Baratie, One Piece Restaurant in Odaiba

This year, I’ve made a promise to myself that I will visit one of the famous One Piece Restaurant in Odaiba called Baratie.

Yes, I promised myself. Even If I have to go alone, I won’t mind.

However, so lucky of me, last Sunday, finally I got my long-awaited chance to visit this place!!! Moreover, I’m not alone but with one of my friend who happened to like One Piece as well, so we kinda shared all the fan-girling time together!!

At first I went Odaiba for some appointment with my friend in the morning and eventually it was finished right during lunch time so we decided from the start that we will just go stroll here for lunch together. Odaiba is kinda far from Tokyo, as it can take up to 45 minutes to reach, so I seldom visit Odaiba and while we were there together at that time, It’s such a good chance to visit!!

I assume everyone that stumbles my blog here at least know a little bit of One Piece and the story of The Baratie that were told in the anime itself, so I will skip the explanation right on this paragraph. 

Located on the Fuji Building 7^th floor (nearest station is Daiba Station using Yurikamome Line), using escalator walked straight and right from the restaurant gate, greeted by Luffy, Chopper, and the head statue of Going Merry!

I’m quite sad to say that the main gate is NOT that catchy, as in if Luffy and Chopper were not there to mark the One Piece feeling, people wouldn't know that there’s a One Piece Restaurant there. The main gate is very... normal. Well. Blame the high expectation.

However the small disappointments were cured a little bit by the kind greetings from the staff and of course, the main star, Sanji himself! (Plus all the ridiculous ingredients behind him hahaha cannot stop laughing.)

The restaurant’s decoration itself was very unique. It was so full of a pirate-feel atmosphere! All the ship parts decor combined with world map projection on the ceiling, it was quite mesmerizing.

I assume that quite a lot of foreigner went here as they have menu in English.

We went for the 3^rd and 4^th one from the menu as it looks interesting.

The Jambalaya fried rice plus soft shell crab as toppings.

And the hamburger set (covered by a thing like fried cracker dome, forgot to take picture of what’s inside..)

The real dish looks nicer that the photos on the menu. Great job!

Plus, we decided to order another side dish which is the famous Treasure Box Set for around 780 yen if I remember it correctly. Insides were chicken karaage (fried chicken nuggets), several pieces of small hash browns and the sauce.

They have several options for beverages and deserts too. We decided to order 2 sodas for 680 yen each. The red one called “Luffy” and the blue one called “Sanji”. Talking about obvious..

The food didn't taste bad, but it was not surprisingly good either. For that 1500 yen up price, it can be considered quite expensive. However remembering that usually this kind of restaurant sells the ambiance and experience more than the taste of the dish, it’s still reasonable for me.

Not so reasonable for non One Piece lover though. Well..

Surprisingly they gave us a small surprise show too!! During our meal, suddenly, (one person cosplaying as) Zeff, the owner of Baratie came out, gave us such a theatrical speech and fist bump customer per customer on each table while strolling around! Interesting!

Finished with our meal and a bit of chit chat, we took several photos more of the restaurant before we leave.

Well, to be honest, it was lower than my expectation. I expected that there will be more unique and lavish decoration, figures of characters (not only Sanji..) and a lot more choices of food.

However seeing how much they try to live up the ambiance itself and how much effort they build the details (like, prints on plate, prints on menu and table, food presentation etc), this restaurant worth to be admired for. So far I love every detail that they made, so it wasn't that disappointing too.

Still a restaurant worth visit for me! If you happened to be in Odaiba and would like to try one example of an anime-themed restaurant like this, Baratie will always be my recommendation!

See you on next post!

Sakura Season is Here! (Part 2) - Nakameguro and Tokyo Midtown

Just as I promise in my last post that I will make a review on several cherry blossom  - from here I will refer to ‘sakura’ - viewing spot in Tokyo for this 2015, I went to 2 new spots that I've never went before for hanami (sakura-viewing, in Japanese).  Referring to the previous post, my first 2015 hanami place were Ueno Park.

The second place that I visit is the one in an area called Nakameguro. It’s a very near walk from the Nakameguro station itself. Just follow the crowd flow there and bam! Around 800 cherry blossom trees will greet you alongside the river.

