Cat Cafe

If you are mentally exhausted, why don’t you get to the Cat Cafe? There are a lot of cats who sooth our souls and let us forget about anything bad in life. In Japan, Cat Boom was suddenly arrived around 2010 because of the appearance of “Tama-ekicho”. “Ekicho” means a station manager and “Tama” indicates the name of a cat. A cat! In short, a cat named Tama was officially assigned to be a station manager. This fact was shared by SNS and cats came to attract many Japanese people. Along with this, the number of cat cafe has been rapidly increased, then cat cafe came to be called one of the Japanese cultures recently. Actually, cat cafe originated in Taiwan … but anyway, let’s look at more details about Japanese cat cafe.

1. What is cat cafe?

Cat cafe is a place to play with cats indoor while you drink or take some foods. Usually, there are a lot of different kind of cats, like American Shorthair, Siamese, Munchkin, Russian Blu and so on. Customers can play with cats they prefer, using some equipment called “Neko-jarashi”. If you don’t feel like playing, you can just watch them. Some cat caffe create an opportunity for customers to feed cats or to brush them. Also, many cat caffes have a lot of books so you can read books while you stroke a cat. Ideal situation isn’t it?

You can interact with cats as you prefer at cat café.

2. Famous cat cafes

Here, I picked up two famous cat cafes, so if you want to go cat cafe but don’t know which to go, please refer to the following.

・Cat cafe MOCHA(猫カフェ MOCHA)

Cafe MOCHA is in Harajuku. There are more than 20 cats. This caffe has a lot of magazines and comic books, so you can chill out. In addition, they set aside a time for cats to eat lunch at 10:30, and at 19:30 for dinner. If you want to see the lunch or dinner time, you should remember this time schedule. You also can buy cat treat for 500 yen.

Website : 猫カフェ MOCHA(モカ)|原宿店 (catmocha.jp)

 

・Calaugh (きゃらふ)

Calaugh is in Asakusa. This cafe has a charming and quaint atmosphere so if you get exhausted to wander Asakusa, drop by this place. Furthermore, you can use some outlets and Wi-Fi. If you want to do some works, you can do it with nice coffee and lovely cats. This cafe also provides nice foods, like curry and galette.

Website: 猫カフェきゃらふ – 浅草駅から徒歩1分の猫がいるカフェ | 東京浅草の猫がいるカフェ (calaugh.com)

3. Rescued cat cafes

In Japan, there are some cat cafes where we can communicate with rescued cats.

In these days, the number of stray cats and abandoned cats are decreasing.  However, unfortunately, many stray cats are still killed.  A survey about stray cats in 2018 shows that about 30 thousands cats are killed by the local governments throughout a year in Japan. This is a big problem of the country.

To solve this problem, some institutions and companies launched “Rescued cat cafes”. At these cat cafes, not only seeing or playing with cats, but visitors can also become their  owners after they are acknowledged by the stuffs as an appropriate owners of rescued cats. This is a big difference with ordinary cat cafes.

Rescued cat cafes often have creative interiors. For example, in CAIT SITH, a rescued cat cafe in Yokohama set various tools and building materials for cats inside the cafe. By seeing the interiors and tools, people can learn how to make an environment which suits for cats. In addition to this, seeing the interiors help people to image the real life with cats and decide whether they really have cats at their houses or not.

Although the problems of stray cats are still exist as big issues, cat cafes, especially rescued cat cafes are making solutions to save thier lives.

Although the problems of stray cats are still exist as big issues, cat cafes, especially rescued cat cafes are making solutions to save thier lives.

Dia de muertos

Do you know any Mexican cultures?

There are many kinds of events, foods, habits, costumes, and so on.

Dia de muertos is a Mexican traditional event. This name may give you a negative or dismal image. But, Dia de muertos is a joyful and positive celebration. It is hold for three days from October 31 to November 2 (the date depends on the locality). In these days, people honor the deceased. They decorate flowers, eat special meal, and wear the costume. Dia de muertos is divided into two parts. On November 1, they celebrate all the saints who had an exemplary life and children. And then, on November 2, general celebration is hold and they bring flowers to the graves of family and spend the night awaiting their dead.

 

Traditional mexican Day of the dead altar with sugar skulls and candles

○ Ofrenda 

Ofrenda means offering in English. In that day, people decorate graves so that the deceased can come back. They decorate flowers such as marigold and red celosia. Marigold has an important meaning, because it leads the deceased to walk. Papel Picado is also decorated. It is a colorful paper which is cut into some shapes. In addition, pan de muerto (bread), candle, and the picture of the deceased are offered.

○Calavera

Calavera means a sugar skull in Spanish. It is created with cane sugar and decorated with a lot of coloured items, whether it’s edible or not. It represents children who have died, and larger ones represents the death of adults. Sometimes they don’t just paint them but also dress them with frilly clothes. Moreover, people in Mexico paints their face like calvera too; in the past they did that also in Halloween Day but that culture is criticised as cultural appropriation.

○Pan de Muerto

It means bread of the dead in Spanish and people in Mexico eat them on November 1 or November 2. They usually make its shape like skulls and bones. The bones are often represented in a circle to portray the circle of life. On the top of the bread there are sugar, sometimes dyed pink. Sometimes they add not only sugar but also cinnamon into the dough. Pan de Muerto is not just a popular religious event, it’s recognised as American pop culture too.

