May 18, 2006
nihon no ryori wo tabetai: Mitsuwa
- looks like plastic, tastes like it too!!!
Pardon my crappy Japanese. I studied Japanese for just one year as a freshman and I gotta say, you forget pretty much everything once memorization isn't necessary to make your transcript not suck. I can still read hiragana and katakana, although it doesn't matter that much considering I can't understand what I'm reading.
Despite that, I know a gabillion percent more Japanese than Mandarin. My Chinese is so bad! Heehee, I'm a disgrace.
Anyhoo, I'm gonna forget even more Japanese. Why? Cos I GOT INTO THAT PARIS STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM, HUZZAAAH, HERE I COME, GONNA EAT PARIS AND BE PAINFULLY AMERICAN AS I DO IT, PARISIANS WILL HATE ME. If you live in France (the entire landmass!), you must show me the good eats. (There wasn't really any question to whether or not I'd be accepted, as all the program seemed to require was that I didn't fail anything, but it took a while for my transcript to get updated.)
But I'm still in America. And as I'm here, I'll be chowing down on...Japanese food. (For a breakdown of the title, "nihon" means "Japan", "no" is kind of like "of", "ryori" means "food", "wo" is...uh, the thing you need to connect nouns and verbs, and "tabetai" is "to want to eat", which is made by taking off the ending of the full verb "tabemasu" and adding "tai". Or something. Um. You get used to it after a while. Or not. That was your crappy Japanese lesson of the day.)
As you may or may know, Japanese establishments tend to have plastic food displays that are surprisingly close to the real thing in appearance (although hopefully not in taste). I don't know the history of this plastic food phenomenom, nor do I have the patience to research it for you, but you'll find it a lot in Japan, or Mitsuwa in my case. Japan is something like 20 years ahead of the rest of the world though, so maybe one day they'll just have holographic menus or find a way to implant food visualization chips in your brain so that...um...wait, that doesn't work.
Mitsuwa is a ginormous Japanese shopping complex in Edgewater, close to the George Washington Bridge and accesible from Manhattan by NJ transit buses, car, or floation device. To me, Mitsuwa is the best thing about NJ. And NJ kinda bores me otherwise. It's pretty damn spiffy and due to the Japanese habit of keeping things new, gets remodeled every now and then. The latest round of "tearing things down and rebuilding them" that started sometime last year (and perhaps the end of a lot of leases) is finally over. TRANSFORMATION: COMPLETE.
- The belgian pancake, it vibrates?
If that isn't one of the craziest pancakes you've ever seen, then you must show me the crazier one. That's pretty damn crazy, right? Trust me, for the good of the world I shall order the pancake and see how the real thing stands up to this fake stack that more resembles an un-frosted double-layered vanilla butter cake than two hemorrhagic pancakes. (Yes, I finally used the word "hemorrhagic" in a post! And it's not even 5 PM yet.)
- UCC Cafessa
UCC Cafessa is one of the new eateries at Mitsuwa that tookover the old pharmacy and florist. If you want flowers or drugs, you'll just have to go somewhere else. Sarah got a milk tea that tasted kind of weak, but the food looks enticing. Go back, I shall!
- the fake food continues
We went to the Kayaba counter to stare at the plastic noods and rice bowls. Which is what any sane person would do. The soup glistens!
- mm, fried oils
I ended up getting a meal set from Katsuhana consisting of fried things, fruity things, soupy things, and the central element of Japanese meal-ness—rice. Without rice, the meal is nothing. The rice was especially good; sticky with just the right amount of moistness. Most rice is perfectly fine, but maybe a smidge too dry. You wouldn't usually think much about how good the rice rice since it's...well, rice, but you'll know good rice when you eat it.
- damn, it's the same boring angle twice in a row
The "fried things" portion consisted of elongated shrimp, pork cutlet chunks, and what might officially be "crab cream croquette", but I prefer to call "fried ambiguous creamy substance". Deep fried Japanese food have always been my favorite kind of fried food (as opposed to Italian or American) because to me it feels lighter. Deep fried translates into "dunked in a vat of burninating hot oil" no matter what, but the airy crispiness of Japanese fried foods rules over everything else. Admittedly, they won't make crispified fried chicken with the deliciousness of Blue Ribbon Bakery, but I'd prefer to eat good pork katsu over good fried chicken. Maybe. Especially if there's curry sauce involved.
