00:00:02 John Daub: Good day everybody. Welcome to Tsukiji. That's the outer market here in Tokyo. And it's a beautiful hot summer day. How you doing everybody? That behind me is Gindako. It's one of the famous takoyaki (octopus ball) chains here in Japan. It's national. But started right here in Tsukiji, believe it or not. And that is the first shop right across the street from the outer market. We're not that far away from Ginza. That's just about a kilometer this way.

00:00:32 John Daub: You can see that the sign is telling you 300 meters to Higashi Ginza. Maybe 500 meters to Ginza. Here's a map to let you know where we are. It's always good. Just so convenient right in front of the shop. You get to the Ginza, the main intersection right there. But we didn't come here to look at maps. Oh no. We came for some takoyaki action. And right now it's a little bit after the lunch rush. So it's not a lot of people.

00:01:04 John Daub: What is really interesting about takoyaki is that it's more than just octopus balls. It comes with toppings. You can see there's some right there. And Gindako is very creative because in the summer they'll get their own original flavors. Something that might be a little bit lighter. This year they have shio lemon. It's a salty lemon taste that they put on top of it. And they've even had pizza takoyaki one time, which is really interesting. They're not making any right now because it's a low peak. But I will film it when they start to make some more. Because it's really interesting the process of them doing it.

00:01:39 John Daub: Let's order some right now. Get right into it. Okay. Let's take a look at some of the toppings here. So we're going to try a little bit of everything here. And he's putting some of the toppings on. This is the first one. I believe that this is the teritama (egg teriyaki), which is egg on top of it. Wow. That's a lot of egg. I've never had this before. This is going to be interesting.

00:03:22 John Daub: Can I get the kanai? Yes, please. It keeps the money from flying away. Alright, let's see if we can get it. Oh, here comes the next one. Okay, there's eight. And we have one more coming. And I'm taking six back to Kanae Daub. She just wants regular takoyaki. But I'll order that before I leave here. Oh, it looks delicious. Cheese mentaiko (spicy cod roe). Oh, I'm starving. There's one more coming.

00:04:32 John Daub: Wow, they have a katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) grater. That was awesome. I didn't get a chance to show you that machine, but they have a katsuobushi grater. Oh, look at that negi (green onion) on there. This is awesome. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you. $279. Thank you. This is incredible. Check this out. And we're going to eat it right here.

00:05:47 John Daub: And they're right now making... They're making it in front of us, too. That's awesome. So we're going to get a chance to take a look at them making the takoyaki in front of us through the window while we eat these here. So they have these special sticks that they use to turn them. And I'll give you a chance to look at that action. It's just kind of neat to do that. How you doing, everybody? Let me get my hands with alcohol here. Always practice social distancing. Try to stay away from people. Got to be on the safe side.

00:06:30 John Daub: This is incredible. This is really, really beautiful sight here. We got three amazing takoyaki. Check it out here. I just got a new gimbal here. I got to go back. Oh, there we go. Boom. Look at this. These are three beautiful and delicious takoyakis. I'm so excited. I haven't eaten takoyaki for a week. Oh, and check this out. This came with a special lemon shio pack. I've never seen that before. All right, let's get a picture here in front of the menu. Thanks for joining me for lunch, everybody. This is fun. Here we go.

00:08:12 John Daub: Itadakimasu (let's eat). Let's try all three of these and see which one is the best. I might have to carry some of this home for Kanae Daub. I don't think I'm going to be able to eat all of these. Jeff Ang is in the house. Hi, John. Here's something for the takoyaki fund to get something for Kanae Daub. You got it. I'm bringing that back for Kanae Daub. Irvon's here. Hi, Irvon. Thank you, Irvon. It's also Jennifer French. You guys have added to a luxury fund of takoyaki for the next year.

00:08:43 John Daub: Michael Sosan. I don't get out very much. Here's an ice cold Sapporo. Hey, Michael. Thank you for that. Much love, guys. Let's get in. As you can tell, I have been purposely delaying this a little bit to let them cool. Let's get into it, okay? All right. So I'm going to give you a first person here. Put this in my lap. As I show you what's inside. Alright. These three are pretty incredible here.

