In the basement of Shinjuku Takashimaya, there was a shop from the famous Chinese restaurant Hua Zheng Lou! They had a wide variety of Chinese sweets available, including their famous meat buns. I bought the Kaihuasu pastry, which I really like. It's a plain baked pastry with lots of nuts around the crispy dough. It's really delicious! Hua Zheng Lou is my favorite.

Located in the basement of Shinjuku Takashimaya, Hanasairou is a restaurant with its main branch in Yokohama's Chinatown. Despite being in a department store basement, the restaurant has a grand and traditional feel to it. The showcase displays a variety of Chinese dishes, meat buns, and sweet buns. There is also a selection of Chinese sweets displayed alongside the dishes. As a fan of Chinese sweets, I wanted to buy some to take home, but there were so many options that I was indecisive. The names of the sweets were in Chinese characters, making it difficult to read, but they were numbered, so I ordered using the numbers. The "Hong Ling Su" was a vivid pink Chinese sweet with white kidney bean paste inside. It had a nice combination of granulated sugar sweetness and the moist sweetness of the paste. The "He Tao Zao Ni Bing" was a Chinese sweet with walnuts on top and white kidney bean paste inside. The dark color of the paste was due to the inclusion of date jam. It was a Chinese sweet similar to mooncakes. Although delicious, it was quite filling. The "Kai Kou Xiao" was a fried snack similar to a donut, with a crunchy texture. Despite the restaurant's elegant atmosphere, the Chinese sweets were mostly priced around 200 yen, making them affordable and easy to purchase.

My parents' favorite mooncakes are from Kahashiro in Shinjuku Takashimaya, and whenever they come to visit, they sometimes buy some to send to my parents and also buy some for themselves. These mooncakes are on the pricier side, especially the larger ones, which can cost thousands of yen each. The mooncakes are known for their moist skin and delicious filling. While I prefer chestnut filling, my parents love the five-nut mooncake with lots of nuts. It's quite expensive, but they really enjoy it. I also like the shrimp paste fritters they sell as a side dish. I recently visited Kahashiro after a long time and bought some mooncakes. My favorites, the chestnut mooncake and the five-nut mooncake, were as delicious as ever. The chestnut mooncake has chestnuts in the white bean paste filling, giving it a light and crumbly texture. The five-nut mooncake is filled with various nuts and has a rich sesame oil aroma. Both mooncakes are heavy and satisfying to eat. They are definitely my favorite choices.

Shinjuku Takashimaya's Chinese takeout shop in the basement of the department store. The main store is a popular restaurant in Chinatown. This shop is known for its mooncakes, but they also offer delicious meat buns and side dishes. I have been a fan of their meat buns for over 10 years. In the past, they used to cost around 300 yen, but now the tax-included price is 465 yen. The meat buns are almost 10 centimeters in size and are steamed for 20 minutes. The filling is like a hamburger, with coarsely ground meat and chopped bamboo shoots, giving it a chewy and crunchy texture. The flavor is rich and matches perfectly with the thick and chewy skin. I have tried meat buns from other places like Edo Sei, Gojuban, and 551 Horai, but personally, I think this place is the best. Additionally, their roasted pork and spicy pig ear salad are also delicious.

Today, I am heading out for my first overnight stay in Shonan. I am excited to see what kind of restaurants I will encounter. After having lunch at Otaru Masazushi in Shinjuku Takashimaya, I came down to the food section of Takashimaya. My routine is to have lunch and then admire the deli section, so it's always the same routine. Hot pot is a hot pot dish because it's hot pot. I am used to going to Ikebukuro or Tokyo, so the depachika (food basement) is a familiar sight. However, places like Takashimaya or Isetan still have undiscovered areas, which I am grateful for. Oh, it's been a while since I've seen the characters for Hanashiro. This is my first time seeing it in a shop. I immediately approached the showcase to check out the dim sum and deli items. Wow, it's a bit different from other stores and gives me that "authentic" dim sum feeling I had when I was a kid. Looks good. I bought three items. - Crab and Scallop Shumai: This is big and full of flavor. It stands out in terms of taste for something you buy at the depachika. It has a satisfying bite, and the filling is packed tightly. Simple dim sum I make at home, but this is perfect for a dim sum home party. Or maybe I'll even make it the main dish. - Yuba Roll: It's similar to Shumai but wrapped in yuba. Taste-wise, it overlaps with Shumai, but it's delicious, so why not have more of it! The Yuba Roll is 158 yen, just like the Shumai. In terms of taste and volume, it's a good deal, and the pricing makes sense. - Shrimp and Cuttlefish Surimi with Bread Crumbs: This was also 158 yen. It has a genuine taste, not like it's trying to cover up with fillers. I think this is part of the Chinese food culture, and it's a dim sum that goes beyond the taste of home cooking, which can be served to guests. Since it's also available at Nihonbashi Takashimaya, I want to buy more of this. But there's a greater possibility of buying the same thing again.

