Tokyo Day 5

We started our day with a ride to Happy Pancakes, a small 7th floor restaurant in the Ginza district Margot knew about that’s known for its soufflés. You put your name on the waitlist at street level and they let you know when your table will be ready. We were told to expect a wait of 100 minutes and left to visit the Itoya store, a 10 story store (!) that has beautiful paper and writing supplies, as well as small household goods. Alas, after only about 45 minutes we are notified that our table was ready, so we hustled to return in time for yummy breakfast soufflés.
We then metro-ed to two stores known for their Japanese wood block prints, where Matt and Sarah purchased two prints to take home. From there we walked for about 15 minutes to the Imperial Gardens, that abut the Imperial Palace (that was not visible from our vantage). It was a gorgeous day to visit the gardens - large expanses of green, with ponds, flowering areas (azaleas and iris), walking paths through trees and among large defensive stone walls from when the palace had to be defended against invaders.
We then met up with Judy’s second cousin Karin Roffman, who also was in town, she from New Haven! We met for drinks at the Frank Lloyd Wright bar at the Imperial Hotel, an historic bar Mike Makuch wisely recommended.
Then off to dinner at a hidden restaurant, Sorahana. Like so many places here, it’s visually spectacular. The dining bar had space for just the 6 of us. (A private room for another group of 4 was behind shoji-screens.) The meal was omakase style, meaning the chef presented a set menu, with thoughtful adjustments tailored to Eric’s shrimp allergy. The meal was visually stunning and delicious, served on dozens of small dishes. It was primarily fish, some cooked. We could choose our entree from 4 options, and most of us selected the grilled wagu beef; Matt had turtle soup. The meal was nicely paced, consisting of 10-11 courses, and took about 2 1/2 hours. We were full but not uncomfortably stuffed.Weiterlesen