July 11th: This was our second fluffy pancake day, as well as our family Shibuya/Shinjuku area day!
I made a reservation at Flipper’s, which is a chain that’s pretty well-known for their fluffy pancakes. I’ve been meaning to try theirs out, since my family’s had A Happy Pancake, and I figured I’d let my mom give Flipper’s a try. Our reservation was at 10:30, and we needed to leave a bit early in the morning to get there in time. At the time they were offering this summer float campaign, and my whole family got one, so I was kind of peer presured into getting one when I originally wasn’t planning on it…I mean, it was good, I liked my peach milk float with vanilla ice cream on top.
I was debating between the tea one and the matcha one, but I eventually opted for the matcha one because I hoped for a morning energy boost, and also the combination with the cookies and cream sounded ineresting. Turns out, it was really just cookies and cream ice cream, which was good, but I could have used some more, and matcha powder and whipped cream. Their pancakes were pretty good, though they still had eggy taste to them whereas Benitsuru’s didn’t. Oh yeah, I think 99% of the other customers in the shop were foreigners.
My next stop in the Shibuya area was Kiddyland in Omotesando, because I wanted to take my sister here Kirby shopping. There is never enough Kirby for her, and besides, the merch here was a little more general Kirby merch as opposed to the specific Kirby cafe merch at the other place. I am also here to fuel my sister’s addiction…
We highly considered going to Takeshita Street for the giant cotton candy again, but it was too incredibly hot and no one felt like hanging outside for any longer, so we left Shibuya and headed for Shinjuku to go to my next planned stop: Takano Fruits Parlor. This was yet another stop I was too late for on my last Tokyo trip, and I’ve been dreaming about this place for years for their specialty fruits and high end parfaits. We actually arrived at a good time, as we only had to wait 15 or so minutes. Right after we got seated, a huge line started forming in the hallway.
Oh my goodness it was everything I dreamed of. Right now, it seems like the major seasonal fruits are melon, peach, and mango, and they had parfaits and sweets showcasing these, along with more normal fruit offerings. I already had peach pancakes, and I figured peaches are more affordable than the other two, so I opted for the mango parfait. Speaking of, the menu had a Mexican mango one, or the Miyazaki mango one, which was slightly more expensive. There’s no way I’m coming all the way here for Mexican mangos, and I obviously went for the Japan produced one. It was super ripe, soft, juicy, and went down so easily that I really wished I savored it more.
My dad ordered the seasonal fruits parfait which came with all three seasonal fruits, and loved the melon on his so much he wanted to order a plate of cut melon for us all to share. That was super juicy, so ripe but not yet overripe, and definitely some high quality melon. I don’t know if I would be willing to pay for a $200 melon that was showcased downstairs, but I can kind of see where the price tags come from now…
Since we had a dinner reservation at 7 in Shinjuku, there really wasn’t a point in going all the way back to our hotel and then back again, so we stuck it out in the Shinjuku area. First I went to go find a Lupicia for my mom, since she was interested in their teas after having some in a restaurant the other day, and we entered a few department stores, browsing and looking around, including becoming so fed up with the weather that we bought the hand fans that everyone else has.
We still had quite a bit of time left to kill, so we found a cafe advertising shaved ice and sought shelter in there. I was kind of hungry at that point, but didn’t want to fill up before dinner, so I opted for a shaved ice, since that’s what drew my mom to the cafe.
I got the matcha kintoki, which was fairly similar to another one I had in Sapporo a bit ago. The matcha syrup had a fairly tea flavor, and was also quite sweet.
We chilled for quite a bit in the cafe until it neared our reservation time, and then headed over to Kani Douraku in Shinjuku for our dinner reservation. My family loves this crab place, and has to come every time we’re in Japan. I ended up with the Urara course, which was the most expensive one…but it did have a little of everything, which I wanted, so…plus, my parents encouraged me to get it too.
My family loves crab, and everything was much yum. The grilled crab was the hardest to scrape out, but it still tasted good. Loved everything. Not a fan of the wasabi in the sushi, but that’s pretty standard around here.
July 12th: This was our last full day in Tokyo. Originally, I think my dad wanted to go to Nikko for sightseeing, but it was extremely hot and gross in Tokyo that we really didn’t want to go anywhere much outside and just took it easy for the day. My mom wanted to go duty-free shopping at the Lotte store in Ginza, and that sounded like a good plan for the day, since no one else really had anything else to do in Tokyo, and it seemed like a good indoor place to hang out.
But first, my dad’s coffee of the day. I found another cool-looking cafe around our area, called Bontin Cafe. It’s actually a tiny cafe serving drinks and some small eats in a Kimono store, or what looks to be selling fabric and shoes for the getup. Again, I don’t drink coffee, so I got a matcha latte here, plus a matcha pudding, which I saw online that they had, and it looked good.