Pan de Muerto, mexican Sweet bread in Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico

 

If you would like to visit Mexico, choose that date from October 31 to November 2 so that you can enjoy this event. Pray for the deceased, and enjoy eating and decorating. I recommend it!

¡Chao, gracias por leer!

School Lunch Around the World

There are many things that represent each country’s cultural difference and we believe school lunch is one of them. Today, we would like to introduce how school lunch works around the world.

Japan

In Japan, public schools serve students school lunch during mandatory education. Japanese school lunch is supervised by the dietitian and nutritionally well-balanced. As the menu changes every day, children can eat what they usually don’t eat at home. When lunchtime arrived, students wear aprons and go to get their class’s lunch and students by their selves set the tables. Basically, all students eat the same amount of food and some of the class teachers do not permit leaving it. Although there are pros and cons against this leading policy, it can also be said that enough food is secured for students. Also, Japanese school focuses on food education. Home economics is a compulsory subject and students learn the importance of having well-balanced food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5s1SlqB8  (Kyushoku: The Making of a Japanese School Lunch)

America

School lunches have become more nutritious despite many challenges, a look at eight elementary schools shows - Washington Post

1800 × 1367

Lunch time in America generally starts at 11:30 AM and ends at 13:00. The students in America can usually choose what they want to eat. Some students eat school lunch while some students bring in their own lunch from home. According to Japan Relocation, which provides people living in overseas with houses, the lunch in America, which is called as “hot lunch” is prepared based on school district. Every morning, Teachers ask students whether they want to eat school lunch or not. The teachers then contact person in charge of school lunch to tell the amount they need for school lunch. The unique features are that the students do not pay the school lunch fees every month. Instead, their parents buy prepayment cards for their children and they can pay whenever they want to eat school lunch. Another interesting feature different from Japan is that the students usually do not eat lunch inside their class room. They go to cafeteria instead.

The UK

What's for lunch in England? | What's for lunch?
The secondary school lunch in the UK is said to cost about 2 pounds per a day in average and more than two third of students eat school lunch. In general, the lunch consists of main dish, dessert, and drink. In the UK, the school lunch is called “School dinner” and they eat it at the dining hall. Students pay for lunch in advance. What is unique about school lunch in the UK is that students are provided with fish and chips, or fish fingers every Friday. This is a tradition originated by Roman Catholic belief that we should not eat meet on a Friday. Fish and chips is said to be introduced by jewish immigrants from Portugal and Spain.   

Countries do not have school lunch

In some countries, schools finish before noon and do not have school lunch. In Mexico, Spain, and Peru, students bring snacks and eat lunch at home. Some of the schools serve breakfast before class starts.

School lunch and obesity

Compared with Japanese and American school lunch, nutritional balance differs a lot. This difference affects children’s obesity. According to the data from WHO, the percentage of overweight children in the United States is 42% while that of Japan is 14%.

 

School lunch varies by country, and it reflects each culture. Also, school lunch taking on a role in supporting children’s dietary habit.

Korean Soul Food

What kind of Korean food have you ever eaten? Korean food is widely known in Japan. In this blog, we will introduce two dishes that we would love you to know and try.

Samgyetang(삼계탕)is a traditional famous Korean food. This food is soup with full chicken filled with rice, carrots, nuts, garlic and etc. This food is very healthy and most people in Korea eat it during summer because this is said to prevent from summer heat. In Korea there are even some restaurant which sell nothing but Samgyetang.

Next, we would like to introduce you to Seolleongtang(설렁탕). This is a local food of Seoul and features a cloudy white soup made by boiling ox bones, meat and internal organs for a long time. Since it’s a kind of soup, there are few ingredients: basically it contains only green onions and thinly sliced beef. When cooking, almost no seasoning is added, so by oneself, seasoning with salt, pepper, or powdered chili pepper at the table. It contains a lot of minerals and is often eaten for breakfast in Korea.

旨味たっぷり ソルロンタン風 作り方・レシピ | クラシル

We can also eat it in Japan ! We can have this either in house or at restaurant! In Tokyo there is a Korean town, which placed in Shin Okubo. It’s actually not far from Sophia so if anyone who want to eat these let’s go together!!

The Wonderful World of Dagashi

If you live in Japan, I am sure that you have heard of the word “Dagashi” at least once in your lifetime. Even if you haven’t heard of it, you may have seen it somewhere without recognizing it.

What is Dagashi?

Dagashi is a small-packaged snack, often sold in Dagashi Stores, supermarkets, and dollar stores. They are known for their reasonable price, most of them sold less than 100 yen (The average price is 10~30 yen).

In Japan’s elementary schools, when there is a field trip, children are often told to buy snacks within the limit of 300 yen. Its aim is to encourage children to use money in public and learn the function of money. But stop and think for a moment. What can you buy with 300 yen? Regular snacks cost about 110 yen each, which means that you can only buy 2~3 snacks to bring to the field trip. If you are the child, wouldn’t you want to buy various types of snacks, to show and share with your friend? This is where Dagashi comes in. Because they are cheap and reasonable, many children choose to buy Dagashi instead of regular snacks.

