Michael Booth

Is Tokyo's Skytree home to the greatest shopping mall and food hall in the world?

This is why I love Japan. Every time I go, they've come up with some new stuff that is, invariably, brilliant, or at least very, very different. Sometimes weird. In a good way.

These are all three. Forget cronuts, these are 'Cube Chou Cream-uns' from the 'Brothers' bakery. Chou pastry, cunningly cooked in cube-shaped moulds and filled with custard, white bean jam and, I think sometimes, ice cream. I found them in the flabbergasting food halls of the new Skytree mall.

Genius.

Had to get my fat hands on one.

More 'Brothers' weirdness. Vegefru Choco anyone?

In further Skytree news. Forget the tower - which is the tallest free-stander in the world, I believe - for me, the shopping mall at its base could very well be the best on earth, with virtually no international chains, but plenty of SkyTree-themed souvenirs.

SkyTree baguettes.

Some kind of Skytree beverage.

Macaron Skytree tower.

Skytree hot dog sausages.

Goo-filled Skytree wafers.

It wasn't all Skytree-centric. There were these flower-shaped macarons, which I haven't seen before.

An entire store devoted to the salts of Japan, and the rest of the world.

Interesting, if rather regimented, chocolate packaging - each a different flavour or bean variety.

There was an excellent eel restaurant.

But the very best thing in the entire mall was this mochi shop close to the entrance - fantastic quality, heavenly toasted flavours, gorgeous texture. I came back three times.

Talking of mochi: here is some chocolate covered mochi. It was Robbie Swinnerton of the Japan Times who put me on to C-Lab's earth shattering innovation (how did they get the couverture to stick to the mochi? I have spent hours pondering this).

Only one disappointment. 

I wanted OVER 634, dammit!

Japan: Same as it ever was

I'll post about what's new (to me at least) on the Japanese food scene in a bit, but for now here's a brief round up of the things which remain immutably wonderful about my favourite country on earth.

The Japanese still love their cartoon avatars. It seems no sign, poster or form of communication, even official, is complete without some kind of squidgy cuddly thing:

The latest hot character is... a field mushroom. With teeth.

He's still pushing his favourite coffee:

Although a certain other grizzled male Hollywood icon is muscling in on the Japanese ad industry these days:

But this place is still as electrifying as dusk falls and the liquid crystal begins to glow:

Japanese shops are still as service-minded as ever - foam-wrapped handle to protect my delicate writer's hands:

They still like their posh melons. £145 to you sir!:

Fuji is still in one piece, for now:

Their menus are still as occasionally challenging as ever:

And Osaka's food scene is as vibrant as I recalled:

Tsukiji is still there, for now at least:

And it still makes me gurn with pleasure just being there:

And, of course, the food is still as staggering as ever (from left, crab, cod milt and monkfish liver - at a very ordinary, under-the-railway-arched place in Yurakucho):

Faroe Islands

I'll be honest, the Faroes had never featured on my bucket list. I'd usually thought of them - if I had thought of them at all - as kind of poor man's Iceland. Actually, you can probably visit Iceland for less money, so where did that leave the Faroes? In the middle of the North Atlantic, that's where.

How wrong I was. On a visit just before Christmas, I met some really amazing people, tasted some utterly fascinating and unusual food and took in some of the most remarkable scenery I have ever seen. 

Nervous about helicopters? Me? That's sheer excitment you can see there, that is.

I also ate a lot of dried, fermented lamb.

Served three ways. Pretty delicious, complex flavours. Strong, but great in small doses and wonderful with sherry, as I discovered.

Here is how it is made: no salt, which is how they do it in Norway. Apparently, the climate is so perfect for air drying that no salt is needed. The Danish dairy, Arla, has recently started a project to age cheese up here. I tasted some: bitter, but again, complex and interesting. Definite potential.

This is the hillside where the sheep roam, taking on a unique flavour from the indigenous grasses and the ozone.rich air. This entire island is inhabited by just one family, with two kids who are schooled in a specially-built shool house - the small hut top left. The teacher flies in by helicopter and stays for four nights a week in the school house. If the weather's bad - which it usually is - they take lessons via Skype.

The view from my room at the Hotel Foroyar in the capital, Torshavn. It's the best hotel on the islands, and actually one of the best in the Nordic region. Properly world class. 

And it has a world class restaurant, too, called Koks. I was there to interview the chef, Leif Sørensen, who returned to his homeland a few years back after running a Michelin starred restaurant in Copenhagen. In the spirit of the New Nordic manefesto (to which he was a signatory), he wanted to explore the produce of the Faroes and develop a new Faroese cuisine. Sørensen has cooperated on a gorgeous new book, also called Koks (with text in English), all about his food and the produce of the Faroes, by Danish author Bent Christensen and photographer Claes Bech-Poulsen. 

I was invited to a gala dinner to celebrate the launch of the book. First up were some dried shrimp. Intensely shrimpy.

On this cod spine were served various crispy snacks, which were snapped up so fast I didn't grab a photo.

Langoustine tails. Fat, juicy, phenomenal.

We went out - in very choppy seas, I have to say, not that this bothered me, oh no - to try and catch some ourselves the next day.

This is Michelin-starred Copenhagen chef, Jacob Mieckle, 'preparing' them (ie ripping their heads off) for us to eat raw. Words can not begin to describe how sweet and tender they were. Is it wrong that I sucked their brains out too? I don't think so. It's what they would have wanted.

So, in summary: the Faroese might not be world class cartographers...

But I have never visited a place less likely to induce this upon arrival:

Japanese Cover for Sushi and Beyond

If only all my book covers could be this beautiful... 

