Discovering New Neighborhood

It’s not really so “new” anymore as we moved our offices to the current location in Shibuya about two and a half years ago.  I have not, however, made much effort to look for good restaurants that are appropriate and affordable in our neighborhood for special and daily occasions.

So here is a new Japanese restaurant I recently “discovered” with a visiting guest from the US after having read about it on a gourmet magazine and an online guide.

Good food, good service and reasonably priced ♪

Kotaro

Hojicha Shop in Ningyocho

I am not a big Japanese green tea drinker which is not totally unusual but how little I have it or the fact that I hardly ever drink it at home could be so.  But I found myself visiting a Japanese tea shop in Ningyocho about a month ago.  And this tea shop is dedicated to selling mostly “hojicha“, the kind of green tea that is roasted over charcoal so that the color of the tea is actually brown rather than green.  What I was interested in was this “hojicha soft ice cream”.

Brown rather than green.

The store-front. Different kinds of teas in different sizes and wrappings on sale. It looks a bit flashy for a Japanese tea shop and inside it’s a little more subtle.

Morinoen.

So I had the roasted green tea flavored soft ice cream which was very good and also bought a stash of tea bags for my office use.  And this tea was hojicha with mint leaves and it is soooooo good; the mint tastes and smells so much better than any other herbal mint teas I have had except for fresh ones.

Morinoen (in Japanese)

Obento by Harumi Kurihara

I guess the easiest way to describe her is “Japanese Martha Stewart“.  Harumi Kurihara writes cookbooks, has cooking shows, owns delis, cafes and restaurants, has a line of cooking utensils and household goods and other things with shops dedicated to selling her goods.

I occasionally stop by her deli inside Hikarie in Shibuya on my way to work.

A recent obento from the shop I thought was worth sharing.

Mackerel flakes! The most popular ingredient for this kind of obento is to use minced chicken to go with the egg. The mackerel worked very well.

Lunching Over a View of the Imperial Palace

The Imperial Palace where our Emperor and Empress live sits literally in the center of Tokyo and it is as central as it gets.  The vast palace grounds are generally closed to the public (there are tours but you cannot just walk up and get in) though there are public gardens outside the palace gates and between the inner and outer motes.  So looking into the Imperial Palace I think is quite special.  At this Chinese restaurant situated on the 36th floor of the Marunouchi Building, you can do this.

The Imperial Palace grounds in the background though you cannot see the actual living quarters of the imperial family.

Fook Lam Moon Marunouchi

Bistro Chikara

I had read about this restaurant near Toranomon, a business district where I generally have no business, on the Michelin guide (though with no stars) that I very much looked forward to visiting when I found out it was the venue for one of my regular group outings a few weeks ago.

My set of cutlery. At home I have a navy blue set of the same. (The fork doesn’t belong.)

The four of us all had different colors.

The signature cicada motif.

The food was good but we almost all fainted when we saw the bill… ^^

Bistro Chikara (meaning power or powerful)