Roses and Flames at the Vampire Cafe

Once again I found myself behind those red curtains.

Dressed for the moment, wearing my vampire shoes. Not the best photo and you can't see the wings in the back, but they are comfortable.

The reason for dining at the Vampire Cafe in Ginza? A chance to try another of the Moi-même-Moitié x Vampire Cafe collaboration menus. This time the drinks and dishes were available to the end of December 2019.

First to arrive at my table, the "The fate of the blue rose that tears and erodes the feelings of innocence", named by musician and fashion icon Mana.

A very pretty blue violet non-alcoholic drink of ramune, orange juice, pineapple juice, soda, and blue syrup. With a jelly rose on top. It didn't look quite like the menu photo but it was refreshing and nice.

The second to arrive was “Jade of temptation and blue green of grief were the bloody fate of the rose”. Also named by Mana, it was a mixed alcoholic cocktail of gin, milk, blue curaçao and gum syrup. Very cool looking glowing green drink.

I decided to order a salad to go with my main course. From the Vampire Cafe's menu I chose "Dead Forest where Bats Wander". The description was a green salad with herbs and vegetables. I wasn't sure if this would be too much since most items at the Vampire Cafe are made for two people. But it was fine for just one person. The apples were nice with the salad dressing. It was a good choice.

The main course arrived and was set on fire by Vampire Rose. “A burning melancholy goes with a scarlet rose to oblivion”, also named by Mana, was a gratin brûleé with salted kōji salmon and sweet potato. I was afraid this would be salty but it wasn't. The flavor of the salmon stood out from the rest of the ingredients, which was good.

I finished dinner with that glowing green drink. Was I drinking alone? Ah, non, non, non, I had a companion with me.

Very cool effect with the drink. However I wished there was a little less milk in it, because that was most of the flavor. Over all though, the dinner was enjoyable and with Vampire Rose as host, the Vampire Cafe is a fun place to visit.

Milky Way on a Rainy Day

This day was full of rain. So I stayed in Ikebukuro. First stop was Closet Child. I was able to get a decent photo of where the store is, in case anyone is wondering. They still have a lot of clothing but their music section is getting smaller. Closet Child's address is 1-20-50, Higashi-ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, 170-0013.

I went to UNIQLO and maybe another store this day. There are a couple UNIQLO stores in the area. The store on Sunshine 60 dori is laid out so it's easy to see the different items for sale. The store in Tobu Department Store has more stock. While most tourist go there for their collaboration shirts, I have found nice solid color tops and sweaters.

Following that I decided lunch needed to happen. And there was a place I had noticed on prior trips. Milky Way.

Their displays of drinks and parfaits with stars is adorable. Star themed stuff? Yes, I like it.

Upstairs they had an even bigger food display. It's not all parfaits there. 

True to the Milky Way theme, the cafe is decorated in blue and white with stars. 

  The parfaits also echo the star theme. 13 constellations that don't exactly correspond with astrology since they added Ophiuchus, which isn't a traditional astrological sign. I do wonder also about "Please only find your star". I say, order whatever parfait you want. The parfaits are popular. Most of the people there were enjoying them.

I however, wanted lunch. So I ordered the chicken herb pita. 

This was a really tasty sandwich and not too filling. I enjoyed the little french fries also.

For a drink, I picked the "Blue Hawaii flavor" frozen drink. It did taste like a Blue Hawaii, of course without the alcohol. (If they used Blue Curaçao, there would be some alcohol. It is a liqueur. I don't know what regulations are in Japan about using it without stating that.) I liked the star shaped glass. I don't know how easy they are to clean, but they are actually easier to hold than a round glass. And the star shape is pretty.

That was a nice visit to the Milky Way. Even though it was crowded, their servers were very good. The address for the Milky Way Parfait Terrace Cafe is 2F Fujiki Building, 1-12-8 Higashi-ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0013. And their website is http://milkyway-cafe.sakura.ne.jp/

I wish I could remember the store these wonderful large porcelain deer were on display. Usually I take a photo of the sign of the store.

It was another childhood memory. I had these deer in a much smaller size back then. It's interesting to see them life size.

One last place I stopped at before getting out of the rain. Takase Bakery. I couldn't resist getting a few things.

This little pizza bread with cheese and onions was delicious. 

I was happy that they had scones! Really good scones, fluffy and not grainy. Takase Bakery started in 1930. They have a couple locations. The one I stopped at has a dining area upstairs but I did not check that out. The bakery shop was a little run down, but the people working there were quickly refilling the cases because there were many customers. It was obvious that people love this bakery. I think the location I stopped at is at 1-1-4, Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, 170-0013. Takase's website is https://takase-yogashi.com/

GraffArt Cafe and Owls in Ikebukuro

After my long walk in Saitama, I was ready for lunch. I ended up heading back to Ikebukuro. Because if you want to eat in Ikebukuro, there's a lot of choices. Really, a person could eat at a different restaurant every day and there would still be more untried places.

I decided to check out a cute place I had seen online. GraffArt Cafe. It was on a side street and a little hidden, but I found it.

Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew was there greeting customers. GraffArt refers to this style of art, chalk on chalkboard.

Inside was more cute art. And yes, photos are okay to take. So of course here are some that I took. 

GraffArt is a company that creates goods and promotes artists. 

So of course there are a lot of different items to see and buy. 

The Cafe is one room with video monitors where you can watch short anime and other images. 

The Cafe was decorated for Christmas including artwork for the holiday. 

Characters from various manga and anime also decorated the walls.

There are goods also for these characters including classic ones like the two hearted Sapphire from Princess Knight. 

The menu was only four food items. This is more of a place to sit and drink while enjoying the surroundings and any friends you may be with.

There are many more drinks to chose from. I went with the Calpis Blue. It's Calpis (Calpico for outside of Japan) with blue curaçao. It was very nice.

As for food, I had a choice of a waffle, pancakes, or two types of cake. I went with the pancakes. They were soft and warm. Berries with pancakes is a delicious way of serving them. That's chocolate ice cream in the little souffle cup. 

Because it was a 65th anniversary of Nakayoshi manga magazine, there were special coasters given out. Lucky me getting three. 

GraffArt Cafe's website is here http://graffart-cafe.athree3.com/#box

And their address is ＪＫ７ 1階, 1 Chome-9-21 Minamiikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo 171-0022, Japan

Back outside the weather was moving towards rain. I decided to walk a different way back to my hotel. Not far from GraffArt Cafe was this giant torii and chochin lanterns. 

Turns out this is the Nichiren Shoshu Honden, the headquarters for Hokkeko affiliated with the Nichiren Shoshu school of Japanese Buddhism. Their website is here http://www.hodoin.net/

I also saw more owls.  This artwork is at Ikebukuro Nishi-guchi Park.

Besides the owl statues, there are more owls at the base. Along with pigeons.

And it was wrapped with lights for the holiday.  

Ikebukuro's illuminations here didn't start for another week, but the trees were colorful.