Alsace Food Binge PT2

So, I began to reach the conclusion that there is something deeply awry with the Alsatians' colour sense. Not just in terms of the exteriors of their homes...

Never mind, there were plenty of things they do get right: namely, gut-busting winter dishes, like this Baeckaoffa (one for any food-themed spelling bee you might be planning). This one-pot stew features not just mutton, not merely pork, but mutton, pork AND beef. Baeckaoffa is apparently Alsatian for baker's oven, where these were traditionally cooked while the women carried out their Monday laundry duties.

This, meanwhile, is the home of the world's greatest jams, made by the legendary Christine Ferber and on sale at her small grocers, Au Relais des Trois Epis, in Niedermorschwihr.

A wonderful example of nominative determinism (though not sure the contents of the can is the kind of thing he offers sips of):

A Baeckaoffa in the wild:

The Statue of Liberty's ear. Seriously:

Street name in Colmar ('only in France', etc...):

Totally fell in love with Colmar - like Strasbourg, but more intimate, fewer tourists:

So, me and the Bugatti stopped off at the most famous restaurant in Alsace, L'Auberge de L'Ill, headed by chef Marc Haeberlin. His family have held on to their Michelin stars here for over 45 years. I have to say, this is slightly mystifying based on the meal I had which, though far from awful, was, equally, far from exceptional. I suspect we can put this down to the 'Bocuse' effect - there are some people to whom Michelin will give three stars in perpetuity regardless of the quality of their food (Gordon Ramsay is another). It's like the monkeys at the Rock of Gibralter, or the ravens at the Tower of London. If these places lose a star, the whole edifice crumbles.

Mackerel: forgettable.

Overcooked perch (I think it was perch):

Exquisite lobster dish, one of their 'signatures':

Hey, Mr Haeberlin, the '80s called, they want their dessert back:

In contrast, the exceptional carrot dish - cooked for some hours in carrot and orange juice - and consequently the carrottiest carrot I have ever eaten, at the exceptionally good one-star, Le Bistro des Saveurs at Obernai. Can't recommend this place enough. And not just for carrot fans. Chef Thierry Schwartz is clearly a great talent:

Alsace Food Binge PT1

Yes, the Bugatti was nice, but I have to admit I was probably as relieved to hand the keys back as I was excited to get them in the first place.

I was less ambivalent about the food I ate in Alsace. That was pretty much all-round fantastic. No down sides.

The first of many, many choucroute garnis I stuffed down during my week:

Extraordinary cured meats in the market at Selestat:

Some escaped roesti which had crossed the Swiss border and were heading north:

If you are looking for a place to stay in Selestat, I heartily recommend the Abbaye de la Pommeraie

From Selestat I was magnetically drawn to the gorgeous Alsatian wine route. One of the most beautiful in Europe, I'd venture:

Other attractions with a mysterious, almost occult, magnetic appeal:

Hard core investigative journalism such as I was engaged in is awfully tiring: luckily there were several opportunities for refuelling: spaetzle gratin with Munster.

Spaetzle is my kitchen nemesis - I have never been able to make it at home. When I have tried, it always ends up resembling some kind of by-product from the construction industry, so I always order it when I see it on a menu. I owe it to myself, I feel. Not sure what that green and red stuff in the bowl was doing there, but happily they took it away when I was finished...

The weird, faux-Disney Daniel Stoffel chocolate warehouse (actually the chocolate wasn't bad): 

A true 'only in France' attraction: Munster's Maison du Fromage visitor centre. Must have cost a fortune: 

Here's the great tragedy of contemporary food writing: I would dearly love to write a 3,000 word piece about the many varieties of Munster cheese and the stories of the people who make them, but who would pay my expenses (or the medical bills)?

The horror of the provincial French one-star restaurant:

This 'miso soup' was the absolute low point of my trip, I'd say. A salutary lesson on eating in Alsace:

Name that offal!:

The schmaltziest shop in Christendom in, I think, Riquewihr. Remarkably, the whole thing was made out of gingerbread and staffed by dwarfs:

As I mentioned in my piece for the Indy, I was constantly astounded (in truth, I became more than a little obsessed) by the Alsatians' exterior colour choices. Sit back and enjoy. No further words are necessary:

Emergency: Calling Pantone!

Alsace by Bugatti - The Independent

I realise my story in the weekend's Independent magazine is only likely to provoke hatred, bitterness and envy in all who read it... but, what the hey!

 

Fromagerie Antony, Ferret, Alsace

In a radical, cutting edge multi-media experiment I have uploaded some (admittedly rather dull) photographs from my recent trip to the fantastic Fromagerie Antony - one of the best cheese affineurs in France - to accompany the radio bit I did for Monocle's Menu, broadcast this evening. 

I even sent out a Twitter alert! Proper social media/tech maven, me.

Bosom-shaped cheese. What a wonderful world we inhabit.

Never seen these before - like those kind of incense things people used to have in the 1970s, but made out of goat's cheese.

The cheese plate Jean Francois Antony lovingly prepared for me.

Japanese food in three minutes

This film by theperennialplate.com is basically my book, Sushi and Beyond, condensed into the length of a 45. Amazing and beautiful.

... although, that doesn't mean you shouldn't still read the book, of course.

 

British Travel Press Awards - Hooray!

Huzzah, Hurrah and Hooray! Eat, Pray, Eat has been nominated for a massively prestigious and sexy British Travel Press Award - in the category of 'Narrative Travel Book of the Year'.

Here's a list of last year's winners - some pretty impressive names up there, I see. This year's nominees list isn't up yet, but will be on Monday (if I am not on it I will feel a tad foolish, I have to say).

It's wrong to boast, but this is my blog so I'll burnish my escutcheon as much as I blimmin' well please.

Did I already say, 'Hooray!'?