April 5, 2010 - Posted by admin -
Aloha all! Mahalo for visiting our Doko Ga TV: JapanMania website! First off, thank you for the email, comments, Facebook messages etc about the show, and of course-thank you so much for tuning in.
This portion of the site was setup to list a number of places that we feel are ‘must-see’ or ‘must-eat’ or do etc. Needless to say, Japan has *so* many wonderful sights, sounds, places and of course-food!
If you ever want specific details on anyplace we’ve featured on the show-please feel free to email us at info@dokoga.tv …mahalo!
So, いってきます！
FOOD! we get a lot of emails about the places we feature on Doko Ga TV, especially the restaurants. So, here are some of the best:
Hawaiian
I know what you’re thinking, Hawaiian food, in Japan? Let’s just say, Hawaiian/Local food has never tasted better.
Ogos Ono-Loa Hawaii
We featured Aiea transplant, Ryoji, and his incredible restaurant OGOs, in season 1 of Doko GA TV and visit whenever possible. His signature and award winning Poke (Spicy Ahi, Poke Tartare, Poke Sampler) are the best-ever. Also, his Hawaiian food, especially Laulau are to die for. Also, other local specials, mochiko chicken, Ogos Chicken Katsu, Squid and Chicken Luau, Ogos fried rice etc are ALL awesome. Ryoji’s theory, if it tastes good-make it better.
Ogo’s is pretty easy to find, in the Akasaka area of Tokyo, next to the new TBS building.
http://www.ac.auone-net.jp/~ogo-hi/
Tel: 03-3585-5337
Another added bonus, he has the UH games there for those in Japan, and 1000’s of Karaoke songs too! Ryoji also does kanikapila concerts featuring some of ono music from Hawaii (Hapa, Pilioha, Robi, Weldon, PALI, Mark Yim, Malani Bilyeu, Kawaihae etc), and his great food at these twice a year concert festivals.
KATSU!
Here, we’ve listed two of our favorite katsu restaurants. The first, we featured on our very first episode, the second, will be featured in Season 5 (July 2010). We’re pretty sure you’ll love both.
KimuKatsu/GenKatsu
Featured on our very first episode of Doko Ga TV, KimuKatsu (and sister restaurants, GenKatsu) was SO awesome! Imagine a piece of tonkatsu that was made up of 24+ slices of paper thin pork-that’s what makes KimuKatsu/GenKatsu so amazing. Also, they offer this incredible tonkatsu stuffed with cheese, garlic, ume etc. So great you can cut it with your chopsticks.
http://www.genkatsu.com/shop/
One drawback about KimuKatsu, it’s pretty tough to find. We’ve been to their Ebisu location about 3 or 4 times, and each time, the cab driver go lost. So, we’d suggest checking out GenKatsu out, same awesome katsu, more locations and easier to find.
Here’s the info for the Ginza location:
4-6-18 Ginza | Ginza Akuto Bdg 3F, Chuo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Phone +81 3-3567-1129
Akatsuki Tonkatsu
Akatsuki will be featured on our next season, but was SO good, we had to put it on there. Located in the Minami Aoyama area of Tokyo.
The owners there loved katsu SO much, they studied the best oil, panko/flour, and pork for
10+ years to devise one, incredible tonkatsu! We call it the filet mignon of tonkatsu, and a
yet another incredible feature-somehow, it’s not even oily! at all! Crazy!!! They have a ‘custom’ tonkatsu sauce and also, salt. Yup, their katsu is so good, and so not oily, they have a special salt you can dip the katsu into instead of sauce!
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~s__masa_/
and for location info:
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~s__masa_/info.html
STEAKS!
Of course, the land of the rising sun has some of the best in the world. Open range, beer fed, tea feed, or Kobe, there’s no denying the incredible quality meat found in Japan. We’ve featured two restaurants, with two very different takes on steak.
Ribera Steakhouse
Part of the charm of Ribera Steakhouse is great pictures/posters that are all over the restaurant as Ribera is a favorite of Pro-Wrestlers, Sumo Wrestlers, Martial Artists, K-1 etc… with the incredible size steaks they serve there-it’s no wonder Ribera has such an incredible fan and celebrity following.
