Archive for June, 2008

Cold Stone Creamery

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ココナッツアイスにラズベリー、スポンジケーキとココナッツとミックス。
アールグレイアイスにアーモンド、スポンジケーキとシナモンをミックス。
Coconut ice-cream, raspberry, sponge cake and coconut.
Earl grey ice-cream, almond, sponge cake and cinnamon.
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アールグレイアイスにストロベリー、グラハムパイクラスト、ハチミツをミックス。
キャラメルアイスにブラウニーとキャラメルソースとアーモンドをミックス。
Earl grey ice-cream, strawberry, Graham Cracker Pie Crust and honey.
Caramel ice-cream, brownie, caramel sauce and almond.
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リッチビターチョコレートアイスにチェリーとブラウニー、ホイップクリームをミックス。
ベリーシャイナー:プレーンソルベ、ストロベリー、ブルーベリー、ラズベリージュース。
Rich bitter chocolate ice-cream, cherries, brownie and whipped cream.
Berry shiner: Plaine sorbet, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry juice.
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ホワイトチョコレートアイスクリーム、ダブルストロベリー、ホワイトチョコチップ。
グリーン ティー パーティー:グリーンティーアイスクリーム、スポンジケーキ、ダブルホイップクリーム、抹茶パウダー。
White chocolate ice-cream, double strawberries, white chocolate chip.
Green tea ice-cream, sponge cake, double whipped cream, matcha powder.
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クーリーズ マンゴアンドマンゴ、¥600。
アールグレイアイスクリーム、栗、スポンジケーキ、ホイップクリーム。
Coolly’s Mango & Mango.
Earl Grey ice-cream, chestnut, sponge cake, whipped cream.

Earl grey ice-cream is really delicious! Too bad it is only available for a limited period.

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(02 June 2007)
ファウンダーズ フェイバリット: スイートクリームアイスクリーム、ブラウニー、ピーカンナッツ、チョコファッジ、キャラメルソース。
チョコレート デヴォーション: チョコレートアイスクリーム、ブラウニー、チョコチップ、チョコファッジ。
Founder’s Favorite(S): Sweet cream ice-cream, brownie, pecan nut, choco fudge, caramel sauce. Very nice! Love the brownie!
Chocolate Devotion(M): Chocolate ice-cream, brownie, choco chip, choco fudge. A little too sweet for me.
Somehow, S is too small, M is too big.
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アイランドライフ: チーズケーキアイスクリーム、バナナ、パイナップル、マンゴ。
バナナアイス、アップル、グラハムパイクラスと、ホワイトチョコチップ。
Island Life(S): Cheese cake ice-cream, banana, pineapple and mango. Not much of cheese cake taste…got the ice-cream wrong?
Custom creation(S): Banana ice-cream, apple pie filling, Graham Cracker Pie Crust, white chocolate chips. Should have been less greedy and skipped the white choc chip. ^^;;
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スイート ブロッサム: サクラアイスクリームにブルーベリー、ホワイトチョコチップ、ホイップクリーム。
ホワイトチョコアイス、ストロベリー、スポンジケーキ、ヌガーキャンディ。
Sweet Blossom(S): Sakura ice-cream, blueberry, white choco chip, whipped cream. This is spring special. Very good!
Custom creation(M): White chocolate ice-cream, strawberry, sponge cake and nougat candy. Good!
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0706010005ストロベリーアイス、ブラウニー、ラズベリー、アーモンド。
ブラッシング マンゴ クラウド: マンゴアイスクリーム、ストロベリー、マンゴ、ホイップクリーム。

Custom creation(M): Strawberry ice-cream, brownie, raspberry and almond. Good.
Blushing Mango Cloud(M): Mango ice-cream, strawberry, mango and whipped cream. Summer special. Very good!
This branch is in Roppongi.
Menu(J) here.
Cold Stone Creamery

おかめ (Okame)

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桜あんみつ、¥780。おはぎ、¥240。
Sakura Anmitsu(spring menu). Ohagi.
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0803180037桜おはぎ、¥240。おかめパフェ。
Sakura Ohagi(spring menu) for take-out.
Okame Parfait - it is normally milk softcream but I asked to change to Matcha softcream. There is kakigori with Matcha sauce on top, red bean and some milk pudding at the bottom.

Delicious wagashi cafe on the 1st floor of Itocia right next to JR Yurakucho station. Very tiny space and always very crowded so you might have to share tables with strangers, but the sweets are delicious and reasonably priced.

0807110070ごまおはぎ、¥240。
Sesame seed ohagi.
おかめ (Okame)

Le Chocolate de H (ル ショコラ ドゥ アッシュ)

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0801270124ショコラショー、¥1050。 ステファン、¥399。
Stephan: Gateau cholate cake with almond caramelise. Chocolate chaud(hot chocolate). I love them both! Very very rich and smooth chocolate taste but not too sweet. The indoor cafe space is tiny but there are some big couches outside the shop which look comfortable.

