Alexander's Patisserie, Mountain View

Upon exiting Maison Alyzee, I promptly crossed the street for Alexander's Patisserie. Talk about a literal patisserie face-off--they're staring each other down from across the street. Fine with me though. More patisseries means more sweets for me to enjoy ^.^

Maison Alyzee, Mountain View

As hubby and I grabbed a quick snack at the Hong Kong Bakery & Cafe, I couldn't help but notice Maison Alyzee right next door. After he left to do work stuff, I went in to check it out despite having had a snack. I could never pass up a patisserie. There's always room for desserts in this tummy ^.^

Tokyo Eats - Akasaka area

Landing in Tokyo in August of 2015, we got ourselves a major craving for some okonomiyaki. This was before we found Kinu in our neighborhood, you see, so upon some googling we decided to go with what we knew, a Botejyu branch in Akasaka that was closest to us. Little did we know we'd be coming back to Akasaka again and again throughout our time in Tokyo, though mostly for Shichirin Yakiniku AnAn below.

Anyway, I didn't like our first visit to Botejyu years ago but in our desperation we gave it another chance just to relive our previous Japan experience. We ended up having a great meal there and went on to bring friends and family back, until the smoking in the restaurant became unbearable and stopped us from coming back. It seemed the restaurant had grown and the food vastly improved since we ate there last.

These were the seasonal offerings for the fall of 2015.

Tokyo Eats - Ginza area Part III

Wow, has it really been more than a year since my last Ginza post?! Anyway, here's the last of the Ginza series and a long post ahead. I'm almost through with the rest of the Tokyo food photos too. I guess I should be happy to finally be done with the gigantic photo backlog, but coming to the end of the Japan pictures makes me so sad and nostalgic :(

Mum-in-law visited us back in early April 2016 with her older sister, aunt D. Aunt D. was the one who took this pic, with me photo-bombing hubby and his mum ^.^

Tokyo Eats - Roppongi area Part V

Many more photos build-up and here we are at installment #5 of Tokyo Eats - Roppongi Area.

Back in late June, the Midtown building had a fun exhibition on daruma art.

Tokyo Eats - In the neighborhood Part IV

More food in my former neighborhood, again, won't be the last as I'm still catching up on photos.

We didn't dine at the Atago Green Hills Forest Tower lounge as D&E got tired of the food and wanted to venture out. But still, over the new year (which was a long time ago, I know...), they actually served zouni, a traditional new year soup with mochi!

Tokyo Eats - Roppongi Area Part IV

More food in Roppongi, though probably not the last since I'm still waaay behind on photos. I'd thought to wait until I'm all caught up but the post will grow too long, so I'm posting what I have now, already pretty darn long as it is!

An art display at Midtown, along with even more photos of sakura that I didn't get to in the previous installment. I know, I'm posting spring photos in the fall and summer photos in the winter. Ha.

Tokyo Eats - In the neighborhood (Picture heavy!)

Three months into our Tokyo stay and I'm finally posting about our neighborhood. It's very quiet around here, for which I'm thankful. We made a conscious decision to stay away from the boisterous and the lively after all. The only drawback is that most restaurants close at 8pm, the lights go out shortly after, and the small family-run shops and even parts of the subway station close over the weekends. We can always hop on the train if we want to go play, or walk, or if we're desperate enough, take a taxi, so I'm not complaining.

The first thing that jumps out at us in our neighborhood is Tokyo Tower.

Tokyo Eats - Ginza area (Picture heavy!)

Another place I hang out a lot is Ginza, not to shop but to eat ^.^ In fact, I would never go shopping in Ginza, because all of Asia and their sisters and brothers are there, thanks to several major department stores and the couture houses with their own buildings. On Saturdays and Sundays, the main street is closed from traffic and becomes a pedestrian street, which means it gets even more crowded. Took my friend J. here once because she's a fan of Zara, etc., and I think I might have scarred her for life ^.^"!

Wako Store is housed in a building dated to 1894, with the Ginza Mitsukoshi across the street. 

Tokyo Eats - Roppongi area

When hubby and I were living in Japan last, we were in Yokohama, and Tokyo was a bit of hike for us, a 1hr+ train ride with transfers, depends on destination. Needless to say we felt like outsiders the entire time and we sort of were (still are...). Whenever we went to Tokyo to hangout, dine out, or to be with friends, there was always that train ride back to dread (drunk salarymen, anyone?) and the last train to watch out for (packed-sardines with drunk salarymen, anyone?).