History of Dagashi

The history of Dagashi goes back to the Edo period. Like now, Dagashi was cheap and small snacks, which was loved by many. It was especially popular among the common people, as many couldn’t afford to buy Japanese traditional sweets (和菓子) to eat with their tea. At that time, they were mostly made from starch syrup (水飴) and millet (雑穀).

Dagashi drastically changed after World War II, with the influence of European cultures. The varieties rapidly increased and its popularity was at its highest. Factories were inventing and producing more and more Dagashi to meet people’s needs. Countless numbers of Dagashi Store (駄菓子屋) , a store which sells Dagashi and cheap toys for children opened as well. It can be said that it was during the Showa Era, that it became Dagashi as we know today.

These days, there are not much of Dagashi store, especially in the city side. However, they can often be found in supermarkets and dollar stores.

Popularity

It is true that many of the Dagashi are disappearing these days. However, over the last few years, many people have started putting more attention on Dagashi, as a nostalgic Showa product. Books and magazines on Dagashi have been published and there are now even comics and anime about them.

From the anime “Dagashikashi”. The girl is holding Umaibo (10yen) a puffed corn snack, one of the most popular Dagashi in Japan. It is a cylinder-shaped snack with a whole in the middle. “Umai” meaning delicious and “bou” meaning stick, it is called “Delicious Stick” in other countries.

Dagashi Bar

Now, there is even a bar called Dagashi Bar in Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, and Shibuya. It is an all-you-can-eat bar, and you can enjoy Dagashi for 2 hours for just 500 yen (+ you must order at least one drink). There is also special menu which you can order separately, which uses Dagashi as its ingredients.

Types of Dagashi

Having tried various types of Dagashi, I would like to introduce some, which I thought is my personal favorite.

モロッコヨーグルト

This is known as Morocco Yogurt, which comes with a small wooden spoon. It has a smooth, cream like texture. Although it smells of yogurt, the taste is indescribable. Even though I have eaten this for quite some time, I still have no idea what it’s made from.

ビッグカツ

Katsu is a shortened word for Cutlet, breaded and fried pork.  As it can be inferred from the name, this Dagashi tastes just like Cutlet. It is surprising that they managed to make this taste because it actually uses minched fish instead of an actual pork. I recommend you eat this when you get tired of sweet Dagashi.

フルーツの森

My all-time favorite Dagashi, which you eat with a toothpick. This has a sticky texture, similar to that of Haichu. You can eat the plate as well. There are several similar snacks such as ミックス餅 and キャンディーボックス. Their packages are different but the inside is the same.

ポテトフライ(38yen)

This is close to potato chips and is chicken flavored. There are 4 chips in one package, which you can share with your friend. The young boy on the package is Pocchi-kun (ポッチ君). His past is unknown.

I hope you enjoyed the blog and has taken some interest in Dagashi. Thank You for reading!

What you must do in the BIGGEST Korean Town in Japan ~TOP TRENDING Gourmet Guide @ Shin-Okubo~

 

Hi! We are Ami and Nanaka.

For our blog post, we want to introduce one of the hot spots in Tokyo, which is Shin-Okubo.

Shin-Okubo is a very popular place especially among teenagers.

Previously,Shin-Okubo was still a popular place but mainly among K-pop fans.

Nowadays,more people come to visit this place because many new restaurants and food stands that serve trending Korean foods are opening one after another.

One of the famous ‘foodie Instagram account’ in Japan “りょうくんグルメ (Ryo-kun gourmet)” introduces the trends gourmet inTokyo, and there are many Shin-Okubo foods in his posts. His followers come visit the same shops to eat those trending foods.

(↑Some of his Instagram posts, including the foods in Shin-Okubo)

We are going to introduce the menus and restaurants that we recommend to visit and eat in Shin-Okubo based on where we actually visited in the past.

〜Hot&Spicy!! Typical Korean foods〜

  1. Yangnyeom Chicken (written by Nanaka)

Yangnyeom Chicken is Korean style seasoned chicken. It is fried and smothered in a sweet and spicy gochujaang (fermented chili paste) based sauce. Almost all the restaurants, we can choose the flavor and its honess. The picture down below is chicken I ate at Kanghodong restaurant. It was so tasty and we can eat at a very reasonable price. (about 3000yen for 2〜3 people.)

Yangnyeom chicken goes greatly with the cheese as well. The second picture is chicken with full of cheese. Chickens are dipped in melted cheese and sprinkled over it. Cheese relieve the hotness of Chicken and make the taste more delicious.

  1. Samgyeopsal (written by Ami)

Samgyeopsal is a very popular Korean cuisine. Samgyeopsal(삼겹살) means ‘pork belly meat’ in Korean. Thick slices of pork belly meat are grilled on the iron plate which is set on the diner’s table. It is usually seasoned only with salt, and also Kimchi and garlic slices are heated on the side of the plate with it. After the slices are grilled, waiter will cut the slices into small pieces with scissors. Sauces, Celtuce(Korean lettuce) leaves, and spicy green onion salad are usually served with. There are two types of sauces; sesame oil with salt and Ssamjang(spicy miso) so that we can dip the meat and change the taste. Celtuce leaves are for wrapping the meat. In most of the restaurants, we can have a refill of Celtuce leaves for free.

