January 23: Tokyo Day 4

This morning Christal, Luke and I all woke up around 7 or so. After we had gotten dressed we headed over the the 7-Eleven around the corner and grabbed a quick breakfast. I opted to go for the katsudon, or pork cutlet over rice with egg and onion. It was pretty satisfying overall, especially from 7-Eleven. We ate our breakfasts back in the room so that Luke could take a nap before Christal's cousin, Alyssa, came. She arrived around 10:20 or so and we went to the train station to head to Ogikubo, which is where the Adventist Medical Center and church are.

Katsudon from 7-Eleven

After church Alyssa's sister, Karen, joined us and Alyssa took us to have a light lunch at Sanpou-An, which is a soba restaurant in an Ogikubo department store. There was a little bit of a line to get in so we waited about 15 minutes or so until our name was called. Unfortunately they didn't have any tables that could seat all five of us at the same table so Christal, Alyssa and Karen sat at one table and Otousan and I sat at another table. I ordered the sakura ebi no korokoro soba, which was basically soba noodles in a tare and topped with tiny shrimp, nori, green onion, fried gobo (burdock), shiso, grated daikon, grated fresh wasabi and a lemon wedge. The dish was served cold so it was pretty refreshing and would have been perfect for a warm summer day. The tiny sakura shrimp had a mild seafood flavor that helped to give the dish some depth and the tare broth was nice and mild so that you could taste the shrimp. The fried gobo gave each bite a really nice textural contrast and the soba noodles were tender, yet firm and had a nice chew to them.

Sakura Ebi No Korokoro Soba

When we finished with lunch Alyssa and Karen took us back to the hotel via the train and then they went home for a little bit while Otousan, Christal and I walked around one of the nearby department stores. We ended up getting Alyssa a birthday gift of Yoku Moku cookies and then we went back to the hotel to meet up with Auntie Megumi, Alyssa and Karen.

Over $100 USD for Melon Sorbet!!!

Since we had a light lunch they wanted to take us to their favorite place for sweets. It was called Nana's Green Tea and it was located in the department store directly adjacent to the train station in Kichijoji. Otousan was tired so he stayed at the hotel to take a nap. I ordered the matcha parfait with fresh matcha chocolate, agar and matcha pudding. The matcha ice cream was really creamy and rich and the cereal flakes in the parfait gave a nice crunch. The matcha chocolate tasted really good, but somehow it had a chewier texture than I was expecting and the agar was pretty much tasteless. The matcha pudding on the other hand was soft and smooth and loaded with green tea flavor. The parfait as a whole was really refreshing and I would jump at the chance to go again.

Matcha Parfait w Matcha Chocolate, Agar & Matcha Pudding

Christal ordered the matcha parfait with matcha sponge cake, warabi mochi and matcha pudding. As good as my parfait was, I think hers was even better. The sponge cake was tender, moist and really fluffy and the warabi mochi was like the warabi mochi we got at Tsukiji Market.

Matcha Parfait w Matcha Sponge Cake, Warabi Mochi & Matcha Pudding

When we had finished Alyssa, Christal and I parted ways with Auntie Megumi and Karen because Karen had to go study for her college entrance exams, which are next year. Alyssa took us to Inokashira Park, which is kind of between her house and our hotel. They were doing some repairs or renovations to the lake in the park so it was almost completely drained. We walked around about half of the park and Alyssa showed us a temple that was on the grounds. She said the path around the lake is lined with sakura trees and in March lots of tourists come to take pictures of the sakura blossoms.

Inokashira Park Temple

When we were done walking around the park we walked back to the hotel where Otousan was in the lobby waiting. Alyssa took him to meet up with his high school friend and then they met us at the restaurant where we had dinner. Christal and I lounged in the lobby until Auntie Megumi and Maria, her youngest daughter, arrived. We all met, including Uncle Kiyonari, at the Kind House izakaya for dinner. The restaurant was pretty neat. It was in the basement of a building and we walked down some stairs that were lined with bamboo and then they took us to our table which overlooked a little koi pond with islands of bamboo that was in the middle of the restaurant. We had lots of little dishes, including shio (salt) yakitori, tare (sauce) yakitori, daikon salad, minced chicken yakitori, makitamago (omelete), karaage (fried chicken), rafute (Okinawan braised pork belly), salmon and chutoro (medium fatty tuna belly) sashimi, Korean pancakes with octopus and maitake tempura. The food was very good and when we walked out of the restaurant we were stuffed. Otousan walked his high school friend back to the train station, while the Taira family walked Christal and I back to our hotel, where we said our konbanwa's (goodnights) and they headed home and we went up to our room for the night.

Kind House Koi Pond