The matcha latte here was very smooth, not sweet, but just a bit light on the matcha flavor. The pudding was amazing though, creamy, soft, melt-in-your-mouth, and actually had quite a bit of matcha flavor. When we were done, we stopped by a supermarket on the way home for some water and snacks, and just relaxed for a bit until my sister was ready around noon. We decided to just get lunch in the area, and I wanted to try the gyudon place that my mom and I saw a poster of the first day we were walking around our area. We were actually attracted by the picture of the restaurant’s matcha shaved ice which looked really good and super fluffy, but when we actually got there, it seems like they only serve their shaved ice in the evening, so we just got their beef bowls for lunch.
I even got extra rice for free here, asked for no green onions, and the chef was even nice enough to ask if I don’t like regular onions too, then plucked them out of my bowl for me. It was really good, both stewed halves of the dish. The simmered tendon part did kind of lack actual tendons, as it seemed more just vegetables. My mom remarked that the gyudon side tasted a lot like the marinated beef she makes at home…perhaps it’s similar ingredients.
We then took the subway to Ginza, and headed for the Lotte duty-free for shopping. My mom was able to get one thing she wanted, but it seemed the other store didn’t have what she wanted in stock yet, and they would supposedly stock it later in the day, so they told us to come back. I noticed that there is a Truedan boba actually in this building, so we decided to go down for a break, come back after having a drink, and seeing if they’ll have it by then. On the way down we stopped by this “Aquarium”; it’s in quotes because all the signs called it an aquarium, but it really was this terrarium store that had a few tanks of fish to advertise their glass boxes…
You can read about my boba here! My dad also got a bag of popcorn chicken, which we all shared, and it was really good. Fun Fact: this is the only Truedan in Japan.
We went back up after finishing our drinks, and luckily, they had stocked my mom’s item by then. I figured at that point, since we were in Ginza, we might as well check out Kimuraya bakery, a bakery that my dad really wanted to visit in Ginza. Apparently it’s famous, and also because it has a 100 year history behind it as well. I bought a bacon epi from there, but didn’t end up eating it until my shinkansen ride the day after. I wish I had a method to toast it, but there wasn’t one availble on the train, so I ate it cold. I would have liked a more crispy bread exterior, but the flavor of the filling itself was pretty good.
I figured my sister would like to see a proper aquarium, so I found an Art Aquarium Museum in the department store across the street from Kimuraya. It was essentially a variety of displays showcasing various breeds of goldfish. I really didn’t like the one with bulging eyes…but all the pieces were very pretty.
At that point, it was around 5:30, and we were trying to decide whether to go back to our hotel and find some food in the area since we did have some food in the fridge we needed to finish, or eat dinner at the department store. Ultimately, we decided to just stay at the department store since we were there, and after looking at the restaurant options, we went for an Italian place. I got a margherita pizza. At last, I get pizza in Japan, and actual Italian-style at that…
It was much good, and really hit the pizza craving. I think this was actually my first “authentic” style pizza? I didn’t feel super full after it, which was good, because I was hungry before, and that meant I could go home and help finish the veggies and desserts we had in our fridge before we left the next day. Speaking of desserts…
Round two of Kirby Cafe treats included 2 tiramisus and 2 puddings that we split among the four of us. They all tasted like delicious versions of what they are supposed to be. Plus, with these ones, you get the take-home souvenir of the jars and mugs!
July 13th: This was our Sendai day! I’ve never been to Sendai before, but I’ve heard good things about it, mostly about vibes and food. Sendai is mostly known for beef tongue and zunda, and as huge beef tongue fans, my family had to go. My dad wanted to ride the shinkansen since he knew my sister liked it, and so we decided to train our way back to Hokkaido from Tokyo, starting with a stop at Sendai.
Our train would leave around 10:50, so for breakfast, I had some leftover fruit, as well as an apple pie in the shape of a star I got from the Kirby Cafe. It was looking a little sad, and I thought it’d taste better if I heated it up, so I tried microwaving it. It ended up hot, but soggy…it tasted fine though. Just sad it wasn’t crispy.
After checking out, we rode a taxi to Tokyo Station since we didn’t want to lug around our suitcases for a prolonged period of time. We had a bit of time left before we could board, so we first stopped by Cha no Wa, a matcha shop that sells cakes and other matcha baked goods. My mom remembered that she liked the butter cake she got from the airport years ago, and when I looked it up, I saw the closest shop was in Tokyo Station.
Then I stopped by Starbucks for a drink to take on the 1 hour train ride; the current seasonal frappucino was the Gaburi Peach, and it just came out the day before. I forgot to get it the day before, but I figured this would be a good opportunity to get it anyway.
