiru; the first thing to order at an izakaya, then "kanpai" or cheers.)

(Buta kimchi - Grilled pork with kimchi. First time I've had kimchi in Japan and contrary to its fiery red appearance, it's actually not spicy at all! Sweet and tasty, and went really well with rice. I like!)

(Toro sashimi - Raw tuna fish. Yum. Again my first ever sashimi in Japan. Sigh.)

(Liver sashimi - This was dipped in a sauce of sesame oil + salt and it was surprisingly yummy. The usual liver taste was not as strong and the texture was silkier.)

(Cow stomach/tripe sashimi - Another surprising find. More tender than the ones I've had in beef soup noodles in Singapore too. Those I used to chew on endlessly.)

(Stingray/Mantaray fin with mayo - This was yummy. A snack food more than anything, it tasted alot like the dried cuttlefish snack, but less fishy and alot more tender and tasty. Two thumbs up!)

(Nikujaga - Basically translates into "meat and potatoes". Done in the usual Japanese 'stew' style with the flavouring of soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar.)

(Tanyaki - Grilled skewered tongue. Third time having tongue, but still tasty. Managed to force Rachel to try it too haha yay for adventurous her!)

(Hot sake - This went down surprisingly smoothly. The alcohol wasn't fiery at all like shochu hmm. What a nice drink to have on a coooold night too.)

~All pictures courtesy of Alicia, since I was too busy being greedy. Ahem I mean eating. =)