Without question, the best ‘OMG-I’m-so-glad-to-be-off-the-plane’ meal I have had in a long time was at Le Cafe de Joel Robuchon in the wonderfully impressive department store Takashimaya, Nihonbashi, Tokyo. It was a simple egg salad sandwich, but the execution and tastes were perfect. In addition to the herbed egg salad, the bread was spread with a tomato confit and the sandwich was served with crispy french fries, house-made ketchup, Japanese pickles, and gazpacho. After a long flight of indigestible slop masquerading as plane food, I nearly wept with joy at the sight of this meal. (I asked for ‘Asian Veg” on JAL. They brought me some mysterious substance that looked and tasted like a loofa sponge in flavorless cornstarch sauce. I asked the attendant what it was. She told me the name in Japanese. When I looked confused, she disappeared briefly. She must have consulted a Japanese/English dictionary because she returned and proudly stated that it was a “sub-aquatic fungus”. A SUB-AQUATIC FUNGUS!!!)
