end of an era

One of the cake shops in our area is closing next Sunday.

Enomoto has been in business since 1922!

The building needs to be brought up to code, so the owners decided to shut down their cake shop and will eventually tear down the building.

Sad to see them go.

It was one of the first cafes we explored when we moved to Tokyo.

Stood in line to get some cakes this morning.

At 9:45 I was 19 in line...at 10:00 when they opened many cakes were already sold out by the time I got up to the showcase.

Hope everyone in back of me was able to purchase something.

thankful

Yesterday after physical therapy, I went to Akasaka for lunch at Authentic

Had this place on my “to try” list after seeing it on a J-drama

They have been in business since 2006

Had the whole place to myself..whoo!

Avocado Burger

I added bacon, and it comes with fries

Iced oolong tea...1872 yen (tax included)

Delicious, meaty, super messy!

The fries were just okay

I’m glad I tried this place, and will be back whenever I’m in the area.

After lunch I went buy cakes from Shirotae

I’ve had them on my “to try” list ever since we lived in Osaka.

They have been in business since 1976 and are super popular

I’ve heard there is almost always a line.

The shop is quite small, so be prepared to wait.

Stand on the left of the door if you are taking out.

Stand on the right if you will be eating there.

Go ahead of the line if you already have pre-ordered.

Love the door handles!

cheesecake 300 yen (plus tax) so dense, rich and creamy

chocolat noir 470 yen (plus tax) the top reminded me of dobash cake 

paysanne 470 yen (plus tax) this had apples, and a crème brûlée top, super airy 

It was so hard to choose! and the ones we tried were super delicious

will have to go back to try others

thankful for another trip around the sun

Authentic

2-18-19 Akasaka

Minato, Tokyo

Open daily 11:00-15:30 (lunch), 17:30-21:30 (dinner)

*cash only

Shirotae

4-1-4 Akasaka

Minato, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays & Mondays

Hours: 10:30-19:30

*cash only

maiko

This summer, on a lot of Japanese social media accounts I had been seeing whole peach desserts being sold by many cake shops as well as cafes. 

The cafes would put them on top of parfaits.

Well, lucky for us Maiko also had their own version.

A yellow cake on the bottom, the whole peach is cored, poached in a syrup and filled with custard.

So delicious! 600 yen (plus tax).

We also tried their Pave, a dense chocolate cake...380 yen (plus tax).

We ate the peach before the chocolate cake, so that the peach wouldn't turn "sour" from the sweetness of the chocolate, but the chocolate cake seemed to have very little flavor after eating that peach!

Still, I'm glad we were able to try these and look forward to peach season next year.

oh em gee

The last time we went to Takeuchi Bakery, their sign for roll castella caught my eye "after" I came out of the store.

Apparently they only sell this on Saturdays.

It is similar to swiss rolls except they use castella for the cake.

The castella is filled with buttercream.

Oh em gee.

The castella as well as the buttercream is so light! not dense and dry like some castella can be.

It was so hard to slice without "squishing" it but we got 4 nice sized slices.

Only 410 yen (tax included) 

They also have plain castella filled with raspberry jam and raisin dotted castella filled with buttercream.

Most bakeries have been raising their prices due to various costs going up, Takeuchi Bakery will be raising their prices in May.

I’m glad we tried this and will definitely get it again the next time we are here.

cusunoki

About 10 minutes walking distance from where we live, there is a small cake shop called Cusunoki.

We tried their ganache cake to celebrate Valentine’s & Kat’s birthday.

It was rich, chocolately & perfect with red wine.

We’ll be back.

Cusunoki

2-22-2 Higashiyaguchi

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.6459.8355

Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays

Hours: 11:00-18:00

p.s. our arms are sore from the booster vaccine and Kat had chills and headaches on Sunday, but overall we are doing fine.

friday

Friday we went to the Magome Cyclamen Garden, to see their cyclamen.