Overall, thumbs up for Katsuhaha. "Thumbs up"? I need a better rating system. Considering that I've eaten from Katsuhana three times by now and I don't go to Mitsuwa that often, you can probably figure out where my taste buds lie. (Vat of oil.)
- noods
Sarah got a kakiage (mixed tempura) soba noodle bowl from Kayaba. However, it possessed too much noodly power and Sarah couldn't finish it all.
- stare into the beast
Mitsuwa is pretty freakin' huge; there's no place that large in NYC. They carry just about any Japanese thing you could find in a grocery store (as in no videogames or electronics), such as...
- cakes of pan
SO MUCH PANCAKE MIX! WHYYY?! They really do like their pancakes.
- special edition!
They sell healthy stuff like fruit and vegetables, but you know you just want the cute, limited edition snacks. I tried the banana-cream filled pseudo fish-shaped chocolate cookie Pucca. Conclusion: good, but not so good that I'd buy it again. Part of the satisfaction is just eating something so cute. WHO CARES WHAT IT TASTES LIKE?
- patties of happpiness
I've been eating obanyaki (or oobanyaki; I'm not sure which one it is), or red bean paste-filled pancake-ish batter cake things (yeah, that was an awful description) every since I was little. We'd by them in packs of five (which I recall would come in a styrofoam container with holes poked into the top so the steam wouldn't condense and result in soggy obanyaki) so my whole family could eat them. Or mainly my mum and I. I dunno, my memory's hazy. Anyhoo, for some reason it's difficult to find a place that makes these babies fresh out of the molded giddle mathinger. A Japanese place. And I'm not talking dorayaki, which while similar to a obanyaki is very much not the same thing.
- beantastic
This too can be yours for just $1.25. Sarah and I shared a fresh, "ow my skin just died"-hot obanyaki while walking outside and staring at the Hudson River from the Jersey angle. The outside was just a little crispy, while the inside was soft, dense and fluffy all at once. I don't know what else to compare obanyaki to besides itself, which isn't much of a comparison. ("What's a spoon?" "A spoon." "Thanks...thanks a lot.") If you're not familiar with red bean paste, it's just pureed adzuki beans and sugar (and maybe oil). The carb and carb combination (carb squared) is pretty easy to like.
- [reaches out]
Ah, NYC...so close, yet so very far. Well, too far for me to walk it.
Too lazy to use google? FINE!
This is a new feature! Hot damn!
Mitsuwa
595 River Rd
Edgewater, NJ 07020
random food related stuff
The Fast Food Nation movie trailer is up!
If you haven't read the book, you should.
Nothing rhymes with orange. However, I don't think Montana rhymes with banana.
comments are people too
John lets us know that aspartame isn't full of deathly powers! But ye know...we'll all die anyway. I don't know if aspartame helps with that.
Nick reminds us that fasting is bad, although overeating is bad too. I do both. Not in extreme manners, but still. Double whammy—I'm gonna die.
[eats a bag of aspartame]
Posted by roboppy at 4:27 PM
Comments (33)
I will definitely be blogging about the food fest if Tim and I can make it. (My hubby is not a foodie per say, just a Feed-Me-And-I'm-Peachy, type. So I may be stuck going to see the DaVinci Code with him (urgh, hoping he finds his guy friends to go with so I can go fooding) But about Matsuwa, I have often thought when I am there, that I want to steal the plastic food to hang on my kitchen walls for fun.
the food looks sooooooooo good!! every time i log onto your site i always get up and get myself many slices of bread and heat myself a red bean bun =O) i do both of the things - i fast and over eat, i can't stop lol
Posted by: Claudia at May 18, 2006 8:33 PM [#]
oh yea, CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING INTO THE PROGRAM! are there gonna be poofy adventures in Paris??
