The pizza is a lie! Eh... I mean, I lied! Well, the weather made me lie. Well, our aversion to rain made me lie. In any case, yesterday’s log mentioned we were heading to Hakone for some hiking, and we’re not. We’re staying in Tokyo for another two nights.
After looking at the weather forecast that said, “Periods of heavy rain and a thunderstorm in the morning; watch for flash flooding,” it dawned on us that it might be shitty weather for hiking and that we truly dislike hiking in the rain. We’ve done it. We know how miserable it can be. Also, everything in that town is about going outside. Again, in the rain, it's not so much fun.
So plan A was staying in a remote area, watching the rain from our hotel room while sitting in a hot tub with a nonexistent view. We chose plan B: forgo our reservation and stay in Tokyo with its long list of indoor entertainment options. Our eye is on the modern art museum at the moment, and of course, Tokyo’s endless supply of restaurants. A real Sophie’s choice...
As we were homeless between the checkout time of last night’s hotel and our hotel for the next two nights, we planned the day with a three-hour spot for food and tea/coffee, depending on the wait time at the restaurant.
First stop in Tokyo today: “Michelin star ramen”. The second ramen place in Tokyo to get that honour. They are known for dandanmen, a noodle dish originating from Szechuan, characterized by its spicy broth. But first you must wait. On a Monday, for lunch, we waited more than an hour and a half for our noodle fix. The line to the restaurants starts across the street, following the railing that separates the street from the sidewalk. You have to stand in line in the street (why be safe). Once in a while, a waiter from the restaurant will come out, talk to the newcomers and take down the party size. Once some people make it in, the same server will come and tell others to wait in line on the other side of the street, next to the restaurant. At some random point, he will come out a third time to hand out menus to the people waiting in line outside the restaurant. This process repeats regularly.
Speaking of insanely popular restaurants: Reviews in Japan are very harsh. Finding restaurants with ratings above 3.8 stars is hard, and anything above 4.2 is exceptionally well rated. This is unlike most places we’ve been. If we limited ourselves to 4 stars and above, we would likely starve or eat at the same couple of places every day.
With our noodle fix taken care of, we made our way to the hotel and did our every-other-day tradition: laundry. Travelling with a single carry-on backpack comes at the price of having to clean our stuff often. It takes about half an hour (10 minutes soak in soapy water, wring, 10 minutes soak in clean water, squeeze, then wring again inside a rolled-up towel, hang to dry).
The food day continued with a stop at Jugetsudo Tea Shop for a strong cup of matcha, so thick it could almost hold a spoon straight. It was a little bitter, strong-tasting and delicious. It gave us time to unwind from all that eating before we made our way to more eating.
Diner tonight is Da Michele. For those who followed our adventures in Italy, you’ll remember the name from entries like “Naples sucks, but its pizza is the best” and “go to Naples to eat pizza, don’t stay there”. Da Michele is an institution there, making pizza since the 1800s, and we try to make an appearance there every time we’re in the south of Italy.
This adventure started while I was researching possible destinations for Holiday travel, and Italy is always on the list of contenders for any trip we make. While researching whether Da Michele in Naples is open during the holidays, I came across a page for their franchise and saw one in Tokyo. As soon as we learned of it, we had to go and investigate. We knew it would not be the same experience, but it could be close.
Our verdict is that it’s a good approximation, and that’s all it could be. The experience lacks some of Italy's charm. No one is yelling numbers at a crowd outside to indicate which party is next in line for a table. There’s no crowd outside, actually. The menu is not screwed behind a piece of plexiglass on the wall next to your table, instead it has pages, it’s in a book on your table, and even contains such items as “half pizza” (who gets the other half, I don’t know), starters (including mozzarella buffala with a side of what looked like tomatoes).
What it did have was competently executed margarita pizza. I say competently, as you can’t match the expertise of the cooks at Da Michele, and you can’t get the same ingredients for the sauce in Tokyo. But the result tasted good. It had a firm crust, mozzarella buffala that melted just right, but a little bit more sauce than what you should expect from a Da Michele pizza. We left happy with our visit, even though it will not make the list of recurring stops in Tokyo.