Earlier this year, I met Ahmed in Oakhouse Kichijoji 2. He is the first Egyptian friend I had in my life. What a nice guy. Just last week, he organized a BBQ party where he presented amazing grilled chickens marinated with some secret Egyptian spices. It’s just a matter of time until he opens a chicken grill stand in Kichijoji. I’m counting on it!
Ramadan dinner was something that Ahmed picked up one day and said there’s a mosque in Tokyo where you get to have some middle eastern food. I’m not Muslim but I thought it’d be an interesting cultural experience going there with Ahmed. Besides, I did not know there’s a mosque in Tokyo. Shohei and Thomas were also interested in this and we decided to go together after work.
Tokyo Camii (Turkish Culture Center) is located in Shibuya ward, around 5 mins walk from Yoyogi-Uehara station. Easy to spot the building as its spire stands out in the area. It took me by surprise. I did not imagine it to be as flawless as it was. The surface of the architecture is covered with marbles. Truly magnificent. The whole place was so exotic. Once we entered the building, it made us forget about the fact that we were still in Tokyo.
I did not take many photos inside the building. I’m sure it’s allowed but I guess I did not want to look like a tourist.
I heard Koran in a prayer room. People start coming in and 50 to 70 people came in total. It was not the first time hearing Koran for me, though. It reminded me of the trip I took to Malaysia about 10 years ago.
Dinner was served right after the pray. It was really really good. It was different from all the food I’ve ever had. It was something new for even Ahmed. This could be some kind of Turkish food. After all, this place is a Turkish culture center. I really hope I can come back next year for this.
The food was great but I was still hungry when we left the mosque. So as other guys.
We cannot end the night with some bad low-quality food as we already had a great middle eastern food. What we choose to eat back then could potentially ruin our Ramadan night.
We wandered Okubo area for a while visiting the most exotic food market in Japan.
I’ve never seen Durian in Japan. All these time, it was here in Okubo.
This entire place is a mixture of many cultures.
There we found HiSAR, a Turkish restaurant located close to JR Okubo station and that… was the right place to go.
The food disappeared quickly
I did not expect this much of cultural experience within a day at first, but it was such fresh and pleasant one.
One of the things I like about living in Oakhouse is a constant flux of new people and new experience.
You might be hard to find one nowadays but it’s much easier to find one in the diversity we live in the house.