Saturday, April 28, 2018

Travel tips Tokyo Asakusa

Within this bustling, dynamic city with incredible contrasts of chaotic noise of a pachinko parlour, contrasting with the calm of Senso-Ji temple, bustling covered market streets, delicious food, specialty stores, cooking and tourist shops and Owl cafes, Asakusa has it all. This area is also one that specialises in handmade shoes, so if that's your thing do your research.




A perfect location for me which blended kimono clad visitors to Senso-ji with foot friendly market stalls. It was busy, but without the frenetic pace of Akasaka, hawkers and maid cafes. It blends old with the new,

Its such a great place to hang out where you can catch people visiting the temple, often wearing traditional kimono.  In fact you can actually hire kimonos in the nearby laneways.

On Sundays the pop up food stalls set up shop, so its a great place to hang out.
 
 
 
The laneways have an abundance of stalls ranging from specialty shops which might just specialise in something like brushes, or sweets, or fans, or beautiful hair decorations.  Plus there is the widest range of restaurants from delicious sushi train through to noodle bars, where you pay for your meal from the vending machine out the front of the stand and hand over your ticket to the cook.
Definitely worth mentioning is the Marugoto Nippon which is a food hall of regional specialties, restaurants and handicrafts. Some of the special foodstuffs such as the apple pie or the strawberry cake were delicious. Sadly in 24, this has now been overtaken by uniqlo. It's now a tiny supermarket.
Asakusa has both covered laneways and outdoor street stalls.  This is an area well visited by tourists, particularly Nakamise which is the shopping street/stalls leading up to Senso-ji. Most people tend to visit during the day, so at nights the streets are not so busy.                                                                                            Other shops that specialise in items for serving, preparing and displaying food can be found close by in Kappabashi Street. A giant chef hangs overhead and in another window knives are sharpened, plastic food models can also be found here. Also a lot of hipster coffee shops here, as opposed to kissaten, these are more Australian style coffee shops.
Kissaten - coffee shop.  Stick to Starbucks if you want a drinkable coffee.  But if its the vibe you are after, there are atmosphere filled cafes with different themes.  This one had a juke box and records.

The coffee is not cheap, its definitely a "brew", this one had bags of character.
 
Then there's the different animal cafes, hedgehogs, cat, owl.  This was something we were curious about but had decided to pass on, as we weren't sure that we felt comfortable with the concept. However we kept on walking pass this café and decided to give it a whirl.

Currently Owl cafes seem to be really popular.  I think its the Harry Potter effect.

So its not really a café, its more a petting place, this one had otters, meerkats and a mink and lots and lots of owls.  Your drink is something from a vending machine. This place was very clean and the people working there seemed to really care about the animals.


Again, not so sure how ethical it is, but I did find it fascinating to be able to pet the owls, (only on the back of the head).

I really don't know what happens after hours, but I hope that these animals get some opportunity to fly around.

 As well as having temples, the Asahi Super Dry Building is just over the river. The golden flame was designed by Philippe Stark.

The complex is built on the banks of the Sumida River and built on the site  where Asahi started brewing beer a century earlier

Worth catching is one of the supermarkets. This is another one with a focus on organic.  The range of sashimi, hot and cold prepared foods, beers, teas are mouthwatering.

I wish I had found it at the beginning of my stay. 

This supermarket was a mini department store which also stocked clothes, stationary, bags and more. Its adjacent to the Asakusa View Hotel which also has a French patisserie and a bar with an amazing view.
 
And finally, one of the most important things, where to stay. We slept at the Wired Hotel, I loved this place. It's called something else now.

We had a gorgeous verandah with a view of Senso-ji. Staff were super nice, facilities were great and the café downstairs served really good food.  The pig is ours, but the staff put it in our bed.  Definitely recommended.



 

 

 

Darwin update

For people staying in central Darwin
The Rabbit Hole, on the mall for coffee and food
Para markets Saturday morning a short cab ride. Market food and stalls.

Laneway cafe at Parap - coffee and food

Mr Choo Asian street food (in a more upmarket restaurant form) by the harbour

PM delicious food. Tasting plates have the watermelon and feta salad.

Browns Mart theatre venue.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Adelaide update

 
Coffee Branch
Leigh street adelaide
Good coffee
http://coffeebranch.com.au


 
Peter Rabbit
Coffee breakfasts good coffee large tasty breakfasts and there's a real rabbit inside.
Cnr Hindley and Liverpool streets, Adelaide 
Www.peterrabbit.com.au


 
maybe mae
15 Peel Street, Adelaide
Look for the keyhole
Cosy hidden bar

 
Bibliotheca
Gresham Street
Another great cosy bar
As the name suggests with books

 
La Buvette
Gresham Street, Adelaide
French style bar serving snacks later in the night

 
Oggi contemporary Italian
Bali's pick - kitchen opened later
 76 Pirie Street, Adelaide (image from qantas travel.insider)

Parlamento, old school Italian. Best spaghetti marinara. North Terrace, Adelaide


Sunday, February 12, 2017

Newtown food and cafes

Bangkok Bites
Address: 273 King St, Newtown NSW 2042
Phone: (02) 9565 2555
My favourite meal - Seafood Pad Thai, Prawn and calamari salad and the Garden Barra
212 blu (cafe)
Australia Street
Newtown, New South Wales
(02) 9516 0115
Great coffee, brunch and day food


Home of the Watermelon Cake
222 Australia Street
Newtown
Also good coffee, but the long queues are a huge drawback


Wednesday, January 25, 2017

parramatta food

There are lots of places to eat in Parramatta.

This is a snapshot in no particular order of places I have eaten in where I would return.

 Nick and Nora's bar. Champagne tower on Fridays.

Delicious Japanese. Try the omakase for fresh as sushi and sashimi Mizaku


The sashimi and sushi are some of the freshest in Sydney. Everyone I bring here gets hooked.



 BBQ and traditional Cantonese Chinese


Phone number (02) 9687 4242
Cuisines Korean
Address
42 George Street, Parramatt
Great Korean BBQ and a pretty decent Bibimbup
 

Kanzo Fresh Sushi
Address: 6/55-67 George St, Parramatta NSW 2150
Phone:(02) 9635 8411
A local favourite with takeaway or eat in. Avocado and sashimi salad is a bargain. Yummy ponzu. 

Also worth checking out Temasek (Malaysian), Ya Malaysia, Phoenix (yum cha), Pho Pasteur (Vietnamese) El Phoenician (middle eastern), Armani (middle eastern), Elevate (coffee),  Emporio (food and wine bar great cheese and charcuterie plates)

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Helsinki

A whirlwind visit. A good place if you like salmon.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Munich tips

Watch the river surfers in the English garten. Its not bondi but thus is what you can do without a beach

Viktualienmarkt to hang out graze on food and watch the people.

Food tour was fun. Taste whiskey from Switzerland,  multiple varieties of mustard and plump gherkins

Walk in English Garten it is a big park

Eat pretzels