Saizeriya
Saizeriya is budget Japanized Italian food. It's funny that this was even on our list, but it's been across the street for the past six months. All the Italians from school claimed that "it was not Italian food." Italics means in an Italian accent.
I got the seafood gratin.
V got a hamburger steak parmesan. Can you tell that these pictures are taken with my old camera? Verdict: not bad at all for the price. Saizeriya is super cheap; most things on the menu are in the 500 Yen range. I have to say that Saizeriya really surprised me. I was expecting total crap, but it's not a bad option at all for your everyday meals. I can totally understand why it's so popular.
The rest of this stuff is more current.
Ramen Jiro
Ahh, the infamous Ramen Jiro. Known for its sheer size and heart-clogging ability. The one above is actually a small (although there are only larges and smalls). The other two guys in the stores had their bowls piled way high with toppings. We didn't add anything extra to ours except a little garlic in mine.
I was more than halfway through my bowl and beginning to have some difficulty when I noticed that V still had a long way to go. At this point we had the following exchange:
J: Are you going to finish yours?
V: No way. I'm not gonna try to be a hero.
J: Oh ok. Imma do it.
Ok to be honest. As soon as she said that, the song popped into my head. And then I thought to myself, this would make a really entertaining sequence in my blog. This is the way I think now.
Ramen Jiro was salty, heavy, and delicious. All Jiro's are a little unique and supposedly each store is founded by someone who apprenticed at the original in Mita. The two guys running the store were clearly father and son; the father just looked like an older version of his son. This specific incarnation of it is supposed to be one of the lightest versions. This is bad news because I don't know if I can handle any other kind. My body totally rejected Jiro, and I spent the day battling it and detoxifying.
Don't be turned off by this. It will certainly be a while before I give Ramen Jiro another go, but it was seriously good. The cabbage and bean sprout toppings are awesome and I can see why everyone piles it high. One of the guys probably had at least 30% more crap in his bowl and downed the whole thing in ten minutes easily. I got my noodles a little on the hard side, and they came out almost undercooked. The noodles were actually so hard that my teeth starting hurting towards the end of the bowl from chewing through them. I tried V's and hers were definitely too soft for me.
Definitely give Jiro a try, but be prepared for the repercussions.
Since, Jiro continued to wreak havoc on my insides, we decided to go for something light for dinner.
Isetan Food Court
After our shopping in Shinjuku san-chome, I got this idea to go through the Isetan food court and try a lot of the various stalls they had there. The Isetan food court is legendary for being a battle ground for the most high end dessert shops in Tokyo.
We basically spent an hour wandering this huge sweets paradise and window shopped while trying anything that had samples (and being totally suckered by them). We were short on time, so we didn't eat any of the stuff you see here until we got home. Anyway, here's what we ended up getting:
鈴懸 - Suzukake
Those dorayaki were amazing. The bell pastries were good as well, but man those dorayaki... Not pictured here is the ichigo daifuku we also got from this joint. Also fantastic. If I had to pick one, this place was the best place we tried all day.
清閑院 - Seikanin
I had never had sakura mochi before, but now I'm sure I will have it again. These goodies were an eye-opening experience. The sakura leaf on the outside is pickled and apparently you're supposed to eat it together. We didn't know and just took it off. I dunno though, pickled leaf messing with my sakura mochi? I'm gonna have to think about that one.
和菓子の叶匠壽庵 - Kanou Shoujuan
We got a red bean cake from this place to give to V's parents. Actually, that's how they hooked us, by offering us a piece of red bean cake packed full of cocaine. Or mochi. Or cocaine mochi! I couldn't resist the apple and sakura flavored jellies. More beautiful than beautiful tasting but hardly disappointing.
Premium Mario Gelateria
Ok, I lied. We ate this one on the spot. Half pistachio and half Tahiti vanilla; I'm never one to turn down gelato. The pistachio was lacking the nutty punch we desired and actually had more of a milky taste, but the vanilla was packed with flavor. Awesome vanilla and a surprisingly good wafer to boot.
D'une Rarete
We got both a Cube B and Cube C. Neither were as sweet as we thought they would be and Cube C ended up tasting pretty similar to unsweetened chocolate. Not bad but easily the worst thing we had that night. I think we were just drawn in by the naming and shape gimmick.
Shiseido Parlour
What business does Shiseido have making cream puffs? Really good business apparently. This was perhaps the most important part of our search since V went back and forth between five or six shops trying to pick out a cream puff. She ended up with the beauty above and made a great decision. Tasted perfect.
Pudding D'or
I'm a pudding princess (a normal one) apparently. Easily the best and most expensive pudding I've had in Japan. It comes in various flavors, but the original flavor also comes in soft, normal, and hard consistencies. I think next time I would like to be a hard pudding princess.
Our total at Isetan ended up to be 2905 Yen. It wasn't the cheapest not-even-a-meal meal, but we both had a good time. I highly recommend browsing the Isetan food court to anyone.
茶の池田や - Cha no Ikedaya
After Isetan, we first did a little clothes shopping at Comme Ca and Benetton around Shinjuku Station. Well, baby clothes shopping for our niece. While we were admiring a baby shirt at Comme Ca, one of the workers suddenly said to us, "That's really cute isn't it?" in perfect English. Scared the living crap out of V. Six months in Tokyo and the first time someone speaks to us in native-level English is three days before we leave. Figures.
After shopping, we went into Shinjuku Station to get a little something to match up with all our desserts.
Located in the basement of Shinjuku Station, we came across this little shop while roaming Odakyu Ace a couple days ago. This store carried another matcha brand there that seemed promising, and when V looked it up later, sure enough everyone said it was delicious. Supposedly the matcha ice cream at Cha no Ikedaya is pretty good as well. We'll have to try it sometime. We had been planning to return to buy some tea, but this time around I also wanted to buy V all the proper materials to prepare tea.
That's pretty much the barebones kit. The tea-bowls were on sale and only cost 500 Yen each! We got a brief education in the difference between whisks and settled on the one above. We finally had everything we needed...
with which V made me beautiful matcha to pair with our snacks. Isetan dessert date + matcha = highly recommended. I look forward to plenty of delicious tea in the future. Mwahahaha.
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