森乃園 (Morinoen)

Posted on July 27, 08 by seat

94-year-old tea shop specialised in Houjicha. You can smell the tea being roasted from blocks away. First floor sells tea and second floor is a cafe.

桜あんみつ（桜寒天、桜餡、桜みつ）、￥９５０。特上パフェ、￥１０５０。
Sakura Anmitsu(spring menu). The anko(bean paste), kanten, shiratama(rice flour dumplings), even the syrup are all sakura pink! While the taste is just a normal anmitsu(^^;;;), it sure looks pretty.
Tokujo parfait. It has 3 scoops of ice-cream in vanilla, houjicha and matcha flavour. Shiratama are in matcha and houjicha flavours too.

ほうじ茶ソフト、￥３００。特製ほうじ茶カキ氷、￥９５０。
Take-out houjicha softcream from the first floor.
Speical houjicha Kakigori. It is nice but there is not quite enough ice-cream and anko to finish the big bowl of ice so I asked for an extra scoop of ice-cream and the friendly staff didn’t charge me for that!

お好みパフェセット、￥１４００。お好みのパフェ（特上・抹茶・ほうじ茶）、みたらし団子・草団子、特上宇治茶。
Very good value set that includes any parfait of your choice, mitarashi dango and kusa-dango(made with a green herb yomogi) and also green tea. While I was hesitating which parfait to get, the staff suggested the biggest Tokujo parfait with a wink(^^;;). The two skewered dango are very very good.

ほうじ茶あんみつ、￥１０５０。ほうじ茶パフェ、￥９５０。
Houjicha Anmitsu. Kanten, shiratama, anko, ice-cream are all hojicha flavour.
Hojicha Parfait. Two scoops of ice-cream in vanilla and hojicha flavour.

焼餅入り栗ぜんざい、￥８００。こはぎセット（手作り五色こはぎ・特上宇治茶）、￥９５０。
Kuri(chestnut) zenzai with grilled mochi. This is pretty normal.
Five-colour Kohagi(small ohagi) is just so-so.

Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

森乃園(Morinoen)
Add: 2-4-9, Ningyoucho, Nihonbashi (on Amazake-Yokocho)
Tel: 03-3667-2666

おかめ (Okame)

Posted on June 19, 08 by seat

桜あんみつ、￥７８０。おはぎ、￥２４０。
Sakura Anmitsu(spring menu). Ohagi.

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.

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

甘味処初音 (Hatsune)

Posted on April 1, 08 by seat

栗ぜんざい、￥１０００。
抹茶クリーム白玉小倉あんみつ、￥９５０。
Kuri zenzai – Japanese chestnut, grilled mochi and thick red bean paste. Served hot.
Matcha ice-cream, shiratama(rice flour dumpling), ogura(red bean) Anmitsu.

Established in 1837…this place is said to be the oldest wagashi shop in Tokyo. Both of the sweets are nice but…quite expensive for the small portion! I guess you pay for the history too…

初音 (Hatsune)
Add: 1-15-6 Ningyocho, Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
Tel: 03-3666-3082

鹿乃子 (Kanoko)

Posted on March 26, 08 by seat

渋皮栗あんみつ＋抹茶アイス、￥１４８０。
Anmitsu with marron and Matcha ice-cream topping. Nice but very expensive Anmitsu – the shop is located right at the heart of Ginza. Love the different kinds of beans and the huge marrons.

鹿乃子
Add: 5-7-19 Ginza, Chuo-ku
Tel: 03-3572-0013

みはし上野本店 (Mihashi Ueno Honten)

Posted on February 17, 08 by seat

小倉あんみつ＋抹茶アイス、￥６４０。
Ogura(red bean) ice-cream Anmitsu with Matcha ice-cream.

クリームあんみつ＋小倉アイス。
Cream(Milk soft ice-cream) Anmitsu with Ogura ice-cream.
Famous Anmitsu place that has a couple of branches. This one in Ueno is the original shop. The ice-cream/soft-cream are all very nice that I always can’t resist ordering extra scoop. The big rectangular chunk in the middle is red bean paste. Slightly sweet compared to other anmitsu places but I really like it.
Summer menu(J): 1, 2

栗ぜんざい、￥６００。
Kuri(chestnut)-zenzai. Hot dessert with freshly grilled mochi inside.
Winter menu(J) here.

