Winter Doesn't Stop Us from Ice Cream →

Yesterday, I went to Baskin Robbins after a long time. They were doing a collaboration with Frozen 2, a Disney movie that just came out a few days ago. There were various special collaboration and seasonal flavors and we had a hard time choosing which one to try. I ended up buying the “Magical Mint Night” one, which has the flavor of dark chocolate and mint, sprinkled with colorful popping candy. The taste was indeed, very magical. Not only the flavor that is satisfying, the appearance itself is unique, resembling a galaxy. The photo might not really do justice but it is worth trying.

Tapioca Fever →

Recently, in Japan, there has been a trend that goes around the society involving not only teenagers, but also adults and children. Tapioca, or bubble tea, or boba tea - whichever you would like to call it - is a drink that has edible chewy black balls in it. The drink can be in any form: milk tea, chocolate, coffee, tea, etc. Tapioca has actually been in Japan and many other countries for many years now, but for some reason, the trend is suddenly high these days. A week ago, I tried a new tapioca in Nakano. It was just open not long ago, and since I live near there, I felt like I have to try it. It tastes pretty good, and it costs around 400-600 yen. I tried the chocolate flavor, and my friend tried the seasonal pineapple flavor.

The Dessert King

I have been staying in Japan for more than a year, and from what I saw dessert is one of Japan’s specialties. You can literally see a lot of dessert shops scattered around cities in Japan, doesn’t matter what they sell. Ice creams, crepes, pancake, parfait, cakes, and many other types of dessert are available for you anywhere and anytime. It is not only a matter of flavour, but also the presence of the dessert itself. Japanese people really excel in decorating foods to make it more appealing and attract people to give it a try. My point is, Japanese desserts are undoubtedly perfect no matter from what aspect you are trying to judge it. Would you rate Japan as the Dessert King of all time?

Gyoza!

This is absolutely a comfort food that you should try when visiting Japan. Gyoza (餃子) or Japanese dumpling is actually originated from China, but got really popular in Japan since the 20th century. This food is a labour of love wrapped with minced meat vegetables, soy sauce, sesame oil, and many other delicious ingredients. which then will be fried for a while to be able to give a unique, crunchy, flavourful taste (usually also called as yaki-gyoza). Some gyoza are only steamed and not fried, we call them sui-gyoza. Most restaurants and stalls sell 6-pieces set of gyoza for around 300 until 500 yen, which is a really great price for such food! The flavour will elevate once you dip the gyoza into a soy sauce.

Blue Bottle Coffee

Last week, I went to Blue Bottle Coffee in Shinjuku with my friends. Turns out, this is one of the best coffee shop in Japan! As a coffee lover, it is a must for me to at least have a sip of coffee every week. Coffee has a really unique flavour for each different type. The prices also range from cheap coffee to extremely expensive coffee. My favorite one is espresso, which costs around 500 yen. I also like the barista in Blue Bottle Coffee, because they provide good services and hospitality. In fact, there were a lot of people who came to this place every single day. I really love to come back there as often as I can.