Mexican Food

When I lived in Tokyo in the 1980s, one of items I missed almost as much as hot chocolate was Mexican food. There didn't seem to be any of it anywhere. I remember being thrilled when 7-11 started selling ham and cheese burritos. The only resemblance to Mexican food was the tortilla, but I loved them.

In more recent years one of the family restaurant chains had added tacos to the menu, and I'd ordered them a couple times. The first time they served them cold. The second time, at a different location, they were warm, and decent.

We were in Tokyo a year ago when the first Taco Bell opened here. Actually, I think Taco Bell has been in Japan before, closed, and now returned. We didn't go when the new one opened because TV was showing lines around the building. But, in the meantime, another location has opened, and we did visit the original, which we found to be pretty credible, though minus the ultra cheap meal deals, and with a somewhat smaller, and somewhat Japanized menu than one finds in the US.

While it has only peripherally to do with the topic, Carl's Jr. has also opened a store in Tokyo recently. We'll try it too when the lines die down. Doesn't look like they have Hardee's biscuits though, which is one of the best things about Carl's in the US.

Anyway, before coming to Tokyo this time, we had done research and found a number of Mexican restaurants. Some have probably been around a while, but the Internet makes it so much easier to find things nowadays. 

Still, we did bring with us taco and fajita seasoning. And then, the first day we arrived, we went to the store across the street to buy groceries, and found that they had taco shells, and seasonings. Almost every store has tortillas now. In thirty-some years Japan has come a long way in this regard.

Oh, and on the hot chocolate, it is everywhere in Japan now, though I no longer drink much of it. Thirty years ago on my way home from Japan I ordered two cups in San Francisco only to find them so sweet I couldn't make it through all of the first one. (One's taste buds change with a sugar deprived diet.)