October 19, 2012

Kodoku no Gurume/孤独のグルメ

Kiki commented here that she had watched Kodoku no Gurume.  Thanks to Kiki again for her contribution!.

I have just finished watching all the twelve episodes of season 1, as well as episodes 1 and 2 of season 2.  All the restaurants introduced in the drama were interesting in their own way, and I found the following three particularly interesting.

Kikiさんがここで「孤独のぐるめ」を見たとコメントしました。Kikiさん、コメント有難うございます!

シーズン1の全12話とシーズン2の1話、2話を見終わったところです。ドラマで紹介されているどの店もそれなりに興味深いですが、特に下記の3つの店が興味深かったです。


episode 10
Sekizawa Shokudo in Higashi Nagasaki, Toshima-ku, Tokyo.
Each dish is very, very affordable.  I could visit this restaurant almost every day!
東京都豊島区東長崎の大衆食堂「せきざわ食堂」
どの料理もすっごく安いです。毎日でも通いたいくらいです。

episode 11
Sumire in Nezu, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
This izakaya is a lot like Shinya Shokudo in that they are willing to serve any dishes that customers request.
東京都文京区根津の「すみれ」
この居酒屋は、客がリクエストする料理は何でも出してくれるという店で「深夜食堂」みたいです。

episode 1, season 2
San-chan Shokudo in Shin Maruko, Kawasaki city, Kanagawa
Back when I was in my late 20s, I actually visited this restaurant a few times.  Not bad, but loud with drunken people.
神奈川県川崎市新丸子の「三ちゃん食堂」
20代後半にこの店に実際、数回行ったことがあります。悪くはないですが、酔っ払いでうるさいです。

12 comments:

Sissi said...

Thank you so much for bringing attention to this series. I have never heard about it, but I have just watched a bit on youtube and it seems very interesting!

Sissi said...

I knew that the youtube fragment looked familiar! I have just checked my food-related library and I have the first episode of this manga translated into French! I was offered it a couple of years ago by my family (it's called Gourmet Solitaire ;-) ). Incredible! I must watch this series.

Fräulein Trude said...

Watching this drama makes hungry, really hungry (laugh). I like this little shops as in the Sumire episode. I wonder how this lady manages to cook so many different things just on customer's demand in her shoe box sized shop. But these kind of shops, shown in this life action drama seem to be a man's world. Not much female customers.

Hiroyuki said...

muskratbyte: I sent you an email, and deleted your comment here. I hope you don't mind.

Sissi: Yes, incredible! I didn't know it was translated into French!

Kiki: I think you remember the saba (mackerel) sandwich. Improvising dishes from the ingredients available on the day should be very interesting and fun.

>a man's world.

Not necessarily so, I suppose. As you know, Shinya Shokudo has a considerable number of female customers.

Even if you do not feel like visiting any of these restaurants, I'm sure you can find an ideal place for women!

Sissi said...

Kiki, I wanted to say the same Hiroyuki says: not necessarily! When I was in Tokyo, I went to several bars/izakayas, some looking very "Shinya Shokudo" (especially the first one where I tasted myoga, wasabi and rare chicken) and there were quite a lot of women! I even was surprised to see in a typically "getting drunk" izakaya (most people were drunk there) me and my female Tokyo friend were not the only women ;-) and actually I felt much more at ease drinking there than in any European bar filled in majority with men.

Anonymous said...

What a coincidence, yesterday I was just reading about this drama on dramacrazy.net (website with English subbed dramas). I look forward to watching it soon when I have free time. Have you seen "Kuitan"? I really enjoyed that drama. In the Korean drama "Smile, You", the mom is always preparing food and eating. I love watching the characters eat at home together, mixing and eating a bowl of rice. It looks so delicious.

Hiroyuki said...

Anonymous: Yes, Kuitan and Kuitan 2! "Smile, You" is new to me. I'll start searching, thanks you!

Fräulein Trude said...

Sissi, Hiroyuki: Ah, I am relieved. Watching the first season there were almost everywhere lots of men (sometimes only men) eating in the shops but not so much women, only a few (for example girls eating spicy sechzuan noodles if I recall correctly) Especially at the (fried) meat and drink a lot places were just men.
I was a little concerned wether they would kick me out... I remembered one jdrama scene (forgot the name) - the women (office ladies) discussed who would have the courage (as a female) to visit a yakiniku shop on her own and all alone. That made me really wonder - weird.

Hiroyuki said...

Likewise, a male may say he needs some courage to go to a kanmi dokoro (甘味処), a cafe serving Japanese confections, by himself (laugh).

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: I almost forgot: In episode 1 of season 2, you can see myoga tempura
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xu8s8y_yyyyyy-season2-1_shortfilms
at and after 19:50.
I think that myoga tempura is very good in that it keeps the aroma in.

Fräulein Trude said...

Found another cooking related jdrama now airing: Hana no Zubora Meshi - funny, reminds me on student days. Ever made Okonomiyaki with just a piece of bread, some cabbage, fishpaste, mayonnaise and tonkatsu sauce in 2.5 minutes? They show how to...

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Thanks for another suggestion.

I watched episode 1:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xukeau_yyyyyy1y_shortfilms

Well, I must say I got so irritated to see this lazy wife I almost finished watching it before it ended...

I never want to marry a girl like that (laugh)!