New Japanese KitKat captures the flavour of Baskin Robbins’ choc mint ice cream

This tie-up collaboration swings both ways, with new KitKat items at the ice cream chain for a limited time as well.

Choc mint products have become synonymous with summer in Japan, when the cooling sensation of the herb helps to provide some relief from the humidity, with a side of sweetness to boot.

Now that the weather is heating up, it’s time for choc mint products to make their triumphant return to stores again, and one that we’re particularly keen to try is the new Kit Kat Chocolate Mint Ice Cream.

What makes this particular flavour so exciting is the fact that it’s a tie up with ice cream chain Baskin Robbins, or “31” as it’s known in Japan.

▼ See the “31” in the “BR”?

Inspired by 31’s Chocolate Mint ice cream, which won first place in the chain’s “Party Contest Flavour General Election” last year, this new chocolate inserts cocoa-flavoured cream inside the wafers and wraps it all up in in mint ice cream-flavoured chocolate for a refreshing taste.

It’s not just the flavour but the appearance of the ice cream that’s replicated in this new chocolate, and Nestlé says it tastes even better after being kept in the freezer, when it becomes crunchier and cooler.

This new collaboration swings both ways, because over at 31 there’ll be some special limited-edition KitKat items on the menu for the first time ever.

The Happy Breaktime Made with KitKat may not contain any mint, but it does contain a blend of two types of chocolate ice cream — dark and milk — along with crunchy KitKat pieces, all for 390 yen (US$2.79).

The Collaboration Sundae Made with KitKat (550 yen) adds a mini chocolate KitKat and a mini wholewheat KitKat to a small-sized ice cream of your choice, with a whipped cream, chocolate sauce and shaved chocolate topping.

Mint-loving customers are taken care of with the Frozen Shake Chocolate Mint Made with KitKat (570 yen). This shake blends the chain’s chocolate mint ice cream with milk and tops it with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and one of the new KitKat fingers for a very minty experience.

All the new 31 products go on sale from 1 June while stocks last, while the KitKats, sold in packs of 10 for 540 yen, will be in stores nationwide from 5 June, also in limited numbers.

If you’d like to get a taste of both the chocolate and the ice creams at the chain that inspired it, we recommend buying the chocolates first, as each multi-pack comes with a 50-yen discount coupon that can be used at 31 until 30 April next year.

Source, images: PR Times 
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“Horse Feces Cafe” opens in Tokyo, looks stylish and delicious【Photos】

Bafun Yasai cafe looks like a fun place to dine and drink with friends.

Harajuku is one of Tokyo’s most fashionable neighborhoods, filled with trendy boutiques and cozy cafes. Among the newest of those eateries is Bafun Yasai TCC Cafe, which opened up just a little over a month ago.

The cafe is located on a quiet side street, not far from the neighborhood’s main boulevard, Omotesando. The interior decor is airy and stylish, with a feel at once both contemporary and rustic.

The food and drink, too, is meant to be both a treat for the taste buds and the eyes, making use of ingredients directly sourced from ecologically minded farmers.

Oh, and many of those ingredients were grown in horse poop.

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A post shared by BafunYasai TCC CAFE – 馬とつながる、食でつながる – (@bafunyasai_tcc_cafe)

The horse poop connection is something the cafe’s management absolutely wants you to be aware of, too. Getting back to the restaurant’s name, Bafun Yasai TCC Cafe, ba is one of the ways to say “horse” in Japanese. The “fun” part doesn’t mean “enjoyable,” though. It’s Japanese too; fun means feces, droppings, or manure.

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A post shared by BafunYasai TCC CAFE – 馬とつながる、食でつながる – (@bafunyasai_tcc_cafe)

Working through the rest of the name, yasai means “vegetables,” and TCC is the name of an animal welfare organization focused on making sure retired racehorses live out the rest of their lives in health and happiness. The cafe is part of TCC’s efforts to promote empathy and respect for horses, and so it prioritizes agricultural products from farmers that use horse manure when sourcing ingredients for its kitchen.

You’ll find little equestrian touches in the interior design too, like the horseshoe patterns in the floor here.

The cafe also plans to host workshops and organize events in which participants go to farms to meet poop-producing horses.

▼ “Connecting people and horses through dining” reads the cafe’s motto, alongside a diagram of its hope that increasing the demand for horse manure will help farmers secure the economic means to take good care of their horses.

The concept itself of using horse manure as fertilizer isn’t especially new in Japan, but it’s unusual for a restaurant to so unabashedly tout equine poop’s power to boost the flavor of food. It could be a risky move, marketing-wise, in a country as conscious of cleanliness as Japan is, but with a recent rise in interest in racehorses among young people in the country, it’s definitely a way to help Bafun Yasai TCC Cafe stand out from all the other cafes in Harajuku.

