Tokyo Travel Guide : Best Breakfast in the world

So I went Japan with my friend last year to spend xmas and new year there and we ate at Bills, which is dubbed the world’s best breakfast. 

Info here

Btw, they have like two branches in Tokyo; one is in Harajuku/ Omotesando while the other is on a man-made island Odaiba (we went this branch).

We arrived quite early at Tokyo Decks Odaiba and found out there was a queue already. We were told waiting time is about 1hr+ but we ended up entering the restaurant within 30 mins, which was great.

We were able to see them at work while we waited. ooh thick fluffy pancakes~~~

We ordered the full Aussie breakfast and the Ricotta hotcakes to share. Both of them were really good. I intro-ed another friend to try this in his trip in May this year. He said he liked the Aussie breakfast, but other girls that I intro-ed this shop to, said they like both. Guess girls like pancakes more eh? 

The hotcake is thick but light and fluffy and I thought I would get sick of the thick hotcake like I usually do with thick hotcake, but I didn’t. Finished it all up and wished I could get another portion but was full already T^T 

Tbh, I thought we wouldn’t feel full when the food was served cos we are both big eaters despite being girls XD. However, the food was really filling and well, I can only conclude that it is indeed the best breakfast I have eaten so far. Singapore has no pancakes that can top this (imo), which kind of make me sad cos I can’t find this in Singapore T^T. 

The full Aussie breakfast - Seriously, we don’t even like tomato that much but we were all trying to get the last piece of it. The way they cook the dishes are… ahh fluffy eggs *salivates*. 

Ah well, do try it if you are in the area, they have a branch at Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse as well! :)

Price for your reference (btw this was on 30 dec 2014) and Japan has raised the tax this year, so I am not sure if there is any changes in the price now. I personally think the price is reasonable though ^^

& shops at Odaiba don’t open so early. so you might want to reach there at around 10-ish, have a breakfast and go shop after you are done eating? The weather was good (well below 10 degrees or smthg) when we were there in end Dec so we went around taking photos at the Deck. 

We walked around and saw some stalls selling yakisoba and ended up eating it lol and it wasn’t even 30 mins after we had our breakfast. 

Will post about more food in Odaiba next time!

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Japan food guide : Pancakes in Tokyo

Hi all,  I am going to do some write-up on food in Japan, or rather, pancakes in Tokyo.

While I know pancake is not a Japanese dish, but you can’t deny that there has been a pancake craze going on in Japan, especially in Tokyo. Hence, I am going to list some popular pancake shops with long queues and waiting time, that you might be interested in if you happen to visit Tokyo (pancakes still make good breakfast after all and they are yummy too!). Well, I am still going to make this list so it can serve as a reminder for me to eat them when I visit Japan in the future.

1.Bills

First on this list will definitely be Bills by Bills Granger (Australia), since it is the only one among the pancake shops that I have actually visited. Bills is known to serve the ‘best breakfast in the world’ and I couldn’t agree more. The pancakes are fluffy and I love the full Aussie breakfast.  Introduced this to my friends who went to Japan after me and most of them love it (well, girls love the pancakes, guys love the full Aussie breakfast more), but if you have companions, you can always order both to share. While there is a long queue, we didn’t wait as long as I expected to and you can actually make reservations online, so yay! There are currently 4 branches in Japan (2 in Tokyo) - Omotesando (which is of walking distance from Harajuku actually), Odaiba, Shichirigahama in Kamakura and red brick warehouse in Yokohama.

Check out my review on Bills.

2. Eggs’nThings

Now, this is one that I would love to visit someday (am I the only one who absolutely love whipped cream?)

Touted as the best pancakes in Hawaii, eggs n’ things pancakes are served with a mountain of whipped cream which, according to people who have been there before, is not overly cloying and instead is light and fluffy. Now, this is something that I definitely would want to try.

Also, other than having branches in Tokyo Harajuku and ODaiba, they have branches in Osaka Shinsaibashi, Kyoto, Yokohama, Kobe, Fukuoka and Enoshima too.

3. Cafe Kaila

Also located in the Omotesando/ Harajuku area in Tokyo, Cafe Kaila, also from Hawaii. The draw-point about this will most probably be the amount of fruits on it (2,000 yen for all the toppings if I am not mistaken) and the fact that their pancakes are made without butter or oil, which makes them healthier than other pancakes shops. Guess this appeals to girls who want to eat pancakes but do not want to feel guilty about it?

But seriously, I am tempted to eat this too, the fruits on it are… *drools*

4. Pancake days

Pancake days actually have branches in Osaka and Tokyo too. Tokyo - Harajuku (again, well, Harajuku/ Omotesando area is like the pancakes war zone), Kichijoji, Nagoya, Osaka Universal city walk and Abeno.

I am not gonna lie, this pancakes look so cute and good and what is better than one pancake?

A stack of pancakes! I might be biased cos I love pancakes and anything sweet, but I definitely would be thrilled if someone brings me to eat this.