00:09:19 John Daub: This is egg, believe it or not. This egg is... You know, Japan is quite famous for having egg sandwiches, egg salad. That's an egg salad on top of takoyaki. I've never had anything like it, but they've added some teriyaki-looking sauce on there. So this is going to be very interesting to try. This one is cheese mentaiko. I don't know if you know what mentaiko is. But it's a very spicy fish roe. It kind of has a little bit of kick to it but they mix it in with the mayonnaise. But this one what makes it really special is they add in some cheese on that. Do you see that right there that's been melted onto those delicious takoyaki balls.

00:09:59 John Daub: And of course over here we have my favorite which is... oh this is just the negi mayo I believe. Right? You have to give it... oh no no no this is the shio lemon this is the seasonal one that came with some ponzu (citrus soy sauce) on the side so we're gonna have to dip we dip these into there. Ah now I remember it's just such a weird thing because I'm not used to the seasonal flavor yet it's new. So what they have here going on here he's cooking in front of us takoyaki making loads of them of course it's through this kind of greasy window but you see him he's really going to town fast he moves his hands to get that takoyaki done it's exciting.

00:11:10 John Daub: All right let's try this here this is the takoyaki sauce that we made earlier today we're gonna use this sauce here tamago (egg) one I'm gonna lose some of that skin on the top there all right the egg has a really good creaminess to it this is a unique flavor I've never had this before but the creaminess to the egg and that sauce adds something to inside the top of the takoyaki balls. I don't know if this is my favorite one but if you were looking for breakfast the egg in there is actually a nice touch. Let's take a look here the egg is a pretty nice touch to it do you see that this is I guess this would be like a breakfast takoyaki maybe I don't know but it's a good compliment but it's not my favorite.

00:12:45 John Daub: Let's go now for the cheese mentaiko this is a classic this is maybe the best one of them all you see that there look at the cheese on there you're gonna want to try this if you come to Japan I know mentaiko is not something that gets you excited but you should try it watch the cheese I'm gonna try this one now. Cheese mentaiko I think it's on the permanent menu that's so good.

00:13:43 John Daub: Ponzu whoa olive oil that's unusual I want to do it without making a mess here. Check it out here's the oh it's this way look at that it's got the olive oil on there never had that before I've never had that before the citrus in there and there is a little bit of a lemon with it gives it a lighter taste to it it's not as oily it doesn't taste as oily because of the citrus I think but the problem is that with the olive oil and the sauce it gives it too much of an Italian taste I almost think it's like an Italian dressing to it I think it's interesting to try once it's very interesting to try this once.

00:16:19 John Daub: Mike Roy Lance Kansai or Kanto what is your preference for takoyaki if I'm hungry I don't have a preference but it's a good question but I think Kansai is always gonna be better they always find a way to innovate but the chains that in Kansai have found a way to just try to be too cheap sometimes they do but Osaka eaters are very very picky and if you're trying to skimp on stuff they won't go there to eat so often they'll try to add volume to it but the chains might take it away just it just depends I've said I've had some great takoyaki in both places and I actually like akashi yaki that's another one if I go down to Kansai I'll take you there I know some really good akashi yaki places which is like an egg takoyaki it's a cousin to takoyaki.

00:17:46 John Daub: Look at that cheese I'm like hypnotized the best lunch ever I'm supposed to be on a diet too that's not gonna last hey Brenda McSee's here John you might need a beverage actually I probably do I'll go to a vending machine after I think I can hold on a little bit longer all right I'm gonna show you in the next video I'm gonna show you inside of the takoyaki now let's take a look see pan down pan down pan down boom all right look at that gorgeous. All right we're gonna open her up and take a look inside a little dissection time always play with your food and if you're a kid watching this listen to your mother and father where is the takoyaki autopsy that should be the name of an episode.

