Kagetsudo

I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo for Sanja-matsuri, one of the city’s largest festivals, held in Asakusa. Unfortunately, this meant that many of the district’s traditional stores had queues out onto the street for blocks to pick up their specialties. Kagetsudo’s specialty is melon-pan (melon bread), which they make in jumbo-size, but as the queue was a bit silly, we decided just to try their soft serve icecream. There are about thirty odd flavours to choose from, including only-in-Japan flavours like matcha and red bean paste. I picked sakura, which also falls into that category, and was surprised at how large the portion was. It was piled up in a perfect soft serve spiral and we hung around near the store to enjoy it. The icecream was really creamy and, as expected, had a beautiful floral flavour. The sakura tasted so familiar, and we decided that it was a bit like rose, but not quite. There were also little crispy bits inside the serve, which we decided was crystalised petals, but we couldn’t be sure. I’d love to come back to try both the melon-pan and more of the soft serve flavours.

Kagetsudo, 1-18-11 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo                             http://www.asakusa-kagetsudo.com

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/

Tiger Gyoza Hall

Good gyoza are an amazing thing. One night I went for a wander and found a particularly good gyoza place, although to be honest the only reason I ducked in was a) they had a huge tiger on the side of the building and b) my brain was tired of translating Japanese and the restaurant’s name was in English. It may have been the best decision of the whole trip. We ate four plates of gyoza on the waiter’s recommendation, plus the tomato and avocado salad. The salad had us in raptures – topped with fresh cress and corriander, the avocado and tomato chunks were doused in an oily corriander dressing – we licked those plates clean. Seriously, seriously good salad. The first two plates of gyoza were equally amazing – each plate had six dumplings – one normal-sized the other giant. The giant gyoza (called bukkuri gyoza) were the pick of the menu – packed with pork, crunchy sprouts and cabbage, they were to die for served with the corriander, onion and chilli condiment sauces. We weren’t as keen on the green soup gyoza which came third, but the yuzu gyoza on the final plate were refreshing and incredibly tasty. We dined here twice on this trip and I will most definitely be back.

Tiger Gyoza Hall, Hiroo 5-14-2, Tamachi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Japan (in the backstreets opposite Keio University East Gate)

Tide Pool Cafe

I revisited many of my old haunts on this trip to Tokyo, and one of the most lovely was the Tide Pool Cafe in Kichijoji. It’s a bit out of the way on the path leading to the park, but I have fond memories of sitting there with a glass full of icecream doing my translation homework. This visit was a great reminder of why I loved this place so much – it was another warm day and we stopped in for icecream and to get out of the sun for a bit. The ladies explained the three icecream flavours and we picked two to try – vanilla and cafe au lait. They were both beautifully presented in glass teacups, with fresh strawberries on the vanilla and a huge dollop of whipped cream on top of both serves. The vanilla was surely made from buttermilk – the flavour was so rich, creamy and genuinely vanilla, not essence or imitation. Similarly, the cafe au lait had a gentler coffee flavour, as would be expected, but was incredibly refreshing and not sickly sweet. The ladies kindly lent us fans to cool down and were very welcoming of hot and bothered tourists, just as they were of an intrepid student all those years ago.

Tide Pool Cafe, F&W Building, Musashino, Kichijoji, Tokyo Japan, no website

Cafe Comme Ca

Food blogging is a tough business – sometimes you have to make great sacrifices for the sake of a good post. After exploring Loft, one of my favourite stores in Shibuya, I spotted a Cafe Comme Ca and had to stop in to try their special promotional tart – yep, true sacrifice, especially because the tart was shaped like the adorable cartoon character Rascal the Raccoon (oh no, if I HAVE to). For 1000 yen I got a slice of this decadent…slice, a cup of black tea and a commemorative coaster. The tart had a milk chocolate paw and tail (could it be any cuter?!), and was jam-packed with cream. The tart base was dark chocolate flavoured and there was a sinfully rich dark chocolate ganache layered inside. The ribbons of mango woven throughout to cut through the rich creaminess of the rest of the slice were a highlight, but there was also a lightly-flavoured coffee cream in between the ribbons which complemented the mango nicely. The whole dish was very, very sweet though, so maybe not the best pre-lunch snack, but definitely the tastiest slice I’ve munched on for the sake of this blog!

Cafe Comme Ca Shibuya, within Loft, 21-1 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya, Tokyo Japan   http://www.cafe-commeca.co.jp/ (Japanese only)

Brooklyn Parlour

Dessert before dinner is one of those beautiful things that being an adult makes possible, and I’m convinced it’s even more legit when you’re on holidays. So I stopped by Brooklyn Parlour for dessert. Before dinner. Yep. I was given the choice of a solo or share table when I arrived, and I picked the share table – it was in the middle of the basement space and gave a great people-watching view amid the floral arrangements and bookshelves. I started out with a pot of peach and apricot tea, which was bright pink when I poured it and lightly aromatic to taste. For dessert I chose the red berry, pistachio and chocolate mousse glace (icecream). The berry coulis around the icecream was full of raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and cranberries, and added a nice tartness to contrast the sweetness of the chocolate. The mousse-icecream was mostly frozen but soft enough to eat and silky smooth, with a rich but not-too-rich milk chocolate flavour. The real delight was the layers of frozen raspberry and pistachio inside the icecream – aka heaven. One of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time, and in one of the coolest venues.

Brooklyn Parlour, OIOI Anex B1F, 3-1-26 Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan           http://www.brooklynparlor.co.jp/shinjuku/

Cold Stone Creamery

A Swiss friend of mine introduced me to Cold Stone in 2009 and I haven’t looked back. It’s very similar to Cold Rock in Australia, where you choose an icecream, load it full of yummy things, and watch while the staff mush it all together (mush being the technical term, of course). Actually, Cold Stone ups the game, offering icecream in waffle bowls (you heard me, waffle bowls) and singing to customers as they prepare your icecream. As if this place didn’t make me happy enough, they also have the best icecream flavour combo ever – peach and raspberry! It’s a spring special called the Peachy Cheeky and includes white peach icecream, raspberries (frozen), peach jelly, peach chunks and whipped cream. In a waffle bowl. Are you sold yet? I first tried this delight in 2009 and was super excited to have it again this year – it didn’t disappoint. The sweet peach and tart raspberry combination is always a winner, and the textural contrast of the fruit pieces, jelly and icecream was magic. I may or may not have devoured the waffle bowl too… Luckily that’s what they’re there for. Check it out, they’ve got locations all around Japan.

Cold Stone Creamery, Shibuya Mark City 4F, Dogenzaka 1-12-13, Shibuya, Tokyo Japan  http://www.coldstonecreamery.co.jp/