Warning: You might get hungry while reading this post. Proceed with caution or maybe just eat after. π
To celebrate my friend's birthday, we've decided to meet up at Shibuya at 1 PM on a Sunday. It was gloomy weather that day but eating and chatting with friends you haven't seen in a while felt so warm. Actually, we celebrated the birthday so late, maybe 2 weeks delayed because of our not-so-favorable schedules.
As usual, there were so many people around Hachiko's Statue, and because Japan is now opening its borders again to tourists, it's like back to how it was before the pandemic. A few foreigners were falling in line to have their turn in taking a photo with the famous dog statue, and of course, there were some who just ignored the line but luckily, no fight broke out.
If you're wondering why I was waiting here, well, Hachiko's statue is actually where most people meet up. It's easy to be spotted as it's just outside the station, although you'd have to find your companions in the sea of people around here. I usually position myself right in front of Hachiko so my friends could easily find me, and also, I could have a good view of the dog.
The birthday celebrant @thinkeringbart (who's inactive here on Hive, let's disturb him so he would become active again π) already chose where we would be having our late lunch so after the group is complete, we headed to where we would eat.
Hainan Jeefan Shokudo is the name of the restaurant located on the 3rd floor of Miyashita Park, a mall with a park on its rooftop, which I'll probably discuss in my future post. The name sounds like Hainanese Chicken, right? They serve the famous Singaporean dish hence, the name.
Because the place is somewhat popular, we had to wait in line. It's already late so it's not that long of a line anymore. While waiting, we were busy talking and catching up anyways.
Of course, we ordered their chicken rice. Sadly, there's no vegetable salad that goes with it, only a small bowl of soup. It's kinda rare to serve set meals here in Japan without any vegetables because the Japanese are health conscious.
The birthday celebrant likes curry that while we had the Hainanese chicken rice, he had chicken curry. The rice is still the same for both dishes, not the Japanese rice which is a plus!
Aside from the chicken, their Chili Crabs are also worth trying! It's really flavorful and spicy, not the Japanese spicy but the real spicy. It's good for sharing too!
The sauce of the Black Pepper Shrimps was so good, I could eat it alone with rice. Though the shrimp and the sauce are like 2 different entities combined to make this dish. I wanted the shrimp to taste like the sauce. I think this could be better. It's still good though, will definitely order in the future.
If you ask about rice refills, they'll gladly give you. The staff brought the rice cooker-looking pot and scooped rice. We were reminded of how Mang Inasal in the Philippines used to serve rice refills, they have this very big rice cooker pot which is the bigger version of this restaurant in Japan. The funny thing is, the scoop was like an ice cream scooper, so the rice was small and when my friends had their refills, all of us were too surprised by the amount. The staff immediately noticed how surprised we were so she added another scoop of rice.
We went to the park on the rooftop of the mall just to see what was there but it was too cold and Starbucks was packed so we went elsewhere. I suggested going to Shibuya Scramble Square because I haven't been able to explore what's inside, and I was kinda sure we would find a cafe there.
Shibuya Scramble Square building is also packed with people. This skyscraper is a mall and an office building, and there's even a sky deck at the top, but you needed to pay a fee to be able to enter the observation deck. It was so cold that day so it's a pass for me.
We planned out where we would be going. We would check out all the cafes in the mall starting from the 5th floor. We wanted to take the elevator but the attendant told us to just take the escalator because the waiting time would be too long. Taking the escalator though surprised us as there were attendants guiding the people where to go, what to do, etc. They were like traffic enforcers. π
Shibuya Scramble Square houses a lot of famous brands, international and local brands. To name a few, Coach, Longchamp, Swarovski, Calvin Klein, AΔsop, Converse Tokyo, Nike, and a few more were there. The mall seems like a grand place, fortunately, we were dressed not like peasants. π
We reached the 12th floor where the restaurants are located. That means we went all the way from the 1st floor to here, so we kinda have an idea what's on each floor. We liked the Tully's cafe on the 9th floor because of its ambiance and floor design, so cozy. I'd probably go back there in the future. Starbucks seems small with only a few chairs for so many people. There was a lounge, like an airport lounge, next to it but the fees were too expensive for us who wanted to catch up and not work. That place though is good for people who're alone, or when you want to have a meeting with someone. All-you-can-eat food and drinks are already included in the check-in fee.
We decided to head back to the 6th floor, the cosmetics floor where there's one cafe that attracted us. Their desserts were so beautifully made!
AnnaΚΌs by Landtmann is a small cafe on the corner of 6th floor. Seats are limited and so are their desserts for the day. We didn't mind waiting.
We wasted no time ordering when we reached our seat. We wanted to indulge in our guilt pleasures right away. π
This cake is too much for me. I felt guilty taking all these calories π
We wanted @thinkeringbart to order the strawberry shortcake because that cake is usually the cake for birthdays but it was already sold out. Actually, many of their cakes were, including the pear-shaped cake and apple-shaped cake we saw when we just passed by.
Another friend ordered Belgian chocolate cake which he finished right away and told us it was really so good. Of course we ordered drinks too.
It was so cold outside but I still ordered a cold drink. LOL
Another friend came and she ordered Tiramisu and hot coffee. We continued chatting and eating until we got conscious of the people possibly waiting in line outside.
There were still a few more things that happened that day like exploring another old building in Shibuya and shopping for home stuff and eating dinner but this post has been too long already so I'll just share it some other time. π
That's how we celebrate my friend's birthday. Pretty simple? Yes, because we're grown ups already. (Or probably because it's been delayed and no other place to celebrate π). We might not have grand celebrations but meeting like this and spending time with each other are treasures we will always cherish, especially since all of us are living far away from home.
Thanks for reading!
See you around! γγγγγΎγγοΌ
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.