Restaurant information
Bafun Yasai TCC Cafe
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 5-12-8, Jingumae Hamaya Building 2nd floor
東京都渋谷区神宮前5-12-8 神宮前Hamayaビル 2F
Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday), 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (Friday, holidays), 10 a.m.-10 p.m. (Saturday, Sunday)
Closed Tuesdays
Website

Source, images: PR Times
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How to have yumcha like a boss at a new dim sum restaurant perfect for groups or solo diners

Our reporter shares how to navigate the different ways of ordering at the growing Yumcha Terrace Tohsai chain of eateries in Japan’s capital region.

Yumcha Terrace Tohsai, operated by Japanese family restaurant giant Skylark Group, is a fairly new dim sum specialty brand with Tokyo locations in Tsurukawa, Mitaka, and a third location that recently opened in the Minamisuna district on April 27. Our dim sum-loving Japanese-language reporter Yayoi Saginomiya recently went to check out the new location and report back.

To get there, Yayoi recommends taking the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line to Minamisuna Station. It’s about a 10-minute walk from there.

The exterior has a fun display of stacked bamboo steamers under the restaurant name.

Inside, Yayoi was immediately struck by the sparkling newness of everything and the gorgeous Chinese-influenced décor.

Once seated, you’ll order using the tablet at your table, which helpfully has settings in Japanese, English, and Chinese. There are three main methods for ordering, so you’ll have to decide which method is best for you.

The first method is the all-you-can-eat option, from which you can choose one of three different courses:

● A course: 23 menu items to choose from / 90 minutes / 2,419 yen (US$17.25)
● B course: 35 menu items to choose from / 120 minutes / 2,969 yen
● C course: 47 items to choose from / 120 minutes / 3,519 yen

Note: On weekends and holidays, the prices above increase by 330 yen for adults.

The second method is the set yumcha meal option, from which you can choose from the following sizes:

● 4 menu items (1 noodle or rice dish + 3 dim sum dishes) / 1,419 yen
● 5 menu items (1 noodle or rice dish + 4 dim sum dishes) / 1,694 yen
● 6 menu items (1 noodle or rice dish + 5 dim sum dishes) / 1,969 yen

The third method is to simply purchase menu items a la carte.

Yayoi decided to go with the all-you-can-eat A course this time. She liked the fact that she could order the individual dishes at her own pace within the allowed timeframe.

▼ Left button: all-you-can-eat courses
Right button: set meals and a la carte ordering

While she was ordering, a worker also stopped by her table with some Chinese tea. Since yumcha refers to the cultural tradition of drinking tea and eating dim sum that originated in southern China, “the tea of the day” is included with any meal at Yumcha Terrace Tohsai. It just so happened to be jasmine tea on the day of Yayoi’s visit. Upon asking, she found out that the type of tea offered changes every month or so.

After a short wait, her soup dumplings, shrimp shumai, turnip cake, seasonal vegetable, and hot and sour soup selections arrived.

The soup dumplings and shumai arrived in bamboo steamers, which for some reason made her think that they would be 100 times more delicious than if they weren’t. Yayoi had a moment of delight when she lifted the lids and was engulfed in a small wave of steam. She dug in while they were hot and was not disappointed one bit.

She also took particular delight in the displayed instructions for the best way to eat soup dumplings (with a dumpling nestled in your soup spoon, tear a small opening in the side, then add a little ginger and black vinegar).

She wanted to try following those instructions precisely for herself. Thankfully, a classic brand of Chinese black vinegar was waiting for her on the table, and the combination did not disappoint.

Not that it’s a surprise, but every single one of the dim sum that she ordered was also delicious.

No matter how much she ate, she felt like there was still room for a little bit more. Her subsequent orders included Taiwanese-style boiled dumplings, a vegetable meat bun, and a rice cake wrapped in bamboo leaves.

There are two choices of dessert available for the A course–aiyu jelly or sweet sesame dumplings–and she chose the jelly. It was cool, lemony, and completely refreshed her palate at the end of the meal.

All in all, Yayoi tried nine different dishes. That was definitely less expensive than going to a regular Chinese restaurant and ordering nine separate dishes that she’d never be able to finish on her own. This way she could also enjoy sampling many different kinds of small bites. The soup dumplings and Taiwanese water dumplings were the only things that came three to a dish and were a little more filling.

▼ Soup dumplings, steamed dishes, fried things, noodles, rice dishes, and desserts galore!

In another sense, she appreciated the fact that she could do this all on her own. Yumcha is usually enjoyed in a large family gathering or a big group of people, but there are times when she just really wants the dim sum minus the people–and Yumcha Terrace Tohsai offers a great solution in the form of these three different methods for ordering.

▼ Another unique sight–a cat robot cleans the way!

▼ If you like what you drank, there’s a selection of Chinese teas and Taiwanese sweets for purchase, too.

Yumcha Terrace Tohsai will open more locations in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture by the end of June, so there will be even more options for getting your dim sum fix in Japan before long. For those who’d prefer an all-you-can-eat menu of something other than dim sum, perhaps you’d enjoy one of these conveyor belt all-you-can-eat yakiniku restaurants instead.

Restaurant information
Yumcha Terrace Minamisuna branch / 飲茶 Terrace 桃菜 南砂店
Address: Tokyo-to, Koto-ku, Minamisuna 4-4-21
東京都江東区南砂４丁目４－２１
Open 10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Website

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Here’s why you should visit Japan’s best winter-night hot spring town on a summer afternoon【Pics】

We went looking for an anime connection, and found a whole bunch of new reasons to love this Yamagata onsen town.

A lot of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s story arcs are named after the locations in which they take place. For example, the anime’s third season, which started in April, is known as the Swordsmith Village Arc and takes place in a setting with the following characteristics.

● A small, secluded village, surrounded by mountains
● Taisho period architectural styles and multi-storied pavilions
● Located near a former mine
● Became popular for the therapeutic properties of its hot spring waters, which now attract leisure bathers as well

Within the series, the location of the Swordsmith Village is a closely guarded secret, with even the members of the Demon Slayer Corps not knowing exactly where it is. Fans of the series, though, have noticed that the four points described above are also applicable to the real-world hot spring town of Ginzan Onsen, in Yamagata Prefecture.

Ginzan Onsen literally translates as “Silver Mountain Hot Springs,” and yes, there used to be a working silver mine nearby. But while there are no more precious metals being excavated these days, Ginzan Onsen still has a plentiful supply of something arguably just as valuable: hot spring water, which fills the baths at the numerous bathhouses and inns along the river that runs through the center of town.

There’s no official statement from the Demon Slayer production staff that Ginzan Onsen served as the model for the Swordsmith Village, but if you’ve been reading the manga or watching the anime, the similarities will be apparent right away. Even before visiting, our traveling Demon Slayer fan/reporter Saya Togashi had thought that the Swordsmith Village’s bridge handrails and hanging lanterns reminded her as much of a hot spring resort as a blacksmith district.

We should point out that while Ginzan Onsen is experiencing a bump in attention as Demon Slayer’s third season is airing, the town isn’t exactly a secret among travelers in Japan. Its beautiful buildings and elegant environment have made it one of the country‘s premiere onsen destinations for domestic and inbound international travelers alike.

Here’s the thing we learned on our visit, though. Ask just about anyone when they want to go to Ginzan Onsen, and they’ll say “Winter.” That’s a fine choice, too. Yamagata is one of Japan’s most northern prefectures, and the way Ginzan Onsen looks blanketed with snow on a midwinter night, bathed in the soft glow of the streetside gas lamps, is picture-perfect for posting on social media.

But you know what? Ginzan Onsen is also a wonderful place to visit in late spring/early summer.

For starters, Ginzan Onsen isn’t in a particularly train-accessible place. It’s about a 40-minute bus ride from the nearest station, so if you’re planning to skip rail travel altogether and rent a car for you and your friends, you’ll find the drive much more pleasant if you avoid the winter months, when many roads and parking lots in and around the town are closed due to the inevitably snowy weather.

But the real bonus to heading to Ginzan when the weather is warmer is that it lets you relax and enjoy your time out and about in the town itself, instead of stepping out of your hotel for a quick selfie, then scampering back inside before the winter winds chill you to the bone.

Visiting at this time of year, you’re able to appreciate how the entire center of the town feels like one gigantic strolling park. As we walked along the street, time and again we found public benches and other places to sit and rest our feet (even dipping them into free, open-air onsen foot baths on occasion) while also refreshing our spirits by gazing up at the blue sky and listening to the sound of the river flowing by.

Being able to linger longer outside without freezing, we got to pore over all sorts of beautiful architectural details, like the second-story murals here.

Another thing we’re pretty sure we wouldn’t have wanted to do on a below-freezing night: keep walking past the inns to the Ginzan no Taki waterfall, from where especially energetic visitors can even walk along some of the old trails that were used by the silver mine workers of yore.

None of this, of course, is to say that winter is a bad time to visit Ginzan. Instead, we’re saying that there isn’t any bad one, so don’t let the time of year you’re traveling in Japan convince you to scratch this beautiful place off your itinerary.

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Pikachu afternoon tea at Tokyo hotel gives us a taste of the Pokémon anime world

This limited-time luxury is an indulgence worth splurging on!

Back in March, The Strings Hotel announced it would be offering a Pikachu Afternoon Tea at its locations in Nagoya and Tokyo’s Omotesando, and ever since then we’d been counting down the days until we were able to get a taste of it.

