TacoCat’s Travels #263 (Tokyo): Budget-Friendly Eats in Ginza! 😋

Hey Hive!

If you missed the last post, I started sharing about our trip to Tokyo back in Feb 2023 that we went on to celebrate our anniversary! It'd been at least 3 years since we visited Tokyo and the last time was pre-covid so we decided to go back and find some new places to explore while revisiting our favourite hot-spots.

Last week, we had a late flight to Tokyo so we enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner in Changi Airport's famous SATS Premier Lounge before heading to our flight on new JAL's new budget airline - ZipAir!

After we arrived, we took an express train to the city but not before checking out the new Nintendo Visitor Service Center booth! Unfortunately it was closed at the time since it was early in the morning but it was still really cool to see life-sized Mario!

We left off after checking in to our hotel but since it was early and our room wasn't ready, we left our bags at reception and went to explore the city! Let's go!

2 Feb 2023. Wednesday.

Our hotel is just a stone's throw away from Ginza, Tokyo’s premier shopping hub, where luxury brands line the streets and fashion reigns supreme.

We're not really fans of luxury brands but we've never stayed there before and it's a really convenient location so we figured we'd give it a try.

Fortunately, the area boasts a variety of regular shops and budget-friendly restaurants, making it accessible for travelers on any budget, not just those with deeper pockets.

We were pretty hungry and it was right around lunch time so we went about finding some cheap food to try, and came across this curry shop that smelled really good.

The katsu curry looked good and was also pretty affordable so we decided to check it out.

The shop is quite narrow but deceptively small, they had some window seats and we thought that was it for the shop but they had a bigger seating area in the back.

We were afraid that there wouldn't be enough seats since it was peak lunch hour and it was clear this place catered mostly to office workers, but thankfully we managed to score two seats no problem.

The menu is pretty simple; it was basically curry with rice with various toppings like cheese, egg, vegetables or meat in some form including cutlets, croquette and patties.

We ordered and made payment at the counter and waited for our order to be ready. I think we ordered one of the bigger sets which came with a cutlet, two croquettes and an egg for 990JPY which is pretty decent since a cutlet rice is already 740.

We had to sit with the divider between us which was not removable unfortunately but it was alright.

The curry itself was really good and really hot, temperature-wise. But we were so hungry and it smelled soo good it was worth slightly burning the inside of our mouths for a taste!

The spice level was just right at medium and the cutlets were nice and crispy.

I'd say this curry rice is on par with other curry places we've heard and tried in Japan and Singapore. It's weird that we've never heard of this one since it's really good too! 

Apparently it's been around for 50 years and they use a special onion curry. I remember it being full of flavour and spices so just eating the curry on its own with rice is actually good enough too.

After that very satisfying meal, we headed back out into the cold which was more bearable now that our bellies were full of warm curry.

There was a mini bakery near the station that had the intoxicating aroma of freshly baked bread that we couldn't resist.

They had a relatively small selection of freshly baked breads like croissants and danishes. We bought a few for snack time later.

We walked through the station and connecting mall on the way back to the hotel since it was almost time for our room to be ready.

It was quite cloudy then which made the weather a lot colder, but the weather helped to keep me awake since I didn't get much sleep on the plane.

We arrived back at the entrance to Mercure hotel Ginza and took the lift up to the reception.

While waiting in the lobby, I found myself taking a short, unexpected nap on the vibrant and eclectic furniture. Surprisingly, it was quite comfortable!

Soon enough, our room was ready! We took our luggage and headed up to go and settle in.

The entryway may be narrow, but once you step inside, the room reveals a cozy charm that's typical of Tokyo hotels. While it's on the smaller side, the vibrant patterns and colors create a welcoming atmosphere that truly enhances the space.

The bathroom is quite simple but of course they had the typical high-tech Japanese toilet. It was also quite open with storage and no closed cabinets which is good for a small space I suppose.

We settled in and took a nap since we were quite sleep-deprived and ended up waking about 4-5 hours later.

By the time we awoke it was dark out and just in time for dinner!

It was even colder now that it was night time but seeing all the lights turn on strangely made me feel at home. It was a sight I didn't realise how much I missed in Japan.

We came across this shop called Hakuhinkan Toy Park which sounded interesting and they had a illuminated Christmas tree on their building!