I have to say timing is everything in hanami. Weekend will be so crowded, and the more you postpone your hanami trip, the more likely you will see more of a bald sakura tree rather than a very dense pretty one.

I went here on Friday morning before my work, considering that Friday is still counted as weekday, so I guess the crowd is still tolerable (compared to the Ueno Park one which was very, very crowded).

I think the best part of hanami in Nakameguro was, having a picnic alongside the sakura trees were not allowed here as the available space were mostly for pedestrians only, thus makes it easier for people to enjoy and take all the best photos of the sakura. 

Moreover, almost all the café along the river start selling so many finger foods and drinks such as sakura sparkling wine, fruit punch, sausages, hotdogs, fried sweet potato, kebab etc which I foud quite rare in Japan (usually in a festival like these, all food that they were selling will be Japanese food ONLY, such as takoyaki, okonomiyaki etc. So bored of that..)

This is only one small part of the stalls.

and several more photos: 

I have to say that Nakameguro is the best spot so far for me.

And the third and maybe the last one that I have visited was Tokyo Midtown. I visit this spot on Sunday evening, and because too bad that on Saturday and Sunday morning Tokyo was raining quite heavily plus the strong wind, it’s like, almost 50% of the sakura petals already gone.

The amount of the fallen petals were too much!!

It must be very pretty when all the petals were still intact.

And the crowd is very, very tolerable. I the crowd went for other more pretty spot..

But still I think Tokyo Midtown’s sakura still can keep their last beauty alive!

And this last picture concludes my hanami journey on 2015, I think. Considering that based on forecast, next week will be raining for almost the whole weekdays, it will be a very small chance for the sakura to hold until end of April.

Last year, I went for the one in Shinjuku (Shinjuku Gyoen) and Chidorigafuchi Park. These two were very pretty too; they have a very big open space garden which is perfect for picnic with friends and lots of benches to sit and chill. Too bad I didn’t have enough time to visit these two again this year. However on the other hand I got the chance to visit several new places, which is nice!

So, for a conclusion... My favorite hanami spot for this year goes to Nakameguro, no doubt J

Looking forward to visit there again next year sakura season!!

Nb: please note that this is a very PERSONAL preference. I give my rating based on my own trip on my own time on my own taste, so it’s a very subjective review. If you think that there were several places better than what I have reviewed here, I would like to hear from you! Sharing is always a good thing and fun!

Sakura Season is Here!

Well, reached the end of March means only one thing, spring finally took the courage to show their pretty face!

Wool coat turned to trench coat, long thick boots to semi-sandals, wool beanie to wide sun hats. Everything change. 

And the colors. It went all bright and somewhat pink-er. Yes, pink. 

Cherry blossom, a.k.a sakura season, is finally come! 

This 2015, quite unpredictable but the sakura have bloomed earlier; what was predicted to be early April, turned into late March. This is quite exciting since all the spring festive starting sooner than ever. Even all the building decorations scream 'spring!' all over.

However just a quick reminder that sakura usually only last for 2 weeks, so it can be guaranteed that in mid April all the sakura will say goodbye replaced by all the green leaves that will be left behind.

So I decided to start my Hanami ("Sakura sight-seeing") as soon as possible.

Even if I have to do it alone.

I went for a small garden in Kawaguchi. Not much can be seen but I appreciate the calmness as not so many people were here.

And went to Ueno Park too today.

It was massive, I have to say. So pretty, yet on the other hand it attracts so many people there I thought I saw more people than the sakura itself. Well....

Here are several photos that I manage to take.

Went during 5-6 pm, as you can see how the sky colors changed overtime.

And sorry for my constant photo style. Blame the crowd I couldn't even go near the sakura, as there were so many people having picnic just right under the sakura tress (the whole street of it!).

How is it? Pretty crowded I can say. And never in my life here in Japan I found so many Indonesian  tourist in just one straight road! Spring means holiday season too I guess.

I have several other destinations to go though. Meguro, Tokyo Midtown (which I heard is the best so far), and Shibazakura spot near Mt. Fuji. 