おぞうに、￥５９０。あわぜんざい、￥５２０。
Ozoni. This is non-sweet.
Awa-zenzai – hot millet and red bean paste.

田舎しるこ、￥５２０。
フルーツクリームあんみつ＋白玉、￥７９０。
Inaka-shiruko.
Fruit cream anmitsu with shiratama(rice flour dumpling).

くずもち、￥４００。金時ぜんざい、￥５２０。
Kuzu-mochi – made from kudzu starch, with kinako(soy bean) powder on top.
Kintoki-zenzai – grilled mochi with sweet beans.

抹茶フロート、￥４５０。おでん茶飯、￥７４０。
Matcha juice with softcream. Oden and tea rice set.

クリーム白玉ぜんざい、￥５３０。白玉クリームあんみつ、￥５３０。
Cream shiratama zenzai. Shiratama cream Anmitsu.

白玉金時＋桜アイス、￥６９０。苺クリームあんみつ、７００円。
Shiratama and Kintoki beans with sakura ice-cream toppings. Strawberry anmitsu. Both are spring menu.

Everything is very good in this place. The red bean, the ice-cream, the shiratama, the mochi are all so nice that any combination is great. After many visits, my favourite is actually the simple cream shiratama zenzai, but first-timer should definitely try the standard cream anmitsu. Oden is surprisingly good too.

みはし(Mihashi)
Add: 4-9-7 Ueno, Taito-ku
Tel: 03-3831-0384

茶房はん亭 (Sabou Hantei)

Posted on January 22, 08 by seat

Hantei is a famous high-class kushiage(deep-fried food on skewers) restaurant. I’ve only been there for dinner once years ago and the old Japanese wooden building was very impressive; the food was delicious but also expensive(at least 10,000yen per person). This casual Japanese cafe “Sabou Hantei” is right next door and serves simple and cheap Japanese meals and desserts.

焼き茄子と豚しゃぶのとろろポン酢、￥１２００。
Grilled aubergine and pork shabu in tororo(grated yam) ponzu. Lunch set on weekdays includes either a coffee(with whipped cream) or a small “mamekan” – beans and kanten with “black honey”.

鰻冊めし、￥１３００。
Uzaku meshi – Nagoya style unagi rice. For the first bowl, you have unagi and rice on its own, then you add the veggy pickles on the second bowl, and for the last you pour hot tea to make ochatsuke.

秋刀魚の香り揚げ、彩りおろし、￥１１００。
クリーム芋あんあんみつ、￥７００。
Fried Sanma with grated radish and herb.
Anmitsu with ice-cream and sweet potato.

鮭と根菜いろいろ炊き合わせ、香り味噌添え、￥１２００。
Salmon and root vegetables takiawase with miso.

豚の竜田と温野菜の岩海苔ソース、￥１２００。
そばろ弁当、￥１１００。
Pork Tatsuta-age(marinated and deep-fried) with vegetables and seaweed sauce.
Soboro bento. Minced beef and egg are both sweet.

新・イタリー丼、￥１１００。
“Italy don”. Rice bowl with tomato, asparagus, onion, and lots of herbs.

Food here is absolutely delicious. Portion is generous. The staff are friendly. I always step out of this place full and satisfied. Though there are only a few options for lunch and they change only every few months. I basically tried everything on the summer, the autumn and the winter menu. My favourites are the pork Tatsuta-age, the unagi rice, and the Italy rice bowl. They serve Japanese sweets too but lunch set comes with dessert(during weekdays) so I’ve only tried the Animitsu which is good but I think specialised Japanese sweet shops are better, like this one nearby.
Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4.

茶房はん亭
Add: 2-12-15 Nezu, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-3827-5317

芋甚 (Imojin)

Posted on November 6, 07 by seat

Very nice local Japanese sweet shop that I visit often.

小倉あんみつ、￥４５０。アベックまめかん、￥５３０。
Anmitsu with Ogura(red bean) ice-cream.
Mame-kan(endou-mame peas and kanten) with Ogura ice-cream and milk ice-cream.

小倉アイスモナカ。寒天クリームぜんざい、￥５３０。
Ogura ice Monaka(take-out).
Kanten cream zenzai: Kanten at the bottom, with red bean paste and ice-cream on top(instead the milk ice-cream I had the Ogura one).
Menu(J): 1, 2.