Posted by: Claudia at May 18, 2006 8:38 PM [#]
Cat: "Feed-Me-And-I'm-Peachy" ain't bad. :)
I may end up going to see the DaVinci Code with my mum! I'm like, "Uh, I have no idea what it's about...but whateverr." There isn't much excitement in NJ.
I'd want to display the plastic food too!
Su-Lin: Thanks! I would definitely wanna check out London while I'm there, it being so ...close and all. :) GIMME A PLACE TO STAY?
Claudia: Oh god, I hope you don't overdose on bread because of me. Or you can fast to make up for it...HAHA...wait, don't do that.
Thanks! I didn't think about having French poofy adventures (I think being American may make me annoying enough...what if I tote around a plush toy AHHH) but um, those should happen.
Janet: I know exactly what you mean! Scary. I'll go on a boulangerie hunt. Jeffrey Steingarten wrote an essay about baguettes in Paris! AIIEEE DOOM!
JokeDiary: That's cos it's AWESOME. Japanese food is one of my favorite cuisines.
I've been wanting to go back to Mitsuwa for years now. Years! I only live a couple hours away, but somehow, I can't make it over there. I live vicariously through your post. Love your photos, especially of the plastic food. sigh.
Not to get Japanese grammar police on you, but technically, it's "nihon no ryori ga tabetai"--when you change the verb ending to an adjectival, the particle changes too. And you can get away with "nihon-ryori."
I enjoy reading your site!
OMG quelle surprise (ok i took 12 units of french but i forgot most of what i learned)!!! congrats on that paris study program! for how long is it? bread, butter and cream heaven. what a lucky girl.
Posted by: fearmymoxie at May 19, 2006 9:59 AM [#]
We don't have any huge ethnic food markets out here. Just little tiny places that are the size of my bedroom, well maybe a bit bigger. Still, you can always find some crazy stuff in those places.
Posted by: From Our Kitchen at May 19, 2006 10:28 AM [#]
congrats on getting into the paris program!
yay! you're coming to paris! & london? yes yes? exciting stuff - let's food *grin*
Posted by: serena at May 19, 2006 12:16 PM [#]
Mini: Thanks! And EVERYONE loves Mitsuwa! IT IS THE COOLEST PLACE IN NJ, YEAH.
yoko: Eek, a couple of hours away...is pretty far! I don't even like going to NYC a lot (well, I like going there, but...the process of going there is meh) and that's only about an hour away.
I need grammar police! Thanks for the info; I'll come to you with any questions about Japanese. :) I wasn't sure if it was go or wo, so I googled it and...that didn't help much. I didn't know I could just say "nihon-ryori". ONE LESS SYLLABLE, WOO!!
fearmymoxie: SURPRIIISE! I guess that's like "sir preeeeze", hehe. Um, anyhoo! It's one semester so I guess that's September to December-ish. I haven't gotten my information packet yet that tells me all this stuff. Doh!
From Our Kitchen: Mitsuwa is unique in it's ginormous-ness. There's also a large Korean supermarket that I go to, but it's not as cool as Mitsuwa. There's also the Chinese grocery...which is definitely not as cool. Japanese places are the nicest!
serena: Thanks! Yes, we shall food. I need advice on where to go!
That's so cool. Now I really can't wait to go to Mitsuwa this Monday. Ok, at the latest, Wednesday or Thursday.
Great job going to France! I never got to go in college, but I did go to Greece. I studied music, and the program is pretty much mapped out each semester. But I'm saving to go to China and France next year.
I love red bean ice cream.
Congrats, mon cherie! My arteries of jealous of all the wonderfully buttery treats that await you.
I can't wait to see Fast Food Nation....
Posted by: Backyard Chef at May 19, 2006 4:31 PM [#]
i love fake plastic jap food! i want to start a collection but cant find anywhere! congrats on the paris program dude im sure youll be able to eat many yummy baked goods there
Posted by: chocolatesuze at May 19, 2006 8:12 PM [#]
Annie: Not really in my opinion since the dough isn't like a donut and the bean paste isn't like jelly. The dough part is denser and the bean paste is more...like paste, haha. Er. Maybe like ganache, but not.