And another secret destination in Kawaguchi which actually I have went there today but I went for the wrong side of the park so I couldn't find the sakura spot. Still wondering how to get there and If I succeed let me tell ya!

Will update soon and let me let you know which sakura spot is the best for this 2015!

1 Day Round Course Hakone

Around last week, I went for a trip to Hakone, alone. Yet another impulsive trip I've decided to take, since I got 2 consecutive days of holiday from my work which is a very rare chance to have,  I spent 1 (tiring) day in Hakone and another day to rest at home.

I have to say, Hakone trip from Tokyo without staying, is quite cheap!

For my one day trip, I brought 2 days Hakone Pass for around 5000 yen (they didn't sell the one day pass, I think), which covered almost 90% transportation to, in, and from Hakone. That 5000 yen covers 1 round trip from Shinjuku to Hakone Yumoto (the first main station in Hakone) and vice verse, plus all the buses, cable car, rope-way, sightseeing boat which is mostly all the main attractions in Hakone. Just wow.  If I didn't shop or buying things such as souvenirs and stuffs, 5000 yen will be the net price for having a trip to Hakone. But... I buy things. Ohhooo.

There’s no trip without shopping in my dictionary. At least souvenirs. Like magnets, key holder, etc that contains that place's memories.

I follow this suggested 1 day round course from this website.

You can gain most all of the info from that website which I found unbelievably very easy to follow. From how to get the ticket, go from one spot to another is all written on the site. Checked it.

Since all the infos were covered on the web, I think I will try to cover the time schedule. I cannot remember the details but I hope It’ll give you all the image of how tight it will be to do round course or is it suitable to be tried or not.

However, I have to say that even the schedule is very tight for me, mainly because I don’t want to miss the last bus from Moto Hakone to Hakone Yumoto which is around 16.30. I skipped lunch at that day, lucky I brought mega big cheese bread from the day before so I binged that all the way from one destination to another in the bus. Saved, by the bread.

And I went alone, some more. YES. Alone. One spot bored, move, move, and move. Always moving. Imagine going with 5 people. Duuuude. Have to be mentally prepared!

I'm so kind before beginning my trip details, here is the route I mainly take in Hakone. Courtesy of Japan Guide too of course.

And from here goes my schedule at that day (time is estimated, I suppose it will be around 85% accurate):

06.30 – 09.00 à Taking the train from Shinjuku and reach Hakone Yumoto on 08.30, with a transfer in Odawara. Usually It takes around 2 and half hours on the train. I spent around 30 minutes to search and buy Kairo, a stick-on heat pack to stick on my foot because it was so damn cold my feet freezing.

Reach Hakone Yumoto directly greeted with mountain sceneries. Holiday mood up!!

09.00 - 10.00 à taking the Tozan Railway from Hakone Yumoto to Chokoku no Mori Station (one stop before a station called Gora), to visit the Open Air Museum Hakone. It was super recommended!! Ticket for normal adult 1600 yen, showing the Hakone Free Pass and get discounted to 1400 yen.  

All the art, good weather, plus all the surrounding mountains scenery were just so breathtaking; it was so calm I cannot believe how noisy Tokyo is!!

Went up there and when reached the top, it scares the shit out of me. Directly went downstairs after that.

There were some indoor art too.

Here stands a quite big gallery dedicated to Picasso. There were other artists gallery too however I think the main gallery object is Picasso's.

And the rest of it.

I can literally spend the whole day here, however time isn't waiting for me, so I have to move on to the next gallery.

11.30 – 12.00 à Went by bus from Chokoku no Mori Bus stop to a bus stop called Kawamukai, right in front of the Museum of Little Prince. The ticket is 1450 yen with the Hakone Free Pass.

I have to say I’m kinda disappointed as nothing much to see here, as the museum size itself is quite small. However If you like the story of the Little Prince, I guess you will like this place a lot.

The nuance is very European chic.

To be honest, I went only because it seems to be cute, from all the photos from the website. A character museum in Japan, what can go wrong, after all?

And after I went there, I kinda like the stories of the Little Prince itself as the morale of the stories is kinda philosophical. And a little bit weird, autistic kind of stories. I like. How emo can I be.