We had been here earlier in the year but at that time it was off season for them.

This time around, they had so many pretty varieties and there were quite a number of customers sending cyclamen to friends and family.

Lunch was at Kikuya 

I think they have been around for awhile since their interior is quite retro and so is their restroom...eep! Japanese style!

I had their tempura soba...the broth was a little too salty for my liking but the warm noodles hit the spot.

Satoshi had their curry nanban soba.

He enjoyed this and perspired profusely!

There are other items on the menu that Satoshi wants to try so we'll be back.

Down the street is a little cake shop...Maiko.

They opened last year and we finally got to check them out.

Marron pie...a whole chestnut and chestnut paste covered with flaky pastry.

Love!

Satoshi had their chocolate shortcake...a chocolate sponge with chocolate whipped cream and strawberries.

We'll be back to try other items too.

The weather has been great...sunny but cold!

Have a good week.

Kikuya

3-28-13 Ikegami

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3751.1127

Open daily 11:30-15:00 (lunch), 17:00-20:00 (dinner)

Maiko

3-29-15 Ikegami

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.6303.5589

Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays

Hours: 11:00-19:00

this and that

Back in July, we tried Hio Ice cream. 

I recently bought some other flavors for us to try...corn milk...

interesting but weird mouth feel, kinda grainy?!

Floral chocolate was super rich and chocolatey...love!

For Halloween, we had some cakes from Enomoto...Satoshi's Japanese chestnut and salted caramel.

I had their pumpkin tart...loved the chocolate bat too!

We shared these cakes from Vanni the night before with wine...no bake cheesecake...the goblin was white chocolate...boo!

chocolate cake was rich and delicious.

We started November with our case number falling to 9 for Tokyo!

We are still in awe as to how quickly our numbers fell...crossing fingers we are headed in the right direction.

Many of the other prefectures have been enjoying 0 daily cases.

Japan’s fully vaccinated rate is up to 72%

“Someone” has drinking meet ups lined up in the coming weeks…

Hope to get out to see some fall foliage in the coming weeks too.

Have a safe weekend.

flammarion

For our anniversary, I purchased some Opera cakes from Flammarion.

Apparently they have been in business since 1959.

The cakes were super chocolatey! with a hint of coffee.

They had so many other cakes that I want to try...I'll be back.

Flammarion
3-37-7 Kugahara
Ota, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3754.8800
Closed Thursdays
Hours: 10:00-19:00

goma goma goma

Starbucks came out with everything sesame the other day.

The name is "goma goma goma" literally "sesame sesame sesame"...

I didn't try their sesame frappuccino or latte for fear of it being gritty...instead I tried their coffee cake.

Unfortunately it was dry, but I liked the flavor because they used black and white sesame seeds...very nutty flavor.

What have you been enjoying?

dream cake

Found out through social media that all the St Germain bakeries and Dee Lite Bakeries will close in August.

If I'm not mistaken, they were the first Japanese style bakery in Hawaii.

My father loved chocolate and one cake that he enjoyed was dream cake.

The cake is airy, the frosting whipped light with chocolate shavings all over.

I recently bought a dream cake from Dee Lite Bakery, the cake was more of a spice cake, but still very airy.

Still, I think Dad would've enjoyed this one.

It's sad to see these icons in Hawaii culture disappear.

imabari-okunoshima-takehara

From Imabari, it took us about 40 minutes to get to Inokuchi Port by bus.

Before getting on the bus, Satoshi called a taxi company to meet us at Inokuchi Port, so that they could take us to Sakari Port.

When Satoshi had called, he explained that we wanted to catch the ferry to Okunoshima.

To get to Inokuchi Port, you need to cross the Shimanami Kaido, a roadway that links the small islands in the Setouchi area.

On a sunny day, the view is quite spectacular.

I hope you can view this video I shot as we crossed one of the bridges on the Shimanami Kaido

We arrived at Inokuchi Port a little before 9:00 and the taxi was waiting for us.

