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

single o

Been wanting to try Single O, a cafe from Australia

They have several locations around Tokyo, and there is one in Yurakucho

I tried their Ethiopia Hallo Beriti cold brew...fruity! delicious

Avo Show...toasted focaccia topped with avocado, pickled fennel, cashew "cheese", chili oil and some arugula & radish...loved the different flavors from each ingredient...1550 yen (tax included) for the foccacia and coffee

“beans & dreams”...I noticed they have carrot cake on their menu that I want to try...I'll be back

Single O

Lumine Yurakucho

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Hours: 10:00-21:00

*closed when Lumine is

kushikura

Tried a new (to me) yakitori kiosk inside of Tokyo Station...Kushikura

Their main shop is in Kyoto 

Their name sounded familiar and they are related to Katsukura which V introduced me to many moons ago

I tried their cherry tomatoes wrapped with pork (so tender!) 390 yen (tax included), honen (tsukune coated with mochi rice) 280 yen (tax included) and tsukune 290 yen (tax included)

I would definitely get the pork and mochi rice versions again

I'll be back

Kushikura

GranSta Tokyo B1F (inside of the Tokyo Station wickets)

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Hours: 8:00-22:00

*closed when Gransta Tokyo is

saturday

V said she was gonna check out the kawazu zakura at Chidorigafuchi and said if I had time I could tag along 

I wasn’t familiar with this type of sakura near Chidorigafuchi, so I looked online and found some located at the Imperial North Garden

So that’s where we went

There were several trees and very little people

It was nice bonding with nature

We stumbled upon a statue of Yoshida Shigeru, who (I looked up afterwards) was the Prime Minister of Japan after the war (I think I told V it was during the war, but it was after)

I bought some musubi for our lunch from Momochi, in the JR Shinagawa station

Ebiten

Iburigakko (smoked takuan)

Ume

And then we walked through the Imperial East Garden

There were some early blooming sakura

Then we went one station over to Yurakucho

Shopped at some antenna shops

After seeing V off to do some shopping, I went to other antenna shops

Hoping this tomato ume sauce from Wakayama will be tasty

And hoping this Trappist butter from Hokkaido will also be tasty

This chocolate ring cake from Godiva's Bakery was delicious. 

Dark chocolate cake and chocolate "frosting" and a chocolate square

V also let us try these coffee cookies from Hiyoko from Kyushu, if you’ve tried their chick shaped manju, this cookie is way better

Thanks for today V, I hope you enjoyed your trip and have a safe trip home

It was nice hanging out with you.

taiwan 101

While roaming the basement of Tokyo station, we were looking for something for dinner.

Kat decided to try Taiwan 101's onigiri bento

it came with lu rou (braised pork) sauce fried gyoza, onion shumai, karaage (fried chicken), kurage (jellyfish) and fried tofu with chives in a black bean sauce

the fan tuan (onigiri/rice ball) was filled with lu rou (braised pork), peanuts and a quail egg

different from the one that I often buy from Tokyo Doujiang Seikatsu

This was quite a hefty onigiri, but I enjoyed the crunchy peanuts in there

Though the other items were quite salty, and the chicken karaage super hard,  I hope to try other items here

Taiwan 101

JR Tokyo Station Gransta Tokyo B1

Hours: 8:00-22:00 (21:00 on Sundays)

le petit mec

I thought I posted about Le Petit Mec before but I guess I didn't

I first learned about this bakery when we lived in Osaka and I would visit Tamakikat in Kyoto.

They mostly have shops in Kyoto and in some areas of Osaka.

Back in 2019, when I went to see a movie in Hibiya, I had lunch at Le Petit Mec at Hibiya Chanter (their only shop in east Japan).

Fast forward to yesterday, I bought some items from them for lunch and dinner.

This saba (mackerel) sandwich...the bread which I think was supposed to be foccacia was too chewy/sticky, I probably should've toasted it also, but eating it as is, the texture wasn't too nice.

The fish though was perfectly cooked and seasoned simply with salt…delicious

The marron glace with coffee filling was delicious in this hard style baguette.

The base of the filling was coffee flavored cream, with bits of marron glace and walnuts here and there

And their currywurst...it got koge (burnt) because I had it in the fish grill on a timer and was doing something else...

