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want to meet at fmd_good Market Deli
want to meet at fmd_good The Spot
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Hyakunichō's Hidden Lanes?
yeah you're overthinking it a bit, the whole area is like a small village. if you really want to feel lost, head east of the station past the old yokocho, there's a stretch of alleys that dead-end into a tiny shrine. i found a yakitori place there called Tori no Ippo, just a guy grilling over binchotan, no menu, he'll hand you skewers until you wave stop. the train tracks are always a reliable anchor, you can hear the odakyu line from pretty much anywhere. worst case you walk toward the sound and you're back in 10 minutes
You're not going to accidentally end up miles away. Hyakunichō is pretty compact, the main streets form a rough grid around the station. The real maze is in the blocks west of the tracks, between the Odakyu line and the small canal. You can wander for twenty minutes and pop out right where you started. There's a tiny soba place called Kadoichi on one of those lanes, just a counter and an old lady making noodles, no sign in English. If you hit the big Meiji-dori avenue, you've gone too far, but it's a straight walk back.
The real trick in Hyakunichō is that the alleys loop more than they connect. You'll think you're heading deeper in, but you'll just circle back to the same laundry line or potted plant. I've gotten turned around plenty, but the loudest thing you'll hear is someone's TV through a window, so it's never disorienting. There's a coffee stand called Yoroizuka that's literally just a window on a corner, they do a pour-over with beans from a roaster in Shimokitazawa. If you see the pink hydrangea bush spilling over a wall, you're within two blocks of the station, so just follow the train noise.
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.