Hey Hive!
If you missed the last few posts, I'm sharing about our anniversary trip to Tokyo back in Feb 2023! It'd been at least 3 years since we visited Tokyo and the last time was pre-covid so we decided to go back and find some new places to explore while revisiting our favourite hot-spots.
Last week, we finished exploring the Nintendo store in Tokyo! We saw so many merchandise across the different franchises and I was so excited since I've been a longtime Nintendo fan and I've never been to a physical store before.
We took some time to explore the store and see everything they had to offer. I tried my hardest to resist buying everything off the shelves, and I think I did a pretty good job. We bought a few magnets and cushion covers from Animal Crossing which looked so cute!
We explored the rest of the PARCO building where the store was located and discovered that there was also a nice rooftop garden too.
5 Feb 2023. Sunday.
It was already dark out when we left the PARCO building and came across another one of our favourite stores - P's first!
It's a pet store where they have adorable puppies and kittens on display for sale! I don't normally support pet shops but we like to just come in here and soak up all the cuteness every time we pass by.
The inside of these stores look quite clinical but they're very clean and the pets do look like they're well taken care of.
We saw the staff helping some customers and showing them a few puppies and kittens. They looked so adorable!
I actually wonder what their pet shelters look like in Japan, since their pet stores are like this.
But we don't really see a lot of stray animals in Tokyo, maybe just a few cats here and there. Definitely not as many as in other countries we've visited or even our home country in Singapore. It's probably because of how crowded Tokyo is, maybe the strays are in the less touristy parts of Tokyo.
We saw so many cute puppies! They looked so small. I wanted to hold and pet them so bad.
Their enclosures seemed quite comfortable for them to play and rest in, and they were also well regulated.
After we were done fawning over the pets, we left and went back out into the street in search of some dinner!
We ended up in this side street that I don't think we've ever been in, but it was strangely steep and had some interesting shops.
There was this little restaurant called Shogun Burger which looked pretty cool. It also reminded me of this character called Raiden Shogun from Genshin Impact, who ironically can't cook anything.
We ended up in the nightlife area in Shibuya where there was an arcade and saw this SPYxFAMILY ad.
There were a lot of restaurants we could've gone for dinner but we were looking for a very specific restaurant near to Shinjuku which wasn't too far away.
After a bit more walking and getting turned around a little bit, we finally found it!
It was a different branch than the one we normally go to, but it was our favourite Abura Soba!
The restaurant itself is quite small and can't fit a lot of people but thankfully we managed to get seats. I think there were also some other Singaporean tourists in there as well.
Here's the menu, which looked a little different but I think it's only an aesthetic change. The actual menu items look around the same.
Their specialty is of course the Abura Soba (or oil soba, with flavorful sauce of soy sauce, pork grease and various toppings). The only real difference between the different menu items is the toppings.
After we placed our order and gave the tickets to the staff, we took our seats and waited while trying not to salivate. They had instructions on how to eat Abura Soba on the tables.
Here's the rough translation:
We actually found out about this place a few years ago when we were visiting with a friend who was studying in Tokyo. He found this place on Google and we just decided to try it and we all loved it! So now every time we visit Tokyo we always make it a point to come back and have a bowl of Abura Soba.
I wasn't super hungry at the time so I just got a normal bowl while Sean got one with all the fixins.
First step was to of course mix up everything in the bowl to make sure we get the sauce coated on all the toppings. We made sure to give it a good toss.
Then we tasted it without adding anything and it was so delicious! I was too busy enjoying the noodles to take a photo of us eating it. The sauce is really flavourful but I like a bit more spice on mine and they have condiments like extra chili on the table should you wish to add more.
So I added some of the chili oil and it made the noodles even tastier!
As per the instructions, there is soup in flasks on the table for you to mix in with the rest of the sauce to enjoy some flavourful broth.
After that you can even ask for a small scoop of rice for free that you can mix in with the broth too. It's a delicious way to not waste the sauce. It was a very fulfilling meal and always so satisfying.
We actually saw Taco Bell just opposite the store and I was a little tempted but I was quite full from the soba.
We saw MEGA Donki just across the street and decided to stop by to shop. Donki Hote is one of our favourite discount store chains and we always make it a point to stop by.
This one had a special Shibuya section and was full of special Shibuya themed items designed around the famous doggo Hachiko!
This MEGA Donki is definitely called MEGA for a reason, with over 7 floors spanning different categories of products.
The Donki stores are always very flashy but this one was arranged quite neatly.
There was even a snack store with cheese that smelled so good we decided to try it! It was shaped like a 10yen coin that I thought it was going to cost 10yen but of course it's not.
We did see the chef make it on the spot by putting a block of cheese mixed with the batter into the special mold which was cool.
Once it was nicely toasted brown on both sides and crispy on the outside it was ready!
It smelled really good and it was so warm which was nice since it was cold outside.
Sean took the first bite and had a good cheese pull.
We even managed to do a double cheese pull! But to be honest the actual snack was pretty average. It was kinda plain despite how much cheese was in there. I would've liked it more if the cheese was a little saltier and the batter a bit sweeter, or maybe drizzled with maple syrup.
We ate while walking through the many aisles looking for anything interesting.
There was also a very extensive souvenir section with some Pokemon and Ghibili themed goods.
There was some interesting cushion patterns designed after famous paintings which I thought was quite cool.
There were some really cute plushies that were so soft too.
Of course they also had some Mario themed toys like this mahjong set? I've never seen it before but it was interesting.
There were lots of Mario things actually but I'm not sure if these were legit.
Of course we tried on some funny things in the costume section.
Donki also has a huge food section and they have so many good snacks and fresh food too!
We always make it a point to stop by the strawberry section since Japanese strawberries are soo good, and Donki has the cheaper ones which are good too.
These are my favourite buns that are glazed with black sugar and have a dollop of butter in the middle. It's really good esepcially after air frying it a little bit so it's crispy on the outside.
We bought a bunch of snacks and stuff before leaving the store with a good haul.
After that we retired back to our hotel for the night with all our goods. It was quite a fruitful day. Tune in next week for more adventures!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #275 (Tokyo): A Retro Gamer's Dream 🎮
