Yesterday we went to check out the bakery we had been interested in for a while.

It’s called Boushu.

It’s an interesting name, and I asked the owner about it.

She told me that Boushu “芒種” is a Japanese word to indicate the season when seeds for grains are planted.

They pick ingredients carefully and make their own yeast naturally.

All the bread looked great.

But we came home with a loaf of Boule, a small loaf of Earl Grey Orange bread, and a Potato Focaccia.

They were all delicious.

We’ll definitely go back, probably regularly.

It’s a small shop located at the edge of the Endoji Shotengai street.

They kept the old store sign (it seems like it used to be a clothing store?), but they do have a sign that indicates that it’s a bakery outside the store.

It was such a beautiful sunny day, and we decided to go for a walk after dropping off the bread at home.

It was a bit windy, but the wind didn’t feel too cold.

We headed to the Shirakawa Park which is located right in front of the Science museum.

It’s a nice park, and we enjoyed taking our time strolling.

These berries looked yummy, but I’m not sure if they are edible.

On the street right by the park were Netflix trucks that were advertising a new show.

This statue was getting a lot of attention, and there were a lot of people taking pictures.

I believe the show is called “Ikusagami” or “Last Samurai Standing”, adapted from a Japanese manga series.

Before going home we took a detour and stopped at the Osu district.

The Osu business streets are always so lively and fun to visit.

We always seem to end up here for some reason (lol).

There are several Nagoya specialty foods, and this Miso-Nikomi Udon is one of them.

It’s been a long time since last time I had it in Nagoya, and I felt it was about time.

Yesterday was our Pizza Wednesday, and it was perfect because my husband is not a huge fan of Udon; he was happy to head to his favorite pizza place.

Many Udon restaurants in Nagoya serve Miso-Nikomi Udon, but Yamamotoya Honten is the best known for serving the traditional version.

There are a few locations near the Nagoya Station, but I went to the one on Hirokoji Street.

When you order your food on the screen, a small bowl of pickles was quickly served; it comes with all (I believe) Udon dishes.

I ordered their most standard one, Miso-Nikomi Udon, without adding any toppings.

It comes with a bowl of rice; you can tell them not to bring it if you don’t want it, but the price will be the same

I wasn’t sure if I could eat udon and rice both, but I decided to keep the rice because I was tempted to soak it in the rich miso soup after I finish the udon.

This rich dark miso soup is one of the features that make this Nagoya Miso-Nikomi Udon special.

It’s strong, but for some reason, you don’t get tired of it; I finished the last drop!

Another important feature that makes this dish unique is that the noodles are cooked firm, I mean “very al dente”.

I’ve read somewhere that the reason for it is to keep the noodles from becoming soggy in the soup.

On Google some reviewers complain about how “uncooked” the noodles are (lol).

The Udon was delicious, and I surprised myself by eating everything served, including all the rice.

It felt so good to taste what I grew up with after so many years.

The Miso-Nikomi Udon was 1,331 yen including tax.

Initially I felt it was a bit expensive, but after my full belly and heart, it was so worth it.

Oh, the service was great, too.

They refilled my green tea (it’s hot and strong, and served for free) so may times.

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This week we went to IKEA again, for the third time!

We had a few things that we needed from the store, such as curtains.

Since we now have functional items for the most part, I want to start decorating our apartment.

Adding some green will be nice, but I’m just not confident to keep plants alive.

This one we saw at IKEA looked pretty good.

If you are 10 feet away, you won’t know that it’s fake, right?

Today we went to the Fukiage Hall to check out a furniture event.

The event was smaller than expected and a bit disappointing, but we enjoyed exploring the neighborhood.

It was a beautiful day.

The air was clean after the rainy night.

We picked this Sri Lankan restaurant, Meals & Rotti by Pahana, for lunch.

Some of the options did seem vegetarian or even vegan, but I’m not 100% sure.

My husband ordered the Dosa set.

He liked everything but particularly the coconut chutney.

I had the Vege Meal.

It was very good, too.

The curry on the left was my favorite.

I already picked a place for dessert, but when we saw this antique shop we had to stop.

Photography was prohibited, so no pictures, but let me tell you, this place was awesome.

Five (or six) floors were packed with beautiful antique furniture.

I didn’t expect to find any vegan place in this neighborhood, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found this vegan/gluten-free bakery.

It’s called Nijiiro Kitchen.

Niji means rainbow in Japanese.

We wanted to try their cheesecake and chocolate cake, but the chocolate cake was sold out.

This soy yogurt berry cheesecake was delicious.

We were not disappointed with this apple cake either.

I’m usually not a big fan of gluten-free sweets because they tend to be dry, but their cakes were not dry at all.

I don’t know when we will come back, but if we come back, I would love to try their chocolate cake.