Now that we actually live in the heart of Tokyo, the game changed drastically. We go out so often now I'm running a few thousand photos behind, which means the back log for this blog is hitting a growth spurt and I'm marathoning to keep up. That's to say I'm going to follow my Taipei model and do group food reviews by the areas I frequent most, just to keep things simple and save time.

The first area that's racking up photos is Roppongi. We used to loath this area. Being an expat haunt, Roppongi had a bad rep, you see. Ten years ago when I was still in business school, a frat-boy classmate bragged about spending his summers in luxury high-rises, interning for Goldman Sachs in Roppongi, and this was Business Ethics class, mind you (proving Goldman Sachs' pervasive tone-deaf problem, from executives to interns). Five years ago when we were in Yokohama, hubby went to several school and work events in Roppongi and always came home sick and disgusted, having met some world-class a-holes, some of whom are diplomats (oh, the irony...). So earlier this year when an offer came in to work in Roppongi, our response was, "If and only if we don't have to live there."

Thankfully, it seems Roppongi has changed a bit and it doesn't feel too sleazy. Sure, there still are sketchy parts of town we avoid, and we're not nightclubbing, party folks anyway, so we're making do OK living a few train stops away. With hubby working in Roppongi, I go there at least twice a week to have lunch with him and then wander around for errands, etc. So that list of unsorted photos just grows and grows and grows.

Fillmore Street, San Francisco Part II (Picture heavy!)

Combining some posts again, and adding in new ones. Here are more food porn on Fillmore Street, in poor lighting that adds to their mysteriousness. Just kidding.

- La Mediterranee - Fillmore: my friend A. recommended this place to me and I owe her a big favor for it. This place singlehandedly made me a fan of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food. I always thought my tastebuds are prejudice against the cuisine. Sure hubby and I loved the Turkish Kebab Truck in Yokohama, but since that was fast food it's not a fair comparison. In Japan we've also had authentic Arabian food, complete with a live belly dance performance (Al Ain, near Kannai Station, the chef used to be the executive chef at the Kuwaiti Embassy, this was not some pretend-exotic restaurant), and Greek (Sparta Restaurant, again near Kannai). Then there was also poshy Greek food in Manhattan, fancy Turkish elsewhere, blah blah blah. Nope, none of that did anything for me. They were good, but nothing to write home about. But La Mediterranee? I ate lunch there once with A. and immediately made a reservation for dinner with hubby the Friday after. Since then, I've ordered catering from there, had lunches and dinners. Thank goodness my tastebuds weren't prejudice - I just haven't had Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food that really impressed me. Until now. Whether you're new to this cuisine or a seasoned fan, you must try this place!

Taipei Eats - Yongkang Street area Part II (永康街, Picture heavy!)

Just a brief revisit on the food joints at Yongkang Street area ^.^

Hubby and I were in line at Smoothie House one afternoon and saw that some people got strawberry smoothie shaved ice. Of course I got giddy, however to my surprise this wasn't on the menu. When it was our turn to order, I asked the gal manning the register if I could switch the mango smoothie shaved ice for the strawberry one instead. She nodded a chirpy yes, and I got my strawberry smoothie shaved ice ^.^ I didn't like it as much as I did the mango smoothy shaved ice though. I thought the strawberry smoothie was a tad too thick and creamy, thus tasted more like strawberry ice cream. But it was still yummy. Give it a try the next time you're there!

Yes, we also gave into our touristy urges and got ourselves a reservation at the original location of Din Tai Fung. It was packed with Japanese tourists, and I mean packed like sardines, with hordes of people waited outside. So when the hostess saw me, she (along with everyone else I met in Taipei) thought I was Japanese and started speaking Japanese to me. My Japanese sucks, but no language comes between me and my food of course, which doesn't exactly help clear up any misconceptions ^.^'

Tea Atop Maokong, Taipei (貓空, Picture heavy!)

Hubby was dying to go up Maokong (貓空) to take a peek, so off we went on a misty afternoon before it started raining non-stop, for how long, almost 2 weeks now? Sigh...

Of course we had to go on the Maokong Gondola. It would be a crime not too! There are 2 separate lines, a super crowded one for a standard cabin, and less crowded one for the "crystal cabin," with a fiber glass bottom so you can see beneath your feet ^.^ The line for "crystal cabin" isn't less crowded because no one wants to ride in it. You have to buy a ticket for either lines, but with the "crystal cabin" line you have to get assigned to a time block in addition to the general ticket. Hubby and I didn't know this as there was not a sign or any instructions, perhaps on purpose because otherwise everyone would line up for it?. We and a bunch of other folks wasted time standing around until we all realized they were announcing time blocks for the crystal cars!