Fujiya

Fujiya is another haunt I used to frequent as a student, which I revisited on this trip to Tokyo. On Kagurazaka-dori (my favourite part of the city), this is the only store in Japan that turns Fujiya’s mascot, Peko-chan, into cakes! Well, Japanese-style cakes. Peko-chan yaki are a play on taiyaki, the traditional Japanese sweet of a pancake-waffle like shell filled with red bean paste. Peko-chan yaki are available in a range of flavours, including mango, custard and chocolate, the latter of which I picked. There’s quite a lot of the cake shell to get through to reach the centre, but when you do, I can only liken it to the best chocolate fondant you’ve ever had – the chocolate was slowly solidifying, but was melty enough that once you bit into it you got both cooled and liquid chocolate. The quality is excellent, and makes you feel a bit less guilty for biting into that cute face! It’s quite a filling snack, so if you want to try lots of flavours I’d recommend getting them take away, but they’re definitely best when eaten fresh out of the store. A fun take on a traditional sweet.

Fujiya, 1-12 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan                                      http://pekochanyaki.jp/

Ben & Jerry’s

I recently tried Ben & Jerry’s tub-sized icecream and loved it, so was really excited to stop by their Woden ‘Scoop Shop’ to test out some of their other flavours. The store is part of the Hoyts cinema, and has quite a wide range of flavours, including sorbets! I ordered a single scoop in a cup ($5.50), but was allowed to go half-half with flavours. I picked the Berry Berry Extraordinary sorbet (raspberry and blueberry) and a decadent chocolate flavour called Phish Food, which said it had marshmellow and chocolate fish inside. Curious. The sorbet flavour really reminded me of a Boost Juice berry crush, just with a more solid texture. It was really refreshing, but a bit icy and not quite as smooth as I would have expected. The Phish Food flavour was to die for. The chocolate was so lush and creamy, and whilst I couldn’t pick the marshmellow, the bits of chocolate shaped as fish were good quality and tasty. I ended up blending the two flavours (highly recommended) to get a yummy berry-chocolate mix. Great portion size for the price too. Definitely a new favourite.

Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop, Hoyts Westfield Woden, Bradley Street, Phillip ACT  http://www.benandjerry.com.au/scoop-shops

Bourke Street Bakery

Ah Bourke Street Bakery, it has been some time! On my last visit I couldn’t go past the soup of the day, and being another wintery day, I just stuck with what I knew (although I had some order envy about Dad’s reuben sandwich, which looked fantastic!). The cauliflour soup came out in a large bowl with a garnish of parsley, chives and pepper, all of which complemented the soup perfectly. Cauliflour soup is something that everyone should try at least once – there’s a lovely creaminess and heartiness that comes from its unique texture, and Bourke Street Bakery knows how to put that flavour on show. It’s also not a perfectly pureed soup, so there’s still some texture in there, and with such a generous portion size, you won’t leave hungry. The soup was served with a wedge of sourdough bread and a little tray of butter (such a luxury!) – it was perfect both by itself and dunked into the soup. I picked the homemade lemonade to have with my soup and it was really refreshing and not sickly sweet. Perfect for a chilly winter’s day.

Bourke St Bakery, Shop 7/19-25 Grosvenor Street, Neutral Bay, NSW http://bourkestreetbakery.com.au/

Ladurée

I’ve been to a Ladurée salon de thé in Paris, but when I tried to visit the Ginza one while living in Tokyo in 2009, I couldn’t get a table (they don’t take reservations). On this visit, I was very strategic about when we went (5pm on a weekday) and we only waited 10mins to get a seat – winning! This was Mum’s belated Mother’s Day gift – we started out with a pot of Thé Eugenie each, served in silver teapots with pastel coloured cups and saucers. The black tea had a fruity fragrance, with strawberry, cherry, raspberry and redcurrant part of the blend. It wasn’t as overpowering as some of the other options (there are samples to sniff while you wait for a table) and we enjoyed every sip. For cake, I picked the Ispahan – a large macaron filled with fresh raspberries, lychee and rose-flavoured cream. The flavours all worked so well together and every mouthful was delicious – the macaron shell was crisp, the raspberries were very fresh and the cream spiked with lychee was just as decadent as you would expect. If you get a seat by the window you can people-watch while enjoying your luxury sweets. Swoon.

