Welcome to Todoroki and La Fée Délice

Let me share a couple photos from around Todoroki Station and the Valley.  

These are from December 2019 and March 2020. It's a sweet neighborhood area. 

And this. Hang out long enough in Tokyo and you will find yourself at a Seijo Ishii Supermarket. I've been to various ones, Ikebukuro, Tokyo Dome LaQua, and beyond. I think for the traveler it's a good place to find the familiar and more. 

But they aren't all the same. Because the only store I could find the Nordqvist Moomins teas is in Todoroki. They have a flavored black tea set, and this fun rooibos tea of four tastes.  Other Seijo Ishii stores may have it, but I've yet to see it outside of Todoroki. Good excuse to go there.

I wanted to continue the good feelings that being in the Todoroki Valley created. So I headed back to Shibuya and La Fée Délice. 

There is a lovely ambiance created here. 

My seat on the right when I came here to celebrate a birthday. The map table was a nice touch.

Inside, the restaurant is warm and inviting. 

Intimate seating while the doors were open to invite in fresh breezes. The airy feeling was nice, and also smart for our health.

 A feeling of rural yet sophisticated France.

I arrived when there were only a couple diners. Normally I would not have a thought about eating around others, but in these times, it was a feeling of reassurance. 

And why did I come back? Besides the lovely service and that my first meal there was really delicious, I wanted to try this. Galette la Sirène. Besides, isn't this a wonderful setting for dinner?

I do love a good smoked salmon. Galette la Sirène was smoked salmon on a galette crêpe with lemon sour cream sauce and salad. Yes it was as lovely to eat as it looked. It was a delightful meal. I hope that La Fée Délice will be there when I return to Tokyo. Because I want to enjoy dining there again. Until then, I think I may have to start playing with cooking crêpes again.

Visiting with Alice on Wednesday

I finally went to Alice on Wednesday in March. It is a fun multi-level store with many cute items. Located just off of Meiji Dori in Shibuya near Harajuku, it was not crowded like Takashita Dori. 

Visitors are shown this little door to enter through. Inside were many Alice in Wonderland items. It was so difficult to chose what I wanted to buy.

I ended up chosing items related to tea, all with really cute packaging.

Like this little hanging ball filled with cookies.

I enjoyed these little Cheshire Cats with an orange tea during my time in Tokyo.

Besides tea items, they have jewelry and other accessories. I chose this cute pair of ankle socks. On a another day I found these gloves at Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro.

Back to cute packaging, like this Queen of Hearts Throne box.

Inside were delicious rose cookies. I wish I had more of these. They reminded me of Spritz cookies that I use to make. I might try to see if I can make something similar if I can get the ingredients. I will have to get out my cookie press.

Something else that I wish I had bought more of.

Chocolate hearts. I still can't bring myself to eat the blue one. So very pretty!

There were a few items that I brought home with me. Various dip coffees and teas.

Drink Me soda and a glass covered dish.

The blue and purple packaged teas were herbal tea with a pretty blue green color when steeped.

The glass covered dish is very pretty and useful. I'm really happy with it. 

Inside were hard lemon vanilla candies. A sweet treat.

My next post will be of one of the few places I ate out at during this trip. A restaurant I had not tried before but was very glad I did visit there.

Welcome to Harajuku Dori

It was March 19th and despite the shows being postponed, I wanted to celebrate a little. My day started with a package from Wunderwelt Fleur being delivered to my hotel. The beautiful Moi-même-Moitié Jewelry and Roses Eyeglass Case turned out to be even nicer than I imagined, and both style of cleaning cloths were included. I found out last year that having my orders sent to my hotel was very helpful. So it was like getting a present this day.

But I wasn't going to spend the day in my hotel. Because this day called for cake. So I headed to Harajuku. I was curious how people and businesses were handling creating safety from the virus. I stopped by Laforet, where they left the doors open so customers didn't have to touch the handles. This also allowed better air circulation in the store. Which does help. There were also fewer shoppers. 

I then went into the little streets behind Laforet. I always find something interesting along these Harajuku alleys. This time it was Casa Mozart.

Down a pretty street full of greenery and up a flight of stairs and I had arrived at this little cafe. A European feeling next to the very busy Takeshita Dori.  

It is a lovely feeling to sit out here in the open air. 

I was going to spoil myself today. So it was Gentle Blue Earl Grey tea and strawberry shortcake. 

 This was a little different that the usual style of strawberry shortcake, but it was still delicious. 

After my tea and cake, I made the mistake of going into Takeshita Dori. Usually packed with tourists, they had been replaced by Japanese middle and high school students. While Japan had shut down all the schools because they did not want children being in large groups, they didn't consider the fact that the older kids would still want to be in large groups. So instead of being supervised in class rooms, they were congregating in places like Takeshita Dori and Sunshine 60 Dori in Ikebukuro. The school closure did not make a difference, to be honest. And many were not wearing masks. Personally, I felt nervous being there, and quickly made my way out of the crowd.

Thankfully there are lots of less crowded places in Harajuku. Just across the main road there is Harajuku Dori. With lots of little cool shops and restaurants. And a lot less people.

One of my favorite stores was open. Bloody Mary. The atmosphere created by the interior design is gothic wonderfulness. One of these days I will buy a piece of jewelry from them. It is just really hard to chose.

I was more in a window shopping mood. And there was fun stuff to see. Like this Ai Yazawa Trapnest shirt from "Nana". 

Nice to walk through here. Besides there being space, most people were wearing face masks. I was also wearing a mask. 

I found Reissue again, but I did not stop in. When times are safer, I want to visit again. 

Gothic fashion shop Noble Noire is here also. They put on the Harajuku Gothic Walk, this time with everyone wearing gothic masks. 

I may have posted a photo of this jacket in a past post? I also saw a guy wearing a black with blue roses shirt during my trip. Very pretty. I was envious.

My stroll along Harajuku Dori got me in the mood to visit another shop. It was a place I've never been to before. That will be my next post.

Tik Tea and Manmaru with a Side of Socks

I noticed Tik Tea when I arrived in Zoshigaya. 

Most notably, this. 

Heading back to the station, I took a better look. They had food and it was lunchtime. 

Inside was pleasant and clean. 

There was a friendly air. The guy who was running the place and whipping up the drinks was nice. 

My order arrived. Hot purple yam potato macchiato was warm and tasty. I had never thought of purple yams being mixed with green tea for a drink, but there it was and I enjoyed it. There was still a bit of fiber in it, which would surprise me when I drank it. In a way, it was like a vegetable smoothie.

The sandwich turned out to be a spicy chicken sandwich. I was hungry so I went for it. Not bad. Tik Tea's address is 2 Chome-8-7 Zoshigaya, Toshima City, Tokyo.

I had plans that evening that didn't turn out as expected. Good thing I know of other places to go to.

Of course there needs to be music with this post. Of course with Manmaru it's The Beatles. And the song I remember playing while I ate was "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". I always really liked the guitars in this song.

 And once again it was Pick Happiness. 

 Sakana no nitsuke anyone? Simmered carp was brought to me. I enjoyed it. Nice to try different dishes. And it is fun letting the people at Manmaru chose.

And the really good stuff. My choice. Amazing unagi.

 I enjoy roses. Especially blue ones. So off to Closet Child Harajuku I went. Where I was able to get a pair of one of my favorite Moi-même-Moitié socks.

Finished up the day in a bath of aqua green blue.