Retourner à Ladurée

When in Ginza...of course I was going to stop at Ladurée. Because macarons.

This time I was able to try their very special Sakura macaron. Because it was almost time for the sakura to bloom. I remember this top macaron being a lovely delicate flavor in a pale pink color. Lighting in my hotel room was not the best so the color is a little off in the photo. Trust me, the Sakura macaron was nice.

Of course I got the Sea Salt Caramel.  Always yummy, it's one of my favorites. Both times I enjoyed their macarons. It's actually a little more tan and not so yellow.

This time I tried their Chocolat au Lait macaron.

Translated that is Milk Chocolate. Another lovely flavor.

Sadly my Rose Petal macaron didn't survive the short trip from Ginza back to the hotel. I don't know why not. I had this one the last time and it was just as nice as it was then.

More chocolate. Bad of me not to note if this is Dark Chocolate or Bitter Chocolate. Which might actually be the same macaron.

  I do remember it was really good.

Lastly was the lovely special Marie Antoinette macaron. I have no idea how they get that color to match their store color but it really does. The ganache is flavored with their Marie Antoinette tea. I wish I had bought some of that if they had it because this was a surprisingly good macaron.

Instead I went for a box of Langues de Chat cookies. Cute they now have an velvet ribbon band with a charm to hold the lid in place.

Once again a good purchase for me because they help me get through the flight home. And are delicious.

Ladurée Cafe is located at Mitsukoshi Ginza store, 三越銀座店, 2F, 中央区, Tokyo 104-8212, Japan. If I ever get back there again, I have to have tea in the cafe. Also, my first visit there is in this post

Ladurée Love

I was not going to leave Ginza empty handed. Thankfully the directions to Ladurée are pretty good if you know that it's located in Mitsukoshi Ginza Department Store and the right entrance is by Exit A7 of the Ginza Station.

Being a fan of macarons I was not going to miss this chance to try some of the best in the world. Also rather expensive but once in a while it's okay to treat yourself. So in I went to their very delightful cafe. Would have been quite a treat to sit and eat. Maybe next time. This time I went up to the counter where they have so many different macarons and other pastries and sweets. So hard to choose!

But I did. I could not resist this cute box with the black cat on it. Why is he sticking out his tongue?

Because inside are these delicious chocolate covered cookies called Langues de Chat. A little crispy shortbread type cookie covered in milk and dark chocolate. I was surprised they held up well even in the heat.

Of course I also had to get something else. Which came in this pretty lavender and silver box. Along with a couple Ladurée ice packs. They really do think of everything.

Finally I got to eat Ladurée macarons! Serious bucket list event here.

My first one was this pretty sugar sprinkled strawberry macaron. What delicate taste! It was perfect.

Thanks to having a mini fridge in my hotel room I was able to spread these out over a few days. Next up was the pistachio macaron. Really nice with a bit of a nutty flavor in the ganache. I have had pistachio macarons from a few places and this was right up there.

Third was the cherry macaron. I was looking forward to this one with it's dark red ganache filling. However it did not meet my expectations. The flavor was more like a cherry sugar candy and not so fruit like. I think the strawberry one spoiled me.

I did spread out eating them over time. I really did.

Three left. My choice for this day was the salted caramel. Lovely cookie with a taste that was just right.

Down to rose or chocolate. Look at the foot on them! I saved the chocolate macaron for last. Both it and the rose were sweetly delicious.

While I wish there was Ladurée on the West Coast of North America, it's probably good they aren't because I would be so tempted. I am glad that I stopped in and tried these. I'm sure if I am ever back in Tokyo I will probably do it again.

Ladurée Ginza is at 〒104-8212 Tokyo, 中央区Ginza, 4−6−16 三越銀座店 Mitsukoshi Ginza 三越銀座店

Konbini Cuisine

Because when in Rome, or Japan... Honestly, some of the food at Japanese konbini stores at times is better than what I've found at a number of Japanese restaurants in the US. Like my first meal in Tokyo this trip. Long flight, long time in Narita, semi-long train trip to Ningyocho and all I wanted to do was nothing after that. Tired from the trip and the heat meant no desire to search out a place to eat. So great that a Lawson block away from my hotel. The sushi bento reminded me of what I've been missing. That amazing smokiness of katsuobushi. Even the inarizushi had it. Why do so many American Japanese restaurants and supermarket take out places skimp on it? My taste buds felt rejuvenated.

Since I ate very little of the food on the plane it was easy to finish not only the bento but also the ikura onigiri. Also joy to the vending machines that sell beer. I don't drink much but I figured that can of Asahi might help me sleep on the super hard mattress. Sadly it didn't but it sure tasted swell.

 The sort of macaron cookies were nice too. I'm guessing you collect the cute Snoopy stickers to get a glass plate since the kana translates to "Snoopy glass plate gift". I wonder how many it took?

Not quite macarons but still nice. Lemon and vanilla.

When I was paying at Lawson the clerk held out a box with little papers in it. Lucky me, I won a cup of instant soup. With five vegetables!

Ate this later on. Not bad and I'm all for saving money.

I did occasionally turn on the tv while eating. Mostly Olympics, baseball, news, and odd shows like this one. I think that was actor Jun Matsumoto reading lyrics while three women tried to guess the song.

One day I had to try the hanjuku tamago onigiri I found at FamilyMART.

It really did have a soft boiled egg in the middle.

I mentioned how I usually have a banana for breakfast. I found bananas in a wrappers at one konbini.

This inari undon was actually pretty good and the little fishcake flowers were cute.

More Snoopy sticker treats. I wish I had found out how many it took to get a Snoopy glass plate.

This turned out to have cheese cake with raisins in between two pieces of sponge cake.

Good old seaweed salad. Smart choice for extra iodine. Oh right, that was last trip.

This time there was this neat easy to open dressing container. Just push the two sides up and it pours out. Much easier than a packet.

Warmed bento is warm. And more food than I could eat so it was two meals.

Okra and pumpkin salad. Japanese pumpkin is called kabocha and I really like it. So neat to find this salad at a konbini.

Yes cup of sake was consumed. This was better than One Cup Sake. This was towards the end of my trip when I realized I had not had any and I did not want to rue not partaking of any during my trip.

I should have taken a photo of a water bottle because I drank so many. Just went with 2 litter ones mostly. Hotel room had a mini fridge which helped keep it cold.

There was actually anime one night on tv. I had hoped to catch D.Gray-man like I watched on my first trip to Japan back in 2008. At least I'm familiar with Kuromukuro which was on that night.

I did eat mostly konbini food this trip. Saved me some money, the heat made me feel a bit less presentable than I would want to be to eat at the nicer restaurants around Ningyocho and I do feel a bit intimidated going by myself because my Japanese is so limited. At least the last part I can keep working on.