Since it is a popular menu, you can find Samgyeopsal in most of the Korean restaurants in Shin-Okubo. Samgyeopsal can be ordered for 2 or more people and its average price is about 3000yen (for 2 people).
I recommend the restaurant “Ton-chan”. There are several buildings of “Ton-chan” in Shin-Okubo so every restaurant is not very crowded. I like to order the ‘Kimchi fried rice’ after Samgyeopsal. The staff will cook us a delicious fried rice on the iron plate using the remaining meat oil and pieces of grilled meat.

〜Especially for Cheeseaholic〜

  1. Cheese hot dog (Nanaka)


Cheese hot dog is Korean style hot dog which wrapped in a thick dough and deep fried. You can try to sparkle with sugar, coconut powder, ketchup,honey mustard and so one. It tastes sweet but salty, works extremely well. You might expect that sausage inside of it, Korean Cheese hot dog is not more than just a sausage. The most popular one contains mozzarella cheese inside. This combination is unexpectedly good and so delicious.

Since the mozzarella cheese inside of a Cheese hot dog, it is popular to challenge how much you can stretch melted cheese and take pictures. The picture is me trying to stretch it!!
You can usually buy it at the street shops in Shin-Okubo. I would recommend Ariranghotdog where is the head street shop of Cheese hot dog.

4. Shrimp cheese fondue (Ami)

“Hongdae Pocha” is the restaurant in Shin-Okubo, famous for serving shrimp cheese fondue.

In my opinion, this is the best food in Shin-Okubo! I really like this shrimp cheese fondue so that I went to this place for 5 times in this year.

This is the video I took in the restaurant. The waiter uses gas burner to melt the cheese in the iron plate. Spicy sweet chili sauce, pieces of white bread, vegeyable sticks are served with shrimps to eat with. 

It goes great with Korean alcoholic drinks, Chamisul Soju or Makgeolli.


〜Unique Rice Dishes〜

5.Korean yukhoe sushi (Nanaka)

Korean yukhoe sushi is korean style sushi typically found in Shin-Okubo. It is sushi rice topped with raw beef called yukhoe. There are a lot of sauces and toppings you can choose and it has quite different tastes depending on the restaurant. 


My recommendation is restaurant “Pallet 46”. They serve 50 cm long yukhoe sushi which is very photogenic. There are about 20000 photos on Instagram. This is the restaurant where Ami and I went together. It was so delicious and addictive if you eat once. Also, it is not expensive that you can eat only 2780 yen for this long sushi. I would recommend to choose two different tastes and share with a friend.

6.Korean volcano fried rice(Ami)

Korean volcano fried rice is a kimchi fried rice (Kimchi bokkeumbap) with a fried egg and cheese on a iron plate.

You can eat this at the restaurant “Monnan Gamja”. It is very hot on the heated iron plate and the cheese on the bottom is melting.

Kimchi fried rice is spicy but eating with egg and cheese makes the taste mild and less spicy.

It costs around 1000yen for a single person.

〜Cute&Trending Sweets〜

7.Patbingsu (Nanaka)

Patbingsu is popular Korean shaved ice dessert. Usually, there are a lot of toppings such as fruits, condensed milk, Kinako, whipped cream and so on. In Japanese, it is almost the same as Kakogori. Patbingsu is so sweet but delicious and almost addictive!! 

I would recommend 2D cafe for the Patbings. This cafe is very new, opened in August 2019. This is a concept cafe that the world of 2D. It looks like everything is made out of paper, which is very photogenic and instagrammable.

This cafe is designed monochro, so the colorful Patbingsu looks great in the picture.

This cafe is famous for many patbingsu and tapioca drinks. The price of patbingsu is about 1250 yen and Tapioca costs about 500 yen. The ice of patbingsu is made of iced milk, so it tastes sweet and really creamy. It goes with fruits very well. You should try them!

8.Oreo churros (Ami)

In Korea, there are many food stands that serves this sweet. You can able to order exactly the same one in Shin-Okubo, too!

You can buy this Oreo churros in the shop “Snowy Village”. The price is 480yen for 1 cup.

Oreo-taste churros is served with sweet cream that contains cookie powder. It is very sweet and yummy.

〜LOVE BOBA!!〜

9.Tapioca drink -Chakashou

                           -Kanachabou (Nanaka)

Recently, Tapioca has become so popular, especially for the young age. Most of our image of Tapioca is just chewy small pearls but it is actually made out of a starch extracted from cassava root. It is so famous and there are so many Tapioca shops everywhere. So, I will introduce my recommendation of Tapioca shops in Shin-Okubo.

 〜Chakashou


Chakashou is popular tapioca drink in  Shin-Okubo. There is always a long queue for this shop, especially on the weekends. Ami and I have waited about an hour to get it. It is so crowded compared to other Tapioca shops but I think it’s worth waiting a long queue. The features of Chakashou are thick brown sugar inside and soft but chewy Tapioca. You should try them once! There are hot and cold ones so we can enjoy Tapioca in winter as well. 

