origami

One thing that I had on my "to buy" list when I went to Tokyo was Starbucks' new portable coffee filters called Origami.

Origami is literally folded paper in Japanese, so this naming is perfect for this product.

They have 3 types, Breakfast Blend, House Blend & Espresso Roast.

I was interested in trying Espresso because I figured the other two were light roasts and I prefer dark roasts.

This item is not sold at Starbucks but can be found in convenience stores, high-end grocery stores, and their gift sets can be found in department stores.

I found all three "flavors" at Seijo Ishii in Marunouchi, a high-end grocery store.

From what I saw, the price can range between 512 yen to 478 yen (about US$5.12 to $4.78)...for 1 box (5 packets).

This foldable filter is a bit bulkier than what I've tried in the past, but does make a good cup of coffee.

Right now, you can only find this in Tokyo and some areas surrounding Tokyo, I hope they will sell this in Osaka in the coming days.

It is Friday, boy the week flew by! Hope you have a great weekend.

UPDATE: March 2011, saw that Seijo Ishii in Osaka is selling these!

day 3

On our last day in Tokyo, the sun was out and it was, dare I say, hot!

Satoshi went off to see his team play and I went off to check out the Dean & Deluca Cafe in Marunouchi.

The Marunouchi shop is the first D&D shop in Japan.

I wasn't really hungry but needed to kill some time until Satoshi and I were to meet up, so I just had a cereal bar and a small cappuccino...476 yen (about US$4.75)

It was a nice area for people watching and also because they also had Wi-Fi.

Inside the Tokyo station, I checked out a karinto shop, Nihonbashi Nishikihorin, I've seen them on other blogs and was interested in trying some.

What I didn't realize was that the shop was inside, after you pass the ticket turnstyles. Which means, that only if you are going to ride the train can you shop here.

Luckily, I had to catch the train to Shinagawa to meet Satoshi, so I got to shop here.

When I found them, there weren't many people standing in front of the counter, or so I thought.

A sales lady then directed me to the line, located across the way where 10 to 15 people in line were glaring at me.

They had about 8 different flavors...I bought miso negi (onion, soy bean curd), black pepper, vegetable, and black sesame...1320 yen (about US$13.20)

When I reached Shinagawa, I did some window shopping and started to get hungry so I decided to look for somewhere to eat.

I ended up trying Freshness Burger. They have shops all over Japan, but somehow with all that walking I was in the mood for a burger.

The burger was so juicy that it dripped on my beige pants. I guess I was lucky the drippings weren't red or brown, but clear (oil).

After lunch, as I walked back to the station, I noticed a crowd of people looking at something, so I went to check it out.

They were filming a soap opera and I got a chance to take a photo of actor, Takenaka Naoto, before they shooed us all away.

Inside of Arte Shinagawa, I found these Biscot Tea cookies, which are actually from the U.S., but they sounded really delicious because they have different teas in them. (I think I may have a slight addiction to tea??)

(UPDATE: these are all delicious, the same shortbread dough with lots of tea flavor. Blueberry and Earl Grey are bright while Chai is spicy, best with coffee or a tea that won't overpower these flavors)

On the other side of the station, I noticed an Anna Miller's (which we also have in Hawaii).

Their pie of the month was Chocolate Haupia, which made me a little homesick.

Still needing to kill some time, I noticed this guy with baggy pants on, I guess it was a nice thing that he was wearing underwear, otherwise it would be his butt we would be looking at...(roll your eyes)

After meeting up with Satoshi we caught the train to Tachiaikawa, where he was interested in checking out a few historical spots.

I went to see some of them, but not all.

I was tired, my feet/legs were tired. Satoshi was happy that he got to see a lot of Tokyo. Even though he went to college for 4 years in Tokyo, he said that he hadn't seen much of it up close back then.

Overall, it was a nice trip despite the weather, there was lots of eating, lots of shopping (lots of tea) and lots of walking, hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did.

Dean & Deluca Cafe
1-4-5 Marunouchi, Mitsubishi UFJ Main Building
Chiyoda, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3284.7071

Nihonbashi Nishikihorin
inside ticket turnstyle, Yaesu-side
1-9-1 Marunouchi, Gran Sta
Phone: 03.3287.8010

Freshness Burger
Shinagawa Grand Passage B1F
Phone: 03.6718.2802

day 2

Day 2 started with more rain. Satoshi called to check whether the game he wanted to watch would be on, but it was cancelled.

