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To me, Harajuku is such a remarkable place. But to be honest, I have no clue what sparked a culture of cosplayers and such to walk the streets with their outfits or sparked such diverse tastes in fashion that one could find in the many streets, alleyways, shops, and of course, on people. I would call it street fashion at its best, backed by diversity and dare. But what about the food? Does Harajuku toss up just as daring, unique, and diverse offerings to feed their fashionistas?
I ventured by train to Harajuku Station where I took the Takeshita (North) Exit that landed me right at Takeshita Dori, the famous shopping street of Harajuku and where Daiso can be found. Just a little further down the street and on the opposite side of Daiso, I found a staircase that led to something heavenly. You guessed it, a food court!
The food court was very spacious and well-kept. I would say there was about 10 stalls opened that served a variety of cuisines – Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and many were some sort of fusion. Since Harajuku was mainly an area for young people, food was generally less expensive than the average Japanese meal in Tokyo.
Soon enough, my foodie senses tingled. You may be familiar with takoyaki, but have you eaten a bakudanyaki before? I sure haven’t. Heck I don’t even know where to find one in Toronto. But bakudanyaki are sold all over Tokyo and I was about to try one. They were basically an upsized takoyaki whereby upsized I mean almost the size of my head. Inside the bakudanyaki were a variety of ingredients. With my limited Japanese, I couldn’t make out a large portion of the menu. So I ended up ordering the ‘regular’ (レギュラー) for ¥350 and will soon find out what I’m eating.
The ‘regular’ was topped with bonito flakes and a familiar takoyaki sauce. The inside had some corn, assorted veggies, cheese, hot dog pieces, and assorted seafood. It was very hot on the inside so the melted cheese wrapped everything together and was very tasty. They use the same dough for making takoyaki but maybe because it came in a larger portion that I thought it was too much. As you can imagine, this bakudanyaki was really filling. All in all, it was very good and reminded me of how much I enjoy simple comfort foods.
I’m not even sure what to call this, but basically, it’s an egg crêpe with a mysterious pink sauce and wrapped inside is some chicken, if I remember correctly. Or ham perhaps? A friend of mine ordered this and she seemed to like the taste.
I also bought a bubble tea from this shop called Pearl Lady. It was a strawberry green tea drink with colored tapioca and jelly. I initially ordered the tapioca but later changed my mind to jelly when I found out what the choices were (language barrier). But they made it already so I said to leave it. Turns out, the texture of the jelly and tapioca complemented each other as the jelly was soft and the tapioca was chewy. The strawberry green tea was also really refreshing and I’m sure it was mostly sugar but nonetheless, the combination worked. Drinks here sell for ¥300 more or less. If you need a refreshing treat from shopping I would totally recommend this place.
There was also a shop that sold assorted tamasen. I didn’t know what tamasen was until this trip to Japan. It’s some sort of cracker that normally squishes an egg in between and / or other ingredients. The texture resembles that of a hard taco but a little thicker. In this shop, the popular items are ‘ham and cheese tamasen’ and the ‘mentai and mayonnaise squid grilling tamasen’.
This is a freshly made tuna, egg and mayonnaise tamasen priced at ¥280. It tastes pretty good! I might give the other flavors a try next time.
And finally, there’s a shop that sells taiyaki which is a fish-shaped cake filled with red bean. They made them fresh and you can order the flavor of cake you want. This one’s the green tea flavor and although it’s green, there’s not much of a green tea flavor because it’s overpowered by the red bean filling. Green tea is such a delicate flavor. But nothing beats a hot, freshly made cake. And if your sweet tooth is calling for you, get one of these!
So in the end it was quite a satisfying dining experience. I would recommend this food court if you’re wondering where to eat in Harajuku. It’s good that you can choose whatever you like because Japanese restaurants tend to specialize in one thing. So this food court gives variety. And of course, Harajuku is a great place to fulfill all your fashion needs because shops range from top international brand names to shops selling clothing which are entirely accessible to young people. If you’ve never been to Tokyo, this is the place to explore. And don’t forget to check out Daiso!
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