Saturday, April 22, 2017

Japan, Tokyo- Delicious Food for the soul

Couple months back i flew to Tokyo with my company for a week & we ate to our hearts content! I've honestly never been on a strictly eating trip so this was pretty fun! My tummy was def pleased too heh.

Anyways, this entire post would be recommendations of the food or coffee i had during my 1 week stay in Tokyo. I wouldn't recommend em if it ain't good! This food post is based in Tokyo, basically mostly around Shinjuku area, unless otherwise stated.

Blue Bottle Cafe

Address: 4 Chome-1-6 Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0022, Japan
Opening Hours: 8am-10pm (Opened Daily)

I am not a huge fan of coffee, but occasionally i'd like a cuppa if i feel like it. I quite liked the coffee at Blue Bottle Cafe. Their coffee beans weren't those acidic type. In fact, it was just right! 
The baristas handling the coffee sure know what their're doing! The milk was not burnt & the temperature of the coffee was just nice. I loved the coffee for sure.. So did the rest of my colleagues (:






Hakata Tenjin

Address: Japan, 〒160-0022 Tokyo, 新宿区Shinjuku, 3−22−6
Opening hours: 10am-4am (Opened Daily)

I love ramen incredibly much! If i could, i'd eat a bowl everyday lolll. Basically i love anything w soup! Hakata Tenjin is a pretty big chain. I saw quite a number of stores everywhere. My favourite bowl would be the 'Bamboo Shoots Ramen'. 
Their Bamboo Shoots are so tasty & slightly firm! The ones in SG def taste nothing like em!! & Of course, not forgetting the heavenly broth! Thick & full of flavour! 

WHATS NOT TO LIKE?!

I enjoyed my bowl of ramen so much on my last day in Tokyo, i went back again for another bowl before flying back to SG. Best last meal in Tokyo!





Ichiran Ramen

Address: 3 Chome-34-11 Shinjuku, 新宿区 Tokyo 160-0022, JapanOpening Hours: Opened 24hours

Ichiran Ramen is highly raved about. I honestly preferred Hakata Tenjin. I mean, to each it's own preference eh?

Not that the ramen at Ichiran was bad.. I loved the broth. Def way more flavourful but i felt sooo thristy after. You can choose the doneness of the noodle, how thick you'd like your broth to be, & the spicy level. 




Dominique Ansel Bakery

Address:  5 Chome-7-14 Jingumae, 渋谷区 Tokyo 150-0001, Japan
Opening Hours: 10am-7pm

Dominique Ansel Bakery is well known by almost everyone. How can one visit Tokyo & not try his pastries?! Well, i didn't on my first trip to Tokyo loll. But thank God for food fanatics friends.. This was the first thing on our to-visit list!

We reached a little earlier than the opening time, 10am.. & There was already a queue when we got there! They have 2 queues- Take away & Dine in.
I think it's better to dine in though. 

This was def worth the queue! Loved almost every pastry we ordered. We basically ordered almost the entire menu HAHAHA. Travel all the way there & queued in the cold, might as well go all out. 





The famous cronut! Loved it!


 Frozen Smores on a stick which the staff will torch in front of you.
I quite liked this (:

 Cookie Shots.

This was so-so only. I mean, nothing wow to be honest.
 Loved the DKA (Dominique's kouign amann)! The entire table loved that dish the most.

DKA (Dominique's kouign amann)
 Perfect Little Egg Sandwich

I loved the texture of the egg but i felt it was missing something. Like the entire sandwich lack seasoning? It would have been better if there was like a sauce to give it some flavour.

 Cotton Soft Cheesecake.
 Apple Tart.
Gougeres. 

Good Town Doughnuts

Address: Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya, 神宮前6丁目12−6
Opening Hours: 10am-8pm (Opened Daily)

Initially when i heard the name of Good Town Doughnuts, i didn't think much of it nor did i have high expectations. Figured their doughnuts would be like Dunkin Doughnuts. 