00:18:53 John Daub: All right that's a pretty good size of tako (octopus) that's an octopus piece there an octopus gives it that chewy kind of a meaty taste to it and you know if you don't like octopus that's okay inside of the ball you hardly taste it at all it's just a part of the greater flavor but if they're too hot one good thing to do is to open it up and let the steam out a little bit give it a couple of minutes and then try it and you won't burn your mouth too bad but you all know every every month I have to have a takoyaki fix and this is that month this one is okay but I'm just craving the other one more but the egg is good it's a Japanese like egg salad egg to it I'm gonna try to dip squeeze the lemon on there that works really well.

00:20:42 John Daub: So he's going in for another one I told you guys that I would show you the process here so he's gonna be making and sorry but the window is kind of nasty I think he's gonna be pouring in now uh I see yeah you know we're gonna do this I'll the takoyaki batter in the distance there but we're trapped by this nasty looking window or maybe it's just washed I don't know. Denise is in the house. How are you not burning your mouth? The trick might be to wait like 10 minutes. I'm trying really hard to social distance in my corner here too. I'm going back in. I think he's going to be making some more in a second. I'm going in for the egg one.

00:21:38 John Daub: This egg one is called teritama takoyaki with egg and teriyaki sauce. And it's just not as good I think. So sometimes these recipes really depend. This one is kind of a mess I think. Mentaiko mayonnaise wins. And it wasn't even close. Mentaiko mayonnaise just slaughtered all of them.

00:23:37 John Daub: He's doing it. Here it goes. Yes! Awesome. And now he's serving that one. They make them and people buy them so fast. And right now takeaway is very very busy. A couple of things. There's another rainbow flag saying that they have the protocols in place. Temperature check for the staff and alcohol and everything. So to make sure you're very little risk to your food. Now he's putting in the octopus in there.

00:24:34 John Daub: Mentaiko is a spicy little fish egg. Very famous down in Fukuoka down in Kyushu. But they have it just about everywhere. And it's great to eat it on rice. It's sometimes they combine it in mayonnaise. And gives it a kind of a red pink color to it. But the little teeny fish eggs have a slightly crunchy consistency to it. Oh he's got that benishoga (red pickled ginger) he's putting in there. Very nice. You have the takoyaki. The octopus. The little tenkasu (tempura bits) crunches that they put in there gives it some air. But also adds a slight crunch. And they put in some negi as well. Look at that. Beautiful. Beautiful color to it.

00:25:14 John Daub: Now I think he lets it sit there for a while. And then he puts some more batter on top. And I watch every time he does that he sprays his hands with alcohol a little bit. So that's good. They are following the protocols. And here they go. He's gonna oh yeah. No reputable chef wears gloves. And gloves just makes it worse. If you're consistently washing your hands and not touching your face. I'd rather have the chef not wearing gloves. And also the gloves I've seen people wash their hands less in the end. I've seen people handling money and not take off their gloves. Every time you handle money you have to re-put on a new pair of gloves. And wearing gloves is like a US thing. No chef that I know wears gloves in Japan.

00:26:16 John Daub: You have to trust people sometimes. There's a window here too. We can see everything that they're doing. So I don't think it's a problem. So he's oiling up the other ones. So they're done there. Oh that's so good. He's gonna start to go to work on this. I have two left here. If anybody who wants it raise your hand right now and tell me where you're living I'll try to send these to you. I've had this question asked a hundred times. Why don't they wear gloves? Why don't you wear gloves? Just saying though. Like no good chef does. They want to handle the food. And handling the food is part of the love that they put into it.

00:27:13 John Daub: Those that talk about gloves you're eating too much fast food then. Usually unskilled chefs and stuff that. I know California has laws and stuff. We did it. Mission complete. Now make sure we leave the area cleaner than we found it. Always leave the area cleaner than you found it. And I'll see if I can maybe wipe it off with alcohol for the next person. That was amazing.

00:28:32 John Daub: So before I leave I'm going to get some takoyaki takeaway for Kanae Daub. Before I go back. Let's get something to wash it down Irvan. Good call man. Hi John, it's refreshing to see chefs getting back to normal. A stark difference from the state. Great content. Thank you. They have some pretty good options right here. This is the building. This building is the headquarters for Sushi Zanmai. And inside there they have a chef training center for the sushi chefs.

