J.S Pancake Cafe was our first stop in Shimokitazawa, a neighborhood located on the west side of Tokyo. Shimokitazawa is mentioned in every list of ‘Tokyo’s most Hipster\Indie\Young\Popular neighborhoods’. It is casual and charming, with narrow crisscrossing alleys of low construction packed with vintage and second hand clothing stores. However, I personally found Nakameguro and Koenji to be much more attractive. Read More
Being the sweet tooth that I am, and seeing as how I’m deprived of them in my homeland, I’m always on the lookout for doughnuts. During my Tokyo visit, I got to taste doughnuts from three different places: Floresta, Krispy Kreme and Mister Donut. To my enjoyment two of them offered special Halloween doughnuts! Read More
One of the most known and visited markets in Tel Aviv is the Carmel Market, which was established in 1920. The market is located right in the center of the city, close to the sea, Alenby street and Nachlat Binyamin. The market is filled with grocery stalls piled high with fresh fruits and vegetables, bakeries, butcheries, deli shops, artisan cheese, candy, herbs and spices, as well as cheap clothing items and various knick knacks. Read More
One of the first things I do when I start to plan itinerary for traveling abroad is check for local food markets. The street food, the merchants, the people, the vibe – food markets often embed the essence of the city\neighborhood. As opposed to London, where you can find many street food markets, I couldn’t find that many in Tokyo. The one that stood above the rest was Commune 246 – an open air street food market located in the hip neighborhood of Harajuku. It is a bit distanced from the commotion typical to Takeshita street and its area and the population type is much different. The people who go to Commune 246 are older and you’ll probably encounter many foreigners. Read More
Nakamise shopping street is 250 meters long and has close to 100 shops and stalls in which you can find traditional as well as cheesy souvenirs and authentic Japanese snacks. The street leads to the famous Sensoji Temple. The temple is the oldest and most visited temple in Tokyo. If your visit in Tokyo is short, and you have time for only one temple, I would highly recommend visiting this one. Read More
During November the most popular restaurants from around the world sent their chefs for an entire week to take over the kitchen of some of the most exciting restaurants in Tel Aviv. This big culinary project is called Round Tables. The dinner at Catit was not part of this project. So why am I telling you all of this? Since I was too late to join the party and book a table to the Round Tables project, I missed the places I wanted to visit. The only tables left were in restaurants that less interested me. I was truely disappointed so when I saw chef Meir Adoni of Catit is hosting Enrique Olvera, the chef of the best restaurant in Mexico, I was so thrilled. I felt like this would be the perfect “compensation”.
Truck De Luxe has been a favorite of mine ever since they opened. The place is actually the second one from the folks behind Pundak De Luxe, which is located in the midst of Jaffa Flea Market. They opened Truck De Luxe right by Dizengoff Square, next to 6 in May restaurant that made aliyah from Jerusalem. First thing you’ll notice about this place is the big truck inside the restaurant. This place is the closest you’ll get to a food truck in Tel Aviv since there’s a municipal by law which prohibits peddling. This is really a shame since I love the food truck culture very much. Read More
A bit terrifying to think the total number of calories of all the Kit Kat that I currently have in my house is 7456.
Japanese Kit Kat was something I have dreamed about tasting for a long time. While visiting Tokyo I set myself a goal to grab as many different Kit Kat flavors as I could find. Finding them was not always easy, but it was well worth it. They all have really unique tastes and smells, not to mention very cool packaging. I also really like how each box\piece of Kit Kat has a space on the back for writing personal notes. That space is meant for friends and family to write words of encouragement to students which are studying for their entrance exams. That is probably because Kit Kat sounds similar to the “kitto katsu” – a Japanese phrase roughly translated as “you will surely win\succeed”. Read More
We started our Friday walkabout with a visit to the Meat Paleo Market, which took place at Tel Aviv Port. Meat Paleo initiate all kind of events for the paleolithic community, and this time they organized this great market and brought together the best of Israeli produce straight from the breeders and farmers. Meat Paleo do these kind of events every once in a while, so you can follow them on Facebook if you would like to know when the next event is taking place. Read More
One of my favorite thing to do when I’m abroad is visit the local supermarkets and grocery stores. I really like seeing what the supermarkets are packed with and look for stuff I can’t find at home. This time I really pushed my limits as I’ve returned from Tokyo with an entire suitcase full of snacks and random sweets. Here I plan to share some images and impressions from each. Every now and then I’ll add more snacks as I open and taste them. Read More