〜Kanchabou〜


Kanchabou is also very famous Tapioca shop in Shin-Okubo. It is actually located very close to Chakashou for about 2 minutes away, so maybe you can try it both Tapiocas!! Kanchabou is also very popular shop and there is always a long queue like Chakashou. You can get it easier on weekdays compared to weeked. I ordered a Tapioca milk tea(the most  basic one). I really liked the taste of sweet tea and its soft texture Tapioca. Also the logo mark is so cute that makes people take pictures. Kanchabou is a Tapioca shop but there are a lot of fruit tea and smoothes. You can enjoy here in many ways.

10.Cafe de KAVE (Ami)

Café de KAVE is also a Tapioca shop in Shin-Okubo.  This cafe is managed by the famous Korean artist, Jaejoong. He was once a,member of TVXW(東方神起), popular idol group in South-Korea.

The unique thing about this Tapioca shop is it’s container of boba tea. It looks like this.

The container looks like canned soft drinks. This is very uncommon for the container of Tapioca drinks. I ordered Tapioca milk tea.

It is photogenic and popular among young people.

 

 

These are Ami&Nanaka’s recommendation of Korean food restaurants in Shin-Okubo. 

We hope that you enjoy reading this blog and go to Shin-Okubo and try some food!!

 

Thanks for reading!!

Tapioca in China

We all know that Tapioca mainly comes from Taiwan. I have been there once. I was surprised to see that Tapioca was even cheaper than other drinks sold in a convenience store. Maybe that’s the reason why people living in Taiwan drink sooo much Tapi instead of water…

Also, there is a special kind of “net” which is used to hold the Tapi. It makes people easier to hold a cup when it is too cold for winter or too hot for summer. I think Japan should have this!

Having lived in China for years, I have started drunk it when I was a third-year little girl. At that time, Tapi wasn’t that famous. But these years ( I don’t know why), it becomes so popular! Here I will show you the top 3 Tapi shop in China.

1. COCO

Coco is not only famous for its Tapi. Coffee there is also very good. We can choose over 10 kinds of toppings. Such as lemon, kumquat, mousse, milk, pudding, coconut, potato, chocolate….. Whatever toppings you can imagine, are there. Depending on your mood, you can freely arrange your drinks.  There also have many recommendations when you don’t know what to choose.
The most attracting point of COCO is the low price which we can’t imagine in Japan. The standard drinks ( tea ) cost about 100 yen. One topping cost 20 to 80 yen. So if you order a drink with full of toppings, it may only cost you around 300 yen. ( How expensive Japan!!!!)

2. HEY TEA

HEY TEA became famous 2 years ago. When I first try to taste one, the loooooooooong line surprised me! Compared with other Tapi, HEY TEA only has one shop for each area ( station). Also, it is more expensive. Let’s see why.

 

As we can see, the drinks seem more well-made than others. The cups are full of fresh fruits. The size of the cup also seems bigger than other shops. Toppings are not allowed there because each of them is made perfect. But you can add cheese if you want. HEY TEA is delicious but to get one is very difficult…

3.LE LE TEA

LE LE has just become famous. The drinks there look like HEY TEA, but what LE LE is good at is not tea, but their sweets.

However, just like HEY TEA, the drinks and foods are expensive and also hard to get because of the long line. But I have heard that these shops have improved their delivery system. People will be able to see whether their drinks are ready or not on their phones, so they will not have to stand waiting for but go somewhere else. But to order, you still have to wait…
Tapioca in China is overall cheaper than it is in Japan. The variety of it is richer. However, I think it won’t be so long when Japanese Tapi grow up to be good.

Charming Cream Soda

 

ウルトラソーダ(Ultra Soda), from my favorite band 相対性理論(theory of releativity)

I think many of you go to a cafe on your free time. There are lots of chains in Japan, for example STARBUCKS, Doutor, Veloce, and Tully’s. In a cafe, you can enjoy many kinds of beverages, while relaxing, talking, of working on your tasks. I go to cafe on a daily basis too, but to be exact, I prefer “tearooms” more than a modern cafe.

純喫茶 “jyun-kissa” is  tearoom which does not serve alcohol. To be specific, it is a genuine tearoom, but I will call it tearoom in this post. Cafe was a spot where people can share opinions from the Meiji period. From the Taisho period, it became much more popular. In these cafes, they mainly served alcohol in the night time, and was much more like a bar or  club. At the same time, cafes which does not serve alcohol, tearooms started to appear too. This was to set apart cafe and a snack bar.

Many people smoke in tearooms, so some people might hate it. However, I used to live in Aichi and there were many tearooms in the area where I lived(the famous chain, Komada Coffee was born in Aichi). It was natural for me to go to tearooms after school when I was a high school student, and meet my favorite drink, or a dessert, “Cream Soda.”

In western countries, people mixed fruit juice and soda to enjoy carbonated drink from the old time. Someone started to use ice cream as a topping, and this was the beginning of cream soda. This special drink came to Japan in 1900. It became popular as a fancy drink.

This is my Instagram account. I started to like cream soda when I was 16, and since then, when I have free time I go find cream soda with my friend, or even alone. Some people say that liking cream soda is kind of unique, but did you know that there are many manias of cream soda in Japan right now, and many cafes sell this menu.

There are some books available that picks up cream soda too.