At first I asked for it to be made with non-fat milk, but then a lady came up to me and said that it’s only made with juice, and no actual dairy in it. When it came out, it really did feel like a peach slushie. It was pretty sweet, somewhat artificial but also not at the same time, and it also came with peach chunks on the bottom.
I entered the shinkansen ticket gate just fine, and while we were waiting on the platform, I almost lost my ticket…so “normal people” shinkansen tickets come in pairs: one ticket to board the train and one ticket if you bought a reserved seat. I put both in my pocket, but made the mistake of putting them in the pocket with my phone in it. When I pulled out my phone to use it, I guess the train fare ticket flew out, because my sister noticed a ticket fly out near her. “It couldn’t possibly be mine” I thought, then I check my tickets, and only my reserved one was left in my pocket…Worst case scenario, if anyone checked, I at least had the reserved one that confirmed my seat was my seat…Turns out, my sister and my mom found the ticket stuck on the platform under a shoe I think. Thank goodness…
We finally arrived in Sendai, and first order of business was to drop off our suitcases at the hotel. We couldn’t check in yet, but we could drop off the unnecessary baggage until we could. Then it was time for lunch…When in Sendai, we needed to eat beef tongue. Now, when I was looking up what place in Sendai had the best beef tongue, so many stores popped up (because Sendai loves beef tongue that much), and the station even has a “beef tongue street” section of restaurants. I narrowed it down to a couple, one for our first choice, a second choice, and even had a whole bunch of others if it came down to it.
We walked over to Umami Tasuke, which was my first choice for beef tongue, and hoped that there wouldn’t be a wait. Maybe because it was a weekday during lunch, but there was hardly anyone there, which was lucky for us. The reason I chose Umami Tasuke was because it’s supposedly the “founder” of beef tongue in Sendai, or the first store to popularize the now famous charcoal grilled beef tongue set. That’s what I read online, anyway.
They only serve two items here: beef tongue, by itself or in a teishoku form, or grilled eel/unagi. Obviously we were al here for beef tongue, so we all got a 6 piece set, plus we ordered an additional 6 piece a la carte, in case it wasn’t enough. None of us would predict their pieces would be so large though…
It was amazing, and probably one of the best tongue experiences I’ve had. The vibes of the tiny shop were immaculate, and the food came out immediately. Though not thick cut beef tongue, the slices weren’t super thin either, and on top of that they were huge. Some were a bit chewier than others, which my mom attributed to different cuts being cooked at the same time. They all had smoky and flavorful charcoal grilled flavor to them. The pickled veggies were just slightly pickled greens, and the oxtail soup surprisingly had plenty of meat per person. I’d definitely go back.
With about an hour left before we could check in, we leisurely made our way back to Sendai Station, and stopped by Zunda Saryo for a snack, and the next big thing I wanted to try out in Sendai: the Zunda Shake. So what is zunda? You know how Japanese sweets often used a mashed and sweetened red bean paste? Zunda is the same thing, but instead of using red beans, they use the edamame green beans. That probably sounds weird since we’re used to eating edmame in a savory setting, but here me out…
My momand I got the excella, my dad the large, and my sister the regular, though the only different between the excella and the large is that mine came with whipped cream and extra zunda sauce on top of the actual shake itself. My entire family agrees that it actually tastes pretty good! The bean flavor is very subtle, and surprisingly works really well with the creaminess of the drink. It was super refreshing!
We chilled in the cafe until it reached 3, and then walked over to our hotel to finally check in for the day. I think ideally it wold have been nice to go do some mini sightseeing, but it was still incredibly hot (though quite a bit better than Tokyo!), and no one really wanted to do anything, so we just took a break at our hotel until 6, when it was time to go to our dinner reservation.
I found a whole bunch of yakniku spots, as Sendai is also overall known for its beef, but my dad wanted to try this super fancy yakiniku place he found called Hanagyu to try out Sendai beef. Man it was it fancy. All of the dining tables were literally in individual private rooms. Instead of a course meal, we opted to just order a la carte so we could just get the cuts and sides we want and were familiar with. For our meats, we went for the thick cut beef tongue, and a few orders of galbi (rib meat) and harami (skirt steak), trying the salted and sauced versions of the two.
Everything was very high quality and marbled. It was so marbled in fact, that both the galbi and harami literally melted away in my mouth, as they felt buttery smooth. I really liked both, but I think I preferred the harami slightly more since it had that marbled melt-in-your-mouth factor but also actually had beef flavor to it. It was a very nice meal.
Full and satisfied, we headed back to the station to buy some water, and also some last minute souvenir shopping (to no luck). We did end up buying water and some fruit, including these tiny baby strawberries, and got some boba from a Taiwanese cafe! You can read about my drink here!
Japan Excursions 
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