00:29:19 John Daub: That looks pretty good. That matcha drink. What do you guys think? Vending machine or matcha drink? Across the street you can see the Tsukiji market. You see the big fish up there. Hon maguro (bluefin tuna). 24 hours. There's a sushiyoko (sushi side street?) on the side there. Famous if you've ever been to Tsukiji market. This is the start of the outer market. The inner market of course everybody knows has moved over to Toyosu. About 3 km down the street towards the coast. And to a center which is much more protected. Better for sanitation purposes. The old Tsukiji market was built in the 1930s.

00:30:05 John Daub: Harumi Dori is... You just go straight to Harumi Dori to get there. Alright, let's support a local business I guess. The name of the shop is matcha. Let's go try a matcha drink. They have Tsukiji shaved ice too. Should we get it hot or cold? Let's get it cold. Matcha drink. The sandwiches look nice too. I'm not even that hungry and I'm looking at food. What's wrong with me? They don't have any matcha beer. That would be interesting.

00:31:01 John Daub: I had that down in Kyoto and it had like this... There's no sugar in matcha. You don't normally put honey in it. That's an American thing. But matcha has a natural like a plant tasting bitterness to it. That's really pleasant if you get used to it. But if you think coffee is too bitter without milk and sugar you're probably not going to like matcha. Look, Astro Boy is rocking the green hearts. Nice one. Matcha beer. I have an episode on that on the old channel. Oh, they got tiramisu. That looks so good. I should have gotten the matcha ice cream. It's not ice cream. It's happy ice cream. Oh I can't eat that though. I'm getting Kanae Daub takoyaki to take away for later on.

00:32:05 John Daub: This shop had some other really nice drinks. You know what? I like to get out and support my local businesses. I don't live too far away from here. Thank you. Wow, that is green. That's green. Alright, let me get to a place where I can drink this thing. Wow. There's not a lot of sun over here. Maybe we'll go to the other side. Let's cross the street and get into some sun over there. I want to show you the greenness to it. It's legit green. Look at that. That is a lot of matcha. This is going to be pretty bitter, I think. No, they don't put sugar in this. I don't think they do.

00:33:00 John Daub: Sometimes you'll see like azuki (red bean), green bean, red bean paste. That gives it a little bit of natural sweetness to it. The great thing, and a lot of people might not agree with me, but that azuki bean, the red bean paste that they put in a lot of Japanese confections, it's sweet, but it's a natural sweetness to it. At least many of them are. They don't put a lot of, they don't add much sugar to it, if any. That is, that's matcha. Wow. There's some sugar in it. Just a little bit of sugar. I'll go take it over to the other side of the street, show it to you in the light. I think in order to do this greenness justice, you need some natural lighting.

00:34:07 John Daub: For those of you that can't come to Tokyo or Japan and travel, which is about 99.9% of you, I'll be bringing you around Japan over the next few months until you can make it. And even then, still subscribe and keep watching. St. Luke's Hospital in the distance! Do you see that bridge crossing the two buildings? St. Luke's Hospital is one of the first, if not the first, Western hospital in Tokyo. It's also the site of the first U.S. embassy. This is where the foreign settlement was, Tsukiji back in the day during the Edo period, all foreigners had to live in a certain area. That was this area.

00:35:03 John Daub: Alright, here we go. Now you can see the green, can you not? Look at that. That is, that's green. That's what you gotta take into the sunlight. Sammy found the face pack emoji. Nice one. And bro555808, welcome as a traveler. Bye-bye. That was funny. Not a lot of tourists here. I feel like one right now, drinking matcha on the street. There we go. That's that green, look at it. And I like the fact that it took them, they didn't have it done right away, it took them a few minutes to make this. It is cold. She didn't even ask me if I wanted hot or cold. Automatically I got cold, which is good, because you can't drink hot there.

