Ladurée

On my last day in Tokyo I spotted something I hadn’t seen before – a Ladurée icecream store! It’s part of the store in the Lumine 2 complex, just outside Shinjuku station (on the JR side), and I couldn’t help myself. I ordered the icecream interpretation of the Ispahan cake I’d had at their Ginza store, which I’d fallen in love with. The icecream itself was a creamy soft-serve and had a delicate rose flavour. The portion was huge but what made it completely delicious and decadent was the array of toppings. There was a raspberry sauce, rose crystals, fresh lychee slices and raspberries, and a raspberry macaron shell crumbled over the top. Yep, not even kidding. I’m not generally a huge fan of rose as a flavour, but the icecream was so soft and the flavour went so well with the toppings that I polished the whole lot off. The macaron crumble added a good bit of texture and of course the fresh raspberries were perfection. I also grabbed a Marie Antoinette macaron from the store, which was flavoured with their tea of the same name – it was everything you would expect from this sweets stalwart.

Ladurée, Shinjuku Lumine 2, 1F, 3-38-2 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo   http://www.laduree.jp/

Brother Baba Budan

My stop in to Brother Baba Budan was delightfully spontaneous – after an afternoon browsing the shops, the buzz and an impulse drew me in to this hole-in-the-wall coffee den. Not being a coffee drinker, I chose peppermint from a minimalist tea menu, and then I spotted the donuts and my impulse was rewarded. I picked the choc-mint over the iced vovo, although both looked great, and took a seat at the bar at the back. I watched my tea being brewed while I started on the delicious donut. The donut itself was soft and not too dense, whilst the icing was evenly spread across the top and just a little bit melted (perfect!). There were sprinkles of mint sugar on top which flavoured the whole donut. The tea was made from loose leaves although the brand was not listed on the menu. It came out in a gorgeous iron teapot of just the right size, with a small cup that meant the tea didn’t cool too quickly. The brew itself was just the right strength and left a lovely peppermint aftertaste. The staff were happy to let me finish my tea even after they’d closed up for the day.

Brother Baba Budan, 359 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC http://www.sevenseeds.com.au

Opera Bar

I’m beginning to see why people like living in Sydney. Leaving Canberra on a chilly 14 degree day, I arrived in Sydney to a balmy 27 degrees for the ballet at the Opera House. It was perfect weather to meet up with my friend in between performances (I went to the matinee, she to the evening show) and so we decided to go to the Opera Bar. We sat near the band, but the sound wasn’t up too loud and their song choices were quite mellow. We wanted a light snack and so ordered a serve of the soft shell crab and kimchi bao to share. I waited for quite a while at the bar to collect our drinks; my friend’s berry mocktail looked amazing, full of muddled blueberries, lychee and mint, I would definitely try it next time. The bao came out fairly quickly and whilst the bun itself was a bit dry and thin (not light and fluffy like they should be), I couldn’t fault the filling – crispy deep-fried soft shell crab, with kewpie mayonnaise, corriander and spicy kimchi. Perfect for a warm evening catch up.

Opera Bar, Lower Concourse Level, Sydney Opera House, Sydney NSW                http://operabar.com.au/

Smoothie Stand Aoya

I don’t generally tend to think of vegetables when I think of smoothies, but when I saw this cute little wooden stall on one of Kagurazaka’s quaint backstreets, I couldn’t help but give it a try. The menu is organised by colour, and is also available in English. I picked the ‘orange colour smoothie’, which included red paprika, carrot, tomato, apple, mango, orange, goji and water. This whole stack of fresh ingredients was packed into a blender and carefully coaxed into a smoothie, that was, to my surprise, poured into a plastic pouch rather than a cup. The colour was certainly orange and on first sip I was delighted by the warmth of the paprika (the flavour was just like capsicum) and then the tones of carrot and tomato. The texture reminded me a bit of the fresh, slightly bitey Pressed Juices, but with a lot less sweetness. The portion was generous and the lady was really friendly and chatted to me as she made my smoothie. A lovely introduction to vegetable smoothies!

Smoothie Stand Aoya, 3-1-4 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, no website

Paletas

I’ve recently returned from a holiday in Japan, so, in exciting news, for the next month or so #icecreamthurs will be all from Japan! I had a lovely catch up with a friend of mine who’s studying in Tokyo and we went to a smoothie bar he wanted to try. It turned out to be a gorgeous cafe with fun red, green and natural timber decor – I was hooked even before I saw the icecream display cabinet. To dine in, you had to order a drink not just an icecream (served on a stick), so we both picked one smoothie and one icecream. I started with the Japanese citrus smoothie, which was absolutely delicious! Yes there was lots of ice, but the freshness of the flavours was really surprising, and there was definitely a streak of some kind of berry in there. I’m guessing the citrus in the drink included orange, grapefruit and maybe yuzu, a Japanese citrus. Our icecreams arrived served on frozen plates to keep them from melting in the spring warmth. I chose the earl grey and orange flavour, which was beautifully creamy and had a subdued bergamot flavour that meant it wasn’t overly sweet. The texture had flecks of orange and tea inside – I would love to come back to try more of their nearly 20 icecream flavours!

Paletas Cafe, Tokyo Midtown, 9-7-3 Asakasa, Minato-ku, Tokyo                        http://www.paletas.jp

Haagen Dazs

Flashback #icecreamthurs! I was in Tokyo during spring last year and one of my most exciting food discoveries was that Haagen Dazs had put together my two favourite flavours in the world. I made this discovery on an unassuming evening visit to the konbini (convenience store), and was so excited I rushed outside to take this photo right away. I mean really – peach AND raspberry??!! How is it no-one has done this before? Showing superhuman self control, I saved the taste test until I got back to the hotel, by which point the icecream had gone slightly mushy, but luckily not all the way through. I took my little spoon (Japanese convenience stores really are the best) and got stuck in. Oh man. This was so, so good. Every mouthful was a beautiful contrast between the sweet, almost frangrant white peach and the tartness of the raspberry flavour. The icecream itself was rich and creamy for a mass-produced brand (even when melted), and the ‘minicup’ (as the size is called) was more than enough for me – I ended up saving half for later. Dear Haagen Dazs: 1. #cometocanberra and 2. please keep making this flavour, it’s really something special.

Haagen Dazs, sold in various locations, http://www.haagen-dazs.co.jp/

Braidwood Bakery

On the way back from the South Coast of NSW, my friends and I decide to stop in at the Braidwood Bakery for a snack to keep us going as we drove back to Canberra. There really is nothing like a good country bakery, and the one in Braidwood carries on this fine tradition of offering reliable, classic bakery food. We stopped in mid-afternoon, so decided to treat ourselves to something sweet. I ordered the small apple pie, which wasn’t actually that small! The pastry was incredible – thick, well baked and sweetened by the dusting of icing sugar on the top, biting into the crumbly pastry was a real treat. There was a good amount of apple inside, and there was plenty of sweet syrup coating it. I always like more fruit, so this pie was a little bit too heavy on the pastry side for my ideal pie, but the flavours were classic and didn’t disappoint. We ate leisurely, taking advantage of the nice weather and the outdoor seating – for a local bakery, it’s actually quite a large store with plenty of seating inside, and outside at the back. Worth a stop for tasty, reliable classics.

Braidwood Bakery, 99 Wallace Street, Braidwood NSW http://trappersbakery.com.au/?post_type=restaurant&p=3630