Day 9 (21 Oct 2018) – Pokémon Cafe & Eating around Tokyo Station
Breakfast @ Rokurinsha
Rokurinsha is a well known ramen shop in Tokyo Station serving tsukemen. It is located outside the fare gate at the Tokyo Station Ramen Street. You can’t miss it as there will always be people queuing outside the restaurant.
We queued for 30mins to get our seats. As decided to split up 2-2 and sat separately at the counter rather than wait for a table. Again here you place your order and make payment at the machine, then give your tickets to the staff.
We went for the special needles with shredded pork and a whole soft yolk egg which was ¥850 for 330g of noodles. If you prefer the original version without the pork it was ¥740. And for those who want extra noodles, it’s ¥100 for 50% more. Frankly there is no need to upsize. The regular size is very substantial. After you are done with your tsukemen, you can add water to the broth and drink the soup. And remember to add the yuzu powder. It tastes good!
Some say Rokurinsha serves the best tsukemen, but DS said that while it is good, the tsukemen at Aoba which he ate the day before was even better. I didn’t try the one at Aoba and so cannot compare. But I enjoyed both my noodles at Aoba and Rokurinsha.
Takashimaya & Pokémon Center Tokyo DX
Takashimaya Nihombashi Store is about 10mins walk from Tokyo Station. We headed there at mid morning for shopping. Must buys for me when in Japan are Cle de Peau cosmetics and Issey Miyake. As usual, first thing when I arrived at Takashimaya is to get the tourist “Hello Kitty Card” which give foreign visitors a 5% discount.
The kids headed directly to the Pokémon Center Tokyo DX which is located at level 5 of the East Building of Takashimaya. At the entrance, you are greeted by a giant Snorlax. On one side of Snorlax is the Pokémon Center Tokyo DX, and on the opposite side is Pokémon Cafe.
There are so many cosplay soft toy pikachu here that are so cute. I was so tempted to get one for myself . Btw, the Hello Kitty Card cannot be used here and tax free has to be done at the store rather than the Takashimaya Tax refund counter.
Pokémon Cafe
We had a 12.30pm lunch reservation at Pokémon Cafe. Each reservation had a 90min dining time only, so you need to be punctual. The 90min starts from your reservation time, not your arrival time. If you come late, you will have less time.
Pokémon Cafe does not accept walk-in patrons so if you want to eat here, prior reservation made via the internet is a must. Our reservation did not come easy. While it is not difficult to get a reservation on weekdays, weekends, especially during lunch time gets booked out minutes after the reservation window opens. Reservations open one month earlier at 6pm Tokyo time. Maximum 4 pax per reservation. So if you are more than 4, you need 2 reservations and may not get to sit together. I had camped myself in front of my computer to go in exactly at 6pm Tokyo time to make my reservation. After I was done, I went in again and found that most of the brunch and lunch slots for 4 pax were gone. So if you want to eat here, either come on a weekday or if you must come on a weekend, then you need to be like me and put some effort in making the reservation.
Also there are some limited items that are only available with pre-order when you make your reservations. They have the chef and waitress pikachu mascots with chains (¥1620 each) and plastic folders. The plastic folders come in a set of 3 (¥756). These items are available only to those who dine at the cafe and pre-ordered when making online reservations. You can’t buy them at the cafe.
There is discount if you preorder the donuts as a package with these limited items. A set of mascots and folders together with a box of 4 donuts cost ¥5,184. So we ordered 2 of these sets and another set of keychains and folders as all three kids including DS1 who could not join us for this trip wanted them too. And the donuts were not only cute, but were yummy too! If you buy the donuts as take out they cost ¥2592.
You are advised to arrive 15mins before your dining time. For our 12.30pm booking there was already a queue at 12.15pm. Upon entry to the restaurant we were first greeted by a row of plants shaped like Pokeballs.
We were booked for area A. Different dining slots get different areas. Area C is a long table which is shared (see photo below). Our area A are individual tables for 4 by the window. There is another section on the inside with no windows separated by the shelves in the photo below from Area C.. I think that section maybe Area B.
We sat down at our table and saw the 2 large pikachu below. I couldn’t resist taking a photo before ordering our food
Our preordered souvenirs and donuts were already prepacked and on our table when we were seated. Love this Japanese efficiency! On our table each person gets a paper table mat that you get to bring home. So to prevent dirtying it, we kept them immediately! . The menu is a red tablet.
