Mitsuwa Marketplace

Mitsuwa Marketplace is a nationwide chain of Japanese supermarkets.  They've got a bunch in Cali, one in Illinois, and one in Edgewater, NJ, just across the river from NYC. 

If you don't know of these places, you need to go.  The one in Edgewater has a huge food court where you can get real, fresh ramen, takoyaki, croquettes, bento boxes, onigiri, curry rice, sushi, Korean and Chinese stuff, bubble tea, desserts, donburi, and of course, they have a supermarket full of great stuff.  Sign up for their circular so you can stay aware of sales and food fairs; every couple of weeks they have a big food event.  They'll bring in a crew of takoyaki chefs, once they had a big, beautiful fresh tuna that they demonstrated how it was cut and sold, and this week is the Hokkaido food fair: crab, ice cream, all sorts of other greatness. 

I highly recommend going to one if you've got one near you.  Anyone want to hang out at Edgewater tomorrow for lunch?  Ramen and crab are good stuff.

hey, edgewaters about a half hour away!

I gotta go take a look at this place.

You totally should; it's paradise for waps like us.  ^_^

Go to the St. Honore in back and buy yourself a cream melon bread.  After that, swing a right back towards the market, behind the white walls, and grab a hot nikuman so you can be like Makoto. 

My girlfriend is dying to cosplay Ayu, and we're going to do the shoot over by the water if they'll let us in the winter, when there's some snow on the ground.  Taiyaki is best enjoyed fresh outside.  ^^

Update: Mitsuwa has just gone through a MAJOR renovation.  A lot of the stuff has relocated and there are new additions:

1) A new ramen shop with some new dishes, others that look quite good and are unique to the shop, about twelve or so ramens

2) An udon shop - nothing but udon of all sorts and types, with maybe fifteen or so different types of udon

3) A katsu shop - croquettes, katsu, tempura, all in meal sets.  You get a choice of a couple of little sides and such, including fresh tofu, salad, etc. 

The travel agency has moved, shrunk, and been renamed. 

The fancy pastry shop that sold tins of gaufres and other fancy Japanese and Japanese Western-style sweets (The kind you give as gifts to show that you spent $40 on two cookies) has been expanded and moved. 

The sushi, bento, and onigiri things they used to sell near the front have been moved to the rear of the market area and are now paid for at the market registers, not the seperate kiosk. 

I don't know what happened to the fried stuff they had - takoyaki, take-out croquettes, etc.  Same goes for the big bubble tea shop... it doesn't seem to have a presence anymore, which is sad, because the nearest ones are now either in Chinatown or Parsippany.  ;-; 

Also, a lot of the shops in the accompanying strip mall seem to have moved out or lost their leases.  It looks like the gift shop that often had random anime and Japanese stuff is gone, as is the clothes store where you could get a real kimono or an insanely overpriced suit if you wanted.  The bookstore is still there, though.

The new layout is very nice, definitely made for foot traffic and heavily playing up the food court.  There's more seating space, too, and if anyone's there on a Saturday afternoon in the winter, you'll see that it's necessary.

Oh, almost forgot to mention: now that it's getting colder again, they have roasted sweet potatos out front, too, just by the front entrance.  Something like 3 lbs/$5, which is a potato or three.  I haven't had any yet because I'm always stuffed from eating inside.

Anyone up for a world4ch/iichan gathering? 

The first time I ate Japanese food was there, but that place is like 3 hours from me. :(

T&T ftw

RIP T&T

From what I've been told, the Chinatown Tea&Tea has been bought out and reorganized.  Ten Ren's is about all that's left.  :-(

>>7
The hell are you talking about. T&T is alive and well in Canada. They're the Canadian part of 99.