Ladurée, salon de thé, 4-6-16 Ginza, Chuo, Tokyo Japan                                             http://www.laduree.jp/

Andersen’s Ice Cream

A friend recently reminded me of a great episode of the West Wing, where one of the characters explains how she likes to fight cold (weather) with more cold (icecream). That’s exactly what I decided to do when stopping in at Glenelg on my way to the airport. Having been to Royal Copenhagen most recently, I stopped in at their competitor across the street – Andersen’s. The Jetty Road icecream outlets are certainly quieter in winter, but the offerings remain excellent. I went straight to the sorbets, and was very excited to see that they offer blood orange. A regular cup was $5.50 and it took me quite a while to get through the portion. First up, the sorbet was a tad melty, which was surprising in winter, and which meant that I didn’t enjoy the texture as much. On the other hand, full marks for flavour – the blood orange was really intense, but balanced nicely by the natural sweetness of the sorbet. The flavour experience was very much like drinking a San Pellegrino blood orange sparkling drink (yum!). As with all good sorbets, the intensity of the flavour didn’t fade the more you ate, so I’d recommend stopping by and giving Andersen’s a try – definitely delicious for fighting cold with cold!

Andersen’s Ice Cream, 46 Jetty Road, Glenelg SA                           http://andersensicecream.com/Andersens_of_Denmark_Ice_Cream/Home.html

Cow & the Moon

When you’re awarded the best gelato in the world, you have some serious bragging rights. Cow & the Moon has earned those bragging rights – but does their gelato live up to the hype? I visited on a Saturday after lunch and was delighted not to have to line up. We got a few flavours to share, starting with the sorbets – apple & wasabi and black on black (blackberry). First up, let me say that the texture of these sorbets is really something special. They’re so thick and creamy for something without dairy! Black on black was tasted just like biting into a blackberry chewy lolly – rich, a bit tart and really luscious. I expected the wasabi to hit me in the face with the apple sorbet, but instead it was beautifully subtle, rounding off the sharpness that green apple usually has and adding complexity on the back palate. Yum. We also tried the hazelnut roche (so, so good), but my highest praise went to the divine fig and walnut gelato – it tasted golden and I could have devoured bowls and bowls of it. So the answer is yes, it does live up to the hype – check them out!

Cow & the Moon, 181 Enmore Road, Enmore, NSW, no website

Sage Dining Rooms

Part one is here. The second main was agnolotti with mushrooms, truffle, pine nuts and a creamy bone marrow sauce, and this was my favourite of the two. I loved the rich cream sauce and the pairing of truffle with forest mushrooms. The pasta was clearly house-made and had a lovely bite. Looking at the dish, I just wanted to dive right in, with all that beautiful grated parmesan on top! By this point we were getting very full – I sipped at my mocktail (strawberry and mint lemonade – uttery divine and something I will go back for) and enjoyed the Autolyse bread with butter and salt, topped with a truffle crisp (the strongest truffle flavour of the day). The first dessert was the sweet and it was at its best with a mouthful capturing all of the elements – the sweet waffle, the not-very-sweet icecream, the shaved truffle and the salty popcorn. Everything worked perfectly to create a complex, sophisticated dessert. Finally, we finished with truffled brie, served with thyme-infused leatherwood honey and a neutral, very thin crispbread. The thyme made the honey almost savoury – again, trying the dish with all the elements in one mouthful yielded the best flavour. Sage, you sure know how to make a first impression! The Sage truffle lunch is on until the end of July as part of the Canberra Truffle Festival.

Sage Dining Rooms, Batman Street, Braddon ACT                     http://www.sagerestaurant.net.au/