toraya akasaka

Toraya started in Kyoto in the 16th century! and their head offices are now in Tokyo

The tea salon in Akasaka was rebuilt in 2018 and made with lots of hinoki (cypress) by Hiroshi Naito
 

The interior is beautiful with large windows

Pretty flower arrangement

After waiting for seats we were seated near the window...where we could watch the cars whizz past

I think all the greenery that we could see from our seats is part of the property that the State Guest House sits on

I had the half sized apricot shaved ice...1870 yen (tax included)

apricot puree, amaretto syrup and marinated apricots

this was delicious

While eating, I had eaten all the puree and marinated apricots and was sad that there wasn't any more apricots to finish the rest of the shaved ice with 

And then, I was pleasantly surprised to find more apricot puree at the bottom of the dish!

I'm glad I tried this.

Satoshi had the half sized chilled oshiruko....1320 yen (tax included)

He could choose between koshian (smooth) or tsubuan (chunky), he chose tsubuan

He said this was the perfect size

shopping on the 2nd floor

rawr

then go down to the basement to see their art gallery

during this visit, they had an ukiyoe display

beautiful building and desserts. they also have some light savory items...I'll be back whenever I am in the area

Toraya Akasaka

4-9-22 Akasaka

Minato, Tokyo

Closed: every 6th of the month

Hours: 9:00-18:00 (shop), 11:00-17:30 (cafe, lunch until 14:00), 10:00-17:30 (gallery)

hie shrine

One place that Satoshi wanted to check out was Hie Shrine, since he has a tour soon, which is dedicated to the deity of Mount Hiei in Kyoto

it is also known as Hiyoshi Taisha, and is one of the oldest and most revered Shinto shrine in Tokyo

The shrine houses three deities that are believed to protect people from disasters, especially fires

Satoshi had thought I had visited before but I had not

I was surprised but thankful for the escalators that take you up and down, to and from the shrine

There was also an area with many red torii (this area is all steps)

I noticed on their website that they had a wisteria tree, but did not see it when we visited, I hope they didn't cut it down.

I’m glad I got to visit this shrine

Hie Shrine

2-10-5 Nagatacho

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Hours: 6:00-18:00

*no admission

osaka madras curry

Not sure how I found out about Osaka Madras Curry but I had it bookmarked to try

Apparently this is owned by actor, Kitamura Kazuki

This shop is teeny, only 8 seats

The character in the turban resembles the actor
 

Buy your ticket...EXCEPT it doesn't take new bills! so we needed to ask the guy working there to change it for us

He mentioned that they plan to change the machine soon since the older bills are harder to come by these days

Kat ordered the small curry (200 grams rice) with cheese 1120 yen (tax included)

Each serving comes with a raw egg, this reminded me of a curry I had in Osaka at Namba Jiyuken, with blog friend Dennis, many moons ago.

The curry starts of a little sweet and then the spices creep up on you.

It reminded me of the curry we had at Joto Curry

The cheese had lots of pull! love!

Satoshi went with the small curry with katsu 1340 yen (tax included)

He said he enjoyed this

If you need to make your curry spicier, use their can of spices on the table (with the yellow label)

This shop is run by one person, so be prepared to wait

I'm glad we got to try this place and will be back whenever I am in the area

Osaka Madras Curry

3-14-8 Akasaka

Minato, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays

Hours: 11:00-14:45 (lunch), 16:00-20:45 (dinner)

*cash only

kepo bagels

Yesterday, Satoshi had a dentist appointment, so afterwards as we were walking to the train station, I noticed this bagel shop, Kepo Bagels

Apparently this brand started back in 2008 in the Kamikitazawa area of Tokyo

The owner enjoys chewy foods so she makes NY style as well as Japanese style bagels 

I bought the plain (210 yen (tax included) and fermented butter (440 yen (tax included) bagels for us to try....

please label them...I couldn't tell them apart!

upon opening each package, I realized the "oily" one was the butter

We only ate the butter one and it could have been more chewy

I have the plain one in the freezer and look forward to trying this one

Not sure I'll be back, but am glad we got to try these

Kepo Bagels

2-25-1 Senzoku

Meguro, Tokyo

Closed: Wednesdays

Hours: 8:00-17:00

nihonbashi

back in 2024, the area near Tokyo Station had all these walls with artwork on them

they were building a high rise

 

The other day, I was surprised to see the artwork gone and the building almost finished

Apparently it is part of the Bus Terminal in the area 

Love that there are places to sit, look forward to exploring this area later this year

Love the art work in the window of Nihonbashi Takashimaya

There were all sorts of sea creatures and they had the sounds that they make running on a speaker

Lunch was at Brozers...if you look at the katakana for the name the phonetics sound like it is Brothers

anyway, the daily burger was their Chili Burger...slightly spicy chili with tons of pepper on the burger!...1550 yen (plus tax)

the pepper caught me off guard which made me cough

Overall the burger was beefy, juicy and delicious

I'm glad I tried this place and look forward to trying their pastrami sandwich, I'll be back

Brozers

Nihonbashi Takashimaya 7F

Chuo, Tokyo

Closed: when Takashimaya is

Hours: 11:00-21:30

this and that

Gelatle's (apparently they combined the words gelato & turtle) blood orange shiroan gelato was more like a sherbet.

This had blood orange juice, shiroan (sweetened white bean paste), and also used some kiyose honey....different but super refreshing!

FYI: Kiyose is a city in the northern part of Tokyo

we kinda woke up to watch "parts" of the Japan vs Brazil soccer match...the broadcast was at 2:00

I fell asleep at half time and woke up just in time to see Japan lose (sorry!)

I always like seeing how this electronics store will dress up its mascot for different events during the year 

This is him cheering for the soccer team

Godiva and Shirokuma are collaborating for 7-eleven...chocolate shaved ice topped with lots of fruits, hope to try this soon

saw someone make an espresso tonic with elderflower water tonic

since I found some at the market I tried

the elderflower tonic water was bitter 

instead of espresso I did mine with coffee

I enjoyed the combination and am glad I got to try this

Tokyo People: she had this huge umbrella, and at first I thought she was protecting people from the drips of the window washer, but I think it was to protect her!

peach season!

we've been having rain, there is a possibility of another typhoon (maybe two?!) coming

even if it is a little cool, it is still gross & humid

have a safe weekend!

jack in the donuts

June 11th, Jack in the Donuts opened in our train station

The line was krazy (and still is on weekends) so I finally got to try them the other day
 

We actually tried them awhile back in Akihabara so I was also leery because at that time it wasn’t too tasty

Coffee Fashion...cake style old fashion with coffee glaze

Galaxy Doughnut...the texture was like mochi donuts

Except look how "thin" they are!

and dry...meh

Disappointing, should’ve trusted my instinct, won't be back