Day 5 - Ten-Ichi Deux lunch + Odaiba + Gonpachi

I made a mistake on my itinerary today. Somehow I had failed to note that the place we were supposed to go for lunch - the famous Dote No Iseya Tempura- was closed on Wednesdays. We decided to go have tempura anyway after some discussion and headed to Ten-Ichi Deux - the cheaper version of Ten-Ichi , Tokyo's most famous (and expensive) tempura restaurant.



The tempura unfortunately was nice but not overwhelming. I suspect the good stuff's really at the main restaurant where I read that your tempura will be fried right before your eyes. However, the restaurant was chic and a nice place to chill out. Presentation was nice too.

We stayed a little longer coz it started to rain and we were supposed to go to Odaiba, a seaside area in Tokyo with a slightly futuristic appeal. What's also special about Odaiba is that you have to take the Yurikamome to reach it. Yurikamome is a nice scenic train ride that goes through the rainbow bridge and takes you to different parts of Odaiba.



Odaiba contrasted very much with Tokyo, being more spacious and laid back. There were quite a few shopping malls here, namely one called Venus Fort, a dog friendly place with nice boutiques. Both me and CK bought some clothes from there. The Toyota megaweb is here too. You can check out Toyota's latest concept cars and participate in a range of fun activities like their version of Daytona racing etc.



We took a break and sampled some delicious soup from Soup Stock Tokyo. I don't have the pictures of what we had but here's something from their website.



Anyway, time passed pretty fast coz we started out late today and before we knew it, it was dark. One thing about Odaiba is the fantastic, romantic night scene. It feels like we are in New York! Complete with Statue of liberty some more. Feels surreal.



We ended our first leg in Tokyo with a lovely dinner at Gonpachi. A popular jappy restaurant with a gorgeous view of the bay that inspired the set of Kill Bill .



Though expensive (we had a single wagyu yakitori stick that costs us a whopping 1500yen = S$20! ), this is one absolutely fantastic place to drink beer. I highly recommend this place to anyone who loves to drink. The atmosphere was infectiously boisterous and the service staff friendly and helpful. It may sound strange but I thought this was one of the most memorable dinners I had with CK.