Enoki-Tei Honten「えの木てい 本店」

Enoki-Tei Honten「えの木てい 本店」 is a cafe that resides in the former residence of an American public prosecutor in the early 1900s. This house was built in 1927 and designed by Japanese architect Yoshizo Asaka, who also constructed Bluff No. 234, which is located nearby.

There is an outdoor dining area, that welcomes those who want to bring their fur kids along.

We stepped into the house and at first glance, it looked we had the place all to ourselves. The cafe is located on the first floor and there is a takeout corner on the second floor.

Since this door on the left was labelled as the “Tea Room”, we decided to open the door to take a peek… (even the door knob looks like it is from another era)

Upon entering, we found a quaint and cozy interior with beautiful antique furniture. Seating is limited and most of the tables were already occupied when we arrived, so we were thankful to be able to secure one of the few remaining available tables.

Looking around the room, we found that there was even a fireplace!

Menu:

A cake set is available on the menu and this is usually cheaper than if you order a slice of cake and drink separately. I wanted to try some of the rose-themed drinks, but they weren’t included in the set, so we ordered ala carte instead.

One of the cakes that we tried was the “Opera”, a delightful coffee buttercream sandwich layered with an almond chocolate ganache.

Paired this with a cup of Rose Coffee, an unimaginable combination but it works! It was an interesting experience to be sipping coffee with the fragrance of roses.

Next was a yummy Rose Lychee Cake, which combines both rose and lychee flavours in a framboise mousse.

Washed this down with some Rose Lemonade, a drink that is especially refreshing on a hot summer’s day!

Time seems to pass slowly in this Tea Room, which invokes a feeling of nostalgia.

If you are visiting Yokohama, Japan, do check out this cafe, which remains one of the few original Western-style buildings in the Yamate area.

Address:
Enoki-Tei Honten「えの木てい 本店」
89-6 Yamatecho, Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0862, Japan.
[Map]

Telephone: 045-623-2288

Opening Hours: 11am – 7pm

Getting There:
About a 10min walk from the Motomachi-Chukagai Station (Minato-mirai Line). Take exit 6 for the America Yama Park「アメリカ山公園」.

POMPADOUR「ポンパドウル」 – home of the best Curry Bun in Yokohama

Pompadour「ポンパドウル」 is a popular bakery chain, which has its roots in Yokohama, Japan and has over the years opened many branches across the country. Within Yokohama itself, you can find many of its outlets scattered across the city, but I decided to go check out the shop where it all started from.

This very first store was opened in 1969 along the Motomachi shopping street, about 5 minutes away on foot from Japan’s largest Chinatown.

There were many varieties of breads and pastries that were available, but one will need multiple trips to the bakery in order to try them all.

These were some of the items that I had bought… (you can tell which are the most popular items from the half-empty trays)

Rare Cheese Lemon Pie – this had a flaky pastry with a nice citrusy flavour.

Mochi Cheese Bun and Camembert Cream Cheese Bun – I had bought one of each and found the mochi cheese bun had a chewy texture, with a light cheese flavour.

Camembert Cream Cheese Bun – this was quite enjoyable, as I love cream cheese and have a strong preference for Camembert, so it was somewhat of a comfort food.

Yokosuka Navy Curry Bun – it took me 2 visits to the bakery before I managed to buy this bun! On my first attempt to purchase this, it wasn’t available at the time I was there and I was told that the next batch of buns would only be out of the oven 40 minutes later, but unfortunately I had an appointment to get to and couldn’t wait, so I went back again on another day. On my way out, I overheard other customers (local Japanese), who were also enquiring about the availability of this curry bun, so I concluded that it must really be popular!

Japanese curry is said to have originated from Yokosuka’s Navy curry and the curry in these buns was made using the navy’s recipe. Its ingredients include wheat, milk, egg, soybean, beef, pork, chicken, banana and apple.

Thankfully I managed to purchase the curry buns on my second visit, although half of the tray’s contents had already been sold!

This fried curry bun was very tasty and the bread still retained its crispiness even after it had cooled down. I will definitely buy several more of these buns when I visit Japan again.

Address:
POMPADOUR 元町本店
171, Motomachi, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Japan.
〒231-0861 神奈川県横浜市中区元町4-171
ポンパドウルビル1階

Telephone: 045-681-3956

Opening Hours: 9:00 – 20:00 / Café: 9:00 – 18:00 (last order 17:30)

Getting There:
7 min walk from Ishikawacho Station (JR Keihin Tohoku Line / Negishi Line) – Motomachi Exit
7 min walk from Motomachi Chukagai Station (Minato Mirai Line) – Motomachi Exit

Elephant-shaped Ice Cream at Zou-no-Hana Cafe「象の鼻カフェ」

Located along Yokohama’s waterfront between Yamashita Park and the Red Brick Warehouses, Zou-no-Hana Park was the site where Commodore Perry landed on his second visit to Japan from the United States on 31st March 1854. Yokohama was subsequently selected as one of five main ports in the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States in 1859 and this area became the port of Yokohama.

