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The Tasty Traveler

Official page for The Tasty Traveler blog. Food writer, tour guide, and kakigori enthusiast.

22/11/2024

24 days of Japanese food!

You’ve probably seen this calendar from all your other favorite Japanese foodie creators, but ya girl was busy getting married! Now, I finally have a chance to curl up and enjoy this amazing selection from .

Love the taste of Japanese treats? Count down to Christmas with this unique advent calendar! This fun calendar includes sweets, snacks, beverages, soups and seasons. I’m especially excited for the tea included 👀 It’s going to be hard to wait until December to try everything!

I’m personally a fan of Kokoro Care. They make it their mission to find and support small business from around Japan, and share their goods with a larger international market. And ofc tasty treats is what I love to share with you!

Today is the last day to order to receive this calendar by Dec 1st! So order now at or comment below “DM” and I’ll send you the link directly!

30/10/2024

This menu is almost 300 years old!

Recently, I was invited to try a meal based on a menu written in 1728! This is the exact meal the Tokugawa Sh**un ate on his pilgrimage to Nikko on April 13th, 1728. This travel meal was served on the first stop the long walk to Nikko, at Shakujōji Temple in Kawaguchi, Saitama.

Recreated by Edo cuisine experts, this meal of rice, fish and tofu would have been considered pretty special in the 1700s. It was considered especially extravagant with the addition of pepper and sugar, ingredients only available to the upper class at that time.

Traditional Japanese cooking has developed a lot since 1728, but this travel bento is not so different from a bento you might pick up at the grocery store today. With a generous portion of rice, plenty of protein and attention to presentation, this meal is fit for both the Sh**un and modern day travelers.

13/06/2024

Kakigori at Parlor Vinefru 🍧

Here’s one of my favorite places to get kakigori, aka Japanese shaved ice, in Ginza.

Located on the third floor, the cafe looks out onto the street from its open balcony style dinning area. Parlor Vinefru offers kakigori and pancakes, but since I usually visit in the summer I always go for the kakigori!

While they have a few regular flavors, they also have a lot of seasonal specials to try. I really like their pistachio strawberry, and I also enjoyed the super refreshing chocolate mint kakigori.

They have an English menu available. The best time to go is during the day on weekdays; be warned the line can get very long on weekends, especially on hot summer days!

📍Parlor Vinefru 銀座
〒104-0061 Tokyo, Chuo City, Ginza, 1 Chome−20−10 3F

📷 2020, 2024

13/04/2024

Yakiniku in Ginza 🥩

No trip to Japan is complete without sampling wagyu, aka Japanese beef! And the best way to try some of the highest quality beef in the world is by enjoying yakiniku.

Visiting a yakiniku restaurant like Yakiniku Azasu in Ginza is a great introduction to the world of Japanese beef. Up on the 11th floor, Yakiniku Azasu offers DIY yakiniku with a city view.

The counter along the windows are lined with round grills, so customers can cook their premium beef to their liking. However, when beef is this good, sometimes the best way to enjoy it is raw!

Here’s the course we got to sample: it started with a salad, complete with little slices of cheese in the shape of a cow. This was followed by “mille-feuille yukhoe”, an interesting take on a beef tartar, and some fantastic beef sushi.

After that, we enjoyed three different grilled dishes: one with lemon, premium cuts of beef, and a “sukiyaki” style dish with beef dipped in raw egg. We ended the meal with a beef ochazuke, aka beef over rice with broth.

The beef sushi was my favorite part, it was so buttery and delicious! But I’m also such a sucker for sukiyaki, so I really enjoyed that too.

Despite the high end beef, the restaurant is comfortable with friendly staff and cheeky “moo” sound that’s triggered by people arrive at the entrance. Menus and explanations are available in English, and Yakiniku Azasu is eager to welcome visitors to experience Japanese beef!

You can book Yakiniku Azasu through the affiliate link in my bio. If you visit, be sure to tag me and let me know what you think!

📍Yakiniku Azasu, Ginza

📷 11.04.24

12/04/2024

Sakura fubuki in Nagoya 🌸

This week we went to visit Nagoya. Despite the forecast calling for rain, we were greeted with a beautiful, sunny day as we explored Nagoya castle.

Even though it didn’t rain, it was super windy, which made the sakura petals blow off the trees. Sometimes the wind was so strong we saw little sakura tornados.

When the cherry blossoms start to fall, it’s call “sakura fubuki”. It’s a beautiful thing to experience, and it’s fun to try to catch the petals as they fall.

I’m very excited to share all about our trip to Nagoya, and all the tasty treats we ate there!

📍 Nagoya Castle
1-1 Honmaru, Naka Ward, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0031

📷 09.04.24

16/02/2024

Birthday wish at Sakura Jingū Shrine 🌸

The two beautiful early blooming Kawazu-zakura trees at this pretty shrine may not be in full bloom yet, but I wanted to stop by today to visit and pray for good luck on my birthday.

I bought a cute pink ribbon to tie onto the tree, but realized while writing out my wish that I didn’t have much to wish for… because I’m already living my dream life. So I just wrote a message of thanks instead.

Ten years ago was one of the lowest points of my life- if that 24 year old version of me could see where I am now, she wouldn’t believe it. I’m so thankful to be where I am today.

Thank you to everyone for all your support and kind words.

📍 Sakura Jingū Shrine
3 Chome-21-3 Shinmachi, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0014

📷 16.02.24 .f

#桜神宮

16/02/2024

Strawberry and pistachio croissant 🍓

The other day I stoped by Yellow, a cute little cafe in Setagaya that makes fresh croissants. I ordered their winter special, which is this delectable croissant with fresh strawberries and pistachio cream, along with a hot chai latte.

The croissant was so flaky and buttery! And the fillings were the perfect blend of sweetness without overpowering the light pastry.

The lighting inside the cafe was beautiful, and I enjoyed a nice break from my walk here.

📍 Yellow CAFE
Tokyo, Setagaya City, Daizawa, 4 Chome−17−19 Ｎビル

📷 13.02.24

#東京カフェ巡り #東京カフェ

31/12/2023

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope your year was full of fun travel and delicious food! Feel free to share a photo of a cool place you visited or a tasty meal you ate in 2023.

I’ll start- one of the coolest places I traveled to this year was the Tsumekizaki columnar joints towards in the southern part of the Izu peninsula! I really enjoyed scrambling around these rock formations.

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