5. Slappycakes

From Portland, slappycakes is a DIY shop, where you can make your own pancakes. I guess this will be fun, since you get to choose the flavors and toppings yourself and get to cook the pancakes yourself. YAY if you have artistic skills and can make cute pancakes but even if you can’t, I am sure it will still be a fun experience.

Well, I know there are more pancake shops in Japan but well, I am going to stop here and if I ever visit them in the future, I will definitely do a write-up on them.

tada~~

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Japan travel guide : Getting around Tokyo

Here is a simple guide on one of (various) discount tickets that you can use while visiting Tokyo. 

I have heard people complaining about transport fees in Japan. Train fares start from about 120 yen or 150 yen depending on the railway company that you use and if you are visiting various places in one day, you might actually be spending a considerable amount on transport. There are various one-day or various discount passes offered by the different companies and in this post I will 

The JR Yamanote line might be the most commonly used line for tourists to get around Tokyo and hence, I suggest that if you are visiting various places (perhaps more than 4 places in a day or places that are further away from each other or from your hotel), you can get one of the pass.

The following pass JR Tokunai (Tokyo district - 23 wards) pass, provide you with unlimited rides for a day within the areas located in the map below. The simplified map doesn’t show all the stations on the JR lines, but it is valid for all stations within that area.

The pass cost 750yen a day and is valid for popular tourist spots - Harajuku and Shibuya as well.

Of course, it might take a considerable amount of travelling to make your money worth and hence you might want to find out the total transportation fares to the places you are going to visit before purchasing the pass. I personally like the pass as it saved me the trouble of purchasing individual tickets at the stations each time and allow me to alight at every station just for the sake of getting something. I actually used this pass and went to different stations just to eat, practically stopped at 3-4 stations just to get food and went off.  I stopped at a station just to get cream puffs heh. 

More info here (JR web)

Check train timings/ routes and fares here 
















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Kuromon ichiba - kuromon sanpei

Tokyo has Tsukiji market and Osaka has Kuromon Ichiba (Kuromon Market) for your seafood fix. Kuromon ichiba is the place for affordable, fresh and cheap seafood in Osaka.

Located at Nipponbashi (one station away from Namba and Nagahoribashi (where I stayed at last year). Kuromon Ichiba is easily accessible and the market is so near the train station (totally love it, btw I went back again another day cos we can't get enough of the seafood there). Kuromon market link 

Kuromon sanpei is perhaps the most popular shop at kuromon ichiba. It specializes in seafood and they are sold in very affordable prices (at least compared to restaurants and Tokyo tsukiji market). A set of ootoro - fatty tuna belly (4 pieces is probably only about 1600 yen; it's about 700-800 yen per piece in tsukiji fish market and other sushi restaurants, so yup totally worth it. Kuromon Sanpei link 

What's worth mentioning is probably the gigantic boiled chilled crab which is like less than 3000 yen and yet so satisfying. My mum loves this a lot and she couldn't stop eating it. We even got like 2 of it the 2nd time we went.

The miso soup with lobsters is about 1600 yen but it is worth every yen cos it has like clams and lobsters in it.


You can also get oysters, sea urchins and so on and even kaisen don from the shop. Although the prices are cheaper than those of a restaurants, I still spent like 10k yen there or more cos we ate like a lot. Hence be mindful and don't over eat while you are there alright?

Of course, there's more to kuromon ichiba than just kuromon sanpei, I had oysters at some stall, soymilk as well (another post in future).

Kuromon market link 
Kuromon Sanpei link 

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Japan travel guide : Okonomiyaki in osaka

Well, I know okonomiyaki comes from Osaka and well, during my trip I ate a lot of food, so much that I nearly don’t have stomach to chow down an okonomiyaki.

Okay, during this trip I only went to one okonomiyaki shop as my mum isn’t a fan of it and on other times, we were to full to eat them anyway.

download the map here

So let’s go:

The restaurant that I went to isn’t the mizuno that’s famous and popular among tourist, it was Ajinoya which has a long queue during dinner or lunch hour, so we went for an early dinner, about 5-ish?

Well, most of the patrons are locals which means I can safely assume that this shop serves authentic yummy okonomiyaki?

You can get to ajinoya through exit 14 of namba station. you will pass by a convenience store (family mart) and then kinryu ramen (you can spot the dragon). Turn in when you see the dragon (kinryu ramen) and ajinoya is along that stretch. very near.

Okay, first we ordered doteyaki which is beef sinew cooked in miso (?) I don’t really know the translation for it, but this is really good and even my mum who doesn’t really eat beef says it is good and even finished it. This came with bits and pieces of konnyaku and I really wished I ordered seconds for this.

Then we ordered tonpeiyaki (bottom right in the picture below) which is probably not very popular in other parts of Japan and across the world but apparently is a staple dish in osaka and they hail it as the appetizer to eat before okonomiyaki? I didn’t see restaurants serving it in tokyo though. Cultural difference? To put it simply, tonpeiyaki is just meat rolled in egg which I thought was normal.

For our okos, we ordered a special and a Mochi cheese. Both were really good. You can add bonito flakes and seaweed according to your liking. ^^

Saw people ordering the yakisoba though. Thought that might be good too.

the shopfront

download the map here

the shop website here

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