So, we went downstairs to check out the free breakfast at our hotel. I just had part of a donut, some cucumber, a hard boiled egg & some coffee. (because I was saving my appetite for the day ahead)

Satoshi ate quite a bit and then we were off to check out the Bank of Japan.

It is a huge building, I'm not sure if you can actually go in for a tour as we were there on the weekend.

We did check out the Currency Museum located right across the street. It was free and it was interesting to see Japanese currency as well as other countries currencies that was over 100 years old.

Most of the displays are in Japanese, but they do have English pamphlets.

After the museum we walked to Marunouchi to check out various shops I had on my list "to see".

One was Echire. This butter shop from France is the only one in Japan, maybe the only one overseas?!

Anyway, while others lined up to buy lots of items, we lined up to buy a croissant, a pain au chocolat, a financier & a madeleine.

They control how many people are in the shop, so we had to stand outside the store, when 2 customers came out, 2 were let in.

When we were let into the shop, OM! we were enveloped by a delicious butter aroma...heavenly!

We ordered our items and paid for them, then walked over to an open area and devoured our goodies.

The croissant was so good, made your hands all buttery!

And the madeleine was delicious too. We thought the pain au chocolat could have used a tad more chocolate and the financier was kinda on the tough side....4 items were 1397 yen (about US$13.97)

Next door to Echire is Cacao Sampaka.

I've tried their chocolates awhile back and was interested to see what kinds of things they sold at their store.

Their tomato chocolate jam, an interesting combination, was delicious when we tasted it, so we got a jar...1780 yen (about US$17.80), can't wait to try it on bread.

The sales lady mentioned it is delicious on yogurt, so we'll need to try it that way too.

(UPDATE: it was delicious on bread the chocolate and tomato match perfectly, my only complaint is that when I opened the jar it was half empty!)

We walked around a little more then popped into Boulangerie Viron.

I had originally wanted to have lunch here but the line for seats was long, and Satoshi didn't like the atmosphere, so we just bought some sandwiches and went back to the open area (where we had our buttery treats).

Satoshi chose the Jambon Crudites, which was ham, cheese & egg on a crusty baguette.

I chose the Poulet Roti, roasted chicken, grated carrot salad, butter and a honey mustard vinaigrette on a crusty baguette.

Both were delicious...we loved the bread as well as the fillings...1386 yen (about US$13.86) for both sandwiches.

The Marunouchi area had a European feel to it, maybe because the weather was a bit dreary and wet.

I loved the cobblestone roads and trees. I also loved how they had benches for people to sit if they wanted to, something that is rare in Osaka.

After lunch, we walked to the Outer moat area of the Imperial Palace.

Satoshi said he also wanted to check out more of the Palace grounds so while he did that, I went to walk around Marunouchi and we decided to meet up at Tokyo Daimaru.

We had some dessert and coffee at Cafe Boissier.

I've tried their chocolates before. They no longer have a counter in the food area but instead now have a cafe inside Daimaru.

Satoshi tried the triple chocolate verrine and I tried their chocolate macaron...delicious and rich....2583 yen (about US$25.83) for both desserts with coffees.

After resting our feet a bit, we went back out and checked out Ginza Mitsukoshi.

They recently renovated their food area and were supposed to have a tea section selling 400 different teas.

The area turned out to be very small, but I was able to get some Dammann Tea. A chinese based tea, this tea is flavored with citrus fruits, similar to Earl Grey.

I hope this one is good...787 yen (about US$7.87) (UPDATE: this is very fragrant before brewing, but still a nice black tea.)

The rain had stopped and the sun came out.

We had done a lot of walking and were hungry for dinner.

We walked to Ningyocho and checked out a tiny place called Kyoka...this one is also listed on Tabelog.

This shop specializes in fugu (puffer fish) and whale, but we weren't really interested, instead we had lots of other seafood, like sashimi and fried squid.

Another long day, some rain, lots of walking and lots of eating.

Currency Museum
Nihonbashi-hongokucho
Chuo, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3277.3037
Open 9:30-16:30, Closed on Mondays and Holidays

Echire
2-6-1 Marunouchi, Brick Square 1F
Chiyoda, Tokyo
Phone: 03.6269.9840

Cacao Sampaka
2-6-1 Marunouchi, Brick Square 1F
Chiyoda, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3283.2238

Boulangerie Viron
2-7-3 Marunouchi, Tokia 1F
Chiyoda, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5220.7289

Cafe Boissier (UPDATE: 2016 no longer in business)
Daimaru Marunouchi 3F

Kyoka
2-8-7 Nihonbashi-Ningyo
Chuo, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3668.5752
Closed Saturdays & Holidays

tokyo

Satoshi had mileage that he wanted to transfer to another credit card, but the airlines no longer is associated with the credit card that he wanted to transfer his mileage to.

