Travel Bucket List - Japan (Day 3 : Tokyo)

Leaving Japan's second largest city behind, we traveled about an hour to Tokyo where we stayed in Hotel Sardonyx in Hatchobori. This fairly-new hotel is so ideally located (Lawson store and Yoshinoya opposite the road, 100m away from Hatchobori subway station and 15-minute walk to Tokyo Train Station), room spacious, service remarkable and lots of free amenities for guests to refill each day (eg bath salts, moisturizers, coffee and tea sachets, face masks, etc)

There's even a hot and cold tea dispenser right at the lobby for waiting guests. Book online early and you could get a deal below RM 400/night here.

 The receptionist even gave a kid's welcome pack with bedroom slippers, games, mini bath sponge, etc. Sorry forgot to take a pic of it.

My travel mates were hooked on Doutour Coffee that it became a staple morning beverage every single day here! I must admit the only sip i took of it did taste out-of-this-world.  That explains why Yin Peng was stoked that the hotel housekeeping replenishes the complimentary coffee/tea section with Doutour coffee packs. And even more ecstatic that i doubled up her supply by being a non-coffee drinker. 

 Getting our breakfast take away was one of the things i looked forward to every early morning! Everything looked fresh and tasted perfect!

Our first proper meal in Tokyo was this 'must-go-first' place highly raved about by Kristy. This place is called Rokurinsha, known to be Tokyo's best dip ramen (tsukemen). Be prepared to queue for about 30 min to an hour here.   

 Yup, it's a very small restaurant packed with locals and foreigners, but rest assured, the turnover is very fast. Diners here have enough decency to slurp their noodles hurriedly without taking more than the required number of selfies.

The dipping broth was slightly thick and salty for my taste but once you dip the thick noodles into it and slurp it, the taste gives you a punch in the stomach! So flavourful and rich, i wonder how long it took to make that broth. This is a small serving but it was just oodles and oodles of noodles for me! Unless you're super hungry, one could share a bowl. I think this was about 1000 yen (RM 40)/ bowl.

See those Westerners beside our table? Yup, this was how close the tables were to one another.

Afterwards, we explored Tokyo Station and came across a Pokemon Centre. It has a huge selection of mons, i wished i could own them all! Too bad they don't come cheap. 

There's even Meltan for sale!

These lil cutesies got to come home with me!

As i chilled in my cool cosy room that night, my travel mates met up with an old Japanese colleague for dinner. I decided to have a Michelin star dinner myself - a Tsuta Cup Noodle

My balanced diet consisted of my pork slice, scallions, bamboo shoot, noodles sauce and truffle oil. Took my first bite and i was immediately hooked on it. The overall experience was so genuine, it almost felt like the noodles were freshly prepared. The meat surprisingly was tender and kinda juicy too. Bamboo shoots still had that crunchiness in it despite bring dehydrated.

Kinda regretted only bringing back 2 bowls in my suitcase. I need to pack more space next time.
Price : 350 Yen (approx RM 14) per bowl.