We visited Cafe Kitsune for the first time on this trip. The cafe is located at Omotesando – not Omotesando Hills but across the Aoyama main road, on the side where the Prada, Chanel and other branded boutiques are situated. We had our morning cup of coffee before heading to Maisen Tonkatsu for lunch. I make it a point to be at Maisen Tonkatsu 10mins before the opening time at 11am so that we are right at the front of the queue. Very kiasu.
Fashionably-dressed baristas. Not surprising since the cafe is linked to the Kitsune boutique. Love seeing men dressed in a preppy cardigan-and-tie outfit.
I could not resist the French toast baguette. Coffee was good too, and I bought a bag of beans for a friend whose current interest is trying out various coffee beans on his coffee machine.
All in all, quite a nice quiet cafe to hang out at if you are in that part of Omotesando.
A friend recommended us to Isshin, a small local sushi joint that is yet to be discovered by foodie-tourists. She tells me the food is excellent and the price is beyond reasonable for the quality. I always trust her food recommendations in Japan – they have all been spot on for us.
Of the 13 items that were served to us, the kaisen donburi and shirako ponzu were my favorites. It is wonderful to be in Japan during shirako season. The kaisen donburi had all the stuff that I love – uni, ikura, ika, and the shirako was fresh and creamy. Even the usually shirako-squeamish husband ate up all his shirako. The chef served us more shirako in a sushi later on. I was in shirako heaven.
At Toranomon Koffee (previously 
The ambience of Toranomon Koffee has a slightly different vibe compared to its predecessor, but no less charming, I like their new digs at Toranomon Hills. The building is gorgeous, the cafe has plenty of sitting space and there are two barista counters instead of one (so the waiting time is shorter).
Japan is a haven for crafters. Their stationery shops, fabric shops, handicraft shops are places where I can spend all day wandering around in.
Made a bag of 
I enjoy walking around the Bukchon and Samcheong-dong area, looking at the old hanoks, some of which are still residential property while others have been converted into shops. It is a place where the old juxtaposes against the new – you can look down into the hip and trendy Samcheong-dong while walking along certain stretches of Bukchon. The walk can be a bit of a strain as it involves climbing a fairly steep hill from the street level up to Bukchon. Makes me wonder how people in the Joseon days do it.
The teahouse is very pretty. The sitting area encircles a little courtyard garden, offering guests a view of a lily pond and plants while sipping a cup of tea and nibbling on Korean snacks.
I don’t really appreciate Korean snacks so I ordered a cup of ginger tea to warm myself up as the weather was very cold. I love the lily-shaped cup that the teahouse used to serve the ginger tea!
A beautiful cafe along Orange Street that feels like a lush floral wonderland similar to 
I really like the idea of a nursery-cum-cafe concept. How is that no one in Singapore has thought about setting up something like that?
Biotop sells drip coffee, pizzas and some baked goods (I think). I would have liked to sit outside at the corner stand with my coffee but the weather was too cold to do so. This is a pretty place to hang out at while shopping in Orange Street, but if you want really good coffee, better to head to 
I read online that Kinryu ramen is one of the popular ramen chains in Osaka. There were at least three Kinryu ramen shops near my hotel in Dotonbori – you can’t miss the chain’s impressive dragon signage. I think Kinryu (and probably most of the other ramen chains) is open 24 hours, as we saw plenty of Japanese eating at the shops early in the morning. Slurping ramen for breakfast? Yummilicious. So we had a bowl of Kinryu’s tonkotsu ramen for breakfast one morning, which was really nice in the cold weather.
Looks spectacular right? I liked the thin Hakata-style noodles but the pork bone broth was not particularly memorable.
We went to the Ichiran outlet along the Dotonburi river which seems to have a queue at all times of the day (probably because of its very prominent location), but there is another shop tucked inside one of the Dotonburi shopping arcades just 2 minutes away that does not usually have a queue.
I forgot to take a photo of the shop-front, but if you Google Hanamaruken, you will see many blogs featuring a photo of the shop.
I have seen Blüte being featured on a number of travel and lifestyle blogs as a beautiful garden-themed cafe in Seoul. I have never been there so during the November trip to Seoul, I dropped by Blüte on an early Saturday morning, intending to have brunch and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had the cafe all to myself (unlike Singapore where people throng to cafes during weekends at hours as early as 8am). Unfortunately, I was too early for brunch (available from 11am onwards) so I could only have a cup of coffee.
A postcard-pretty view of the garden once you enter the grounds of the cafe. It must be very nice to sit out on the veranda during spring and autumn.
That is a lot of gardening to do on a cold, wintry morning.
Spacious interiors which are beautifully dressed up in a whimsical decor of potted green plants, dried flowers, retro and vintage furniture. This cafe reminds me of Shop Wonderland at Haji Lane.
This is a really pretty spot for chilling out with a book and a cup of coffee. It is really a woman’s sort of place, eh? I cannot imagine men hanging out with their buddies in this space.
The lovely garden shed out in the garden.
The entire place feels so magical, made even more so by the autumnal colors in the shrubs, and it feels as though I have been transported to a different world, one that you read of in children’s books like Alice In Wonderland.
My latest crafting obsession is making buttons using cotton fabric and button shanks that I bought from a local haberdashery.
I had so much fun making these and now I have to figure out how to use them in crafting projects, or sell them on 
Ta-da! The final product. I was quite happy with the output though sewing the flowers onto the cushion was quite a tough job.
Then I went on to make hair-bands with some of the flowers.
Followed by a brooch for myself (which I seem to have misplaced) and a boutonniere (for a guy friend)!
I completed this