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Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

It’s located inside the Endoji business district.

I had seen it and wanted to try their okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is only 200 yen!

I had squid-egg Okonomiyaki, and it was tasty!

We also had Gohei-Mochi, and it was so good!

We shared one this time, but next time we will definitely get two.

I couldn’t believe that there was a baker/cafe in Nagoya that sells vegan croissants.

I looked at their pictures, and the croissants looked fabulous.

So I was so excited to visit the bakery yesterday.

It’s called Poitrie.

The nearest station is Marunouchi Station.

Their lunch menu includes various pasta dishes, one fish dish, and one meat dish.

All come with soup, salad, and some kind of bread.

What I came here for was their bread plate which consists of two pieces of bread of your choice, soup, and salad, and it is, I believe, the only vegan option.

No all the bread is vegan, but luckily, there are a lot of vegan options.

This is their signature item, vegan croissant.

This is the “An Butter” version.

Sweet red beans and vegan butter are sandwiched in the vegan croissant.

The one on the left is Curry Bun; they use soy meat in the curry.

The one on the right is Melon Bun.

They are both vegan.

This may be seasonal.

It’s rye bread with chestnut pieces and paste.

Vegan.

You can even buy vegan Shokupan here.

It was hard to make the decision, but I picked the Curry Bun and the An Butter Croissant.

They warm them up for you.

The curry bun was delicious!

It was very satisfying, and at the same time, it was not greasy at all.

And the An Butter Croissant was absolutely perfect!

This is probably the best vegan croissant I’ve ever tried.

We came home with a few goodies.

Now I have good news and bad news for you.

The bad news is that vegan bread is going to be unavailable starting November, which is tomorrow.

The good news is that we were able to try them before they are discontinued and I was able to at least make a post about it.

Ok, it may not sound like good news, but this makes me realize how important it is to support businesses if you like what they do and want them to continue.

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We bought this variety pack of incense the other day at the historical incense shop , and enjoying incense after dinner has become our daily routine.

It’s so relaxing.

This variety pack is great, because you can try different aroma every night.

So far my favorite is “Palo Santo”.

I had never heard of it before, and it’s so unique and it’s hard to describe this fragrance.

But I would probably describe it as woody, citrusy, with a touch of exotic fruitiness.

Yesterday was Pizza Wednesday, and my husband went to his favorite pizza place, Solo Pizza, for lunch.

He loves their Margherita.

It’s the Napoli style pizza, and the crust shows it’s authentic.

(I didn’t go with him, so I asked him to take a few pictures for the blog.)

Then what did I eat?

Well, I went to Marukame Seimen and enjoyed Kake Udon with Kabocha and young corn tempura.

In general we like to eat together, but sometimes it’s nice to have alone time.

After lunch I decided to continue my solo afternoon, first with a walk to the library.

The Aichi prefecture library is surrounded by the beautiful greenery.

Just like any other libraries, current bestsellers are usually out and with a number of people waiting.

So, what I do is that I get books that were bestsellers 10 years ago.

I’ve been out of Japan for so many years, and I missed all the good books, so I decided to catch up.

The staff at the library are so helpful, and they were able to find all the books I was looking for.

After I left the library I continued my walk to this Tofu shop.

The freshly made tofu looks so good.

Their “Kumi Tofu” is one of the popular items here.

Kumi Tofu is described as soft and delicate.

The sign says their Kumi Tofu has received the Nagoya Mayor Award more than once.

Their Atsu-age looks great, too.

Bags of Okura, sold at 50 yen a bag.

They also sell “fu (gluten)”

The yellow one was labeled as “Awa fu (millet gluten)”.

I should learn how to cook/eat these.

Of course they have soy milk as well.

There are a lot of positive reviews regarding their deli food.

There were so many things I wanted to try, but this time I came home with these.

Last night we ate the Kumi Tofu and Unohana (okara dish), ant they were both very good!

We’ve been having fun discovering vegan restaurants in Nagoya since we moved here about a month ago.

But there was one place that we were excited about RE-visiting.

It’s Toraya Vegetiger Second Room, located at Shinsakae.

It’s a vegan restaurant managed by a wonderful couple, a Japanese wife and an Australian husband.

We visited the restaurant a few years ago during our winter vacation in Japan, and we really liked it, both the food and the people.

It’s a small restaurant, so I recommend making a reservation especially on weekends.

This is me, having a hard time deciding what to order because there are so many things I want to try.

I’ll show you some pages from the menu so that you will understand.

The menu has expanded so much since the last time we were here.

My husband ordered Tiger Plate.

It’s a beautiful plate packed with various well-prepared components.

He said it was super flavorful and loved it.

After contemplating for I-don’t-know-how-long, I decided to try Toraya Vegan Thali.

