It was my last week in Tokyo and I really wanted to experience as much as possible before I left.
Unfortunately most of my Japanese friends were busy job-hunting at that time, something we call 就職活動.
Definitely one of the most daunting, time-consuming, energy-draining activity you could ever go through in your life.
Or what is the end of it, seeing as you lose all life after you enter the working world.
(At least, that's what I personally feel.)
Unlike other developed or developing countries, Japan has a very traditional requirement of having candidates handwrite their own Resumes/CVs/Cover Letter.
This ultimately means having to spend weeks, months even ensuring that all your application forms and statement of purposes are completed in perfectly legible handwriting without a single hint of mistake.
Liquid paper and correction tapes strictly prohibited.
And with us being only humans, its almost impossible to perfectly complete an application without a slip of the hand.
Which then means...
You have to start
ALL OVER AGAIN!!!
(_ _,)/~~白旗〜
Get's pretty frustrating doesn't it??
Not to forget the countless seminars and company introduction and information sessions for potential candidates of which you must attend to stand a chance of being recruited.
An average candidate applies for 20 position or so before being successfully accepted into one.
20 positions x 10 sheets of application forms etc each
=
Approximately 200 sheets of paper to fill in!!!
+
Enormous sacrifice of social and leisure time
=
That would be me in a few years time.
Can't say that I'm looking forward to it.
(_￣■￣_)
Anyways, back to the main topic.
I wanted to visit the Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant for a long time, even before I reached Tokyo.
Unfortunately no one else seemed too interested and so my plan kept dragging on until the end of the month when I had to leave.
I tried walking in the day before but could not get a seat as it was fully booked.
It was a Friday night,
I should have known better.
The receptionist advised me to book a table for the following day and so I did,
even though dining alone in a themed restaurant would almost certainly attract unwanted gazes from fellow patrons.
I returned the next day full of enthusiasm and was guided promptly into the storybook world of Alice and her companions.
(My apologies for the rather bad pictures of the interior. The lighting was terrible so as to create a fantastical atmosphere and I only had my iPhone to work with.)
ごめんちゃいm( __ __ )m
The entrance was well hidden behind a huge storybook that looked like a wall.
No one was allowed to enter until the receptionist pulled back the giant book and guided you in one table at a time.
The interior was filled with hanging chandeliers, and furniture designed to look like it was transported from the Victorian era, which funnily, was when Alice in Wonderland was written.
The waitresses donned outfits similar to the ones worn in Maid Cafes, only slightly longer.
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| It was rather lonely visiting the restaurant alone... >.<. Everyone else had a friend or date. |
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| The Table Setting |
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| The beginning of Alice's journey to Wonderland |
After a few minutes, I was handed the huge menu and was amazed at how heavy it was!!
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| Pop-Up Menu |
“Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!”
-Alice in Wonderland
The menu was a bit of a pain to go through as it was annoyingly thick, which meant that they had hundreds of food choices to pick from.
And it only added on to the frustration, the fact that they decided to create weird nicknames for the food, and not explain what the ingredients inside were for some of the dishes.
For example,
[時計ウサギのグリーンサラダ]
(The White Rabbit's Green Salad)
Note: The Japanese call him the Watch Rabbit.
[ハートの女王様のお庭]
(The Queen of Heart's Garden)
Pray, what lies in your garden your highness?
[眠りネズミのうたたねティラミス]
(The Dormouse's Nap/Snooze Tiramisu)
Note: The Japanese call him the Sleeping Mouse.
And the weirdest of them all would have to be
[小さくなったアリスの 大きな大きなハニートーストハウス]
(Literally translated to mean the Huge Huge Honey Toast House of the Alice That Has Shrunk)
It is really creative and cute I have to admit,
but not when you're dying of starvation and really,
would just like to pick something quick and order up.
However, I'm still impressed at the fact that they're able to offer so many choices and still produce amazingly good food.
The chefs must have very good memory.
While waiting for my food to be served,
the waitress handed me a complimentary Amuse-Bouche.
It was hard to decipher what it really was but my tastebuds picked up ginger, garlic, onion and possible some egg yolk and potato.
Not too sure what to make of it.
It had a really unique taste that would not have appealed to the mass.
Nevertheless I was starving and maanged to finish half of it before my food arrived.
σ(~〜~、)ﾑｼｬ ﾑｼｬ
Here is my main course,
topped with a Spades cracker.
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| Spaghetti with Prawns in Tomato Cream Sauce |
The cracker was to die for, and the spaghetti cooked perfectly Al Dente (which is one of my pet peeves when it isn't), the massive amount of huge prawns (I counted 12!!) made this one of the best spaghetti I've ever had in a restaurant.
One thing I love about the Japanese is that they don't stinge on ingredients and you always get the best of everything, unlike Malaysia, or the UK for that matter.
I love spaghetti and sadly could never find a place that does it properly in London.
Usually they all come out soggy, overcooked, tasteless with hardly any meat visible to the naked eye.
Finally it was time for dessert!!
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| Ice Cream and Roll Cake Dessert Platter |
I was really lucky to be able to sample this platter as their menus are changed regularly,
and so this could have been the one and only chance I had to taste this particular dessert.
The whole plate consisted of:
Strawberry Ice Cream
Marshmallow and Chocolate Top Hat
Strawberry and Apricot Purée
Alice-shaped Puff Pastry
Caterpillar-shaped Green Tea Roll Cake topped with Raspberries and Cream
Chocolate Wafer Sticks
Blueberries
Green Tea Powder
Whipped Cream
ヽ（￣￣∇￣￣）ノ ﾗﾝﾗﾝ♪
Wowwwwwww...
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| Isn't Mr Caterpillar adorable?? :3 |
The dessert was the highlight of the night and I left, almost unable to walk.
I still regret the fact that I was unable to order a starter as the portions were ginormous.
Nonetheless,
I'm looking forward to my next visit in September!!
This time I'll have a whole year's worth of time to fully explore Tokyo.
楽しみ~!!
Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ ﾜｰｲ♪
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