hanzomon to shinjuku

Been wanting to walk this route ever since I saw the road back in 2019

From Chidorigafuchi it goes straight to Shinjuku

The interesting thing is the number of the road did not change, only the naming changed from Kojimachidori, to Shinjukudori to Koshukaidori!

We started from Hanzomon Station and made our way to Shinjuku

Love this mosaic! inside the metro Hanzomon station

There were lots of cool buildings to see along the way...this was a Starbucks

The curvy building was a Korea Center

huge fire station with a fire museum located in it also

stumbled upon a dragon ball z pop up at marugame udon

lunch at suzuya

one of their popular items is their tonkatsu chazuke, which we heard about from Satoshi's friend, O, many moons ago

this dish started as the makanai (family meal) at a time when there was no microwave to reheat food

the workers wanted a way to "reheat" the tonkatsu and came up with chazuke

Nowadays, the tonkatsu comes out on a hot plate 

choose your sauce, we chose their shoyu based sauce

the tonkatsu is drizzled with this sauce, then topped with cabbage and nori

when you are ready to eat the tonkatsu as chazuke, ask for the tea

there are also some pickles and miso soup, for you to eat with your tonkatsu

it was a nice but different experience and different, we were glad to try it

this shop also serves regular tonkatsu and other fried items, if chazuke isn't your thing.

After lunch, Satoshi had several things he wanted to check out before his upcoming tours

We were lucky to see some early blooming cherry blossoms in front of the Tokyo Prefecture Offices

And a beautiful weeping cherry near a university

Even if the weather was sunny it was still a little chilly

Suzuya

1-23-15 Kabukicho, 5F

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-23:00

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Satoshi had to research for an upcoming tour, so we went to Shinjuku

The area he has to show his clients is Golden Gai.

It was our first time here
 

Lots of alleys

Ramen Nagi...super long line

And then we went to Kabukicho

To see the Godzilla head...apparently they used to let you go out onto the terrace to see Godzilla up close, but I have a feeling, there were just too many tourists, so they don't let you go out onto the terrace any more...

Beautiful arrangement in the lobby of the Hotel Gracery

Omoideyokocho, another area in Shinjuku with lots of bars

Dessert at Colombin, they apparently sold the first French sweets in Japan and have been around since 1924.

Hopefully Satoshi's tour goes well.

Colombin

Keio Shinjuku Department Store 8F

Hours: 11:00-22:00

*closed when Keio Department Store is

january the first two days

On the 1st, we did our usual things like hatsumode. No shops or restaurants were open around us, so we just laid low.

And had osechi for dinner. Nowadays we don't eat all the celebratory foods, we just purchase the ones we (Kat) like (s) to eat.

I also made tataki gobo , namasu and dashimaki egg in place of the datemaki type

I had wanted the one cup of Sawanoi sake, but the shop I went to only had this cute bottle, so that is what I got

On the 2nd, we went to see a Japanese movie, “Grand Maison Paris”

(We had seen the J-drama ("Grand Maison Tokyo") and was interested in seeing the movie)

A lot of the dialogue was in French with Japanese subtitles so I had to watch “by feel” because my French is bad and my Japanese reading is not so good

Keeping the French theme, for lunch, I wanted to check out Le Bretagne Creperie in Kagurazaka and were lucky they were open (most places were not)

They are part of the Breizh Cafe group and most of the wait staff speak French

Loved this, it made me feel like I was in France 

There was a one drink minimum and you each had to order one main dish,  desserts could be shared

Satoshi ordered the Galette Kagurazaka with white wine

Inside the galette was St Jacques crevettes (shrimp) poelees (pan fried), herbes sauce fruits de mer (herbed sauce for seafood), bechamel au crabe (crab bechamel), fromage (cheese) and creme fraiche

I ordered the Paysanne with red wine

This had potatoes, raclette cheese, sausage and a grainy mustard sauce

So cheesy and the edges of the galette were so crispy! love!

And then we ordered dessert to share...Dame Banane

Bananes poelees (Pan fried bananas), a la sauce Rhum caramel (rum caramel sauce), noix (nuts), raisins, chantilly and canelle (cinnamon)

So delicious, not too sweet, I usually don't like when bananas are pan fried, but this was delicious…total 9900 yen tax included)

A bit pricey for lunch but I hope to try other items on their menu.

After eating so much we walked from Kagurazaka down to Kanda to catch the train back home.

It was a nice day, glad we got out and about.

Le Bretagne Creperie

4-2 Kagurazaka

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Hours: 11:30-22:00 (Mondays-Fridays), 11:00-22:00 (Saturdays & Sundays)

thanks for today

Friday, I got to meet Jalna’s cousin P and P’s friend, S when I met V for lunch at Shinjuku

We ate at Katsukura, which we’ve eaten at before with V

This time I ordered the chicken katsu…so ono

P treated us to lunch and gave us lots of omiyage!

It was nice meeting P & S

I hope they enjoyed their trip!

Thanks for today, P, S & V

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Sunday, we wanted to check out the basement arcades of Shinjuku that we learned about from a television show.

Godzilla Road

Kabukicho sign

New Kabukicho Tower

Underground area near Lumine. 

The show said these areas were cooler…not!

Lunch was at Curry House 11 Imasa

mini curry for Kat...360 yen (tax included) comes with hard boiled egg & sausage

Katsu curry for Satoshi 740 yen (tax included)

so cheap and delicious...in business for 60 years...we'll be back
 

Stood in line at Oiwake Dango for shaved ice...Uji Matcha Kintoki...1595 yen (tax included)

So good and so much azuki!

Daruma gatcha...500 yen

Daruma from the 47 prefectures of Japan

You aren't allowed to keep the daruma that rolls out, but receive a prize instead...the daruma that rolled out was Hyogo, we received this yuzu cider from Hyogo

We also bought some dango from Oiwake Dango...I tried their shoga (ginger) with nori...savory!

And I've tried the ume myoga in the past, this didn't disappoint.

The humidity and heat have been brutal, hopefully it will start to cool down soon.

Curry House 11 Imasa

Keio Mall B1F

Open daily 7:00-22:00

Cash only

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Satoshi had another tour coming up so he wanted to check out some areas, we started out at Nippori/Yanaka.

I've been wanting to try Nakanoya's tsukudani, so we purchased some.
 

100 grams of maguro (tuna) and 100 grams of asari (clams)..these are seasoned well, a little saltier than I am used to, still very tasty.

Love the packaging.

super huge bag in front of a bag shop in Yanaka.

cute cars near Hebimichi (snake street)

Matsuri items near Nezu Shrine

Tokyo People: matsuri preparations

Lunch was at a yakitori shop, Matsui

salad was included

yakitori don...the liver was a bit raw, but the other pieces, thigh, negima and tsukune were cooked well.

Satoshi chose their oyakodon

Portions seemed on the smaller side, still we're glad we got to try this place

Tokyo People: festival participants

Nezu Shrine

Back to Kagurazaka Saryo...mont blanc tart with sencha ice cream

Tried Fukuka, a sencha from Kyoto...the waitress didn't hear me say "iced" so I was served this "hot"...oh well...just waited for it to cool before drinking.

it was another blazing day and Satoshi got to see all that he wanted to.

Matsui

2-29-3 Nezu

Bunkyo, Tokyo

No hours or days closed given