The other half of Mitsuwa contains a bakery, food court, prepared food/sushi bar, video games, and other product stalls.
Our trip to Mitsuwa started with lunch in the food court. I chose the "Jockey" stall and ordered a roast duck soup and shrimp dumpling combo for $6.99. In the photo, the soup looked like a roast duck leg floating atop a bowl of ramen and vegetables. When my number was called, (Jockey 45!), I picked up my soup combo which contained an entire half-duck, breast and all. The dumplings were as tasty as any dim sum house's version.
After watching some kids play Dance Dance Revolution for a few minutes, we noticed a large crowd gathered around a tent near the front of the store. Pushing through the crowd I was able to see a group of people butchering the largest tuna I've ever seen. It was delivered by forklift and had to be at least 10 feet long, weighing a ton. Eight men worked on one section of the loin for an hour. See the end of this post for some pics.
After filling up on food and entertainment, I filled up my basket with $25 worth of Japanese goodies: udon noodles, instant miso, red bean mochi cakes, Japanese pickles, rice/soybean chips, and some sesame oil.
A trip to Mitsuwa is truly a unique experience. We have an excellent variety of ethnic markets around Chicago that make you feel like you're in another country (see Bobak's as another example), but the offerings at Mitsuwa are staggering. Saturday's trip was truly like a trip to the circus: delicious food (and cheap); center-ring entertainment, colorful sights, dizzying sounds, happy crowds, and goodies galore.
Now, onto the tuna pics (location info at the end):
A side view of the giant tuna:
A few men sizing up a section of the loin (this is about 1/8th of the fish)
A closer view of the loin section
Check out Mitsuwa Marketplace at 100 E. Algonquin Road in Arlington Hts. (at Arlington Heights Road). (847)956-6699, 9am-8pm M-F. Plenty of parking.