In Japan, the basic style of cream soda is mellon soda with vanilla ice cream on top, but some times the soda may be different flavorings, and the ice cream might be milk ice cream. You can customize it as you like. In this blog, I will pick up several tearooms that has cream soda.

Gion [Asagaya]

Gion, located near Asagaya station is very convenient from Yotsuya.

The building is very fancy. Inside, there is one set of a table where the chairs are made by swings [the seat is for 2 people].

You can add ice cream on any beverage a Gion, so you can enjoy your original cream soda.

The uniforms are pretty, and the master changes the flowers frequently. Many food menus are available too, so you can enjoy the taste, smell, and also the visual. Gion is open until 2 in the morning.

Yuliapemuperu [Kichijyoji]

This tearoom is located in Kichijoji, and you can enjoy several kinds of cream soda with a delicious dessert. It is open until 12:00 P.M. It is crowded in the weekends.

The drink is colorful, so it might be fun to visit with several people.

Sabouru [Jinboucho]

Sabouru is located in Jiboucho. It has 2 cafe lined together; Sabouru1, and Sabouru2. The menus are mostly the same, but Sabouru1 has more varieties of cream soda than Sabouru2.

It’s colorful,  and ofcourse all tastes different.

Shiseido-parlor [Ginza]

Shiseido-parlor is the first shop that started to sell cream soda in Japan. It is a luxury store, and cram soda costs about 1,150yen. You can enjoy orange cream soda, and lemon cream soda all season, and there is always 1 limited time flavor. The last time I visited there, it was a season of Kyoho [a type of grape], so I enjoyed a Kyoho cream soda.

Caroline Diner [Harajuku]

Caroline Diner is not a tearoom, and the concept is American Diner.

If you order cream soda at Caroline Diner, it comes with cute cherries!

Since it is a diner, not only desserts, but also food menus are substantial. Hamburgers, and taco chips taste delicious.

Negura [Shimokitazawa]

Nagura, in Shimokitazawa has varieties of cream soda, and is gorgeous, but able to enjoy in a low price.

This muscat grape flavor was tasty, and my favorite. In Shimokitazawa, there are other cafe that serves cream soda, such as Briki Button, and Aotori.

If you look out for information, there are bunch of them, so next time when you are planning to go to a cafe, why not visiting a tearoom with a nice cream soda?

Gourmet in Yotsuya Blog [Lunch]

What shall I eat for lunch today!

“What shall I eat for lunch today?” If you are a student of Sophia University, I bet you will have to think about this question several times a week. This is not an issue to compare with other universities, but to be honest Yotsuya station is not the best place to eat lunch for university students. Look at Waseda University for instance. There are tons of restaurants or cheap “Bento shops” around the campus. You can go to Shinjuku, Omotesando, and other flourished stations from the Yotsuya station if you take the train, but taking the train only for the purpose to eating lunch in your limited lunch break time [12:30-1:30] is not a great idea. As a result, we end up eating lunch at random places located in Sophia University. It may be the lunch set of the cafeteria in the 2nd building, or some food you grabbed from seven eleven. We are not saying that this is a bad idea, but don’t you think you can make your lunch time much more gorgeous than now? Today we would like to introduce some places where you can eat delicious food from the “Shinmichi street” near Sophia university.

Shinmichi Street

Shinmichi street is the hope for Sophians. Located near the campus [you can get there in about 5 minutes from Sophia, about 100 meters from the station], we are sure that you have visited there at least once. If you look it up on the internet, the first sentence that comes up is “Yotsuya, Shinmichi Dori is a gourmet street full of moth and liveliness. Wow, sounds great.

This is the “Shinmichi Street”.

Looks cool in the night time too.

If you walk from Yotsuya-mitsuke crossing to the direction of Shinjuku, you can find this street in your right side. If you enter this gate, you will find many restaurants on both sides of a narrow street. Some offer Asian food, South American food, Italian, curry and so on. It is super rich in variety.

“Yotsuya Takeda”

If you go into Shinmichi street on lunch time, the first shop that catches your eyes may be “Yotsuya Takeda.”

Why? It is because it is located at the entrance of this street [close to KFC, or Renoir], and because it is always crowded with people who wants to eat at this diner. On lunch time, a long line is made from the entrance door of “Yotsuya Takeda.”

What they offer is this. Pork cutlet. The visual is just great. I can hear the sound of batter coating being fried by just looking at this. It is super bad writing this blog in midnight looking at these good-looking food pictures. You can eat lunch here for around 1000-1500 yen. Not only pork, but they also have fried shrimp, chicken cutlet, deep fried oysters, and so on. They even have curry as their menu. Too attractive. However from this provided information, people thinks “What’s the big deal about this? Looks like an ordinary diner.” Well the point is, the quality of the taste. According to a very reliable website “Tabelog”, where gastronomy users of this site give points to restaurants they have visited, Yotsuya Takeda scored 3.77 points. 3.77? Isn’t it low? No, not at all. It is said that restaurants that scored higher than 3.5 in Tabelog, the taste is guaranteed. Not only this diner scored a high score, but it is also in the category of TOP5000 in this website, which means that it is one of the best 5000 restaurants in Japan. Significant! Now you are ready to eat your lunch at Yotsuya Takeda. Since it is a popular diner, it may take a lot of time until the food is served. It might be good to go on a day when you do not have classes in the 2nd of 3rd period.

