迷宮の国のアリス Alice In A Labyrinth

（＊＾з＾●） /~~~ オヒサ～♪

It's been a while but I've been busy getting myself settled down for my year in Japan.

The ridiculous amount of work and classes you get is the price you pay for wanting to enter a top-notch university.

T^T

As usual, my fascination for themed restaurants has got the better of me.

I've visited a few different ones nearly 10 times since I arrived one and a half months ago!!

びゃははは　(≧ω≦)ｂ

And now the only major themed restaurant that I haven't visited is the Pirates one in Odaiba.

Too far.

>.<

This time it's another Alice restaurant in a different location.

~GINZA~

The interior is much smaller and feels rather crowded as compared to the ones in Shibuya and Shinjuku. However this was the first Alice restaurant where I actually saw other foreigners.

(゜ロ゜)ギョェ

To be more specific:

Westerners!!

One of the waitresses was American and I was incredibly impressed up till the point where she fumbled and failed to describe the drink that was served to me.

Nor was she able to say anything other than smile at me.

Apart from the few necessary phrases it seemed like she couldn't speak Japanese very well.

Not that I'm excellent (I'm terrible too!! >.<)

but I thought that the restaurant should have been more stringent in screening their applicants.

Wonder how she got the job.

@.@

Sadly the Tea Cup seat is reserved for big groups only. T^T

The customary table layout.

And now for the thing that always gets me really excited about visiting Alice restaurants~!!

♪~♪ d(⌒o⌒)b♪~♪ﾗﾝﾗﾝ

TADAAAAAAAA~!!

The Menu~!!

This time I managed to make it here on the day before their Halloween campaign ended so the special menu was still available.

Jack O Lantern - Alcoholic Cocktail with Mango Liqueur, Orange Juice and Mango Juice
Ghost Night - Alcoholic Cocktail with Coffee Liqueur and Cola
Trick or Treat - Dessert Plate (Details below!! Yes I ordered it!!)
*Mostly just because I wanted to add another figurine to my lucky draw collection.

The best part of the special Halloween menu is that each person who orders something out of the menu will receive a random Alice in Wonderland character figurine.
In my 4 previous visits I managed to NOT draw the same character twice BUT I still did not get the White Rabbit figurine which was the one I really wanted.
(>へ＜)

Specially available for the branch in Ginza only is the collaboration with model AMO, who designed the Lunatic Lemony Lollipop cocktail, available in both alcoholic or non-alcoholic versions.

I was in no mood for alcohol, especially not when I was alone, so non-alcoholic it is for me~!!

^_^"

Moving on to the normal cocktail menu...

That folds out to look like the Mad Hatter's Top Hat.

And the prettiest menu of all the branches!!

It's ridiculously amazing that this diorama is actually foldable and if you take a closer look at the clock, it actually moves!!

Everything is hand crafted to perfection and the designer of this diorama must be one hell of a crazy guy. Or girl.

Even the lights are real~!! (゜ロ゜)ギョェ 

It's no surprise that I still can't figure out how the diorama works but it's time to move on to the next part - the decorations!!

Everything's Halloween themed!!

Why is Halloween such a big deal in Japan?

Well for starters its a great opportunity for people to hold parties, dress up and get wild.

Though to be honest no one actually knows what they're celebrating or what Halloween really means.

The customary skull and Jack-O-Lantern.

And then my drink arrived~

With a vial of mysterious looking blue potion.

The beautiful star shaped thingys are actually ice, much to my disappointment.

I was hoping they would be jellies of some sort.

As you can see the drink is originally pink in colour.

As Pink Lemonade should be.

But what happens when you add in the blue potion??

Every last drop...

And the lemonade turns blue.

I've got to say though that I think it looked much more appetising in pink.

But taste wise I figured the blue liquid might actually just be lemon liqueur because the whole thing tasted of nothing more than lemons.

Next, the Amuse-Bouche. 

Wasn't exactly sure what the white goo was initially but it turned out to be melted cheese of some sort.

I half wanted it to be condensed milk but I guess it's not possible to serve something sweet at the start of the meal.

