Lately, the area called Sugamo has been featured on a lot of programs. It's being called the "Harajuku for the Older Women" so of course, we had to go check it out. Aside from the market street where you will find the older ladies, the area is mostly known for the Togenuki Jizouson at Kouganji Temple. A beautiful temple where people line up to wash a statue of the kannon which is believed to have healing properties. As it was a beautiful day, the line was extremely long so we decided not to indulge in the practice (as we had done something similar at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa the previous week).巣鴨は最近テレビや雑誌でよく紹介されてます。「おばちゃんの原宿」と言われて、巣鴨人気が上昇中。もちろん行ってみるしかない。巣鴨で一番知られてる事は地蔵通商店街にあるとげぬき地蔵尊高岩寺。そこの洗い観音を洗うと、病気が治るとゆう力を持つと言われてる。結構行列だったので、私たちは観音様まで洗おうとは思いませんでした（ま、先週は浅草の浅草寺で似た様な事でやりました）。
The entrance to Sugamo Jizou Market Street But what we really love about market streets like this, are the shops and stalls selling all sorts of food.
でも、やっぱり商店街が好きなのは、いろんな屋台や店が売ってる食べ物でしょう。
First we treated ourselves to some honey-filled ice cream.最初に食べたのは蜂蜜入りソフトクリーム。
次は、昔ながらのコロッケ。
As one croquette and an ice cream isn't very filling, we went in search of a small Chinese restaurant that a friend of ours recommended. He said we should definitely try the pork special. The restaurant was easy enough to find. It was a tiny Taiwanese restaurant that seated maybe a maximum of ten people. Unfortunately, as we sat down and ordered, the pork special was no longer available. The waitress suggested pig's feet instead. Said it tastes pretty much the same. Well, I've had pig's feet before and it tastes nothing like the kakuni I desired. So, Mikako and I both settled on a beef ramen dish. This little restaurant is also known for its "iron eggs". These are black eggs that are hard as a rock. Not to be confused with the black boiled eggs you would find at Owakudani. It's like biting into a egg jawbreaker. However, once you bite into it, it has an excellent smoky flavor. An older lady joined us at our table and also ordered the pork dish (which was sold out), ordered something else along with the pig's feet that the waitress recommended. The pig's feet order was fairly large and she offered us half of it. So, once again I challenged myself to eating it. It tasted better this time around then when I first tried it. Still, probably not something I will order on my own in the near future.
一個のコロッケとアイスだけじゃ、お腹いっぱいにならないので、ちょうど昼食の時間だったので、私たちの友達の進めの中華料理店を探しました。結構簡単に発見しました。中華でも、台湾料理の店でした。それに、店は超狭い。十人位でも満席になるほどの狭さ。友達のおすすめの料理は角煮定食。テーブルに座って注文したら、角煮定食はもう終わりでした。店の人が角煮の変わりに豚足をすすめしました。豚足ね。前食べた事がありますが、あんまり美味しいと思ってなかった。もう席に座ってるし、去るのも失礼だし、それで、私たちが牛肉ラーメンを頼んだ。でもこの店はもう一つの名物料理がある。それは「鉄玉」。黒いゆで卵ですが、箱根の近くの大涌谷の黒いゆで卵とは違う。鉄玉は名前通り、鉄の様に固い。でも中までたどりつくと、美味しい燻製したゆで卵が味わえる。食べてる途中で見知らぬ人と合席になりまして、その人も角煮定食狙いでした。でも、僕と違って、店の人のおすすめにのって豚足を注文しました。量も結構あったので、私たちに半分をよこしてくれた。さ、僕が豚足に再挑戦しました。初めて食べた時より、美味しいと思った。でもやっぱり今後も自分で頼むことはないでしょう。
The restaurant had a very homey atmosphere and the people who worked there were very friendly. I intend to go back here again so I can try their kakuni special. Looks like the name of the restaurant itself is called Taiwan.この店は結構庶民的ですが、働いてる人達はとってもフレンドリーで雰囲気が最高です。またいつかこの店に戻って、角煮定食を食べるのは間違えない。看板見ると、店の名前も「台湾」ですね。
Beef Ramen / 牛肉ラーメン
"Iron Egg" / 鉄玉After lunch, we decided to continue walking around the neighborhood. We found ourselves walking about a train station away and ended up in Otsuka. Here's a place where you can still catch a ride on one of Tokyo's only remaining streetcars. Which is exactly what we did and made our way to Waseda University.
ランチ食べたあと、散歩を続ける事にした。気が付いたら、隣駅の大塚までたどりついた。ここから東京でまだ残ってる都電がこの駅を通ってる。もちろん乗るしかないでしょう。早稲田大学方面まで行きました。
Then we walked around the Waseda campus before heading to Takadanobaba (which was a lot further than I thought). It was getting dark by this time, so we stopped at Shinjuku to check out the Christmas illumination which I featured in an earlier post.早稲田大学の周りもちょこっと散歩して、そこから高田馬場まで歩きました（思ったより距離が長かった）。日が暮れて、帰る前に新宿で降りて、新宿のイルミネーションを見に行った（前のポストに紹介しました。）
Waseda campus and environs / 早稲田大学
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment