Tokyo | Day 5

July 4, 2014

Our last day in Japan was a pretty lazy one, exploring Matt's local area, Kōenji. It's a lovely neighbourhood - a few mostly pedestrianised streets with lots of cute shops, bars and restaurants. We had a few plans for lunch, but were stymied by one place having closed down and one only opening for dinner. While we reassessed our options, we refuelled with a couple of the twee-est doughnuts in the world from Floresta doughnuts.

They were excellent, with dense dough and sweet, subtle flavours - a far cry from the over-the-top richness of our Portland experience. With a sugarry charge, we decided to return to Meu Nota for a jetlag-free visit.

Lunch is limited to a couple of different sets, which I found a much more fun way to explore what they have to offer. We went for the full set (1230円 ~ $12.90), with a paprika flavoured soup for Cindy and a more traditional miso for me. Alongside the soups were an amazing mix of fried goodies, pickled veggies, salad, corn bread, brown rice and a little bowl of tofu spread. Throw in your choice of coffee and tea and you've got an incredible meal - I'd definitely recommend swinging by here for lunch one day.

After a little bit more wandering around, it was time to put an end to our three week adventure and jump on the train out to the airport.

There was still time for one final bit of eating - we scraped together our last yen for a couple of umeboshi onigiri and some last mochi while we waited to board.

It was an incredible three week holiday (plus our respective earlier work jaunts), with so much wonderful food, ranging from fruit-loop garnished doughnuts to a banquet of delicate Japanese temple food. Hopefully you haven't minded our slightly self-indulgent holiday recapping - our regular, Melbourne-based programming will be resumed shortly!