After dining at the restaurant floor of Shinjuku Takashimaya, I went down to the basement to do some shopping at the depachika. I decided to buy some dinner from "Kasho-ro Shinjuku Takashimaya Store". I purchased gyoza and shrimp wrapped in rice paper for a total of 486 yen. The gyoza was already cooked, but I was advised to steam it in a frying pan at home instead of just warming it up in the microwave to avoid the skin becoming tough. However, since I only had one gyoza, I decided to steam it in the microwave by creating steam just like when warming up a meat bun. The skin turned out soft and delicious (sorry to the staff at the store...). "Kasho-ro Shinjuku Takashimaya Store" is located at 5-24-2 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. Shinjuku Takashimaya 14F. ★★★ Completely non-smoking. You can find the blog article with photos here: "Cooking Saint" http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/bloguuu/34296622.html (Visit: August 2015)

I used it for lunch this time. I was unsure of what to get, but this time I bought a meat bun. Order details: Meat Bun 451 yen. The meat bun is slightly larger in size compared to meat buns from other stores. It has a slightly salty taste but a solid flavor, and the diced bamboo shoots add a delicious texture to the meat bun. The restaurant is clean and has a beautiful display of various dim sum and Chinese sweets. It is a Chinese restaurant located in Shinjuku Takashimaya.

The other day, I walked from Akasaka to Shinjuku, and my destination was Takashimaya in Shinjuku. I had plenty of time before dinner, so I decided to buy some side dishes from the basement floor and have a drink at my place. I purchased simmered pork from Kasho-rou. That night, I ended up having croquettes and edamame from Imahan, and used the simmered pork as toppings for cold noodles the next day. When I opened the package, I found a sauce included, which I assumed was meant to be used when warming it up in the oven. The simmered pork was already pre-sliced, so I placed it on top of the cold noodles like pick-up sticks. Mmm, it was delicious! It was probably pork shoulder. It wasn't too tough, and the spices used in the simmering process had infused the pork with a rich flavor. It was really good. The next day, I used it in fried rice, adding a little bit of the sauce that came with it to the pan for a fragrant touch. I had only bought spring rolls from there before, but if I see the simmered pork again, I will definitely buy it! Thank you for the meal.

I went shopping at Takashimaya on Saturday and stopped by the food section in the basement to buy some snacks. Despite having options like Henri Charpentier's financiers, Suzakiya's Gozan-yaki, Snow Salt Baumkuchen, and Isshingou's anman, I ended up buying mooncakes and sesame manju. I didn't have time to take a photo as I ate them right away, but the mooncakes were delicious. You should also consider trying the Gozan-yaki. I regret it! Chinese snacks = mooncakes and sesame manju. Kasho Ro Shinjuku Takashimaya Store 03-5361-1302 5-24-2 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Shinjuku Takashimaya B1F.

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of articles about 551 Horai's pork buns on Tabelog for some reason. Come to think of it, I haven't had a meat bun since I bought one at Otsu SA in October 2019. Before that, I had one at Fukurinkaku in Yokohama Chinatown in April 2018. And even before that, I think I had one from Seven-Eleven about 15 years ago. Next, I had another pork bun from Seven-Eleven a few days ago. And now, I tried the meat bun from Kashorou. It ended up being a comparison between Kashorou and 551. I happened to buy the meat buns from Kashorou when I had the chance to go to Shinjuku with my beloved wife and thought, "Let's buy something delicious at the basement of Takashimaya in Shinjuku." It was around 7 pm when we entered the food section in the basement, and I thought it might be a "three Cs situation" now that the state of emergency for COVID-19 was lifted, but it was empty, which was both reassuring and anticlimactic. Still, caution is key, both against fire and against COVID-19. "When you see people, think of COVID-19." I saw some delicious-looking meat buns at Kashorou, so I bought 3 on a whim. By the way, the terms "meat bun" and "pork bun" seem to be regional and the difference in the items is not significant. I used a cold pack to bring them home. I got home late, and dinner was late, so I put them in the freezer. I was actually planning to eat them the next day, but unexpectedly, I got my hands on 551 Horai's pork buns the next day and ate them right away. As a result, I ended up eating Kashorou's meat buns the day after. The day after that, I ate Kashorou's meat buns. They were about 110mm in diameter and 70mm in height, bigger than 551. They recommend "steaming them to warm them up," but I placed the meat buns on chopsticks placed parallel on a heat-resistant plate, microwaved them without covering them with plastic wrap, and voila, hot meat buns. When I microwaved them, the fluffy texture and elasticity returned, and the deliciousness of the dough came through. When I cut them in half to see the filling, there was no gap between the dough and the filling, which was different from Seven-Eleven's pork buns. Putting that aside, I tasted the meat buns. The filling had a dense texture and presence, and the slight sweetness of the pork's umami made it delicious. They said they also used bamboo shoots, but I couldn't really taste them. However, without thinking, I said "delicious" out loud, and my beloved wife smiled at the deliciousness. Three days later, I compared the frozen pork buns I bought and froze two days earlier from Kashorou in the basement of Takashimaya in Shinjuku with the frozen 551 pork buns. After comparing them with my stomach, or rather with my whole body, I found that the only difference was in size, and both 551 and Kashorou felt similar. I felt bad for the 551 Horai fans and those involved, but I didn't feel the need to stick to 551's pork buns with a different attitude.

Coconut mooncake for 324 yen is delicious. The coconut fibers are crunchy, and the filling is moist, which I like. It suits my taste buds! Mini chestnut mooncake for 270 yen, I forgot to take a photo. Crushed chestnuts are scattered throughout, giving a nice texture.