In fact, as we got off the bus, the taxi driver said, "jump in, we can make the 9:05 ferry"

Sakari Port was 2 kilometers away from Inokuchi Port, so off we sped.

As he drove on the winding coastal road, he radioed the ferry that we wanted to get on the 9:05 ferry.

So, they waited for us! (so nice! thank you!)

We jumped on the ferry and 15 minutes later were at Okunoshima, also known as Rabbit Island.

Okunoshima is part of Hiroshima prefecture and is a tiny island about 3 kilometers around.

During the war, this island had a factory making and testing mustard gas and tear gas.

Apparently, rabbits were used to test the gases and effects.

After the war, when the factory was destroyed, they also killed the rabbits that were on the island.

Then when they decided to turn the island into a park, they released a new set of rabbits into the wild.

Now you can camp and there is also a tiny hotel.

Dogs & cats are prohibited as well as hunting.

Our only regret was not bringing veggies for the rabbits.

They don't sell any food for the rabbits on the island...bummer!

Fortunately, rabbits have bad eye sight, so we picked up some rabbit food that someone had left on the ground, and fed them with it.

This little guy stole my heart!

After walking all the way around the island, we caught the ferry to Tadanoumi.

Since we had about an hour wait for the train, we went to look for lunch.

Choices were quite slim.

Luckily, we were able to have some Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki at Eshimaya.

I enjoyed the shiso and thin noodles in the okonomiyaki.

From Tadanoumi, it was about 30 minutes to Takehara.

After putting our bags down at the hotel, we explored the area.

There are so many preserved homes here.

Like stepping back in time.

It was fun exploring all the tiny alleyways.

Dinner was at our hotel, everything was so tasty.

Dessert was from the cute patisserie nearby, Fraicheur.

I had their cassis chocolat...super rich! but I enjoyed the dark chocolate paired with cassis.

Satoshi had their pumpkin mont blanc...he felt there was too much going on in his dessert with the matcha cake crossing out the pumpkin cream...bummer!

We also went omiyage shopping at the supermarket nearby...furikake, snacks, citrus tea and instant curry.

It was a long day, but the weather was super nice (hot!) and we got to see and do quite a bit.

Eshimaya
2-7-10 Tadanoumi-nakamachi
Takehara, Hiroshima
Phone: 0846.26.2386
Lunch: 11:00-13:00, Dinner: 17:00-22:00
Closed Mondays

Fraicheur
4-7-31 Chuo
Takehara, Hiroshima
Phone: 0846.22.7526
Closed Thursdays
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10:00-19:00, Sunday 10:00-18:30

Green Sky Hotel
4-2-18 Chuo
Takehara, Hiroshima
Phone: 0846.22.1355

taste test

At last night's Sunday dinner, we had a taste test of the lemon crunch cake from Diamond Head Grill (DHG) versus the one from The Alley (TA..Aiea Bowl).

(Apparently the chefs at TA worked under Chef Kelvin Ro (who owns DHG), the recipes are ones that Chef Ro and the TA chefs came up with when they worked together...)

We also threw in the carrot cake from DHG and the pumpkin crunch from TA, just for extra "tastings".

The cake from DHG was very moist and light (almost like a chiffon cake) with lots of lemon flavor (bottom left).

The one from TA, dense and almost no lemon flavor (top left). It looks almost dry.

The verdict?

We'll be getting the one from DHG for an event later on this month.

yesterday

Yesterday was a holiday, the Emperor's birthday. We did our O-soji (cleaning for the new year)

Then we headed to Umeda for lunch and went to see "The Vancouver Asahi", a film about immigrant Japanese in Canada who found baseball as an outlet to overcoming many struggles.

The beginning was a bit slow but the rest of the film was good. Reminded me of when we researched my ancestors' roots.

After the movie we caught part of the sunset mixed in with some Christmas illumination.

