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

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

自然食レストラン元気亭 (Genki-tei)

Posted on March 6, 08 by seat

有機野菜のせいろ蒸しセット、￥９５０。
Steamed organic vegetables in seiro. Comes with brown rice and soy milk soup.

You eat the vegetables with sesame sauce or ponzu.

グラタンプレートセット、￥１３００。
Soy milk gratin set(1300yen): macaroni and veggy gratin, salad, homemade bread, dessert and drinks(herb tea).

すこやかセット、￥９５０。本日の主菜：春雨と野菜の炒め煮。ゆり根と玄米餅入りおぜんざい、￥６００。
Today’s lunch set: Stir-fried harusame(green bean vermicelli) and vegetables. Yurine(Lily bulb) and brown rice mochi zenzai.

元気カレーセット、￥９５０。
Vegetarian curry with brown rice.

本日の主菜：生揚げのはさみ揚げ。ぎっしり木の実のタルト、￥４５０。
Today’s lunch: Fried tofu sandwiched with fu. Many seeds tart.

Super healthy organic/vegetarian restaurant. Depending on what you order, the quality can vary from “quite delicious”(fried tofu), to “bland but okay”(curry/steamed veggy) to “pretty horrible”(harusame/soy milk grain). The zenzai and the seed tart are not included in the lunch sets – both are not bad in a healthy-tasting sort of way. The rice is refillable(except for the curry), but one bowl is really more than enough cos the main dishes are not the kind that makes you want to eat more rice(good for diet!). There is a healthy food store on the first floor too.
Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
元気亭 (Genki-tei)
Add: 3-24-10 Ryougoku, Sumida-ku
Tel: 03-3632-3933

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

馳走そっ啄 (Chisou Sottaku)

Posted on January 29, 08 by seat

Japanese kaiseki tenshin lunch set, 3990yen. Full kaiseki lunch course is 7350yen, and dinner course is 10,000yen~. Quite famous place so reservation is a must, and you have to choose to start either from 11:30 or 13:00. There is no written menu and I’ve forgotten the waitress’ explanation….so just pictures. Everything is very nice. Quite a lot of food too! I still managed to finish 3 helpings of the delicious chestnut rice. The assorted appetizer plate is all cold food. The little red dish is Japanese wine. Dessert is nama-fu zenzai.

馳走そっ啄 (Chisou Sottaku)
Add: 2F, 6-7-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku
Tel: 03-3289-8010

美味一服めぐり (Meguri)

Posted on December 10, 07 by seat

ばあばのヘルシーランチ、￥１０００。
Organic cafe serving very good Japanese set meals. It is on the second floor of a big kimono store. Many madams in kimono during lunch time! Healthy lunch set is 1000yen. You can choose plain rice, brown rice or takikomi-gohan which is rice cooked with mushroom, vegetables etc. This place is not vegetarian as they serve fish, such as maguro(tuna), though it is in healthy amount.

ばあばのヘルシー小漬け丼ランチ、￥１３００。
黒ごまプリン、￥６５０。
Lunch set including a small maguro rice bowl, 1300yen. Sesame seed pudding, 650yen.

The veggy dishes change everyday. I usually have brown rice but this day I had rice with Japanese chestnuts. If you order the set meal, you can order a small dessert for 300yen. I had the softcream with blueberry sauce. The softcream here has won some reward apparently. It is nice but I am not sure why it is so special….

京うどんセット、￥１０００。マロンソフト、￥８００。
Kyoto udon set with one veggy side dish, 1000yen. Udon on its own is 700yen.
Marron soft, 800yen. Expensive but quite nice with whole marron on top, marron bits here and there, and marron cream at the bottom.

薬膳スープ粥セット、￥１３００。
Rice porridge with many grains and chinese medicine ingredients, plus a salad, 1300yen.

白玉ぜんざいソフト、￥８５０。
Usual lunch set. “Shiratama Zenzai Soft”(850yen) is just okay though.

冷たいごまだれうどんセット、￥１０００。
Cold udon with sesame sauce, 1000yen.

Cheese cake, 650yen. Tastes normal, and still a bit frozen.

お茶漬け、￥７００。抹茶ア・フォガード、￥８００。
Ochatsuke, 700yen. For the standard lunch set, you can ask for second helping of the rice, but that is not available for ochatsuke. I didn’t know that and I ate one bowl of rice with half of the toppings and saved half for the next bowl. Ended up having to order another bowl of rice, which is, well, 200yen only.
Softcream with freshly made matcha, 800yen. This is nice.

The standard healthy lunch set is the best, both in quality and value. Soup udon is nice too. For desserts, all the softcream parfaits and the sesame seed pudding are good. Though I think the price of dessert is too high….I still order it everytime though….

Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

美味一服めぐり (Meguri)
Add: 2F Ueno 1-20-11, Taito-ku
Tel: 03-3834-5154

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.