“Uoichi Shoten”

If you feel like eating fish, “Uoichi Shoten” might be the right place to go. It has several stores in the Kanto area, so it is a chain store. However the taste is reliable.

This is a picture that I took when I visited here. Because of the camera filter I used, it does not look tasty…

Here is the picture I found from the internet. See, looks just fine. Many people likes sushi, but if you want to eat fish for lunch, many prefer these “bowl of rice topped with sashimi things”, rather than sushi. These “kaisendon” is served very quickly, but the fish is fresh, and matches the vinegar rice. You can eat meals here for about 1000 yen. During lunchtime, many university students and employees were here to eat. The good point of this restaurant, is that they give you a 100 yen discount coupon you can use on your second visit after accounting. This coupon is happy for students who is short of money. Eating fish makes your brain active, and smart! It may be a good idea to eat fish for lunch, and attend the afternoon classes with fresh minds.

“Shamoichi”

“Shimoichi” is a place where you can eat chicken, but not an ordinary one. Oyakodon. [By the way, this restaurant scored 3.55 in Tabelog] Some Sophia University students work here.

This chicken sculpture may be familiar to some of you.

This is Oyakodon. Oyakodon is a bowl of rice with chicken, onion, and eggs.

They also have yakitori [my favorite]!!!!!!!! You can enjoy lunch here for about 1000 yen. At this restaurant, they use several eggs to make one bowl of Oyakodo. Since chicken is their speciality, the commitment to birds and eggs are different from others. They use good qualities ones. As if to prove it, it is delicious! The eggs are soft, and the chicken taste clearly. Also, if you order oyakodon, it comes with a Japanese soup and pickles which has a little classy taste. By eating here, what I thought was that the rice tastes different from ordinary restaurants. It was sweet and plump. It is chewy [a bit sticky], and the mouthfeel is good. Why not try?

“Ramens of Shinmichi and Yotsuya”

Children’s love it, but adults like them too. Japanese noodles; ramen. There are many ramen available in the Yotsuya area, so we will introduce 3 of them.

To begin with, the first one is Yokohama-kei Ramen Ryoma.

It is located at the entrance of the Shinmichi-dori. The ramen they offer is an ordinary, what is called, the Ie-Kei ramen. However the soup, the noodle it self is vey sophisticated and it will take you into a one of the best experiences of eating a ramen. They will serve you with free rice that you can enjoy with your ramen. People might think that eating a ramen with rice is too much calories, in Japan there is a word called ramen rice and it’s very attractive. You can ask for “Okawari” however you want and it is all free. If you have any time to go, go and get some yourself. There is no seats in this place and you need to stand while you are eating. At lunch time there is a long line so if you want to eat without waiting I recommend to go there at opening time. 

The second one is Komori Youtsuya.

The ramen place is located at the end of the Shinmichi-dori. The ramen they serve is a miso-ramen. The price is relatively low and you can eat with what little money you have. I used to go when I had very little money. But that is the strong part of this ramen. And the ramen is needless to say is very delicious. The noodles and the soup strangle together vary nicely. There is variety of ramen from normal, spicy and etc. However this ramen place is now closed and it is uncertain when they will return to serve great ramen. 

Last but not least, Yotsuya shouten.

Sadly this ramen place is not on the Shinmichi-dori but it is vey close to it. It is one of the famous “shouten” ramen places and of course it delivers very tasty ramen. As I said in “Ryoma” the ramen offers with free rice at lunch time. The taste is very orthodox but very sensitive and delicious. It is one of the first ramen I ate since coming to Sophia University. The first time I ate it, I couldn’t believe how good it tasted and since then I have been eating it when I have time. To say the least the ramen place is very famous and I could think that most of the students in Sophia University have ate before. This place is NOT closed right now and you can go whenever you want because the place has lots of seats. 

To enjoy desserts, “Wakaba”

Who loves sweets! Everyone does! [Sorry if you don’t] Wakaba is not in the Shinmichi Street, but it is still located in Yotsuya. We have been introducing many delicious foods, so to end this blog, we will introduce a sweet you can eat. If you want to eat cheap, but delicious Japanese sweets, we will definitely push Wakaba.

Written big on the goodwill “TAIYAKI”

Wakaba scored 3.78 points on Tabelog. This is a special Taiyaki. Wakaba sells 3 types of Japanese sweets, as known as “Wagashi.” They are, Taiyaki, Mitarashi dumpling, and Azuki dumpling. Each only costs 140-180 yen. Better than purchasing desserts in convenient stores. Azuki is filled from the head to the tails in Wakaba. There is a thing called, “Tokyo Taiyaki  Gosanke” [3 best Taiyaki shops in Tokyo], and of course Wakaba is included. Wakaba`s speciality is its homemade Anko. Many customers are big fan of this. They started selling sweets from Showa 28. It is a old store, called “Shinise.” There is a eating space in the store; you can have tea and water which is self service there, so you can relax. On weekdays, it is available from 9:00 A.M to 7:00 P.M, and on weekends, it is available from 9:00 A.M to 6:30 P.M. However, they will close the shop once they run out of supplies prepared for the day. If you absolutely want to eat it, we recommend you to hurry!