So, since he was going to lose some of his mileage at the end of September, he asked me to check online to see if there were seats available for the 3-day weekend in October.

There were, so we booked our flights to Tokyo. We also checked online for a hotel. Our first choice was sold out, so looking around, we found something in Nihonbashi.

Satoshi planned to watch his university's baseball team play at Jingu Stadium.

Since I didn't want to do that for 2 days, I planned a cafe crawl as well as shopping adventure for myself.

It seems that every time we go to Tokyo, it is raining. This time was no different.

Saturday was raining in Osaka when we left and by the time we reached Tokyo, it was raining too.

Satoshi's game was cancelled so at first he said he would follow me around all day.

He changed his mind and said he was going to check out Sengakuji.

Recently he's been on a Japanese history kick and is interested in samurai movies as well as historical soap operas.

Sengakuji is where the 47 Ronin are buried.

While he went to Sengakuji, I headed off to Jiyugaoka.

I killed some time at the Bakshop located in the IDEE shop, while I waited for Le Palais des Thes to open at 11:00 a.m. (I notice shops open later in Tokyo than in Osaka)

I had a banana muffin and a cappuccino...so good since I hadn't had breakfast. Banana, pecan and topped with chocolate.

After refueling, I headed to Le Palais des Thes.

I've bought teas from here and I love their Earl Grey blends. This time I bought 50 grams each of their Blue of London, Earl Grey Darjeeling and Montagne Bleu.

(UPDATE: the Earl Grey Darjeeling is very fragrant and the Blue of London, a chinese black tea is also very nice. Two very good Earl Greys.)

Walking back to the station, I stopped in at Barbero, a chocolaterie from Piemonte, it is their first shop in Japan and I think they just opened last month.

I really wanted to try their gelato in brioche, but since I was meeting Satoshi for lunch, I just bought a bottle of their Crema di Cacao (dark chocolate cream). I hope it is good, it looks delicious.

(UPDATE: this chocolate spread is good, hazelnut with dark chocolate really smooth, not too sweet)

A couple of doors down from Barbero is TWG, a tea shop from Singapore. I've seen their teas being sold at Dean & Deluca and was interested in trying them.

Their Tokyo-Singapore tea seemed like the thing to try but not for 3000 yen (about US$30), instead I purchased their Miraculous Mandarin Tea...1900 yen (about US$19).

It sounded delicious. A black based tea with tart fruits. (UPDATE: this tea is a little tart but delicious)

2 years ago, Eataly opened in Daikanyama. I had read about it in a Japanese magazine and recently online saw the Eataly that opened in New York.

I was really excited about checking this place out.

The store was tiny. I thought this was supposed to be the largest store of Italian products?? They did have lots of pasta, a cheese area as well as charcuterie area, but I was disappointed...very tiny.

Satoshi and I decided to have lunch here since it was still raining.

We sat down and ordered a pizza...it came out within 10 minutes...a little too fast we thought.

The tomato sauce that was used on top was watery...everything slid off the piece that you took.

Not good.

The crust, was soggy from the watery tomato sauce...blah. I can't believe they charge 2000 yen (about US$20) for this.

Next came the pasta we ordered, a tomato sauce with shrimp pasta.

Bland!

Satoshi, who will eat almost everything and anything without complaint, complained. This was tasteless and not worth the 1300 yen (about US$13).

On top of this, they charged us a cover charge 400 yen (about US$4) per person and we didn't even drink any alcohol.

I purchased a torrone (nougat) and some espresso, I hope these are worth the 1680 yen (about US$16.80).

(UPDATE: the torrone is on the soft side but love that it has lots of nuts in it.)

After lunch, we headed to Akasaka to check out Neyn Doughnuts, which I heard about from Mary's blog.

I tried the Berry Rouge, a cake doughnut with a raspberry glaze, while Satoshi tried their Gateau Chocolat, a chocolate cake doughnut with a chocolate frosting.

These doughnuts were expensive, about 260 yen (about US$2.60) each, but delicious and it was nice to get out of the rain and away from the crowds.

