Tuesday, August 9, 2011

DAY 12: DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

today we went to an alice in wonderland themed restaurant!!! it was on the 5th floor of a building. here is the sign from down below:


but first we had breakfast and went to asakusa! here is breakfast:

we had 2 free tickets to the hotel's buffet breakfast one morning, so we took a break from our usual breakfast pan, and tried it out. it was eh. i mean, the food was decent, but it was one of those times where you're glad you got it for free. i can't imagine paying the usual $20/person for it! but that perfectly fried egg does look quite pretty, doesn't it? haha

off to asakusa!

tokyo sky tree

here we are! so very iconic and touristy! hahaha...

right when you walk in, there are a TON of little shops filled with food, and souvineers. 

YAY soft serve ice cream! very popular in japan! they have so many amazing flavors. i chose black sesame (of course...anytime i can get black sesame ANYTHING, i get it haha), and erik chose pineapple! they were both amazing! SO strong in flavor. japan doesn't mess around with flavor. they always make it bold. 

here is a guy preparing fresh senbei (japanese rice crackers)

lots to choose from!

SARA: LOOKIE WHAT WEEEEEEEEEEE FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUND ;)

we continued our walk to the temple. SO hot today, by the way haha...sun was out, and the humidity was so high that your face sweats as soon as you walk outside. gah!



by the temple, incense was being burned, and people waved the incense smoke on themselves for protection



around the temple...



LOOK AT THIS GINORMOUS KAKIGORI!!!!! this was one happy kiddo!

afterwards, we walked over to kappabashi street which is well known as "kitchen street" because restaurant owners buy a lot of things for their restaurants here! you will know you are on kappabashi street by these signs. they're everywhere. 

or by this:

this is at the beginning of the street (the south end)

again, SO hot today, so we made a lot of pit-stops to vending machines. here is one of our awesome choices haha...

walking along the street, there are a ton of things to look at. loved these unique glasses!

and a few fake food stores!!!! you know how japan has all those fake food displays for restaurants? well you can buy some here! 



check out how realistic these beer cans look! so icy and cold....and FAKE!

makes you want one though, right? 
 and i love this guy's shop:

since it was so hot today, a grocery store owner was giving out free kakigori! i chose ramune flavor. soooo good and refreshing on a day like today! and so nice of him!

okay...onto the ALICE IN WONDERLAND restaurant! it's called, "ALICE - diamond dining (or fantasy dining)" and it's in ginza!
 we actually wanted to go yesterday, but you had to have reservations! so we made the reservations for today at 5pm. the elevator opens on the 5th floor and this is what you see:


really exciting!!!! they block off the restaurant with a giant page from the book so you can't see. once they let you in and lead you to your table, you walk down a hallway like this:


and here is the bathroom door:

really cool!
they sat us down, and i went into automatic machine gun shooting mode with my camera hahaha...
LOOK AT THIS ROOM! that teacup is a GIANT place for a family to sit and EAT!

our table setting

our waitress brought out our menus and it came in this really cool box!

oh, and our waitress was of course dressed like alice!

isn't she adorable?!
 there is also a candle and a bell on the table. you ring the bell when you want the waitress to come over. it was awkward to do! but they're used to it!

our pillow on our booth

looking around the room more. pretty chairs, mirrors everywhere...

a giant lamp as a light!

cards on the ceiling...

and awesome other tables!

everything looked AMAZING. they really decorated it perfectly. i wanted to come because of the theme, but i had no idea the food would also be SOOOOO GOOD. i thought it would really just be all about the "looks", but the taste was AMAZING!
here are some starter rolls...

and my YUMMY drink! "alice potion #2"

after our waitress served it, she brought over some silver tiny balls, and said she was adding "magic" to my drink as she sprinkled them on hahaha...too cute. 

these were some fries for an appetizer, but they were super seasoned and flavorful. really liked these

here is my entree! i think they were making a flower with eyes as the "design" since there were singing flowers in alice in wonderland. anyway, omg, this pasta was AMAZING. the noodles were cooked perfectly, the sauce was to die for, and the egg (in the middle) when mixed with the pasta/sauce/bacon/everything really made it superb.

here's erik's design! his was more obvious hahaha...SO CUTE, RIGHT?! and his was equally as delicious! it was like...smokey! somehow! really great taste. he was in love with it!

and dessert! again, ADORABLE! and tasted just as good! different flavored cakes (matcha, strawberry, and cantelope from left to right) with yummy accents. 

our waitress too our pic for us too hehe...cool mirror design behind us!

 this place nailed it. i thought it was just going to be cliche/cheesy with cute food and theme, but the food tasted so, so, good. it really turned out to be an amazing dinner!!!

 and a lovely wait for the train ride back to the hotel :) 





8 comments:

  1. Re: "off to asakusa starting with the chuo line!"
    But that picture is the Ginza Line, isn't it? Asakusa... let's see... I suppose you rode the Chuo Line from Shinjuku to Kanda, and transferred to the Ginza line in Kanda, and rode to Asakusa from there? (Sorry to be nit-picky...!) They both have an orange stripe, but the carriage type is a little different.

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  2. Did they play the flute music from speakers at the Asakusa tourist market? They did when I was there and it made me laugh. It was so cheesy!

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  3. I'm so jealous! Everything looks so cool, seems like you guys are having a great time :D

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  4. What a cool restaurant! The atmosphere looks awesome and the food does look really good. I'm so jealous!! ;)

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  5. You both look like your having a fantastic time.
    This restaurant looks so cool. My daughter got excited when she saw the pics. Where is it?

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  6. @lyle: haha whoops! you're right! this was the 2nd train we took, not the first! so yep, the ginza line. when i was looking through my hundreds of photos, i just saw the orange stripe, and captioned it wrong haha

    @julia: LMAO! i dont think they did? man, i didnt think that place could get any cheesier!

    @sue: it's in ginza :) very close to the toy store that we went to yesterday :)

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  7. Wow, Asakusa/Sensoji Temple looked crowded. Darin is so jealous of the soft serve ice cream- black sesame looks amazing! And pineapple, that sounds so yummy!

    AND OMG, you found him! I just showed Darin and we both started laughing! I am so glad you found HIM!!!!!!! Isn’t he so cute?

    That is the largest kakigori I’ve ever seen!

    Don’t you love all the vending machine selections? I wish we had more flavors like that here. Those glasses on Kappabashi look so beautiful. Oh, and that place with all the Japanese pottery! And you got ramune flavored kakigori! You are so lucky!

    That Alice in Wonderland restaurant looked…. So real. Like you are actually Alice. I feel like you’re at a Disney theme park restaurant. I am glad to hear the food was just as awesome as the

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  8. Dooood... The Alice In Wonderland restaurant is WICKED!! I love the atmosphere!... I'm so jealous of you, Jackie. haha. The pictures look fantastic though. Thank you for posting them.

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