It was absolutely amazing!

The South Indian style curry was rich and super flavorful, and the other small dishes that came with it were all great too.

Especially the vegan meatballs were exceptional! (I would love to purchase these meatballs, like dozens, and keep them in my freezer (lol).)

We were already talking about coming back even before we left the table (lol).

I want to try one of the noodles next time, but I may have to have the same thing because it was so good.

The decision will be difficult again for sure…

TORAYA VEGETIGER SECOND ROOM

It was a beautiful day yesterday, and after lunch we decided to stroll on the street and hope to find a little snack.

Before finding a snack, we spotted this Japanese tea shop.

As soon as we entered the shop, we were greeted by a couple with a great smile.

While we were browsing the store, the lady invited us to try a cup of tea at the counter.

It smelled wonderful, and we couldn’t resist.

It was strong and delicious.

They told us the leaves were from Shizuoka.

The gentleman told us some interesting stories about the current tea situation (e.g., high demand for Matcha overseas; Asian tourists are now purchasing high-quality Matcha in Japan; when you grind Matcha the traditional way, you can only produce 40g in one hour, etc.).

We also learned that tea leaves are grown in not only certain areas, like Shizuoka and Kyoto, but in many regions of Japan, such as Kyushu.

They generously made another cup of tea for us, this time the one from Kyushu.

The tea was so good that we purchased the leaves.

The package has this warm colors and is perfect for this season.

I’ve never been treated this warmly at any tea shop before.

The couple really made us feel comfortable and want to come back again.

Shinrakuen 新楽園　- They have several locations in Aichi. We visited their main store at Chikusa.

After leaving the tea shop, we became serious about finding our after-lunch sweets.

I did a little google search, we headed to this shop called Fukudaya.

Since a lot of reviewers on Google talked about their Oni-Manju (photo above/right), I was happy to find that they still had a few left.

Oni (demon) Manju originated in Nagoya.

It’s a steamed dough with Satsumaimo sweet potato cubes.

I had Oni Manju many times before, but theirs was definitely the best!

The dough had wonderful texture, not too chewy (I always thought Oni Manju had to have the chewiness, but surprisingly, I liked the not-so-chewy-version better), and the sweetness was perfect.

The Black Sugar steamed cake (my husband’s pick) was also delicious.

It was soft, moist, and had a rich flavor.

By the way, the handsome gentleman in the back (I asked him to be in the photo) is the fifth generation of the family business.

He told us that he actually went to school with the son of the tea shop!

They both became school teachers, but he decided to quit teaching and take over the family business.

He shared a lot of interesting stories about the history of the shop and the neighborhood.

He was so knowledgeable (he said he used to be a Social Studies teacher).

He showed us some tools that they’ve been using to make various sweets, and he told us that many of the tools made by skilled workers from over 100 years ago are better quality than the recent ones.

He also gave us a map of Nagoya of the time when the shop started, 130 years ago.

So cool!!

I cannot find their website, but if you are in this area, you should stop by.

Definitely try their Oni Manju, and if you are lucky, you may be able to chat with the owner family.

Wait!

I have a better idea.

Plan an afternoon at Shinsakae.

Start lunch at Toraya Vegekitchen Second Room, then stroll on Iitda Kaido street, stop at Shinrakuen to learn about and buy quality Japanese tea, and then go to Fukudaya for Oni Manju.

The Iida Kaido street may seem quiet at first glance (it’s not like Sakae or Osu), but there are some cute small shops here and there, like this flower shop.

So take your time and explore.

You may discover some treasure!

I’m not a “Friday night bar-hopper” kind of person at all, but we learned about this cool bar by chance, and we decided to check it out.

There were a lot of people along the river last night because the monthly night market was taking place.

The bar, Twilo, is by the river, but on the quieter side.

It’s in the back of a picture frame shop (owned by the same owner), and you definitely see a lot of frames used everywhere in the bar as well.

One of the unique things about this bar is that they serve Kabuto beer which has a long history in Japan, and there are only limited places where it’s served.

On the fourth Friday night every month (the same night as the night market takes place) they have a DJ.

I’m usually not into the club music, but the selection of the music last night was pretty cool, and it was very enjoyable.

They have some outdoor seating options, and it’s nice to be able to have a drink with the view of the river.

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It was my parents’ wedding anniversary today, and we celebrated it at a Tempura/Sashimi restaurant as a family.

My sister and her husband made a reservation for the six of us, and we were able to have a table in a quiet semi-private room.

It’s a bit embarrassing to confess, but this was the first time we ever celebrated their anniversary like this.

The food was delicious, and I think my parents enjoyed it.

We stopped at my parents’ house after lunch.

It was nice that the six of us were able to spend time together like this.

