I managed to get up early, but we were late heading to the Hanayama Udon restaurant in Nihonbashi (same branch, but quieter here in Nihonbashi). Fortunately, the wait was about 30 minutes, but the sun made it quite hot. The umbrella we purchased earlier in our trip proved useful in blocking the heat and UV rays. After we got in, we proceeded to order. From what I read online, if you requested the English menu, there are fewer choices there in comparison to the Japanese menu. Fortunately, I was with someone who could read and speak Japanese fluently to order for us. The udon noodles themselves didn't feel anything too special, but the sauces were quite good. Whether or not the flat udon was actually 5 cm long was a mystery. But back to the sauces! I had a sesame sauce and a... another sauce (note to self once again: Take detailed notes next time!) The tempura that came with my set was superb though -- each piece was crispy and not overly battered. Once we finished eating, we got some souvenirs at their little gift shop to bring home. We proceeded towards our next stop in Nakameguro.
We had about a 15 minute walk towards our next destination. The sun was blazing, but fortunately the sidewalk we were on had buildings tall enough to shelter us from the sun. We did end up taking a minibreak at a Family Mart for some iced treats. Once we were somewhat refreshed, we continued on our path. We found the Starbucks Reserve in this district. I was thoroughly impressed with the one in Seattle and we wanted to stop by the one in Tokyo. The line to enter though, was beyond anything we've waited so far. It was estimated that we needed two hours before it would be our turn to enter. Not wanting to grab a drink and bite, we opted to just enter the museum/gallery/gift store section of the Reserve. For this, you didn't need to wait in line. After purchasing a souvenir, we headed back out towards the station to reach our next location: Harajuku.
We stopped by a café in Harajuku to once again cool down from the heat. I don't believe there was anything unique about this café, but the mango lassi and cake I got were quite good. Afterward, we headed back out onto the ever-busy Takeshita Street. It was hard getting through the crowds, but we managed to stop by some shops along the way. For those of you heading to Harajuku, I suggest making a stop on the side streets, for they're not as busy. It's almost surreal how empty one block away from Takeshita Street can be. After getting a good look around the station, we proceeded back to the JR Harajuku station to exchange our JR Pass vouchers. We will be needing them in due time.
Getting the vouchers went relatively smoothly. We headed back to Asakusa and, as you may have guessed, back to the hotel to relax before heading out for dinner. There was a shabu shabu (hot pot) restaurant nearby our hotel. However, the a/c was not working at the restaurant when we arrived. Not wanting to sweat bullets as we ate hot pot, we opted to try something else instead. With all sorts of other restaurants being busy, we ended up at a Matsuya for dinner. Perhaps its rep of being a chain restaurant, or with so many Matsuya restaurants in Japan, the one we went to was nearly empty. Nevertheless, the food was as good as always. Once dinner was completed, it was back to the hotel for the night.
One more full day in Tokyo before we head off to another city!
At the Starbucks Reserve. These retro billboards are fun to see and to hear!
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