{ Bowery Kitchen }

2013, May 28

Found an awesome neighborhood diner in town. “Bowery Kitchen” is located near the Olympic park, Komazawa-koen. Since it’s not close to any train station, this diner is filled with locals hanging out with their dogs, families with babies, and friends hanging out for Sunday brunch. If you want to experience a local Japanese diner atmosphere, this place does it well. It feels old but also has a good character to it. The noise, smell and busyness of it really make you feel like you’re in a NY hipster diner despite being in Tokyo.

The menu is large so you have lots to choose from here (and don’t worry, they also have an English menu!). Pictured above are:
– Pumpkin soup (350yen) — yumm
– Prosciutto and avocado Carbonara (1300yen)
– Fruit waffle (800yen)
– Coleslaw (200yen)
– Block Vegetable (850yen)
– Grilled Chicken Garlic Sauce (1000yen) — yumm
– Chicken Rice Omelet (1050yen) — yumm

After your meal, I highly recommend stopping by Komazawa-koen to go on a nice walk, bike ride (they have rental bikes), play with your kids at the kids park, or simply enjoy the beautiful scenery. The park is quite large with lush greenery which is in the peak of springtime right now and it’s a great place to go running or jogging as well. They oftentimes have all types of sporting events going on in the stadiums within the park as well.

Address // 5-18-7 Komazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3704-9880
Website // http://www.heads-west.com/shop/bowery-kitchen.html

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{ Urth Caffe }

2013, May 25

One of LA’s popular cafes opened a store in Tokyo on April 24th, 2013. With it’s chic location in Daikanyama and its very spacious venue, I have a feeling that this cafe will do well. They have a great terrace seating and also allow guests to bring their dogs with them to dine (only for the terrace seats). Urth caffe is famous for their breakfast, organic coffees (especially the lattes), salads and more. We decided to order some of our favorite dishes: a full-size ‘Urth Salad’ (1360yen), Chicken Curry Sandwich (1600yen), and a large Green Tea latte (600yen). Although it feels a bit pricey, the food was the same sized portions as the US and it was yummy just as I remembered it.

I’m not a huge fan of the wall decor but the cafe was filled with beautiful orchids from famous celebrities to congratulate their recent opening. Seems like pro golfer Shigeki Maruyama is the mastermind who decided to bring this cafe to Japan. He loved it so much that he decided to bring it to Tokyo. If you are looking for a good breakfast or an American-style meal, definitely stop by Daikanyama.

Address // 8-9, Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5784-3301
Website // http://www.urthcaffe-japan.com/

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{ Vietnamese Cyclo }

2013, May 21

I’ve been searching for an authentic Vietnamese place but haven’t found one yet. I recently stumbled upon this place near Roppongi Hills that had pretty good reviews so I decided to give it a try. The lunch sets are a good deal as they all include a small spring roll, fried spring roll, and soup with your set.

Pictured above are the “Rice noodle soup (pho) with chicken + Vietnamese chicken Rice (small)” (1100yen) and the “ Vietnamese chicken rice” (1000yen). They were all good and flavored well but I have to say it wasn’t exactly authentic. If you know of any authentic Vietnamese place, please let me know!

Address // 6-6-9, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3478-4964
Website // n/a

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{ Recent Repeats }

2013, May 18

Went to back to ‘Bills’ to get their famous Ricotta Cheese Pancakes but went to the Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku location instead of their original Shichirigahama location. Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku just had their 1 year anniversary and their rooftop garden is currently decorated beautifully with lots of spring flowers and a fun circus theme. It was lovely sitting outside on their terrace seating overlooking the rooftop garden while having some pancakes with a latte ♡

Original post on Bills:
http://www.tokyoeats.jp/bills-shichirigahama/

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Such satisfying meal at Ondoru… My favorite Korean restaurant in town. Aside from their samgyeopsal, the Nira-chijimi is highly recommended.

Original post on Ondoru:
http://www.tokyoeats.jp/ondoru/

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Had a nice time catching up with some friends at IDEE Cafe Parc. Love the terrace seating looking over Roppongi Midtown.

Original post on IDEE CAFE PARC:
http://www.tokyoeats.jp/idee-cafe-parc/

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Went back to Knock for some Italian food with friends.

Original post on Cucina Buona Italiana Knock:
http://www.tokyoeats.jp/cucina-buona-italiana-knock/

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{ Taiwan Diary: Jiufen }

2013, May 14

Have you ever seen the movie “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki?

Jiufen (九份), a small little town in the Taipei country side (about an hour away from Taipei by car), is breathtaking and has an aura of serene beauty. Jiufen has a very calm and nostalgic feeling to it, it’s easy to spot bits and pieces of inspiration & resemblance from the movie.

As you might expect, it’s a very popular tourist destination (especially for Japanese tourists like myself :p) but since it rained in the AM and cleared up by the afternoon on the day we went, we got very lucky and were able to experience it with fewer crowds than usual. According to my friend, Jiufen is known to be the most beautiful right after the rain so it was definitely the perfect timing for us as it sure was beauuutiful. We actually purposefully visited towards the late afternoon so that we could experience both the daytime and the early evening to savor the two different atmospheres. When it started getting darker and all the red lanterns turned on, it created such a magical atmosphere and we were very glad we stayed for both times. I personally LOVED the evening atmosphere more.

We tea-ed at 阿妹茶酒館 aka Yubaaba’s Tea House (湯婆婆の屋敷) and since we had a party of 9, we were seated upstairs where they had the larger tables. Our friends ordered some traditional dishes that go well with tea and we enjoyed chilling here while looking out at the city landscape. Some people say this place is over-rated but this was one of my favorite places we visited during our trip :)

This concludes my “Taiwan Diary” posts. Hope you enjoyed seeing some photos from my trip!

01. Jiufen from the top
02. The inspiration for the tunnel scene that connects to the ‘other side’ in the movie of Spirited Away.
03. Tea time at 阿妹茶酒館 aka Yubaaba’s Tea House (湯婆婆の屋敷)
04. Look who we found! lol A fan dressed as ‘Kaonashi’. 「カオナシ」に遭遇（笑）

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Taiwan Diary: Taipei
Taiwan Diary: Night Markets
Taiwan Diary: Ice Monster
Taiwan Diary: Jiufen
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Monthly Archives: May 2013

{ Bowery Kitchen }

{ Urth Caffe }

{ Vietnamese Cyclo }

{ Recent Repeats }

{ Taiwan Diary: Jiufen }

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