Kamakura Part1

Visiting Kamakura again, this time we came here to see the bamboo forest in Hokokuji (報国寺).

Website:https://houkokuji.or.jp/

The temple ground itself was very calming and beautiful.

The entrance was 300yen, and with another 600yen you get to enjoy green tea with some Japanese candies.

As we were there early, there weren't that many people here.

You will pass by the small bamboo forest before reaching the tea house.

There was a small queue to the tea house when we were there, but we didn't have to wait long.

It was nice that we got front row seat to the bamboo forest ;)

Borrowed these toys from the 2 little boys.

This little heart breaker will only take picture with me when I promised that I'd buy him candies.

As the sun was so bright that day, it was really warm and we didn't need our jackets.

 

Bleach hair day

After thinking about it for a few weeks now, I finally made the reservation to dye my hair at a salon that I have been following on Instagram. I started to follow them because of the purple colour that they were able to produce on their client's hair.

Want thing the same hair colour, I made a reservation even though the place was super expensive and I had to bleach my hair twice in order to achieve the colour. No regrets because it was something that I had always wanted to try.

While it looks red here, it is actually purple but it was hard to snap a nice picture that shows the colour because there was no sun and also because I was wearing a red top. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome despite knowing that it will only last a few days.

After that we grabbed lunch at Kumada (サーモン丼 熊だ). This is my 4th visit here. This time I ordered the tokujyo don for 1,980 JPY.

Website: http://kumada.tokyo/

This place is always so busy.

I am happy that I am able to get some ochazuke as the weather was cold. I saved up some of my sashimi for this.

After that, we stopped by Dandelion Chocolate Omotesando for some dessert.

Website: https://dandelionchocolate.jp/pages/shop-omotesando

I had always wanted to try their branch in Kamakura but it was always super busy when I visited in the past.

We had the H2O choclate mousse and a limited edition pistachio cake. Both were delicious and makes you crave for more.

After that we explored around Shibuya as it has been a super long time since we visited. We were shocked to find that there was a anti-mask/ vaccine/ this pandemic is a lie protest going on in front of the station. 

Day out in Chinatown and Naka-ward, Yokohama

Early in the morning, we met up with T's family in Chinatown for dimsum at 西遊記.

Website: https://r.gnavi.co.jp/8me72cy10000/

They seem to be famous for these baked char siew pao. While these were nice too, if I were to compare them to the ones from Tim Ho Wan, I prefer the latter. But it is the only yummy item on Tim Ho Wan's menu.

They have xiao long bao too with I & A love.

Happy to get so many different varieties of dim sum here.

They even have pan fried raddish cake and roast meat such as pork and duck there.

After dimsum, we walked uphill to check out the open houses in Naka-ward. Soon, we got tired and decided to stop by at Enokitei Honten (えの木てい) for some cakes.

Website: https://www.enokitei.co.jp/

I got a hot tea while TJ got a coffee. His coffee came with vanilla ice cream on the top.

Our cakes, which were super good. I didn't expect this place to serve such good quality desserts. I will definitely revisit again to try more of their cakes.

The view from up Yamashita Park.

After that, T's family went back home while TJ and I continued to explore around Minato Mirai.

We ended up in Megumi Suisan in Mark Is Minato Mirai (めぐみ水産 マークイズみなとみらい店).

Menu: http://www.neo-emotion.jp/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/de4e2ae8b4e295973f9df4b2c4f8b644.jpg 

While the sushi here is more expensive than the typical conveyor belt sushi shop, their quality is good and the size of the sushi is slightly bigger than the cheaper ones. You can also get some items that you do not normally find in other stores here.

 

Kagonoya Shabu-shabu

First time trying the all you can eat shabu-shabu at Kagonoya.

Website: https://kagonoya.food-kr.com/menu

As you can see, the prices here are not cheap and double that of the cheaper ones.

We decided to go for the ume course because you get both beef and pork for 3,990 JPY before tax.

Other than the usual shabu-shabu items, you can also order thins like tempura.

Or sushi, which we did not order any.

Here comes our meat!

On one side we had had the sukiyaki base so that we can enjoy sukiyaki too.

The set up. We also ordered a steamed siew mai which was surprisingly good. But we only got one because of it's big size. Then we also ordered a braised dish to share.

The tempura was lovely. We ordered a few platter of this.

Our dessert after the very heavy lunch.

As Mister Donut was having some special collaboration with Pierre Marcolini, we went and got some after lunch.

Some were already sold out by the time we arrived so we did not managed to get the entire series.

What we got were delicious. The round ones were of the brownie base and the heart shaped ones had a puff pastry base to them. These donuts are definitely on the heavy side. If you like something lighter, these are not for you.

 

Sadaharu Aoki Chocolate

When we were at the outlet mall, I saw some Sadaharu Aoki fukubukuro and bought one to try.

I bought the chocolate version and it came with 3 boxes of chocolate along with some other baked goods.

This here is the 1st box.

Everything looks beautifully made and best of all, they tasted good.

There was a box of macaron shells too. I forgot to take pictures of the baked goods but they were very substantial and delicious. I think this box of macaron shell is my least favorite item in the fukubukuro.

This small box here is the 2nd box that I opened.

Lol, looks like crayons but super delicious. I only wished for a bigger box.

The final box from the fukubukuro. So sad that this is the last box. I want more :(

But honestly, the chocolate are all very well made and I'm very happy that I got this fukubukuro because I had always wanted to try their chcocolate.