00:36:22 John Daub: If you go this way, straight, and we're gonna be ending this live stream in a second, definitely click the like button, if you like these little snack runs. I'm gonna try to do more. Get out to some local businesses. Maybe get some soba, some katsudon. I know that you guys like the content. If you click the like button, that's how I know. And you leave lots of comments. So the question is, and this is a serious question, what is your favorite takoyaki topping? And don't say pizza, because I had that in a Roppongi live stream about a year and a half ago, and it was kind of nasty. Something about tomato sauce doesn't work well with the takoyaki. I don't know. Kind of ruined it.

00:37:09 John Daub: But this is the first spot. And this building is new, but Gindako, which is a chain, they've been on this spot here since the start of their company, I believe. Tsukiji, which is known for fish, is also where this company grew. And I'll leave you with this story here, because we're in Tsukiji. That's Ginza's chain. It's right ahead. We're going to see some pretty cool cars going by. I've already seen three Lambos. But I'm going to leave you with this interesting story here. Tsukiji, although it's very very famous for the fish market, the fishermen who do business there, they don't want to eat fish at all. After they've been dealing with fish all morning, the first thing that they want is a bowl of gyudon (beef bowl).

00:38:03 John Daub: Gyudon is a beef bowl, okay? It's a beef with sauce all grilled together and onions and put on a bowl of rice. And it's amazing. This is where Yoshinoya, the chain, started. It started here, right? It's crazy. But that's also where Gindako, this takoyaki place, started here. That's also very crazy, right? I can use my bicycle as a... I have a little table and my bicycle... Look at that. It's camouflaged. The matcha tea is blending in with the bush. A lot of chains, a lot of restaurants have started or grown up here. Across the street from the fish market, there's about a dozen ramen places. Inside of the fish market, they had gyudon, beef bowls and grilled pork restaurants. Everything except for fish.

00:39:07 John Daub: Who ate the sushi at the fish market? The tourists. And I'm not just talking about the foreign tourists, Japanese tourists, too. The sushi is good there. The fishermen, though, they don't want to eat fish. That's a true story. They eat it for dinner, which is like lunchtime. Then they go to bed at like 4. Wake up again at like in the middle of the night to go work in. I do have to make a trip to Yoshinoya. It's been forever since I've been at a gyudon restaurant. But with the pandemic, not a lot of people. I don't know. It's just a little bit too risky for me.

00:39:47 John Daub: But that's where we sat and we ate the takoyaki right there in the corner. And there you have a staff member going right at it. Really working hard with those takoyaki, those two little sticks. That's a skill that takes days to master. You know what? If you guys tell me in the comments below what you think about that. But I might buy a takoyaki... I got that gas grill that I bought during the pandemic time. Back in February and March. We bought this gas grill. We made yakiniku out on the balcony. We were eating at home all the time. And we're still kind of eating at home most of the time. Take out very rarely.

00:40:24 John Daub: But if you're interested, I'll buy a takoyaki stove that we can cook and try to do this at home. I think it'll be pretty interesting to see. Because the electric takoyaki makers are not very good. What is really good is when you do it with gas. And they're using gas grills. They actually this chain I've seen at some of the other restaurants. The one in Roppongi especially. I think they do it old style. But those gas grills that they have for the balls. They also have mini vibrators. And the little vibrations are made so the balls go around. They start turning on their own. And they create a perfectly cooked takoyaki. However, it loses that human touch. It uses that connectivity with the chef. Which I think is very necessary.

00:41:13 John Daub: And you can see that now those takoyaki balls are done over there. Ready to serve. Anybody who comes in to order them will get them. They stay pretty hot right there on the shelf for a very long time. So there you have it. For those that are hoping to make a trip to Japan. Go check out now the Earth Celebration EC 2020. My friends are... I love the Koto group. I know many of them spent some time with them in January this year. Before the pandemic broke. And filmed over on Sado-ga-shima (Sado Island). That's where I also get one of my favorite sakes. Hokusetsu. Which is partially owned by Robert De Niro on that island.

00:42:02 John Daub: And if you ever want to go to Sado-ga-shima. I highly recommend you go to Hokusetsu. The sake brewery. Just get a taxi or rent a car or something. Get over there. You will see pictures of Robert De Niro smashed. Like he has a smile from ear to ear. Just plowed on Japanese sake. And it's amazing. People are now photo bombing. The world is almost getting back to normal. I shouldn't get too comfortable. Brendan Walker. Definitely get a takoyaki grill. I did it myself recently. No regrets. And I can do some weird stuff. Like wagyu takoyaki.