And as usual my mother made sure that we went home with a lot of things, like fresh Edamame, homemade Kuri-kinton (chestnut sweets), homemade sweet red beans, and winter clothes (she knows that I didn’t bring winter clothes from Bangkok).

My mother is the best!

We accidentally found this small vegan place, Vechill, while strolling in the neighborhood.

They were about to close, but we told them that we would come back for lunch another day.

We decided to try the soup/deli/”paffin (it’s kind of like the mixture of muffin and pain (bread)).

The soup was made with various “white” vegetables, like lotus root, napa cabbage, onion, and apple.

For the paffin we chose the pumpkin one.

Everything was very good.

I particularly liked the marinated persimmon and grilled Daikon.

The paffin was also great.

It was soft and had a wonderful pumpkin flavor.

We also tried their pancakes made of rice flour and Okara; we added the sauteed Satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potato) and apple as a topping.

The pancakes had a nice crispiness outside, and it was moist inside.

The texture was unique, but we liked it.

We will definitely go back.

According to Google, their Acai bowl seems very popular, so we may try that next time.

After lunch we stopped at this tiny bakery, Tit Bit, that the staff at Vechill told us about.

It’s a vegan & gluten-free bakery.

They had mostly cookies.

The staff (owner?) told us that a lot had been already sold out.

The lady at Vechill told us that the focaccia here was very good, so we will have to come back for it.

We got cookies, but we were not ready to go home yet.

While we were strolling, we saw this traditional Japanese incense shop and decided to go in as we were looking for some incense.

It was a beautiful shop that shows history.

They told me that they have been in business for 88 years!

It was enjoyable to look at both traditional and modern types.

After stopping at a few more shops, we finally got home and enjoyed the baked goods we bought at Tit Bit.

This is Gâteau Breton.

Raspberry Chocolate Cookie Sandwich.

Both were very good.

The cookies were “buttery”, and the cream in the sandwich was rich.

You wouldn’t know that they are plant-based or gluten-free!

Since I found about this place, I was interested.

Last weekend when we came here with my sister and her husband after lunch, but there were ten parties already waiting, and we decided to come back another time.

Yesterday was a rainy day, and it was not the best day for a walk, but we also thought it might discourage other people to go there.

I don’t know if it was because of the rain, but it was pretty quiet, and we were able to get in with no problem.

Okage-An is a part of the famous Japanese chain coffee shop called Komeda Coffee, and it’s their Japanese cafe version.

The layout is very similar to the regular Komeda Coffee, but the color scheme and the decorative items give a nostalgic atmosphere.

The menu includes a lot of traditional Japanese sweets.

They have their signature sweets called “Shiro-Noir”, but their version features Matcha and kuromitsu (Japanese “black” or dark syrup).

There were a lot of interesting things on the menu, but it was quite easy for us to pick what we wanted.

My husband ordered this Anmitsu and Matcha.

Anmitsu is a bowl of ager jello, fresh fruit, and sweet red beans, served with Japanese “black” syrup on the side.

I ordered “Azuki” tea.

I like that they offer this non-caffeine beverage.

Oh, by the way Komeda Coffee is found in many other prefectures in Japan (over 500 locations!), but it originated in Nagoya.

As for me, it was an easy choice.

I like Dango (sticky rice balls), so I was naturally drawn to it, but when I found out that I got to grill them myself, I was sold!

They bring this portable table-top grill and a plate of three Dango skewers.

Once the grill is hot, you place the Dango and cook for three to five minutes.

Once they are browned nicely, you turn them and cook for another three minutes or so.

Mine stuck to the grill unfortunately likely because I placed them too soon before the grill was hot enough.

Next time I will do better.

There are three topping/sauce options: soy sauce; red beans; Black syrup & kinako.

I chose soy sauce.

As recommended, I placed them back on the grill after coating them with soy sauce.

It caramelized, and the smell was amazing.

I personally like my Dango with sweet soy sauce, so I added some sugar to the soy sauce.

Once the Dango gets the nice charred color, you dip it in the sweet soy sauce.

It was so good!!

The freshly grilled Dango is the best.

Whoever came up with this idea is genius (lol).

After we left the cafe, we checked out this flower/plant shop.

I want to get some green for our place, but I’m just not confident to be able to keep them alive.

I may have to look into fake plants.

It got cold so quickly yesterday, and we realized needed to buy a few more fall/winter clothes. Fast.

I needed a jacket.

I really liked this one.

The color was nice, and the material was thick and soft.

But it felt a bit too big for me.

It was size M and the staff told me that it was the smallest size available.

It took me 15 minutes or so, but finally I decided to look for something else.

At night I met with a friend from college for dinner at an izakaya.

We’ve known each other for decades, but since I was away from home, so I would see her every three-five years until now.

Now I’m back, I’m looking forward to more nights like this.