I had the Halloween themed Not-so-scary pikachu plate (¥1706) which consist of omurice, and steak patty. If you want the plate, you can order the meal with the plate to take home (¥2894).
DH and DS both had the pikachu curry rice (¥1598)
DD has the Halloween themed Gastly menchi katsu (minced meat patty) burger which came with fries and a cup of soup. (¥1,706).
We each ordered a drink. You only get a plastic coaster (which you can bring home) if you order a drink. So we were entitled to 4 coasters. We had a choice of the special Halloween coaster or regular specific Pokémon coasters. We decided to have 2 of each. You can’t choose the specific Pokémon’s. It’s by chance. We got a Pikachu and a Jolteon which evolves from Eevee.
DH had a hot Eevee latte, DS and I each had a Pikachu ice latte. We bought our coffee with the mug/glass as the kids wanted them. The coffee cost ¥756 without the mug/glass and ¥1836 with mug/glass.
DD had the Ditto’s Ombré Fruit Tea (¥918). This was an interesting drink. There is a light on which the glass sits on which changes colour and that got reflected onto the drink. DD says that this Pokémon changes colour so it is so apt for the drink to do so too.
Only DD had a dessert. And she went for the Mimikyu Chocolate Banana Crepe. She loves Mimikyu, the Pokémon that did not feel loved and crave to be loved and so try to dress up like Pikachu. The chocolate and banana crepe was lovely. And the dessert looked so cute too. How not to love this dessert and this character?
After our meal, a friend came to visit! Yes! It’s Eevee! The fella was so cute! It makes me smile just to think of it now. Yes, we did not understand what the host was saying, but heck! What does it matter? Eevee came round to all the tables to shake hands and take photos. But you need to be quick. I was a little too slow and did not get a good picture of Eevee and the kids. Well another excuse to come again next time!
This was truely an enjoyable experience. The food were decent on the palate for a themed restaurants. And they were definitely so cute. The whole experience was great! Highly recommended for Pokémon fans!
BTW, they gave us new mug and glasses rather than the ones we used. We also bought additional plastic folders of a different design from what we preordered. A set of 3 cost ¥756. We bought 3 sets for the kids including DS1 who could not join us on this trip.
Shopping & Afternoon Tea @ Daimaru, Tokyo Station
By the time we left Pokémon Cafe, it was time for DS to head back to the hotel to pick up his stuff to go to the airport. DS is still doing his National Service and he was a last minute addition to our trip. He could only be away for 9 days (5 days plus 2 weekends) from the army, but we had already booked a 10 days trip. So he was leaving a day earlier than the 3 of us. DH accompanied him to Haneda airport while DD and I continued our shopping and eating.
We went to Daimaru at Tokyo Station and shopped until we were so tired we needed an afternoon tea break. We finally found a cafe within Daimaru which did not have a long queue called Burdigala. DD had the creme brûlée and ice coffee set (¥1188) while I had the mont blanc and ice coffee set (¥1350). I have fallen in love with mont blancs recently. DH got joined us for a coffee (¥680) when he came back from the airport. So nice to be able to rest our feet and enjoy so sweets in the mid afternoon.
Dinner @ Numazu Uogashizushi, Tokyo Station
We went to Numazu Uogashizushi at Kitchen Street in Tokyo Station for dinner. There is a large sushi counter which greets you as soon as you enter. It was full when we arrived at 7.15pm.
There were tables beside the counter top. But it felt cramped here. As we had made reservations, we were shown to the back of the restaurant given one of the low tables inside. It was nice and private here. Very cosy. We picked this based on reviews that it is reasonably priced and good. I was looking forward to good sushi here.
DD and I decided to have the Minati Mori Komachi set (¥2,660). It came with 6 pieces of bite size sushi (chutoro, sea urchin, salmon roe, shrimp, and shellfish) and 3 types of sashimi (Horse Mackerel, Tuna and white fish). Every item was so fresh. The bite size sushi was just right for me. My favorite was the horse mackerel sashimi. DH pinch on my sashimi because it was so good!
DH went for the Uogashi Nigiri set (¥2480). It had 11 pieces of sushi, and one of which was a whole conger eel. The rest of the 10 were chutoro, maguro, egg, shrimp,squid, uni, salmon roe, salmon and 2 types of white fish. These were full sized sushi. This set came with a salad.
DH couldn’t resist getting a sake(¥1140), and so he did.
The sushi here were really fresh and good and so reasonably priced too. This is going to be on my list of must eat places in Tokyo from now on!
Next up: Day 10 – Around Tokyo Station