That day finally came this week, when we were able to reserve a table at Cafe & Dining Zelkova, the onsite cafe at The Strings Omotesando. 

The Strings’ Gramercy House and Cafe & Dining Zelkova are the only two locations in Tokyo where you can enjoy the Pikachu Afternoon Tea, although if you were to walk by Zelkova’s entrance on the street, you’d never know there was a Pikachu paradise awaiting you inside.

As soon as you step through the front door, however, you’ll be surrounded by a yellow decor that tips its hat to the electric Pokémon.

The Pikachu alcove above is only limited to six tables, which require prior reservations. As you might expect, a seat in this area is hard to come by, so we had to make do with a table in the main dining area of the cafe, which is still pretty spectacular with its array of ring lights and giant birdcage installations.

We were lucky enough to be seated inside one of those giant birdcages, which may have been because we were a party of one, although we couldn’t be sure. Either way, we weren’t complaining, as the cage added another aura of magic to the affair, especially when this bounty of goods was delivered to the table.

▼ How gorgeous is this?!?

The “Afternoon Tea Drink Set” we’d ordered cost 6,500 yen (US$46.40), and it included a choice of one Pikachu drink from the three on offer — Pikachu Fruit Mocktail, Pika Pachi’s Passion Fruitade, and Pikachu Art Latte (usually sold separately from 1,012-1,265 yen).

▼ We opted for Pika Pachi’s Passion Fruitade 

The set is designed to stimulate all the senses and that’s exactly what it did — starting with the visual, as we’d never seen an array of food and drink so yellow.

Yes, we’d brought a pair of Pikachus from home to keep us company at the table, and looking around we were happy to find we weren’t the only ones to do so as lots of customers were photographing the meal and posing with their own plushies.

In fact, a couple of women at a nearby table spent an entire hour chatting and photographing their set of food before tasting it, and we found ourselves snapping our own photos for around 30 minutes, which just goes to show how much of an impact the set has visually.

As for the taste and aroma, there was plenty of variety to electrify the senses. First, up there were three types of savoury bites: the Crispy Nut Tabbouleh Salad, the Cheese Slider with Lots of Ketchup and the Chicken and Tomato Biribiri Quiche.

The nut salad had a crunchy mouthfeel and exotic flavour that made us feel a million miles away from Japan, while the cheesy slider brought us back with a more familiar flavour profile.

Then we were off again on another adventure with a rich-flavoured quiche inspired by “Pikachu’s electricity”. The dash of Japanese pepper powder on top gave it a lightning-like hit of heat that added to its deliciousness.

The spicy quiche was the perfect jumping-off point to segue into the sweets, and there were six of them to try.

The Pikachu Muffin made us smile with its delicious Chantilly cream and fun character ears, while the Forest Pistachio Mousse Tart made us feel as if we were foraging for nuts, berries, and Pokémon, in Pikachu’s forest.

The Honey Lemon Jelly with Plenty of Fruits, complete with lightning bolt topping, hit the right balance between tart and sweet…

…while the Thunderbolt-Style Chocolate Opera, which tips its hat to Pikachu’s famous Electric-type move, elegantly combined sweet chocolate with tart berries.

The Pikachu Hide-and-Seek Rich Mango Pudding had a delectable, melty mouthfeel and beautiful tropical flavour.

▼ The Caramel Macaron made us feel as if we were chomping through Pikachu’s back!

▼ And because it’s an afternoon tea, each set comes with a pot of TWG tea.

We didn’t know what was sweeter — the meal or the photos we took of Pikachu enjoying the sweets!

And in case you’re keeping count of how many senses this meal had stimulated, in addition to the look, taste, aroma and mouthfeel of everything, the Pikachu Lollipop did a good job of making our ears stand to attention, because it crackles when you put it in your mouth!

The accompanying menu, which each diner gets to take home, along with a coaster and place mat, is another nice touch as it acts like a savoury field guide, guiding you through every component of the afternoon tea.

Our afternoon with Pikachu was so enjoyable that our time at the cafe flew by, and everything we tasted was absolutely delicious and befitting of the luxury cafe in which it was served.

While we’d ordered the Afternoon Tea Drink Set, there are a number of other variations available, with prices starting at 4,800 yen for a mini afternoon tea set, which comes with a regular lunch meal, and going up to 8,500 yen for a Special Combo Meal that includes a Pikachu Special Dessert in the shape of a Poké Ball.

The afternoon teas will be available in Tokyo from 24 April to 3 July, and in Nagoya from 1 June to 31 August, and regardless of which location you visit, you won’t be disappointed. Sure, it might be a bit of a splurge, but it’s worth it — after all, it’s not every day you can say you enjoyed afternoon tea with Pikachu!

Related: Strings Hotel Omotesando, Strings Hotel Nagoya
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