My first day in Tokyo was so packed that I didn’t make it anywhere except Aroma Classico. I really should have squeezed in a few more places. Looking at it this way, eating well is honestly hard work. You need both money and time to spare before you can pay attention to food, and when you’re this busy it’s tough even to eat properly as you go.
For lunch on day two I went to a Korean restaurant in Akasaka. Some of you might be thinking, why Korean food in Tokyo? But there are days when you just crave Korean food.. The place I’d originally meant to go, the gomtang specialist Ichiryu’s main shop, wasn’t open that day, so I went to its branch, which does seolleongtang. Nothing beats a bowl of soup for soothing a stomach you’ve abused all night.
Side dishes
Korean style. The taste was nothing special. There were lots of side dishes, but I’d have thought just some kkakdugi would be plenty.
Seolleongtang
Better than most places in Korea that are supposed to be pretty good. The only problem, if you can call it one, is that it costs about twice what it would in Korea.. -_-; There are lots of bars around here and plenty of Korean visitors, so there are quite a few of these middle-aged-guy kinds of places. I think it’s a neighborhood where you could have some fun food exploring.
After the seolleongtang I wanted a coffee to finish off, so I headed to Coffee Arabica, a hand-drip specialist that has made quite a name for itself around here.
Orange cake
I can’t drink coffee, so I just ordered the cake. It was decent enough, a safe pick to go with tea. Most coffee specialists have a caffeine-free option for people who can’t drink coffee, but when I asked the owner here, he said they don’t do anything like that. Having strong pride is fine and all.. anyway, I just had a glass of water and left it at that.
Coffee
Maybe because it holds the very essence of proud craftsmanship, the coffee’s aroma was really intense. Just as the reviews say, it’s a very high-quality place. Being able to get good coffee in almost any neighborhood might be one of Japan’s strengths. To me it just looks like caffeine addiction ^_^ but you have to hand it to the Japanese for their love of caffeine.
Tea set
The tea set was nice enough too.