But boy was i so sooo wrong! Good Town Doughnuts are NOTHING like Dunkin Doughnuts! I love the various flavours of their doughnuts! Especially the lightness of the doughnut itself. Boss ordered almost every flavour except for 1 or 2 & everyone tried a bit. My favourite doughnut was the lemon poppy seed! 









Luke's Lobster

Address: Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya, Jingumae, 6−7−1
Opening Hours: 11am-8pm (Opened daily)

Luke's Lobster was just a distance from Good Town Doughnuts. Basically GTD, Dominique Ansel Bakery, Luke's Lobster & Gyoza-ro are all a walking distance from each other. 

Anyways, back to Luke's Lobster.. My friends said they preferred the crab mix w lobster roll more than the lobster roll. I had the lobster roll & found it to be kinda disappointing though. It lacked flavour. Also there was a really long queue for this.


Harajuku Gyoza-ro

Address: Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, 渋谷区Jingumae, 6−2−4
Opening Hours: 11.30am-4.30am
11.30am-11pm (Sundays only)

Apparently Gyoza-ro has one of the best dumplings in Tokyo. 
They were out of steamed dumplings by the time we reached. So we opted for the pan fried dumplings instead in 2 flavours- Original & Leeks.

The dumplings were good! Thin skin & crispy! Filling was uber moist. Yummeh.




Gyukatsu Motomura

Address: Japan, 〒160-0022 Tokyo, 新宿区Shinjuku, 3−32−2
Opening Hours: 11am-10pm (Opened Daily)

Gyuatsu would be hands down one of the best meals in Tokyo!! The deep fried breaded beef cutlet was so tender i loved it so much i'm actually craving for some now.

I had the set with the mountain yam & i didn't like the yam cause it tasted very slimy. 
1400Yen a set- 130g of beef.

We had to queue for roughly 25mins. But i read online that usually it takes about an hour before getting a table. It was really fast though. The staff would get you to order while you queue. & The moment you are brought to your table, they sit you down & within 5 minutes your food arrives piping hot!! SUPER EFFICIENT! Loved the service too!

MAJOR THUMBS UP FOR THIS RESTAURANT!

A must try!!!!!









Path

Address:  Japan, 〒151-0063 Tokyo, 渋谷区Tomigaya, 1−44−2 A-FLAT
Opening Hours: 8am-3pm | 6pm-12am (Closed on Mondays)

Path is an awesome place to dine for brunch! Their dinner menu looks amazing too but we did not have time to head back for dinner. 

Whilst waiting for our table, we caught the chef owner of Path, Yuichi Goto, whipping up a new batch of croissants. It was so therapeutic to watch him delicately roll the croissants. Unfortunately by the time we got a table, the croissants were already sold out. Sad. So we did not get to try it. 

Everything else we had was pretty good though. Def a good place to dine at!










Salsiccia & Biscuit


Dutch pancake with ham & burrata cheese, drizzled with a generous amount of maple syrup.

Creamia

Address: Japan, 〒150-0041 Tokyo, 渋谷区Jinnan, 1−19−3

Cremia is a soft serve ice cream which has 12.5% Hokkaido milk. Cremia is also made from 25% of heavy whipped cream which is why it has such a creamy texture and strong milk flavour.

The cone, which by the way, is my favourite part bout the ice cream.. Is made out of langue de chats aka cat's tongue. Basically its a thin cookie that when eaten melts in your mouth. 



Chocolate & Vanilla flavour. The cone is made out of thin cookies which i liked alot. I preferred the cone more than i did the ice cream tho. 

Let's "Enjoy" Fishing

Address: 3-2-9 NishishinjukuShinjuku 160-0023
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 11.30am-2pm | 5pm-11pm
Sat-Sun 11.30am-11pm
As the name of the restaurant is, we literally did some fishing for our food. Hahaha. It was a great experience & definitely interesting! Although of course we weren't literally at sea fishing but instead, in a man made "pond" where there were different types of fishes. 

The type of fish you catch would determine the price. After catching the fish you can choose to either have it as a sashimi dish, fried or steamed! We had our 4 fish which we caught fried & sashimi!! I preferred the sashimi dish though. It was mighty fresh i loved it so much!