Aunty Marialani style cooking...ha!

But I loved the snap! the curry was a little spicy and the ketchup a little sweet

It was nice to reconnect with this bakery and I'll be back whenever I am in the area.

Le Petit Mec

Hibiya Chanter 1F

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Hours: 8:00-20:00

Closed when Hibiya Chanter is

ginza hibiya yurakucho

Ginza, Hibiya and Yurakucho are relatively in the same area.

I had an errand to run in Ginza, so I also checked out Hibiya and Yurakucho

This tree was in front of Ginza Six
 

3 meter (9 foot) cat in the Nissan showroom

pocket park in Ginza

Hibiya Park's ginkgo trees were beautiful

And these other types of trees too

Near Matsumotoro, a restaurant inside Hibiya Park

The pond that Satoshi used to eat his lunch at when he worked near Hibiya

another angle

Glad I was able to see some Autumn colors

back to parla

After lunch we went toward the Palace where it started to rain, guess who never bring his umbrella?!

So Kat let him use her umbrella and waited under a covered area while he went to check out stuff for his next tour.

It was kinda muggy with the rain, and I was craving something cold

Our first choice had quite a line, so we went back to Parla for crepes and coffee instead

Satoshi chose their Crepe Tatin, baked apples, vanilla ice cream, honey & calvados. He enjoyed this with a hot coffee

I chose the Sicilian Emerald, pistachio, marscapone, griotte cherry (a type of sour cherry) and vanilla honey. This was so ono!

I love their iced coffee too.

Satoshi got to check out the areas he was concerned with and we got to try a new (to us) lunch place as well as revisit a favorite sweets place.

Hopefully the tour goes smoothly.

fish

Satoshi has another tour coming up and wanted to check out the Tokyo station area.

Lunch was at Fish, an Indian curry shop that I marked the last time we were around here.

Choose your main curry from the eight that they have (7 different kinds plus 1 daily special).

2 curry combo, choose a main curry then choose between keema or mixed bean 

3 curry combo, choose a main curry then add their keema and mixed bean

Choose the amount of rice

Add toppings (prices vary depending on what you choose)

Satoshi chose their shrimp curry and added their keema. He had their regular portion of rice and didn’t add any toppings...1550 yen (tax included)

He said he enjoyed this.

Kat had their fish curry and added their mixed bean. She had their small portion of rice and didn’t add any toppings...1400 yen (tax included)

The fish was cooked perfectly, HUGE! crisp and light!

There was also a scoop of mashed potato, pickled onions and pickled daikon, half a boiled egg and a papadum (no need to add on toppings!)

My first experience with papadum wasn't too good but this version was delicious, light and crisp.

close up of the mixed bean curry...

loved the tile too!

and the lighting!

would definitely come back here...I'll be back.

Fish

Marunouchi Oazo B1F

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-21:00

Closed when Marunouchi Oazo is

atsunko pan

Stumbled on this funky shop 

Apparently it is an izakaya at night and during the day, a bakery

I purchased their simit...300 yen (tax included)

Afterwards I looked online, Simit is a Turkish bread that is encrusted with sesame seeds

The bottom was quite sticky because it is apparently dipped in a sweet water before baking.

We had this for breakfast...I didn't know what to put onto the bread, so we had it with cream cheese and strawberry jam.

While it was delicious with the jam, I would eat it with just cream cheese or butter in the future.

I liked the chewy texture, the crispy outside and nutty flavor from the sesame seeds

I'm glad we tried this type of bread and will be back to Atsunko Pan whenever I am in the area.

Atsunko Pan

2-11-31 Kandatacho

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Open Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays

Hours: 11:00-until sold out

back to kanda shinoda sushi

I went back to Kanda Shinoda Sushi and bought a different set to try.

This one had a chakin (top of photo), two slices of futomaki and 3 inarizushi...1458 yen (tax included)

Inside the chakin was sesame seeds, nori, seasoned gourd, kind of like mazegohan and topped with a shrimp then wrapped with an egg layer and tied with a thin kombu

I thought this was kind of bland...but I'm glad I got to try it.

I had wanted to try their oshizushi but it needs to be pre-ordered so I'll have to plan ahead to try it.