Le Chocolate de H
Add: Roppongi Hills keyakizaka dori, Roppongi 6-12-4, Minato-ku
Tel: 03-5772-0075

Pizza Da Babbo (ピッツァ・ダ・バッボ)

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石ガレイのカルパッチョ。
Ishigarei carpaccio, 1470yen.
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香草風味のパン粉を使った鶏胸肉のカツレツ、ルッコラとフレッシュトマトのせ。
三陸の牡蠣とアンチョビ、ほうれん草の白いピッツァ。
Breaded chicken breast cutlet with Rucola and fresh tomato, 1575yen.
White pizza with oyster and anchovy and spinach, 1575yen(S).
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紅玉りんごの薪釜焼き バニラアイス添え アマレットの香り。
ズッパイングレーゼ(チェリーリキュール風味のクリームケーキ)。
Grilled apple with vanilla ice-cream, 735yen.
Zuppa Inglese, 635yen.

The carpaccio is fresh but the portion is small for the price. The rest(including the pizza) is just so-so quality. Cutlet and pizza are super salty. Staff are friendly though. Shared between two people including drinks, about 4000yen each.

Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Pizza Da Babbo
Add: 2-21-1 Ningyouchou, Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
Tel: 03-3666-2777

Doutou (Eastern Hokkaido) DAY 3

RIMG0821After breakfast at the hostel, we headed for Shiretoko National Park(知床国立公園).

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Hikarigoke(Luminous Moss). You can see the moss from the right, but not from the left.
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Seseki hot spring(left pic) is a little too open to go in naked…Aidomari hot spring(right pic) is slightly better but still…so I just had a footbath. ^^;; My friend did have a quick dip while we took watch. The water is shockingly hot! Both of them are free.
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Had uni and rice for lunch! The one on the right has no “myouban” and tastes much much better(Myouban is an additive added to uni to keep it in nice looking shape). The uni was very fresh so I bought two packs to take back to Tokyo with proper ice pack and foam box packaging, but still they smell a little bad the next day already. Third softcream from the same shop Kaisen Koubou(海鮮工房) we got the uni, turned out to be the best in this trip. Also bought Rausu Konbu as souvenir.
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Beautiful scenery in Shiretoko.
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Though the bear alerts got me slightly scared…
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Tranquil~
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Five lakes of Shiretoko.
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The artificial tasting softcream in the souvenir shop isn’t so good.
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Oshinkoshin waterfall(オシンコシンの滝).
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On our way back to Tokyo, we bought another popular souvenir at Memanbetsu Airport: caramel sweet from Hanabatakebokujo. It should be eaten chilled otherwise it becomes too sweet…like in our case…

Doutou (Eastern Hokkaido) DAY 2

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0805180078After a quick dip in the hotspring and a nice breakfast, we took a walk to the hill behind the cottage with the owner’s dog.

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Beautiful Lake Mashu(摩周湖)
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Second softcream from Kurimu Douwa(くりーむ童話).
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標津ホタテ祭り。
Scallop festival at Shibetsu.
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Strawberry milk.
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Shame that it was freezing that day and everything got cold really quickly.
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Imo-mochi(potato cake).
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You need to get a ticket in advance in order to have one go at scooping the giant scallops to take home, but one of the staff saw me looking probably a little sad and handed me a bag secretly! Yipee!
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Read about todowara in Notsuke Peninsula here and here.
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Kuma-no-yu hotspring(熊の湯). It is free and it is not mix-gender.
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Stayed in a cheap(4800yen with two meals included) but very good hostel called Toomawari(とおまわり) in Rausu(羅臼). The owner is a salmon fisherman and dinner is cooked by him. The fish “kinki” is so delicious!
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The owner was kind enough to prepare the big scallops from the scallop festival for us. The little ones are included in the dinner.
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The deep-fried seafood came one by one but I was just too full to eat any of them so they just accumulated…
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We chatted and drank with the owner and his very funny fisherman friend and other people staying in the hostel til really late. Very nice place to stay!

Doutou (Eastern Hokkaido) DAY 1

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Nenrinya (ねんりん家)
Breakfast at Haneda airport. Hot Baumkuchen. Not fleshly baked but only warmed in the microwave. They have savoury baumkuchen sandwich too but don’t have the courage to try…Menu here.
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First thing we did upon arriving at Memanbetsu Airport(女満別空港) was to grab souvenirs. ^^;;; Left pic is some special limited edition fried potato snack which is only available in Hokkaido(ues only potato grown in Hokkaido) and gets sold out really quickly. Right pic is my friend’s recommendation: chocolate-coated potato chips, which actually can be found in department stores in Tokyo but oh well. ^^;;;
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Lake Kussharo(屈斜路湖) in Akan National Park(阿寒国立公園).
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Beware of bears!
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あげいも。かぼちゃだんご。
Fried potato and pumpkin pancake from the eatery inside the souvenir store.
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Kusshi(クッシー) is Hokkaido version of Loch ness monster. ^^;;
Sunayu(砂湯): hotspring footbath at Lake Kussharo.
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0805170040First softcream in this trip!

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A cow blocking our way~. We stayed in this cheap accomodation called Aurora Farm Village(オーロラファームヴィレッジ).
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Dinner is Hokkaido mutton barbecue.
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Mountain vegetables are hand-picked in the morning by the friendly staff.
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Udon added to the BBQ.
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Well of course hotsprings!!