Mitsuwa Marketplace - Japanese foods, grocery, and merchandise
/Saber-chan desperately trying to get some ramen
I took a road trip yesterday to the Mitsuwa Marketplace up in Edgewater, New Jersey across the river from New York City. Mitsuwa is basically the closest thing to a Little Tokyo that we'll get on the East Coast. The mall area is basically split between two buildings. The main Mitsuwa Marketplace building houses the restaurants, a few shops, and the supermarket. Outside across the little alley is a line of buildings with additional shops and boutiques. The main interest for otaku fans is the Kinokuniya Bookstore and the Little Japan USA essentials shop. Of course being Asian I took some food shots but decided to spice things up a little by posing some Saber figures from the Fate series with the food (because why not?). Food photos are at the very end.
Mitsuwa is a great place to get all of your Japanese needs. Only real downside is that it can be really hard to find a parking spot. Also note that most food stands only take cash. This weekend was part of their Hokkaido Gourmet Fair event so there were certain specialty foods that are available only for a limited time. Anyways, first up are some photos of the outside area:
Here are some photos inside the main Marketplace building including the restaurants and supermarket.
Next up is a trip inside Kinokuniya bookstores. They had all kinds of books, magazines, and miscellaneous merchandise.
And now we've got the Little Japan USA store. Not only does it have all the Japanese essentials that you need, it also has some otaku-related merchandise as well. Heck, they even had a purikura photo booth.
And finally, we have some food photos (excluding the Santouka Ramen photo at the top of the page of course as there's no point in posting it twice). Since the wagyu beef was part of their Hokkaido Gourmet Fair sale, I figured I'd try my hand at a sukiyaki nabe hot pot (for when I got home). I bought all of the ingredients at the supermarket including the beef, the portable gas stove, and nabe shabu-shabu pot. All I can say is... OH, MY, GOD!!!! That beef was beyond good and I'm still savoring the exquisite taste. Worth every penny.
