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/

Benbee Teppan

Okonomiyaki would have to be in the top three of my favourite Japanese foods of all time. On our first night in Tokyo, we walked past a traditional style restaurant serving Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, and that was it, dinner decided. The staff at Benbee were very understanding and managed to accommodate our 10+ group without any trouble in the larger upstairs seating area. The teppans were turned on, but our food was cooked downstairs, where the chef was manning the main teppan, so unfortunately we didn’t get to cook it ourselves. Our Hiroshimayaki came out looking beautiful – it was slathered in okonomiyaki sauce (as it should be) and you could add bonito flakes to suit your taste. There was also a vegetarian option, which I was told was delicious too. After the okonomiyaki we ordered a range of other meats, including calamari, which was a particular highlight. But by the end of the trip everyone looked back and thought that the best thing about Benbee was the beer – it was served incredibly cold, which was exactly what we needed after a long overnight flight.

Benbee Teppan, 5 Chome-1-11 Shiba, Minato, Tokyo 108-0014, Japan , no website

Uogashi Nihon Ichi

My love of sushi is pretty well known, so when I was back in my old stomping ground in Tokyo for a day, my friend and I stopped in at the local standing sushi bar for lunch. This branch of Uogashi Nihon Ichi is located on one of my favourite streets in Tokyo – Kagurazaka-dori. It’s an old geisha quarter, now full of traditional stores and restaurants, and is a bit of an institution – the street even has its own annual festival! On entering Uogashi, we were shown to a space along the standing bar. Like a sit down sushi bar, each station has its own cup of tea, soy and hand towel, just no chair. We ordered a range of different pieces, including tuna, salmon, kingfish and a couple that I had no idea what they were, but tasted amazing! The sushi-san gives you the option of soy (shoyu) or salt (shio) to put on the piece, and there are different recommendations for different fish. Each piece was reasonably sized, although a bit smaller than the nigiri at Sushi Zanmai. As usual, my favourite was the aburi (seared) tuna, but really, it’s all good!

Uogashi Nihon Ichi, 1F PORTA Kagurazaka 2-6 Kagurazaka Shinjyu-ku Tokyo  http://www.uogashi-nihonichi.com/english/

Cafe Comme Ca

¥1000 is a lot to pay for one piece of cake, and when I was a student in Tokyo I could only bring myself to do it twice – once with friends and once in a train station when I’d arrived three hours early for my train (oops). Both times it was from Cafe Comme Ca, and both times it was worth it. So when I went back to Tokyo I made sure to stop in again and try another slice. Each cake is sculpted with fresh fruit into rosettes or other incredible arrangements – I recommend taking some time to look at the display cabinet before making a choice (fair warning though – the staff, sadly, won’t let you take pictures of the whole cakes). This time I went for the blood orange and raspberry cream cake, which came out on a plate with cocoa dust in the shape of bluebirds (swoon). The fruit was juicy and covered in a sweet glaze, and the cream was light and not too rich. Western-style sweets in Japan are often sickly sweet, but Cafe Comme Ca gets the balance (and the beauty) just right.

Cafe Comme Ca, 5F Comme Ca Store, 3-26-6 Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku Tokyo  http://www.cafe-commeca.co.jp/ (Japanese only)

Sushi Zanmai

Not everybody is a ‘sushi for breakfast’ person, but if we’re talking Sushi Zanmai, I absolutely am. I dragged my colleagues out to Akihabara bright and early, promising that sushi at 7am was something they wouldn’t regret. Sushi Zanmai is open 24 hours and you are always met with a chorus of ‘irashaimasen’ to welcome you. Here, seating at the bar is best, so you can watch the sushi-san work and have a chat. The staff are super friendly and are always happy to give you their recommendations. On this occasion, we were the only people in the restaurant, and had a sushi-san to ourselves, so we started the nigiri feast with salmon, followed by tuna, mackarel, scallops, and unagi (eel). We tried the ootoro (top grade fatty tuna), but all found it a bit too fatty for our tastes. The highlight was the aburi tuna, which had sprigs of spring onion on top and just melted in your mouth. I’m pretty sure that piece alone managed to convince my colleagues of the wisdom of eating sushi at 7am. A must visit for a real Tokyo experience – although not necessarily for breakfast!

Sushi Zanmai, 1F Yodabashi Camera building, Akihabara Tokyo     http://www.kiyomura.co.jp/ (Japanese only)