By Day 4, brother and I were ready to drop so we took our time and woke up slow. We had breakfast around 945am, just before the buffet closed. After that, we went back upstairs to take a nap. We were exhausted.
Around noon, we ventured out to do some exploring. At my insistence, we took the subway to Ginza. I’ve heard stories about how amazing Tokyo’s train system is so I felt it was something we had to experience. It was so clean, efficient and organized. We got from Ikebukuro station to Ginza with no problems at all.
We walked around Ginza for a bit. It’s like 5th Avenue, with all the top brands lined up in a row.
Of course there’s a Lamborghini just parked on the street, as if that’s totally normal.
We went to Brand-Off which is a department store that sells all sorts of branded items. The highlights were all the Hermes Birkins. I don’t understand how they have so many and the stores themselves have none.
Window shopping an expensive bag made us hungry so we stood in line for these Belgian Waffles. They just smelled so good and the line was really long so we jumped on the bandwagon and purchased some. They are indeed yummy. If you ever find yourself at a Manneken, definitely try the Almond one.
Mummy wanted real food so we found a small tempura house called “Casual Tempura Restaurant.” We didn’t understand anything so we did the point and order. Thankfully they have very nice window displays, it was easy to indicated what we wanted.
We got back to the hotel and rested for a bit. Around 7pm we went in search of Ramen. We learned that Ikebukuro (the area where our hotel was) is famous for its ramen. It is called “ramen battle ground.” From the bus en route back to the hotel every night, we would pass by this one ramen house with a line perpetually out the door. We got curious and Dad said that we HAD to go to that one. If people are standing in line, we had to see what the fuss is about. Clearly by now, we are suckers for any place with a line. I wish buying cars worked the same way.
So this place is called Mutekiya. It only has 18 seats so we ended waiting around 45 minutes for a table. Thankfully, they take your order beforehand so you don’t have to wait too long once inside. It is known for its double-boiled ramen broth. We didn’t know this at the time and had no idea what to expect.
The ramen was delicious for about 5 minutes and then it goes downhill from there. When the soup cools, you start to realize how thick and mushy it is. The fat starts to surface and you get “suya” and start to feel your arteries clogging. Some of our tour-mates said they got dizzy afterwards. The taste and flavor is good but the ingredients are not. I think we’ve satisfied our ramen quota for the next 5 years. Unfortunately, we’re unsure if ramen is really served this way or just Mutekiya’s specialty. I’m pretty sure we can try better ramen elsewhere though.
Our night ended with buying Hello Kitty themed pasalubong. 🙂
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
