Thursday, September 29, 2016

Sendai Food Convention 2016 仙台フードコンベンション 022-224-5640



For a bit more of some of the food that my be featured, click HERE to see my wrap-up from the 2014 event.

Website:  http://foodconvention.net

Address:  錦町公園 (仙台市青葉区本町).  Nishikichō Park is located about a five-minute walk from Kotodai-koen Subway Station.

Map:  Scroll down below.


Open Saturday, October 1st and Sunday, October 2nd from 10 am to 7 pm.


This "convention" is a relatively small foodie affair, but it offers you a chance to sample some specialties from Sendai establishments.  I counted 29 restaurants that will showcase their finest this weekend.  Compared to the recent Oktoberfest and Niku Festa, this festival, in the past, has not been nearly as crowded and should be much easier on your wallet.


It looks like the weather might be better on Saturday, so that might be your best bet.


I hope to see you there!



Sendai Food Convention 2016 仙台フードコンベンション 022-224-5640



For a bit more of some of the food that my be featured, click HERE to see my wrap-up from the 2014 event.

Website:  http://foodconvention.net

Address:  錦町公園 (仙台市青葉区本町).  Nishikichō Park is located about a five-minute walk from Kotodai-koen Subway Station.

Map:  Scroll down below.


Open Saturday, October 1st and Sunday, October 2nd from 10 am to 7 pm.


This "convention" is a relatively small foodie affair, but it offers you a chance to sample some specialties from Sendai establishments.  I counted 29 restaurants that will showcase their finest this weekend.  Compared to the recent Oktoberfest and Niku Festa, this festival, in the past, has not been nearly as crowded and should be much easier on your wallet.


It looks like the weather might be better on Saturday, so that might be your best bet.


I hope to see you there!



Thursday, September 22, 2016

Niku Festa 2016 肉フェスタ2016

Address:  仙台市宮城野区五輪1-3.   Located at Tsutsujigaoka Park, right next to the Tsutsujigaoka Koen JR Station on the Senseki Line.  Or about a 20-miute walk from Sendai Station, straight down Miyagino-dori.
Map:  Scroll down below.
Open:  Thursday, September 22nd to Sunday, September 25th, from 10 am to 8 pm.
It may be the 11th annual Sendai Meat Festival, but today was my first time attending this event.  Fifteen out of twenty-two vendors were marketing meat, meat, and more meat!  But at a price!

Scrumptious looking!!!


In order to partake in any grilled goodness, you need to purchase a ticket.  Cash is not accepted at any of the meat stalls, but they do accept electronic payment from such cards as Nanco, Edy, Suica, and others.  Each pre-paid ticket is 700 yen, however, most vendors sell their wares for 1400 yen, which means that you need two tickets for each dish.
My better half and I lined up at the end of a looooong line for the ticket booth, but were quite surprised on how quickly we were able to buy tickets.  We bought four tickets for 2800 yen.
All of the meats being solicited looked mouthwatering, so it was difficult to choose which stall to choose from.  
For our first venture, we decided upon booth M-4, 鉄板焼ごっつい (Teppanyaki Gottsui), a Roppongi-area restaurant which advertised beef tenderloin slices in a secret sauce.  I didn’t see it, but wife said she noticed a sign that stated that two of the three flavors in the sauce were pineapple and apple.  I handed over two tickets (a 1400 yen value) and received eight small pieces of beef with some corn mixed in.  



The beef was tender and had a distinctive flavor that was quite nice, but nothing special.  I was lucky that my wife ate only three of the slices and focused on the corn instead.  If this serving had been half the price, I might be satisfied with its value, but it definitely wasn’t worth 1400 yen.

1400 yen worth?  Hmm?

Our next attempt was at stall M-6, 神埼熟成肉格之進 (Kazaki Jukusei Niku Kakunoshin), an Ichinoseki restaurant, which proudly stated that its beef was aged for more than one-month.  Again, the cost was two tickets, and again, we received eight small slices of meat.  My wife went and bought a small bowl of rice from stand M-9 for 300 yen to accompany the beef.  This beef was remarkably flavorful, and initially we were quite impressed.  But then we were chewing, and chewing, and still couldn’t grind it down small enough to swallow.  It felt like I had meat-flavored chewing gum in my mouth.   My wife gave up after her second slice, and actually spit out the remainder of her final piece into a tissue.   I had to do the same with my last slice.  Again, a disappointment for 1400 yen.




Delicious, but cheeeeeeeewy.

Unfortunately, not even the rice was that good.  My wife commented that the rice from a convenience store onigiri tasted better.
The saving grace for my wife was the beer.  She tried both the 肉厚エール(Nikuatsu Ale), which she found to have a deep, rich flavor,  yet easy to drink, and the ゴールデンエール (Golden Ale), that she thought was light and smooth.


The event today was crowded with lines at almost every booth, but the lines moved quite quickly.   A good-sized tent with tables and benches were available, and despite the crowd we were able to find a seat a couple of times easily.




We did enjoy today’s venture to the Meat Festival just for the experience.  But like many festivals, it’s not cheap.  I recommend this event for the experience, and perhaps you may choose a vendor with a better cut of meat.  But I told my spouse, “I don’t think we need to come to the 12th annual Meat Festival.”  She replied with, “Yup.”


Friday, September 16, 2016

Izumi Marchė 2016 Tomorrow, September 17th!

Website:  http://www.izumimarche.com/index.html

Tomorrow is the day for this once-a-year happening that I've been looking forward to!

I am unable to post any photos at this time, but please click HERE and HERE for my past write-ups on this very interesting event.

Might I suggest the homemade bacon from  ビストロアンプル, the green curry and tomato sauce penne pasta from ミュー, and any scrumptious muffin from Daily's Muffin.

Located above the Izumi-chuo Subway Station, hours are from 10 am to 5 pm, but it seems like many eateries sell out by 3 pm, so you should go earlier if possible.

Hope to see you there!