Mexican Food.

I am totally doing everyone in the whole world a favor right now by giving you this information. I have found maybe the best Mexican restaurant, I mean, best restaurant ever. Since my move to Japan, I have found some savory morsels of Mexican food, but they are far and few in between my friend. This restaurant I found yesterday is a true gem.

It is called Fonda de la Madrugada. It is located in Harajuku.



It is quite spendy, but worth about every penny. (A drink and a generous meal including desert will set you back about 5000 - 7000 yen)

Here is a review that I tend to agree with:

"Serving what is probably Tokyo's most authentic Mexican food, this dark basement restaurant has a cavernous main dining room, several small and cozy offshoots, and a strolling mariachi band, making it seem like you're dining in a Mexican villa. Shrimp marinated in tequila, chicken mole, and soft-tortilla tacos served with chicken, fish, beef, or pork are just some of the items on the trilingual (Japanese/Spanish/English) menu, along with the requisite Mexican beers; tequila shots and shooters; margaritas; rum and vodka cocktails; and wine from Mexico, Chile, and Argentina."

Here is a link for a little more information: http://www.englishok.jp/shops/fonda/index.php

I had Course A and a Pina Colada. It was good from salad to flan con helado. If you happen to be living in Japan or traveling here, just stop by when you're in harajuku, you'll thank me.

Food.

This past weekend was comprised of many activities, but mainly, it was all about food. I think I ate more food than humanly possible. You may notice the thread throughout this entry. I may fail to mention some of our eating excursions, but trust me. I may never eat again.

Friday

My beautiful Friday starts at about 8:00 instead of my usual 5:00 am wake up. And you know why? That's right, national holiday baby. It’s a good feeling to have national holidays you have never heard of before. However today did have a mission involved it was called operation meet ashlee, buy a couch, eat at coldstone. All of which, you’ll be happy to know, was accomplished.

Living in Chiba-ken is such a blessing, for so many reasons. Some of the more shallow reasons include: 1) It is only 1 and half hours from Tokyo. 2) We have Tokyo Disney here. 3) It has the best surfing beach in all of Japan. 4) There is an Ikea, Cost-Co and cold stone only 1 hour away from my home.

The first thing on my agenda was to meet my Ashlee. We met in the Ikea lobby and embraced while screeching “Hisashi Buri!” or long time, no see. After an arduous process of couch hunting I ended up with this little mamma.


I think it’s gonna work out just fine. But before leaving the Ikea we had to have a dollar dog. Who could just walk out on a dollar dog? Not I, not Ashlee.

Our next stop was…err…Wendy’s. I mean how often do you get to eat the spicy chicken sammy here in Japan. I’m gonna tell you, it’s not often. Oh jeez and did you know they have chili cheese fries? i sampled those too. Next stop on the binge train, Coldstone. That's right. I only discovered this little delight 1 month before departing for Japan, so I was quite thrilled to find my very own, right here, in my prefecture. Turns out the Japanese also have an affection for the coldstone. But lets be honest, a 45 minutes wait is peanuts compared to the pay off. I always get kinda geeked for theme flavors. So I ended up with “Santa’s Reward.” And that it was, that it was. This picture is not of Santa's reward, but it's cold stone and it looks good dammit.


I really want to say that things end there, but before leaving the Ikea we ended up purchasing some errr…oh…cookies. If you have not had singoalla cookies from Ikea you must get them NOW. The sweet creamy inside mixed with the hard jelly topping is truly one of the worlds not to be missed foods.



And this lovely day was only a precursor to an even better night. To try to sum up the food situation, we went out to eat again, it was a lovely dinner at an izakaya! (they had some amazing spicy Thai chicken and a cheese pizza that rivaled most things…in the world.)

It turns out that in Japan bowling is as popular, if not more popular than bowling in American. As sad as it may be, I love to bowl. I would do it every night if my schedule or funds allowed. The bowling alleys here are virtually the same; except for you get to write your name in Katakana.


Finally to top a good night off right we all went to Karaoke. There is no possible way a night can go wrong if you go out to karaoke. And aside from the singing…we ordered food. I had some Japanese Paella. Ashlee had the Ramen.

**Don’t forget the sprinkle**