And since Satoshi and I would be able to have dinner together, (usually during the week we don't), we bought some Christmas cakes to have with dinner.

Apparently, everyone and their uncle had the same idea as the food floor of the department store was krazy!

These were from Arrow Tree, they use lots of fruits, the one in the front is a strawberry mont blanc (yellow sponge cake, whipped cream and a huge strawberry in the middle), the one in the back is a strawberry pannecotta (custard, strawberry mousse and lots of berries)...both 1581 yen for the two (tax included). We enjoyed both, not too sweet and lots of fruit.

It's the day before Christmas, I hope Santa brings everything you wish for...Happy Holidays!

la palme d'or

La Palme D'Or has been in Hawaii for about 10 years (says so on their website), but I only got a chance to try them with my friend Mineko, the other day.

After lunch at Nordstrom, we walked over to La Palme D'Or, picked out a couple of sweets then walked back to Nordstrom's E-bar (their outside cafe), bought some coffees and then shared our treats.

Love Hawaii, they have places to just sit and have lunch or "just sit". In Japan, there aren't many places to sit and rest your feet.

Here's what we had...

Pannacotta--silky pannacotta topped with a fruit gelee and fresh fruits.

Mont Blanc-smooth rich chestnut cream with a hint of rum piped over a dollop of fresh whipped cream & almond cake baked with chunks of chestnuts & tart cassis (gooseberry)

La Matcha-green tea mousse with rich chocolate cake

These sweets definitely reminded me of the kinds you can find in Japan.

I'm glad I was able to try this place and would love to try some of their jelly drinks next time...I'll be back.

La Palme D'Or
Ala Moana Center
Space 2240F
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.941.6161
Hours:
Monday-Saturday 9:00-21:00
Sunday 9:00-19:00

foodie tuesday in kobe

I got a chance to meet up with my host brother's wife for lunch the other week.

We went to Ha Long Son, a Vietnamese restaurant she'd been interested in trying.

I went with the Pho Ga, the cilantro that came with this was kinda sparse, though they had lots of lettuce and bean sprouts on it.

I liked the broth...1000 yen.

This came with a side dish. I chose their Cha Gio (fried spring roll).

We both agreed that there were better Vietnamese places out there.

After lunch we walked a bit and stopped in to Mont Plus for something sweet.

It had been about 5 years since I been to this shop.

I chose the La Plus, a chocolate cake, layered with dark chocolate mousse, milk chocolate mousse & pistachio mousse. On top of this was a streusel cookie topping.

This was perfect with some black coffee.

After talking we walked up to Kobe Grocers and Kobe Halal Foods, where I bought some spices.

Lunch wasn't so great but the company and conversation was.

Thanks for a great day, Kazumi!

Ha Long Son
2-2-8 Motomachi-dori
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.331.0477
Closed Tuesdays

Mont Plus
3-1-17 Kaigan-dori
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.721.1048
Closed Tuesdays

merry christmas

I've been seeing these "towers" made from small rolled cakes.

Not willing to pay the outrageous prices for them since it is Christmas, I decided I would try to "make" my own.

I found these...l-o-n-g rolled cakes in chocolate and whipped cream at the market...only 138 yen each.

I split the rolls in half and made 1 tree for me and 1 for Satoshi. The trunk of the tree was from 3 pieces from the chocolate cake and the tree was from 3 pieces of the yellow cake.

I probably should've measured my cuts so that they would've been even (and level). Maybe not as cute as the ones they are selling, but way cheaper...

Well, the strawberries...unreal expensive...I won't tell you how much I paid for 7 of them...

Oh, and be sure to cut your berries into hearts. (If you click on the photo you'll be able to see the heart at the base of the chocolate cake)

Just split them in half, then remove the leaves.

With a knife, cut a "V" where the stem is and you'll have...hearts!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope Santa brings everything you are wishing for.