We’ll be featuring Ribera on Season 5 of Doko Ga TV, and will be eating their signature ‘Akebono’ Steak! What’s so good about Ribera… when you’re in the mood for big, juicy, greasy, slabs of tender steak-served with their special sauce, a platter of rice and corn-you can’t beat Ribera for the carnal and incredible oishii steaks.
They don’t have a website (none that we could find anyway), but here’s a fan site with pics and information on their locations etc:
http://ggyao.usen.com/0003002555/
ROI
Restaurant ROI, (pronounced RO-A) is located in the Hakone area of Japan. Now, what makes this place and their steak SO amazing, they use tea fed beef. I’d dare to see it’s probably one of the best steaks in all of Japan. Kobe is incredible because it’s soft, juicy, gamy.. definitely oishii.. ROI’s steak is Ashigara Beef-tea fed, non-fatty and so soft, you can cut it with your fork-no knife needed. In fact, it has a cotton-candy effect when you put a piece of steak in your mouth-it literally melt.
It’s located in the Hakone area… which, in itself is a must-visit as it’s quite the historical, tranquil and beautiful area, but for those in Tokyo-ROI/Hakone is about 2+ hours by train. If you have time though, do try to visit Hakone-it’s a beautiful area.
http://www.hakone-roi.com/
Oh, their baked meat pies and beef stew are made of the same beef and are SO GOOD!
We did two episodes on the Hakone area (Hakone Checkpoint/Sekisho, Amazake Chaya, Hotel Fujiya, Hakone Ropewa, Kuro Tamago (Black Egg), Lake Ashi etc). For great things to do in the Hakone area:
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-486477-hakone_japan_vacations-i
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Japan/Kanagawa_ken/Hakone-977041/Things_To_Do-Hakone-BR-1.html
Curry
Mooyan Curry
(もうやんカレー）is located in the Shinjuku part of Tokyo. We featured Mooyan a season or two ago. What makes Mooyan the best curry in Japan (as voted by many Tokyo residents), they boil a vat full of vegetables and fruits for hours/days until it boils down to just enough curry sauce to plate one serving. Yeah, pretty extreme, but once you taste how incredible the curry sauce is, you will definitely want to come back for me. Speaking of which, they sell frozen Mooyan Curry sauce too, all you need to do is add veggies and meat (if desired). Boil and put all over hot rice-and you’re good to go!
Tel: 03-3371-5532
TK Build. 1F, 8-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
http://www.moyan.jp/shop/map_246.html
http://www.moyan.jp/
Namco’s NAMJA Town Presents:
http://www.namja.jp/
Located in the Ikebukuro Area of Tokyo, Sunshine City, Namco (yup, the same Namco behind video games Soul Caliber, Time Crisis etc, Ace Combat etc) has their own indoor theme park, located in a multi-floored department store.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3038.html
Namja town features games, rides and a lot of cool stuff to do and see for kids of all ages. Of course, the food is also awesome.
Gyoza Stadium
Sachi and I covered Gyoza Stadium in Doko Ga TV’s very first season. We met Motoki, owner of ‘garlic’ gyoza shop and got to eat about a total of 70+ pieces of gyoza. If you like gyoza, this is the place to be. Filet mignon beef gyoza, cheese, garlic filled gyoza-you get the picture.
http://www.namja.jp/gyoza/
Ice Cream City
What better way to top off a few dozen gyoza, then with ice cream! Ice Cream City features 300+ different flavors of ice cream. Sachi and I covered Ice Cream City’s “special” flavors in Season 1, and while there were some odd ones (natto, curry and ochazuke flavors.. yikes!) they have amazing soft creams, sheet sliced shaved ice (it disappears when you put it in your mouth) and tons of other, wonderful concoctions.
http://www.namja.jp/news/jumboparfait/
Well, that’s a bit for now.. as we finish compiling some of the great places we’ve eaten at, or been to, we’ll be putting them up on here.
Aloha to kiwotsukete!
Pali, Sachi & Pepe