00:42:51 John Daub: Wagyu takoyaki. Do not. It's not takoyaki. It's wagyu. I don't know. Don't smash my idea. Don't break my dreams. Wagyu takoyaki. A piece. We put a piece of wagyu in the middle. I know Kanae's not going to like that. But I think it has potential. There's actually a place in Sangenjaya that I will introduce you to. I haven't seen the owner in about 5 years. It's been a long time. But they have a cousin of takoyaki. And takoyaki has a family tree. There's about 30 or 40 different variations of takoyaki. All of them are a little bit different. Akashi yaki is a cousin to takoyaki, for example.

00:43:36 John Daub: Maybe I'll get into an episode on this fish takoyaki exactly when you have your own grill you can experiment. But here you're limited to sort of the toppings that they have. Some of the shops might allow you to add extra cheese and things like this too for an additional fee. But making your own takoyaki, that's also a really good idea where you can add the toppings yourself. Maybe something for an entrepreneur out there. So thanks everybody for watching. Go over check out Earth's celebration.

00:44:03 John Daub: Wow, I almost saw an accident the bus driver was upset because there was a car parking. There watch where you park. Bus drivers here crazy. Yeah, go over watch the Earth celebration. Hello. Hi 821 just shared the link. It is an awesome taiko (drum) festival. Tomorrow is the main event day which is the finale that is the best day to watch but today is also an amazing day with a very nice concert. They've worked really hard to prepare the content for you for Earth Celebration digital this year because of the pandemic. And also they I believe they have like a Kickstarter to help support the group. They lost a lot of money this year because they can't go touring. So they're trying to find new ways to stay afloat.

00:44:52 John Daub: I also have my own Kickstarter, which is a fireworks project, which is getting closer to four million yen, which is awesome. So we're going to by the way, the rewards are coming. I believe this evening. We're just kind of writing it up and making sure we don't have any mistakes. But you're gonna be able to have the option to sponsor your own shakudama (watermelon-sized firework) which is the watermelon sized firework and you can send me a letter or a logo. You can send me your YouTube channel logo or something and I will slap that on that firework and you can watch it explode. We're gonna film it for you and you get a present which is an empty shell sent to you, which is awesome.

00:45:31 John Daub: Before you get all excited. It's like about a hundred thousand yen or close to a thousand dollars. It's expensive. I know but we're supporting the fireworks industry and who has also lost a lot of work. But if you're thinking about one a sponsor you on firework or something or you got a bunch of friends you guys want to put in some money for it? Very cool. You have that option now. We're doing a second firework project at Kitahama Katsuta Chi which is where the 420 kilogram firework episode was filmed and Honda-san who is the president of the company is gonna be making some shakudama for us. So we're getting it made by the master. You don't get any better than this.

00:46:12 John Daub: There you go guys how much a hundred thousand yen? It's like a thousand dollars almost but it's so worth it if you have that kind of money to explode up in the sky, it's cool. I don't know I'm gonna buy a couple so don't worry about it, but it'd be pretty cool. I can I'll slap a letter if you want to send it to me or if you lost somebody recently and you want to launch it up in his or her honor or your grandfather retired from a job and you want to give him a present? That's what the Japanese do with the fireworks. They dedicate it to somebody special if you like this kind of a thing in memory of somebody that they lost or to say I love you by shooting up a firework. That's how the industry look at these coppers. It's like chips.

00:47:13 John Daub: Alright guys. Have a good day. I gotta get something for Kanae Daub. That's why I'm still hanging out here. I'll see you tomorrow in another livestream and check out our celebration. Bye everybody. Matane (see you later) and thanks Irvan. I'm sure I speak for many of us but we're still waiting patiently for midnight snack run, yeah, I get that. Monty wrote in more snack runs just make sure I didn't miss any still here didn't go anywhere yet. Oh King Wong monies for burning the mouth. I still don't want ducky mosses.