Tokyo urban strolls. Kagurazaka.
Little France in Tokyo. Thoughts for food (not opposite)
Saturday, February 19, 2022. The weather in the last few days has been gloomy around my seaside village in Kanagawa prefecture. Same in Tokyo. Also rain forecast.
I did short morning beach run followed by 5 minutes swim. Water 14 degrees, air - four. Guess where it was more comfortable. What is next?
Recently I have read about Kagurazaka area in Tokyo: a piece of old Tokyo (called Edo until 1868), one of the few remaining geisha districts, Little France - many “try me” stickers.
Kagurazaka article from Metropolis
Interesting, is not it? So, the village boy decided to hit the Big Town. Bus to the station, then 3 trains took me to Kagurazaka in around 90 minutes. Long, but I was busy reading: no sweat.
This is how main street looks.
Mentally I mapped Kagurazaka as an area made of main street, Kagurazaka-doori (from Kagurazaka towards Iidabashi station), with addition of little side lanes (yokocho) where you can find chick and not so French and Italian restaurants and cafes.
I also found area map on the wall listing shops and cafes. Too small print for my old eyes though.
Not far from Kagurazaka station I came across French bakery Aux Merveilleux de Fred (from my earlier French learning something like “Marvels by Fred” I reckon).
Brioches ( or cramique) looked appetizing. I bought the plain one (650 yen) to have at home after dinner.
From the bakery I continued down the hilly street towards Iidabashi station. In fact, when I worked as a representative director of Japanese trading company in Vladivistok, Russia (1992-1998) our head office was in Iidabashi. I have visited Iidabashi area a lot, but never heard of Kagurazaka, just 5 minutes walk away. Or may be I forgot…
On the way I passed Akagi temple.
Nearly 1 pm. I am getting hungry. French restaurants and cafes are a plenty, but I learnt in Japan that still best value and taste here is obviously Japanse food. Near the temple I spotted soba (buckwheat noodle) shop Komoro.
Perfect for a chilly day would be a bowl of vegetable udon (you can choose udon instead of soba). And it was (570 yen with extra udon topping)!
Cheaper than brioche, but different worlds, of course.
Yes, I know I am all about the food… After reaching Iidabashi station I turned back to explore little lanes (yokocho). Hiding there are clubs, restaurants and cafes. Might try one day…
Of course, fondue is a must in Little France, even in Tokyo.
Also I found a lot of pottery shops, some selling second hand European dishware. Book cafes and fruit vendors, harmonica sounds… All in all good stroll. It started to rain, so I went back to the station, boarded the train and opened my Kindle. Back home.
At home having finished my dinner, I cut off a piece of cramique.
In fact, the taste is very similar to the ones my grandma used to make. Russia and France were at war in 19th century (Napoleon Russian Campaign). Those days the survived French prisoners learnt a lot from Russian people and vice versa. May be the cramique I tried was one of those calls from the past. Just fun to fantasize…
Further reading shows I am wrong (:
Au revoir.
Yours in travel.
IZ
A feeling of proximity... I can almost smell the food. A great virtual tour.