With no dinner plans in mind, we strolled through the vibrant streets, letting our cravings guide us. Each restaurant window was like a canvas of culinary delights, and we found ourselves drawn to the tantalizing aromas and lively atmospheres. It was an impromptu food adventure, where each step revealed a new savory surprise.

With the chill in the air, all I craved was the comforting warmth of a steaming bowl of ramen. There's something magical about slurping up those rich, flavorful noodles on a cold day—it’s the ultimate cozy escape!

We came across this restaurant that looked like a cafe, called Tokyo Premium Ringer Hut. They were advertising this bowl of noodles with a huge mountain of corn on top which caught our eye since Sean loves corn.

The interior also looked nice and welcoming so we decided to try the place out.

They were definitely promoting the corn noodle bowls a lot, and it did look appetising and healthy with so much vegetables.

But they seem to specialise in dumplings/gyoza as well, with different fillings and special gyoza sets.

They had both dry and soup noodles as well as different gyoza sets.

All their noodle dishes seem to be piled with vegetables which is not something you'd see often, and definitely not with regular ramen. They also had noodles with gyoza sets which was what I decided to get.

Sean ordered his corn noodles which did actually come with a mountain of corn on top of some noodles in a thick broth.

I ordered a more milky-based broth noodles with some mixed vegetables and meat, along with 5 dumplings.

The soup was quite flavourful and such a warm comfort against the cold. The noodles themselves were quite average but I like that it came with a nice variety of greens and mushrooms. It was still pretty decent.

Sean was really excited for his corn noodles and it did look really delicious and golden. His soup was a lot more flavourful and sweet due to the corn but I think our noodles were otherwise the same.

The dumplings were not super crispy like the other gyoza place we used to frequent called Gyoza Osho but it was still pretty good and had a light crisp on the bottom.

It oddly also came with this pesto sauce that I thought was wasabi but tasted more herb-like than I was expecting.

Overall, it was a pretty delicious meal. Nothing fantastic but it was decent enough and I was very satisfied to have something warm in my belly to guard against the cold outside. The atmosphere of the restaurant was also quite homely and cozy.

After we took a short break it was time to venture out into the cold once again, before the warmth of the soup wore off.

Of course we had to end our day shopping at our favourite variety store - Donki Hote!

I've shared about this store chain before and if you've visited Japan you know what this store is like but they basically sell everything from snacks to groceries and household goods to toys, costumes and exercise equipment! Their typical stores span a whole building with multiple floors for different categories of products.

This particular outlet seemed a little different compared to the usual Donki Hote, with different wholesale grocery store attached to it.

We found our way to the regular Donki Hote after browsing the grocery though and it really hits different.

This one was relatively smaller spanning two floors but they still managed to squeeze in as much variety of goods as possible.

They really had almost everything you could ever need on a trip.

We saw a humongous bag of chips for 4 bucks that I was sorely tempted to try.

Some novelty playing cards with different themes like Studio Ghibli and a Peanuts one that I bought.

Backpacks and luggage bags if you ran out of space during your trip:

Toys and souvenirs:

There was also a bedding section where I found this huge and soft cat plushie!

And if you didn't know, they also have an Adults Only section full of.. adult products.

There were even some goofy ones like this pp plush and keychain that was just in the open.

We also saw some really cute Nintendo plushies and souvenirs that I was so tempted to get as well.

Lastly, the massive snack section with a myriad of KitKat flavours!

With day one of our adventure unfolding, we made a conscious effort to resist the urge to splurge. Instead, we opted for a few tasty snacks to keep us fueled during our explorations. Still, the temptation of tempting trinkets and local treasures was hard to resist, but we managed to stick to our plan!

After all that shopping, Sean wanted some snacks for supper so we got some McNuggets on the way back to the hotel! They had spicy McNuggets which is something we haven't seen in a while so it was worth trying.

It was pretty good, and was indeed spicy which was a surprise for Japanese food. It was a nice snack though!

That concludes our first day in Tokyo this trip! Hope you enjoyed it and look forward to more next week!

Thanks so much for reading!

To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!

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Check out my previous post in this series!

TacoCat’s Travels #262 (Tokyo): Lounging Around before Rediscovering Tokyo 🗼

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