The end of the gourmet blog…

we have introduced several restaurants and diners in the Yotsuya area, but of course there are many others stores available, that we could not pick up in this blog post. It may be fun to find your own favorite restaurant! We hope this blog helped you to make your lunch time much more essential! : )

The Negative Reputation of British Cuisine

The negative reputation of British cuisine

When I decided to go to study in UK for 2 years, many of my friends and teachers asked the same question in their worried tone. “Can you stand the taste of British cuisine?” Although it is said that British cuisine has been improved and is not terrible nowadays, a strong prejudice against British cuisine still remains around the world, and Japan is not an exception.

Indeed, when I recall my diet in UK, there are several incidents which I cannot help thinking that the terrible reputation of the British dishes might be true. Here is one example. In the boarding school I have attended in UK, every student goes to dining hall as soon as they finish their morning class. One day, for some reasons, I went to the dining hall a bit later than usual and there was not much left for my lunch. And what I was served was, simply boiled pasta without any sauce or seasoning, as they told me they already run out of pasta sauce!! I believe you could understand that I could not have helped but thought that it might be true that some of British people care less about what they have for their meal.

For the sake of British cuisine’s honour, I have to say that it happened in school’s dining hall and even in Japan it is well-known fact that the quality of food in this kind of cafeteria can never be great. So probably I am being unfair if I criticize British cuisine only with my experience in school’s cafeteria, since normal restaurants in town in Britain are, of course, far way better than this. Now then, let’s see general factors and reasons why British cuisine has such a terrible reputation all over the world.

Why does British cuisine taste “bad”?

  1.     Thin and bland taste of meal

The most common complaints on British cuisine is, “The taste is too thin/bland”. Although many people think it is just because cooks do not know how to prepare meals properly, of course it is not true. They intentionally avoid the complicated or elaborated way of cooking, in order to make the most of the original taste of ingredients, just the same as Japanese traditional way of cooking (Wasyoku). This method of cooking works wonderfully when the quality of ingredients is great, but it will be the worst way of preparing meals if the quality is bad, since this method largely depends on the taste of ingredients itself. When there was only poor and small-scale of trading, sometimes it was difficult to gain variety of high-quality vegetables due to its cloudy climates. However, since now we have such a huge trade system, many of British restaurants care much about what they use for ingredients, so we can expect that modern British cuisine is actually improving on this point!!

  1.     Overcooked meat/vegetables

In Britain, there was one time that meat/vegetables were considered as unsafe if it was not cooked until it become soft. This idea was mainly spread among the working-class people, who did not have adequate sanitary devices. Although the sanitary system improved significantly, it is thought that the way of cooking remained as a “tradition”. However, on this matter, we can also expect improvement since the main cause and origin of this habit no more exist. (though probably not in my alma mater since pasta in the cafeteria was always overcooked and became sticky.)

  1.     Religious factor

When we talk about the bad reputation of British cuisine, we cannot avoid to talk about its historical background. There was a time when the puritanism was supported by certain amount of people, and it is said that this puritanical belief prevented people to have luxurious dishes. They prefer to have modest meals, and this was one reason of why people in UK were not as much interested in the quality of meals as other countries people were. Since the skill and knowledge of cooking in many countries were developed by the great demands of better quality of dishes, this difference can be considered as a large factor of British cuisine’s disadvantage.

 

For decades, Brits have been enduring the never-ending jokes about how bad their food is. However, things have certainly been improving throughout the past century, and I’d like to debunk three stereotypes of British cuisine.

  1. They overcook or boil everything

This might have been the case in the Victorian ages, when sanitation wasn’t the best and people viewed health and style in a different way. However, since hygiene has improved, that is no longer the case. The vegetables are now steamed, or is cooked the slightest to keep is fresh; they are not as overcooked anymore.

  1. There is no decent place to dine

This may have been true 50 years ago, but it is no longer a valid arguing point. In fact, London is home to two of the world’s top 10 restaurants, according to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Just check some of the reviews before you enter a restaurant.

  1. The choices are limited

When you think of English food, you think fish and chips. Irish survive on potatoes and Scottish people eat only haggis.

This is obviously far from the truth. Britain has many more traditional foods such as their roasts, pies and puddings, but their food is also diverse. The boosting population of immigrants in England in the recent years have graced the country with great cuisine. You can find great Indian, Thai, Italian, Chinese, and Greek restaurants throughout the country.

 

It is also undeniable that over recent years, many TV chefs have had a positive influence on how people regard British food and cooking. Fanny Cradock did a lot of the remedial work. In the 80s, Keith Floyd inspired many people. Today, chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver――who my American mother watches religiously―― and Nigella Lawson are popular all around the world. With the help of these popular celebrities, the bad reputation of British food is improving.

To sum up this post, I will list a few traditional British food that are actually delicious, based upon recommendations of friends and family who have the experience of living in the UK.

 

Cottage Pie

Beef Wellington

Sunday Roast

Fish and Chips

Trifle

Full English Breakfast

 

What is your image of British cuisine? Tell us about you good or bad experiences.