Berry Cafe Chou Chou

 

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Japanese drug their food with some mysterious, chemically-engineered flavor-enhancer. I've been eating non-stop ever since I arrived because I have yet to find a single disappointing serving. let me break it down :)

For breakfast i had a cheese gratin/chicken filling bread that i bought from the konbini yesterday, with a cup of instant UCC coffee of course ( i have a weak spot for instant Japanese anything, really). All i had to do was pop the bread in the microwave for 10 seconds for instant yummy-ness. kick ass! Notice the number of times I reiterated the word "instant." For someone who usually skips breakfast because she's too lazy to do anything in the morning, instant is imperative. 

For lunch, I had Ramen Ippudo. I had tried the franchise that had recently opened in Singapore and thought it was "meh." I'm probably biased but the one I had today was heavenly. It's probably due to the cold rainy weather but if i were to be completely honest, I think it's the charming garlic masher that won me over. The utensil looks like one of those crab cracker thing except it has a concave nook where you put the garlic in...squeeze...then you've got fresh grated garlic coming out from the other side. Then you pour some gyoza sauce over, mix with chopsticks, dip the perfectly charred gyoza...ahhhhh

For dinner, I went over to this cheap Yoshinoya-like place called Matsuya. The great thing about this place is that they also serve pork-bowl...shabu grade :D First you pick the set you want from the vending machine, bring the ticket over to the girl over the table counter, less than 5 minutes later...you're chowing away. Btw, that opaque white thing is a perfect half-boiled egg. I love the fact that you get to determine how you want your eggs done at a fast-food restaurant. And the whole thing costs just over 500yen (Rp 50,000). So, please, no more talk about how expensive food costs in Japan or I'm gonna have to whoop your cheap ignorant ass. 

Then, as I was making my way home, I passed by this beautiful cake shop in the Sugamo train station. I've been eyeing them since Day 1 but was either too full or too tired to actually stop and buy me a slice. Today, I decided to approach the glass display, chose a strawberry mango tart for myself. Was going to convince my sister to get the mixed-fruit version but she was already hypnotized by the grape tart and would not be swayed. Each slice costs around 850yen, which is rather expensive but the sight of those ripe mango cubes...impossible to resist! True enough, when we ate one just now, despite our rounded, bloated stomachs, we both started giggling for no apparent reason. I'm not joking. That cake was otherworldly. The crust was flaky pastry I think but not too flaky that it crumbled into pieces...on top of that was the custard, soft and sweet, on top of that was a thin layer of sponge cake, fluffy and unimposing...on top of that was whipped cream, super light...and then of course the strawberry and mango slices. OMG!If i were to die before sampling that tart, I would consider my life one not fully lived. 

The most important thing is, after tasting this life-altering goodness, I couldn't care less that the place is called Berry Cafe Chou Chou.