I wanted to go to Akihabara today and had to take a subway to Shibuya (major station) and then transfer to a train. While transferring, I ran into food. It seems like every major station has a major department store built into it, and in Japan major department stores mean that the basement has a grocery store and tons of brilliant pre-prepared food. I haven't been in a Japanese grocery store yet that has not been impeccably clean and magnificently laid out, offering the Asian version of a Wegman's selction. There are no monotonous aisles that stretch on forever, but sections of the store that specialize in this and that. The attendants are knowledagble and friendly. I saw more varities of fish today in that store than ever before. There as a whole fish section and a sashimi section, with the fish monger taking care of costumers himself and slicing the fish on the spot for sashimi. Vegetables, mushrooms, fruit, all that blew away American offerings. The Japanese do food better. And that was just the first half.
The prepared section was something out of a movie. The offerings, quality, and prices were just unreal. There were two bakeries, real bakeries making real bread. Cassa loves, baguettes, big poofy loaves, sweet little pastries, challah, you name it. The ovens were visable behind glass worked by sharply dressed professional bakers in chef garbs. It smelled amazing. I didn't buy any but no doubt this bread would be as good as any in America. There were rows and rows of beautiful cakes, tarts, and pastries. There was a varietal honey stand carring 20 different types, sold prepacked and in bulk. Honey from europe and asia separated by different bee and plant species. The area withe beer, wine, sake, and spirits was just as impressive. A whole row of refridgerators selling imported and domestic beer, stuff you never see in the United States. The wine cellar was in a temperature controlled space and had wines from all over. Prices comparable to US because of no tax. The was a section of sake and japanese spirits as well. Other sections of prepared food were tonkatsu...fried cutlets of pork and chicken, sushi, grilled eel, mochi balls, it went on forever. Pics don't do it justice but here they are.
One thing I did eat was gelato, yes they have gelato too. It's something that needs improvement. Flavor selection was ridicuous. Green tea, azuki bean, pumpkin pudding, black seasame, sweet potato, cream cheese caramel, mint...probably about 20. Pumpkin pudding was disappointing. Really no flavor. The gelato wasnt dense like Italy, it was kind of dry and tasted like it had a cream cheese base. But it sure looked pretty.
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