Zou-no-Hana Cafe「象の鼻カフェ」 resides at Zou-no-Hana terrace, which was named after the original dykes constructed along this waterfront that resembled the shape of an elephant’s nose (in the Japanese language, ‘zou’ means elephant and ‘hana’ means nose).

My never-ending quest for cute food led me to this cafe, as it serves elephant-shaped ice cream!

Attempting to cool off from the summer heat, I couldn’t help ordering a cup of non-alcoholic Mojito (¥500), but was too thirsty and thus had already drunk more than half of it, before I remembered to take a picture!

However, the main highlight of my visit to this cafe was this Zou-no-hana Soft Cream「ゾウノハナソフトクリーム」costing ¥400.

This comprised of Hokkaido Milk ice cream, shaped to look like an elephant’s head, with chocolate chips for its eyes and disc-shaped waffle wafers for its ears.

Too cute, but I had to devour it before it started to turn into a milkshake!

Overall, this cafe is a nice and quiet place to chill if you want to take a break from your explorations of the town.

Address:
Zou-no-Hana Cafe「象の鼻カフェ」
1-1 Kaigandori, Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0002, Japan.
〒231-0002 神奈川県横浜市中区海岸通1丁目 象の鼻テラス内
Located at Zou-no-Hana Terrace in Zou-no-Hana Park.
[Map]

TEL:  045-680-5677

Getting There:
3-5min walk from Nihon-Odori Station. Follow the directions for Osanbashi Pier「大桟橋ふ頭」.

JR East Pokemon Stamp Rally「JR東日本ポケモンスタンプラリー」

Stamp rallies seem to be popular in Japan, especially with kids (and some adults too!). This activity involves making your way to specific locations and collecting the imprint from the ink stamp found at those locations.

The East Japan Railway Company (a.k.a. JR East) seems to organise an annual Pokemon Stamp Rally event, which is usually held in summer (July-August) and there are prizes to be redeemed, if you manage to complete the specified objectives.

As my trip happened to coincide with the dates of the stamp rally, I decided to participate for the fun of it.

How to get started?
You will first need to obtain the official stamp rally pamphlet from any of the participating JR stations. Anyone can take part in this activity, as it is free (i.e. no fees required, apart from paying for your own transport to get to the various locations).

For this particular stamp rally, the first objective was to collect a minimum of 6 different stamp imprints on the pamphlet, after which you will be able to redeem a participation prize comprising of an official Stamp Rally Booklet and a Pokemon Pass Case.

There’s even an extra box on the back of the pamphlet, for a bonus stamp imprint to be obtained from any one of the two Pokemon Centres listed and you will receive a Pokemon sticker once you have gotten that box stamped.

I was glad to have completed the minimum requirement and managed to redeem the Stamp Rally Booklet and a cute Pokemon Pass Case with a Pikachu and Eevee motif.

The Pokemon Pass Case is actually a ticket holder, so it is handy for train journeys as you can slot your train tickets into this pass case and sling it around your neck for easy access during your train commute.

After obtaining the official stamp rally booklet, I soon realised that if I wanted to get the entire collection of stamp imprints, this meant that I had to re-trace my steps to collect the initial 6 stamp imprints that I had previously collected on that pamphlet, to get them stamped into my booklet! Ugghh…

Filling this stamp booklet is trickier than the pamphlet, as you will need to ensure that you stamp against the correct box that corresponds to the train station at which you found the stamp. This may pose a bit of a challenge for those who can’t read Japanese, but you can always try to match the Kanji characters of the train station names or match against the pictures of the Pokemon.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to re-trace all my earlier steps, so I ended up filling only four boxes in my stamp booklet.

In order to complete the entire stamp rally, there are a total of 55 pit stops which you will need to travel to in order to collect all the stamp imprints! This map shows you which Pokemon stamp motifs can be found at which JR stations.

Photo: JR East

Hardworking participants will be rewarded with a specially designed Pokemon Vinyl Bag upon completion of the entire booklet.

Prizes can be redeemed at the locations indicated with ゴール (meaning “Goal” or final destination) on the map.

Unfortunately, my vacation in Japan only lasted for a week and thus I did not manage to complete my collection of stamps, but it was a fun side activity during my train travels!

If you are planning a trip to Japan (Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures) during the summer months, you may want to check if JR East has any similar stamp rallies scheduled, which coincide with your visit and do consider participating in one as an optional side activity.

More details on JR East’s Pokemon Stamp Rally can be found at the following link (the page is refreshed every year, with details of the latest event):
http://www.jreast.co.jp/pokemon-rally/