[Tokyo Fall 2008] Kichijoji: Satou Fried Beef Meatballs

After visiting the park I relized we still had a couple hours before we had to be at Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum, so I figured I'd try to find us the fried meatballs again.

I remember reading about how someone walked from Ghibli Museum and through the park, toward the "other" side of the park and had the meatballs. I thought I'd find out what direction the museum was, and then walk towrad the opposite direction, where I should eventually run into the meatball place.

I saw this sign:



Up close:



Now that I knew where to go away from the museum.

John and I walked and walked until we were out of the park, and we didn't see any meatball place! I checked the address and just couldn't find the right chome...

I was really hungry and was thinking of giving up, and just finding a place inside a market street looking area to have lunch. Then I saw a line of people:


There are two secions of the line, with a gap in the middles, so the line does not affect the traffic flow.

I looked up and saw "Satou"! This was the meatball place we had been looking for!

We quickly got in line, and within a few minutes a girl came by and gave us a large ticket for purchasing the Satou special fried beef meatballs. Apparently they only make so many meatballs per batch, and only those with the tickets were "allowed" to purchase, with a limit number of 20 per ticket holder.


We were the last to get a ticket for the next batch. The people behind us would have to wait a little bit longer before they got theirs.

While in line we tried to figure out how many meatballs we'd get. We saw some large fillet looking pieces, some tiny little ones, some medium ones, etc.,but we had not idea exactly how large these "special" ones were... we figured we'd get 10. (The ticket says it's 180yen per 1-4, and 140yen per one if you get more than 5.)


When it was finally our turn, we told the girl we'd like 10. She apologized and said she only had 8. The lady behind us said she'd like only 8 (sure you do!) so the girl kindly asked us to wait just a few more minutes.

Fine. If waiting for another couple more minutes gives me fresher meatballs. Why not.


So we waited a few more minutes, and learned that you only need to stay in line for the special meatballs; if you'd like other kinds of meatballs or meats, you just walk up and buy.


Some sort of fried meatballs.

When it was our time to get our 10 fresh special meatballs, the girls at the counter had put them in two different paper bags.

She handed me my bag of meatballs. OMG. They were BIG!


"Satou Special Fried Beef Meatballs!"

The beef in the meatballs was really juicy and tasty, and there were chopped onions, ground black pepper, and other spices. (There might have been other ingredients that I couldn't name.)

Did I say they were BIG? They were big, flavorful, and rich! I ate three and that was all I could take... and we got 10!

I think the special meatballs were worth the wait. You just have to remember not to get too many at a time.