Mochene: Greece sounds cool. I'm not very familiar with greek food...MAYBE I SHOULD GOOO.
Hehe. That's my reason to go anywhere. Hm.
I'd love to go to China someday, although with someone who knows Chinese. I'd feel kinda weird in China...being Chinese...and not knowing Chinese. They'll sense my stupidity. Doh!
I love ice cream, period!
mzn: Every time I say "Montana" and then "banana", they don't really rhyme. It's CLOSE, but not quite. Asmidgedifferent. Fairy and cherry don't work either. WHAT IS THIS MONSTROSITY?!
DiWriter: Wow, I've never heard of anyone doing that before! Then again, I'm extremely unathletic. The closest I've been to Chelsea Piers is...um, outside it. ;P
Backyard Chef: Thanks! I'm kind of freaked out now after looking over all these forms and stuff I have to fill out. But the butter awaits..
Yahoo, a movie I actually wanna see! There are few of those.
chocolatesuze: I think there's only one thing you can do. RAID JAPANESE RESTAURANTS AND STEAL ALL THE FAKE FOOD! OR SOMETHING! Or work in a Japanese restaurant...and then STEAL ALL THE FAKE FOOD.
I'm gonna be the fattest Asian American in Paris! HUhuh!...crap.
Heather: Yaa I did! Maybe I can help you get makeup, hehe.
Lori: Whoaa sounds like you have a lot more choices than we do here, or maybe I'm not very observant. I haven't seen peanut butter ones at least!
Congratulations on your study abroad semester! I wish I did something like that in college, but it just wasn't possible with my major... *sigh*. Oh well, I can live vicariously through you! The plastic food is really smart. You now exactly what you're getting. I was scoping out the asian section of my grocery store the other day I was curious about those cute candies they have. They looked like those Pucca you got except they had koala bears on them. Next time...
i looked at my keyboard and it was quite dirty so i was wondering where you bought your cover for the keyboard? sory it's not food related :P
Posted by: Claudia at May 20, 2006 11:26 AM [#]
Wow... I didn't know they were going to make a movie out of FFN...that should be interesting. I wonder if it will be as big as "Super Size Me".
COngrats on getting to go to Paris...I wish I could come with!
Posted by: Kristin at May 21, 2006 9:16 PM [#]
Cathy: I didn't think it'd be possible for me either, but it turns out I dont' have to take many more food related classes. Woo! It's a shame that there's no food department at AUP though. France would be a good place to have one, hehe.
KOALA'S MARCH! Those things are good, try em!
Claudia: Good question! I got mine from protectcovers.com. I might need another though...um, some stuff still got under the cover through little openings. Sad.
Susie: YESS you need to go! Every daaay.
Kristin: I didn't know much about the movie either. Should be interesting...and I guess big food companies will hate it, ehe.
I wish I could bring other people with me!
Hey there, congrats on Paris!
I've been wanting to go, but I'm now going to wait until you have some food reviews posted. I guess next Spring I should take a trip out across the Atlantic.
If it doesn't weird out your mother, maybe I can even meet you out there for some french fries or french toast, or something...
David: You're gonna rely on my reviews to visit Paris? ;D I'll probably focus on bakeries; "This place has good bread. And this one. And this one. And these other 10 bakeries." Etc.
Everything weirds out my mum. I guess we just won't tell her about the French toast binge.
The Japanese food looks fantastic. What's the best way to get to Mitsuwa from NYC?
Posted by: Tim at May 27, 2006 12:15 PM [#]
ZOMG!
I WAS JUST THERE TWO DAYS AGO!
Watashi mo nihongo no seito desu...
I spent a lot of time buying mochi b/c mochi is awesome
but i also bought 5 things of obanyaki! ITS AMAZINGLY GOOD!
Posted by: Ryu at June 11, 2007 10:56 PM [#]
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MITSUWA GA DAISUKI DESU!!!
Posted by: Samurai Nick at May 18, 2006 4:39 PM [#]