Dining Snippets in Sumida, Japan: Kameido Gyoza Ryogoku x Chiyofuku/千代福 x Hobson’s x Azalea
KAMEIDO GYOZA RYOGOKU
Japan has always been part of my travel bucketlist; so, I was extremely fortunate to have spent the last week of 2019 in Tokyo, before the Covid-19 global outbreak. When travelling to a city for the first time, I prioritize visiting must-see places over must-eat places as I prefer stumbling into and discovering local restaurants as we go through our itinerary.
That’s exactly how we ended up in Kameido Gyoza Ryogoku. After being dropped off by our Klook airport pickup service at our hotel, Dai-Ichi Hotel Ryogoku, we found out from reception that our rooms will not be ready for an hour. Thus, we simply decided to grab late lunch nearby first. A quick Google Maps search by my sister Jem led us to Kameido Gyoza Ryogoku; a small restaurant packed with locals.
GYOZA (¥270)
As expected, a difference in language was a definite barrier especially as its purely Japanese menudid not come with pictures. Fortunately, our server patiently ran down their best-sellers to us. Thankfully, our basic knowledge of Japanese food and basic Mandarin skills helped us to manage.
MISO RAMEN
Naturally, we had two orders of the Gyoza and were simply blown away with how deliciously juicy each dumpling was! Each came clothed in a thin wrapper which came with a perfectly browned bottom. Without question, the best gyoza all of us ever had in our lives! We paired this with two orders of their Miso Ramen. I absolutely love the fragrance of the miso broth and how pronounced its flavor is compared to the ones we’re served here in Manila. I don’t mind eating my vegetables, but I didn’t really like that the serving of vegetables seemed to match the serving of the noodles.
YAKISOBA
We also helped ourselves to two orders of their Yakisoba, which honestly looked similar to the ones served here. One thing that stood out was that the noodles maintained a nice firm texture. Again, I found that they went a bit overboard with the vegetable toppings; but the vegetables were crisp and fresh, and lent a natural sweetness to the dish, so I just shrugged it off.
I wasn’t able to get the individual breakdown for all our orders, but it all amounted to ¥3810 for five hungry people. This bill included a liver dish that my dad mistakenly ordered which none of us could appreciated save for my mom, who became such a happy camper with her bowl of liver.
Kameido Gyoza Ryogoku
Date of Visit: December 26, 2019 with Wilson Chua, Lily Chua, Jared Chua and Jem Chua
4 Chome-34-10 Ryōgoku, Sumida City, Tokyo 130-0026, Japan
CHIYOFUKU/千代福
After a long day spent (slowly freezing to death) in Tokyo Disney Sea, our family wanted to have a quick dinner near our hotel before calling it a day. We stumbled upon an unagi restaurant, and decided to grab our dinner there.
COMPLIMENTARY TSUKEMONO
Its menu is as straightforward as it could get as it simply contained down Unagi in varying serving size portions. My family of 5 opted for two of their largest sets (priced at ¥4500 each).
UNAGI SET (¥4500)
Each person is allocated a sweet clear broth of soup and a colorful plate of Tsukemono! I loved how varied the tsukemono assortment was especially when compared to what’s served here in Kimpura, or those previously part of the unlimited sides of Yabu. The unagi was wonderfully smoky and featured huge fillets of fresh barbecued eels. I loved how clean-tasting it was, but my palate’s more accustomed to frozen and de-boned eels so it took a while for me to get used to its more-tender-than-usual meat. Nonetheless, the degree of its smokiness was unparalleled and extremely memorable. Definitely, highly recommended!
千代福
Date of Visit: December 27, 2019 with Wilson Chua, Lily Chua, Jared Chua and Jem Chua
1 Chome-18-1 Midori, Sumida City, Tokyo 130-0021, Japan
HOBSON'S
Just across the street from Chiyofoku would be an ice cream parlor called Hobson's, that offers its frozen delights in cup, cone, and crepe form. Their crepes looked amazingly tempting, but as I was still a bit full from dinner, I opted for a Strawberry Ice Cream cone.
STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM CONE (¥330)
There were two freezers full of flavors to choose from, but I opted for a classic Strawberry scoop. My go-to brands for Strawberry would always be Häagen-Dazs and FIC; and Hobson’s comfortably figures in between them. It has far less strawberry preserves in its scoop as compared to FIC’s, but its creamy strawberry flavor finds itself just a few steps away from Häagen-Dazs’ decadence. I’d definitely go back to try out its other flavors (and perhaps help myself to one of their crepe cones)!
Hobson’s
Date of Visit: December 27, 2019 with Wilson Chua, Lily Chua, Jared Chua and Jem Chua
4-38-8 Ryogoku, 1F Endo Bldg, Sumida City, Tokyo 130-0026
AZALEA
My family actually still had a full free day to go around during the day of our departure from Japan; unfortunately, my dad met into an accident the night before, so we decided to just kill time in the hotel. As it was New Year’s Eve, the hotel couldn’t manage to extend our reservations for another day so we decided to simply spend the entire afternoon lounging in their casual dining restaurant, Azalea.
The restaurant wasn’t really busy so it didn’t make us feel guilty for over-staying. They also offered insanely reasonably-priced lunch sets (for a hotel) which came with soup, salad, and your choice of coffee/tea so we simply took our time through each course.
HAMBURG STEAK SET (¥1600)
I opted for the Hamburg Steak Set; preferring to top it with some demi-glace (you can opt for the Shoyu Sauce) and paired it with a cup of rice (you may opt to pair it with some bread).
The soup and salad were served first. The pumpkin soup was unnaturally sweet, but nothing that some crushed pepper can’t make better. The salad dressing was simply too sour for my liking and didn’t really help mask the bitterness of the greens. Fortunately, the Hamburg Steak more than made up for the lackluster starters. The beef was tenderly juicy, and was perfectly seasoned. Coated in its delicious demi-glace sauce, it made for a perfect pair with a hot cup of rice!
Their service is also noteworthy as it remained warm throughout our entire stay in the restaurant. Despite lounging there for several hours, the waiting staff never tired from refilling our water glasses nor did they ever make us feel unwelcome. I’m not really fond of dining in hotel restaurants when travelling, especially when there’s so many more exciting options just right outside it, but Azalea’s worth a visit if you find yourself in the area. Its warm interiors and natural lighting also make it conducive for tea-time gossips; evident in how we found ourselves surrounded by tables of titas after finishing our lunch!
Azalea
1F, Dai-Ichi Hotel Ryogoku, 1-6-1, Yokoami Sumidaku, Tokyo
Date of Visit: December 31, 2019 with Wilson Chua, Lily Chua, Jared Chua and Jem Chua
