Tokyo September 2015 - Part IV Aoyama Flower Market, Kappabashi, Harajuku

Continued from
Part I - Century Southern Tower, some Shinjuku area
Part II - Food in Tokyo
Part III - Jiyugaoka, Musashi-Kosugi


I wanted to head to Kappabashi for kitchen and baking supplies, so decided to drop by Aoyama Flower Market Tea House for an early lunch, since both stops are along the Ginza line.

Reached at noon time and to my surprise, the Tea House was already at full capacity and I had to queue for about 30 mins :(

The queue started from where I was taking this photo. Luckily I had a pocket wifi with me, so time passed by fairly quickly while I surfed the internet.

Entrance to the Tea House. This was my second time here.

Ordered a seasonal tea blend.

And the Flora French Toast Set that I missed the other time! Well, who said I couldn't have dessert for lunch :p

This is a limited edition Autumn set available only at this Aoyama branch. Thick slices of french bread soaked in egg and milk mixture are pan-fried to a crisp then topped with a caramel and rum syrup, cooked pear and chestnut, whipped cream, icing sugar, edible flowers, feuilletine flakes and vanilla ice-cream. The french toast was creamy and moist inside and crispy and fragrant outside, it was an explosion of flavours with each bite. Sinful but oh-so-yummy! Finally I had my cravings satisfied.

 After the yummy dessert lunch, I simply had to admire all the lovely flora displays. It's really difficult to resist the temptation to buy any flowers or even vases.

This lovely pink rose in bloom, soooooo sweet. Love the miniature glass vases as well.

 Ladies in Tokyo are so fortunate, how come their bouquets looked so dainty and pretty one?

 Saw these lovely flora display on sale. Seemed to be meant for some kind of mid-autumn celebrations like Chuseok in Korea?

The chrysanthemum looked so beautiful.
 

I was seriously thinking of buying one of the glass vases, either the square or cylindrical one. But changed my mind as it's fragile and hard to transport.

Next stop, Kappabashi for kitchen and baking supplies. This time I took a different exit from the train station (Tawaramachi) and explored the area with a different route.

This is one of the streets leading to the main Kappabashi shopping street.

Delighted to see many interesting kappa statues/figurines. Kappa is a Japanese folklore mythical creature, adopted as the mascot of the area.

New shop discovered, Propack. It's like a supermarket for food supplies, packaging and related products.

Six levels of stuff related to kitchen and baking. Level one is the food section.

Quaint little shop selling glass bottles and containers of all shapes and sizes. If not for the fact that these are fragile and difficult to transport, I would have bought some glass bottles and containers!

Flavorland, a specialty shop selling liquors and flavoring for baking, and a small selection of edible decor/embellishment.

They really carry a very wide selection of liquor and flavoring which I've not seen elsewhere.

Came here specially to buy Yuzu oil for baking. I bought a bottle the year before but broke the bottle after using once #heartpain. Then last year when I went, it was sold out!

One of my favourite shop for baking packaging. I bought the plastic bags to carry my cake boxes here. Actually a few other wholesale shops along the road also sell the plastic bags, but they were sold in 100s, here I could buy different sizes in pack of 50s.

After I was done at Kappabashi, I actually walked all the way to Ueno station, not very far, just 2km :) Took the Yamanote line to Harajuku.

Haven't been to Harajuku for ages! This time round, I wanted to visit a specific shop (Head Porter) to help my brother buy a waist pouch. Also wanted to shop at the Daiso here which is the biggest around the area.

As usual, Harajuku is full of young people. I feel kind of old here. Live recording at a studio here.

Remember Tamagotchi? Used to be so popular more than 10 years ago.

Many crepes stores here. I think crepes is made popular at Harajuku? It's like a must-eat street food for everyone who visits.

Was very tempted to eat some potato chips, but something else caught my attention.

New snack (at least to me) called croquantchou. Is it something like croquette or choux pastry?

The aroma from the shop was whiffing through the street, couldn't resist to join the queue which thankfully wasn't long.

They looked a little like eclairs as well.

Indeed, it was like an eclair/choux pastry albeit very crispy, with a very creamy filling. Not bad, but the cream was a tad too sweet for my liking.

As I was rushing back to the hotel to meet the hb for dinner, didn't manage to try other snacks, next time must eat a crepe and the Calbee potato chips!

End of post. Stay tuned for the next post on Kichijoji.