It was nearing 4 o'clock so we went to check-in at the Villa Fontaine Nihonbashi.

I had heard about the Villa Fontaine Hotel group from Jalna's friend's blog.

The rooms are small, but if you only plan to sleep there then it is just right.

After putting down our things we decided to look for dinner.

We checked out a near-by shopping area, Coredo but since nothing appealed to us, we decided to head up to Oshiage.

This is where the new Sky Tree, the replacement to the Tokyo Tower is being built.

When we got out of the train station, the rain was coming down in sheets.

This was the best shot I could take of the tower behind of a tall condo/office building.

Sopping wet (even with umbrellas), we were hungry, but there weren't many choices available.

So we popped into this hole-in-the-wall shop, which is actually listed on Tabelog (Japan's Yelp, if you can read Japanese, it is a really useful site)....Oshiage Shokudo.

You take the items you want to eat from the counter and the lady "throws" it into the microwave to heat up, which kinda shocked me.

Most items cost 200 yen (about US$2).

I loved the salmon, it had a nice smoky char on it. Satoshi tried their grilled fish (sorry I don't remember what type he chose).

We also shared a grilled tofu topped with ginger and green onions.

With rice, miso soup and beer our bill was 1780 yen (about US$17.80)...probably the best meal on this day.

Long day, lots of rain, lots of walking.

Jiyugaoka Bakeshop
2-16-29 Jiyugaoka, IDEE shop 4F
Meguro, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3723.2040

Le Palais des Thes
5-24-2 Okusawa
Setagaya, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5701.8750
Closed Wednesdays, Open 11:00-19:00 UPDATE: 4/2012, this shop has moved to Akihabara

Barbero (UPDATE:2018 no longer in business)
1-31-7 Jiyugaoka
Meguro, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3718.2266
Closed Wednesdays, Open 11:00-19:00

TWG
1-9-8 Jiyugaoka
Meguro, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3718.1588
Open 11:00-21:00

Eataly (UPDATE: 2016 this location no longer in business)
20-23 Daikanyamacho
Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5784.2736
Cafeteria: 8:00-22:00
Eat-in: 11:30-15:30
Market: 10:00-22:30

Neyn Doughnuts (UPDATE:2017 no longer in business)
5-4-8 Akasaka
Minato, Tokyo
Phone: 03.6459.1150

Oshiage Shokudo
1-12-7 Oshiage
Sumida, Tokyo
No phone number

Villa Fontaine Nihonbashi
1-7-6 Nihonbashi-honcho
Chuo, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3242.3370

we're back

We're back from a spur of the moment trip to Tokyo.

Two days out of the three-day weekend rained.

I need to sort through photos and such, hope to post something tomorrow, hope you have a good week.

shinonome

I have had this shop on my "to try" list for at least 8 years.

I have never got the chance to try them because they are always closed when we visit this part of Kyoto.

This shop is actually up the street from MIL's house.

When I first saw this shop on television, a little old lady would make these tsukudani (salt-sweet seasoned preserves) from scratch.

I'm not sure if that lady is still alive (when I saw it she was already in her 70's or 80's), but I'm glad we got to try these.

MIL bought some for us and gave it to us when we visited her.

The top photo is of Shinonome's Jako Sansho (Japanese pepper with dried young sardines).

A great topping for rice or on an omlette.

Another item she got from Shinonome was their Shiokonbu. Kelp seasoned with shiitake, dried young anchovies and Japanese pepper.

Great in musubi or with rice.

I tried these one evening for dinner with some miso soup filled with veggies.

I'm glad I got to try these tsukudani, I hope to go back and buy more soon.

Shinonome
53 Koyama Motomachi
Kita-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.491.9359
Closed Sundays, Holidays and the 2nd Saturday

nostalgia

The other time we visited MIL, she brought out some old baseball shoes...they were Satoshi's.

From like when he played little league...many, MANY moons ago.

Why she still has these things? Don't ask, I think there are some pack-rat issues...sigh.

These were made by Mitsuwa Tiger in Osaka. I don't think they make baseball shoes anymore but still do make some sports items.

Satoshi's favorite part of these shoes were these flip over tongues to protect your laces.

Another thing that was really old was his Spalding shoe bag, it had a nice zipper pull.

I wish my MIL and Satoshi would get rid of more things, and yet I'm glad we were able to take some photos of his things. (but I still want them to get rid of more things...)