For the main course, as usual, I ordered my favourite Spaghetti.

I usually get torn between cream sauces or tomato based sauces but I always end up giving in to the tomato based one purely due to the fact that it comes in the form of a grinning Cheshire Cat.

Aubergine Spaghetti Bolognese

He's looking at you~!! （･∀･）ﾆﾔﾆﾔ 

And finally the much awaited dessert plate~!!

o(●´ω｀●)oわくわく♪

Trick or Treat~!! (^-^)o ぐー

I always appreciate the intricate details. ^_^

Mr Choux Pastry Cheshire Cat with Apple Flavoured Vanilla Mousse and Whipped Cream (Lots and lots of it!!)

Mr Biscuit Bat and Red Velvet Macaroon on a Base of Fruit Compote

Mr Sugar Choux Pumpkin on top of Kiwi and Strawberry Puree and Whipped Cream (again!!)

Mr Not-Sure-Who-It-Is Tart made from Whipped Cream, Pumpkin Mousse and topped with a Chocolate and Marshmallow Top Hat 

Mr Green Tea Roll Cake Caterpillar

I think the choux pastry on top of Mr. Caterpillar is supposed to be a ghost but...

ビミョウ

┐(￣ー￣)┌

The eyes actually look rather creepy...

The Whole Family

The wonderful part of these seasonal things is that they're always created to perfection and filled with creativity and really fun to eat.

The not-so-wonderful part is that you'll never be able to eat them again.

｡･ﾟﾟ(ﾉД`)あﾞ〜ん 

食べ過ぎちゃった~!!
ヾ(@⌒_⌒@)ﾉ ｳﾏﾋｨ

Here's to hoping that they'll bring back something similar next year!!

絵本の国のアリス Alice In Fantasy Book Restaurant

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.

It was rather lonely visiting the restaurant alone... >.<. Everyone else had a friend or date.

The Table Setting

                  

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!!

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.

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!!

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...

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♪

USJ Elmo Cup Noodles

ドモ ＼(^_^ ) ( ^_^)／ ドモ

As you can guess from the title, this post is all about Elmo...

CUP NOODLES~!!

〜(Ｔ▽Ｔ〜)(〜Ｔ▽Ｔ)〜

If you haven't already figured it out, I'm a HUGE sucker for all things cute and wacky, especially when they're made into food products.

I bought the cup noodles a long time ago during my last visit to Universal Studios Japan but never had a chance to eat it until now.

(Actually, it was too cute to eat and I couldn't bear the thought of having to throw out the cup after finishing the noodles.)

Here it is~!!

The name of the cup noodle is called "Sesamen" which is a play on the words "Sesame Street"'s "Sesame" and "Men" which is Japanese for noodles.

"Sesame-n"

Get it?

（≧∇≦）ぶぁっはっはっ！！

Close up of the cover

As for the flavour...
Sesame Soy Sauce

I guess they had to fit in "Sesame" somewhere to make it sound more convincing.

160 calorie snack

And the best part of it all is that it's surprisingly low in calories!!

It is a mini cup to be fair, but it filled me up nonetheless to last through the night as I got hungry just before bed.

I don't normally snack at all, but the low calories were too much of a temptation.

（*/∇＼*） ｷｬ 

Elmo-shaped Fish Cakes included

They're staring at me!! 

It's clear that they did not stinge on the "fish cakes" like most other instant noodle brands do.

5 is a good number for such a small cup of noodles.

Elmo's nose looks more like a bird's beak, don't you think?

>.<"

 And now for the taste test!!

（￣〜；￣）

The Elmo fish cakes tasted like the real deal, 

very similar to the Narutos you find in normal Ramen.

Unfortunately it was too tiny in size to actually get much bite out of it.

The novelty factor obviously was the selling point.

ヾ(@⌒_⌒@)ﾉ ｳﾏﾋｨ

I could distinctly taste the sesame flavour and the soy sauce wasn't too strong.

All in all it was a good balance of flavours.

Too bad I only have one more cup left.

Maybe I'll keep it as a souvenir instead...

(ﾟдﾟ)