Japanese FMCG

Sushi lunch and Pepsi Black Lemon from depato Matsuzakaya in Ginza. 

Pre-dinner drinks and snacks: tonkatsu chips (tasted more like the sauce, sweet-ish) and black Sapporo

Oreos - Pina Colada flavor?

Sushi, sashimi and wakame salad dinner from Precce Premium in the basement of Tokyo Midtown. 

...Where we also picked up this Rosé de Japon to go with our meal. Not a very memorable wine but surely interesting to try. 

Late night snacking and drinking: A flat (?) ice cream cone and Häagen-Dazs crêpe glacé with Tiramisu flavor (B loved this one). The Strong Zero being a R2D mixed drink, and pretty bad-tasting as much as I remember.

Coffee break: Van Houten Cocoa and Roots Aroma Black from 7eleven + Pain aux raisins from local bakery

Another depato lunch.

Best of FritoLay: Mike popcorn, Doritos and Cheetos. B was very fond of this chips compilation.

Cod roe chips (we did not buy these, though).

Lemonade, squid and salad from 7eleven.

Lemon/squash mentos + Melon Fanta

Notes:
B and I are FMCG nerds. Whenever we go traveling be spend a great deal of time in supermarkets and seek out local products and brands. And as you know Japan is a haven in this context. We thus spent every possible occasion to try new products during our Tokyo trip. Some was good, most just interesting, but we surely did have a great deal of fun with it.

Misc. Tokyo Eats and Drinks

Ramen in Shibuya.

Pickles, karaage and biru in an Akasaka izakaya.

Yakitori of all sorts in Akasaka izakaya.

Yakitori, umeshu and biru in 400yen izakaya in Roppongi.

Octopus and fried smelt in a Shinjuku izakaya.

Tamagoyaki in a Ginza izakaya.

Late night tempura snacking in a Shinjuku izakaya.

Bento dinner in a Shinjuku izakaya. 

Omu rice in a Shibuya izakaya.

Noodle okonomiyaki in Shibuya.

Soup and salad from a lunch set in a Shibuya café.

Pasta gratin from a lunch set in a Shibuya café.

Steak salad and baked risotto from a Shibuya café.

Breakfast set with croissant with actual butter (a rarity in China) in an Omotesando bakery.

Coffee break with brownie in Rose Bakery in Dover Street Market.

B and a green tea soft serve. 

Mandatory cocktails in the New York Bar in Park Hyatt. Bland, overpriced and tacky cocktails. Who serves a negroni in a martini glass?

Japanese food road kill.

Newport

Suavignon, a biodynamic sauvignon blanc by Béatrice and Michel Augé of Domaine des Maisons Brûlées....

...in the glass, and a Hitachino Nest Weizen beer.

Newport
1-6-8 Tomagaya Mori
Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo

Notes:
Our last night in Tokyo ended with a drink or two at Newport bar, which we had stumbled upon after a quick, non-impressive stint at much-hyped and excessively priced Fuglen. B adored Newport, and really so did I. The decor is cosy, cute, and inviting, the audio backdrop was great, and the beverage list small but impressive. B went with a Hitachino Nest Weizen and me a lovely glass of French biodynamic vin nature from Touraine in Loire. Wines by the glass start at 550 yen, and beers at 600 yen. Highly recommended.

LB6

Olives, semi-dried tomatoes, and a bottle of Portuguese white wine: Quinta do Vallado Douro 2010.

Carpaccio of the day - sea bream - with olive oil.

Chicken liver mousse, pork ears "fritto" and a plate of assorted hams.

Feast overview - do notice the gorgeous bagna cauda setup at the very right.

LB6
1F, Landic Roppongi Bldg.
4-11-13 Roppongi
Minato-Ku, Tokyo

Notes:
B and I spent one of the most enjoyable meals of the entire Tokyo trip at LB6. A few days prior to our visit we had passed the restaurant and taken note of how lovely it looked and we thus decided to give a try on our last night after having pre-dinner drinks at nearby Orangé. The food is simple but the quality excellent. The bagna cauda we had was just right and perfectly accompanied by an extensive vegetable assortment served on ice. The sea bream was of an amazing, tender quality and the ham... oh, the ham... if you go there, get the assorted hams! Another plus is their varied yet affordable wine list. After 10 days in Tokyo our student bank accounts were hurting and we went for a bottle of white from Portugal, very competitively priced at just 2,500yen. Turned out to be a crisp, mineral wine and provided excellent value for money. The menu also featured beers from local Baird Brewing and a handful of cocktails. All this set us back less than 8,000yen, which I found to be exceptional for Japan standards. Highly recommended.

Orangé

Moët & Chandon Champagne Rosé + Cheesy pita snacks.

Crostini with smoked scamorza cheese, grilled red pepper and anchovies.

French Sauvignon Blanc, Black Heineken + Vegetable tempura

Orangé

Tokyo Midtown

9 Akasaka, Minatu-Ku

Tokyo

Notes:

During our last visit to Tokyo we lived in lovely Akasaka and on our first night we coincidently stumbled across Orangé, tempting us with their daily happy hour (which I believe run until 7:30pm). The place is a casual wine bar, quite popular among locals. Both of the times we were there, they also held wedding receptions, which was quite interesting to watch. But as to the happy hour deal, it is great. A glass of Moët & Chandon champagne (regular or rosé) will set you back 800 yen and other alcoholic beverages are discounted as well. Along side our drinks we were served little snacks, which were incredibly delicious. The places serves small plates as well, including fries with truffles, gorgeous ham or little crostini with scamorza and anchovies like the ones we had, shown above. Service is friendly but not super attentive. Still I will highly recommend this place.

Bar High Five

Negroni.

Blood and Sand.

Bar High Five

4th Floor, 26 Polestar Building

7-2-14 Ginza, Tokyo

Notes:

Japan's cocktail culture is fascinating! In a country where precision is key (accumulated delays for all Shinkansen trains are less than one minute each year), you can only start to image how they make cocktails. Hidetsugo Ueno is a master in his field and B and I felt very honored and lucky to be able to experience his cocktail-making first hand. We started off with our favorite drinks - what better way to test Ueno-san's craftmanship? I thus had a Blood and Sand, B had a negroni (which was made with Martini Bitter, a product we had not previously encountered and only recently were able to physically find in a Metro Cash & Carry in Southern France). Both were excellent, made with an attention to detail I have never seen before. Thereafter, we let Ueno-san use his creativity and I ended up with an excellent tea cocktail, the main ingredient being Fauchon Tea Liquor. In fact the cocktail was so good we decided to pick up a bottle for ourselves during our stay in Tokyo. You should however be warned that prices are steep! We payed +10,000 yen for four cocktails, which also included cocktail snacks such as crackers with brie and honey mustard and nuts and crackers served in interesting bowls that Ueno-san has found around the globe. Highly recommended.

Little Nap COFFEE STAND

Coffee menu

Coffee shop interior

Iced americano, iced coffee, and a brownie to go.

Little Nap COFFEE STAND

5-65-4 Yoyogi,

Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo

Notes:

An endearing little coffee shop, ideally located on the West side of Yoyogi Park. B and I dropped by for two iced coffees and a piece of cake to bring into the park. The staff was knowing and helpful, and the coffee hit just the right spot in the July heat. Recommended.