Hey Hive!
I'm currently recounting our anniversary trip to Tokyo back in Feb 2023! It'd been at least 3 years since we visited Tokyo and the last time was pre-covid so we decided to go back and find some new places to explore while revisiting our favourite hot-spots.
Last week, we wrapped up our visit to the Tokyo Tower! Unfortunately there wasn't much of a sunset view as we had hoped since the cloud cover was heavy that day, but we still enjoyed watching the city come alive at night.
We also took a look around the shops in the adjoining mini-mall after descending from the Tower.
We ended with some nice shots of the lighted Tokyo Tower which looked like a red Eiffel Tower from below.
Anyway, it was getting late that day and we hadn't eaten so it was time to go get dinner!
8 Feb 2023. Wednesday.
On the way to the station there was a very cute corgi and I couldn't resist taking photos!
We made our way back to the station and since we weren't too far away we figured we'd go to Shibuya!
I came across this wall depicting the history of Shibuya station which I thought was so cool! It's popularity probably took off because of Hachiko.
Of course, you can't discount the iconic Shibuya crossing that probably sparked the innovation of diagonal crossings in major cities.
Seany wanted to eat his favourite gyoza and mapo tofu from one of our favourite places - Gyoza Ohsho!
Gyoza Ohsho is a popular Japanese restaurant chain known for its gyoza and other Japanese-Chinese dishes. It's a well-established brand over 700 locations in Japan, and is known for its affordable and delicious food.
Here's a look at the menu:
Of course their signature item would be gyoza, but they have quite a range of other items as well, from noodles to rice and stir-fried dishes.
Every time we come here, we always get the set so we can enjoy the gyoza and one other dish along with rice. It definitely offers the most value for money.
This particular outlet in Shibuya is quite small probably because of how dense Shibuya is, rental costs must be quite high. There are limited seats here so it's best to avoid peak periods. Thankfully it was a little late by then so we didn't have to wait long.
After we were seated and placed our order, we waited for our food with our mouths watering from the appetising smells of stir fried meat and veggies.
The whole restaurant was basically covered by this one guy cooking on the stove. It was impressive watching him work and stir frying all the delicious food. Granted, there were other sous chefs handling ingredients and packing the orders, but this chef was something else.
Soon enough, our food was ready! Sean ordered his favourite mapo tofu and gyoza set, which came with a bowl of soup, some ginger and a bowl of rice.
We also really like the fried rice here so I ordered the fried rice set with gyoza, karaage and soup.
Here are some close-ups, which I found very difficult to take while resisting the urge to eat the food first!
Their gyoza is definitely one of the best I've eaten, with the crispy bottoms, perfectly steamed tops and meaty filling.
Normally I'd dip it in chili oil which they provide, along with some other condiments like vinegar, pepper and something called Ohsho Magic Powder, which I'm quite sure is MSG.
But honestly the dumpling is really good on its own, no condiments needed. The chili oil adds a nice spice kick to it that I enjoy though.
This is Sean's favourite dish - the mapo tofu. Their version is quite different compared to the actual Sichuan Chinese mapo tofu since this is not spicy or numbing, despite sharing the name. Japanese mapo tofu has a thicker and more flavourful sauce while lacking the fiery-red chili and Sichuan peppercorn.
It is still very delicious though, and since neither of us enjoy the numbing sensation in Chinese mapo tofu, we really like this version a lot.
The fried rice is also one of our favourite dishes from them because it's full of wok hei and flavour. Sean said he could easily eat multiple bowls of just their fried rice.
The karaage was quite regular in comparison to their other amazing dishes, but it was alright. The soup was quite light and a nice way to cleanse the palate from all the oil.
Overall, it was a very delicious meal and we were so stuffed after that! We needed to go walk it off after that but it was drizzling a little.
After exploring Shibuya, we decided to swing by the Nintendo Store for another round of shopping fun. We couldn't resist checking out the latest merchandise and seeing if there were any must-have goodies to take home!
The last time we came here was on a weekend and it was much less crowded this time, so I feel like I can breathe better now.
It felt like there were some things I didn't notice the last time we were here like these cute korok fans!
I think we came back for another one of the Animal Crossing cushion covers but I also wanted to get another one of these cool Mario game cover magnets!
I had the thrill of stepping into my very first Nintendo store, and let me tell you, the excitement was palpable! But there I stood, torn between the urge to splurge and the voice of restraint whispering in my ear. Have you ever heard of buyer's regret? Well, there's also the regret of missing out! I was so intrigued by all the gadgets and collectibles that I started to doubt my choices, wondering if I should have let myself indulge a bit more. A true traveler's dilemma!
While we were here, we also stopped by the Capcom store to see if they restocked anything interesting. I was so tempted to get this plushie of Amaterasu from Okami!
Unfortunately they were all sold out of the mini versions or I would buy it in a heartbeat.
They did have these gacha keychains that were pretty cute though.
There were also chibi figurines of Jill and Nemesis from Resident Evil which I thought was quite funny.
We also took another look at the Jump Shop since it was way too crowded the last time we were here.
I only recognise a few of the iconic ones but this manga wall looks so awesome!
There was this Jujutsu Kaisen banner that I thought looked really cool as well!
There was also the Pokemon Center but since we're not really fans of the series anymore we passed on another look there. I did like these boards though.
After taking one final look, it was time to go.
After that we headed to our favourite store - Donki Hote for some snacks! One of the first displays we saw was this collab with Playboy? I think it was for fragrances or hair.
But we headed straight for the food section since we just wanted to get some small snacks to have in the hotel.
After we bought some snacks we made our way back to the train station with our haul in hand.
Despite the laid-back vibe, we had an incredibly enjoyable day, capped off with an unforgettable experience in bustling Shibuya!
But I think that's going to be it for today! Thanks for reading and tune in next week for more Tokyo adventures!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
Starry City Skylines 🏙 - TacoCat’s Travels #290 (Tokyo)
