I love me a good gyoza, whether as a hearty dinner dish or a sinful snack to pair with beer. There are few experiences as comforting as biting into a thin gyoza skin and sinking your teeth into greasy minced meat that is bursting with flavour.
I stumbled upon Gyoza Hohei while searching for a late dinner near my hotel in Ginza. Turns out, this unassuming establishment is actually the sister location to the legendary Kyoto-based eatery of the same name!
Ibaraki once held the title of “least attractive prefecture in Japan” for several years in a row, a dubious “achievement” which is a tad unfair considering the understated charms that it has to offer.
Spanning over 6,000 square kilometres and bordering other famous locales such as Tochigi and Fukushima, Ibaraki is situated two hours north of Tokyo. From a sprawling seaside park to a torii that commands an arresting view of the Pacific Ocean, here are ten places to sightsee and eat to your heart’s content over a weekend in this coastal prefecture!
Insanely cute and delicious to boot, animal doughnuts have become synonymous with Japanese bakeries since capturing the Internet a decade ago. While wandering through Ikebukuro Station, I chanced upon a popup counter by Ikunimama Animal Doughnuts, a local doughnut store located in Kawasaki.
According to their Instagram page, the store can often be found roving around various train stations in Tokyo, so you might just stumble upon one if you’re lucky!
Modern food trucks are all the rage in Tokyo, with several offering various cuisines from Mexican and Middle Eastern, to even Singaporean. Mrs Charlotte is one such food truck known for its eclectic, pastel-themed desserts.
Not only is Mrs Charlotte a hit among locals, it’s also fairly elusive, open only on selected weekends for up to five hours. One reviewer reportedly took three attempts before being able to get her hands on the sought-after crepes and ice cream.
While ramen and sushi are the first things that come to mind when Japanese food is mentioned, Tokyo is no stranger to hip, new places with all sorts of cool foodie creations to try.
American work clothing brand, STABLER, marked its foray into F&B with the opening of STABLER Meatsand. Its second outlet, STABLER Shimokitazawa Meatsand 2nd, is situated in reload, an enclave of hipster cafes and eateries in trendy Shimokitazawa.
Leave it to social media to unearth another “hidden gem”. Once Tokyo’s best-kept secret, Tsujihan Zeitaku Don‘s fame has exploded online, thanks to the proliferation of its one and only dish – kaisendon piled high with chopped tuna and shellfish, and topped with overflowing ikura and uni that would make a seafood lover weep.
While Tsujijhan is one of the numerous food chains to dot Tokyo’s foodie map, its Nihonbashi branch is the most famous and visited among locals and tourists. Queues are known to run around the block, with average wait times spanning over two hours.
Fancy eating a piece of Japan’s history? Ginza Wakamatsu is a traditional dessert shop whose history spans over 100 years. Tucked away in an unassuming corner of Ginza Core Building, right next to the Prada store, this storied place was the very one to introduce anmitsu.
A classic dessert comprising agar gelatin, sweet bean paste, and black sugar syrup, anmitsu used to be exclusively available at Ginza Wakamatsu, which first created it in 1930, about four decades after it opened.
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