Spent around 1 hour here, and I realize I have to keep move on to the main spot in Hakone, the cable-cars, rope-way and sightseeing boat. Unfortunately during winter, the last admission time for each transports is very short, mostly around 16.00 or 16.30, so, gotta be fast.

13.00 – 13.30 à Went back to Gora station to catch the cable car that takes me to Sounzan to transfer to the rope-way. It only took 10 minutes from Gora to Sounzan.

13.40 – 14.00 à From Sounzan, take the rope-way to Owakudani.

WTF moment happened here. I was in a rope-way car together with a whole family from Hongkong that happened to be on the same car altogether. They all knew each other, take photos together, laughing together and I’m just “wtf that lonely girl doing, went to Hakone alone” kind of mood. Ooopsie. Awkwarrrrdddd.

But I take so many photos too though. Don’t care.  

The scenery was frickin' gorgeous!! 

Steam comes out from the crated of the mountain.

Reached Owakudani, I took several pictures and shop a little bit. Food, mostly, to be brought back to Tokyo. The view from the top is too damn pretty!!

14.45 – 15.00 à take the rope-way again to Togendai. From there take the sightseeing boat through Lake Ashinoko.

15.00 – 15.30 à enjoy the scenery from the sightseeing boat for around 30 minutes to Hakone Machi. The boat itself was very crowdeeeed. Ehm, its more of a ship actually. A very Chinese ship. Whyy??

  See the super small red shrine gate in the middle of the wood below!!

15.30 – 16.00 à I decided to stop at Hakone Machi as the website recommended to walk on the Cheddar Tree road which I found quite spooky in the end.

At this time I quite panicked though. The time for the last bus from Moto Hakone was around 16.30 and I didn't quite sure how long it will take for me walking from Hakone Machi to Moto Hakone. But lastly, luckily I can catch the last bus right on 16.35. I arrived on the bus stop around 16.15, and wait for a little bit.

Unfortunately I didn't have enough time more to explore the Hakone Shrine on near the Moto Hakone. Oh well. The red gate pic is more than enough, then.

16.35 – 18.30 à Following that round course schedule, I add my own preference for my last-before-last destination: before going back to Hakone Yumoto after finishing the course, I went for an onsen called Tenzan which located right between the Moto Hakone bus stop and Hakone Yumoto bus stop. I drop at a station called Okuyumoto Iriguchi and the onsen is right down the hill. Admission is 1200 yen with the Hakone Free Pass.

I think this is quite a recommended place to go, since several of my local friends recommended this place for enjoying onsen in Hakone. And not to mention so many foreign tourist went here too!!

Super. Satisfied.

After a long walking-all-day trip non stop, relaxing at an onsen was the best way to chill ever. I think I fell asleep on the powder room a while after the bath as it relaxed me so much.

18.30 - As the onsen itself has its own bus that delivered people to Hakone Yumoto until quite late, around 20.40 for the last bus, I can quite relax a bit at the onsen. Take off on 18.30 and from there to Hakone Yumoto, went back to Shinjuku with the same track; transfer at Odawara and from there was 1 and half hour to Shinjuku.

And that’s the end of my Hakone one day round trip.

As for me, I was very satisfied with this trip as it didn't cost me much money, and I can finish all the round trip in one day. And moreover, this is my first solo trip far from Tokyo and it was a big success!! I didn't get lost, can catch all the bus on time and had a quite high accuracy on the time estimation.

I think I should do another solo trip more!!

While I can say I covered almost all of the main attractions in Hakone which is mainly from the cable car to the sightseeing boat, I have to say that still, maybe 2 days trip were still the best options if you have more time. 1 day for the round course, and another day to visit several art museums available (so many interesting art museum in Hakone) and maybe even can visit the famous Gotemba Outlet that were famous for it’s Fuji Mountain scenery that can be seen during clear days while you shop. And it will be less tiring, of course, minus the time pressure.

However however!!

I’m glad I made it to Hakone and went back Tokyo safe and sound (since I was quite afraid I get lost, missed the last train and have to stay there for one night..I have no money left this month). What an exhilarating experience!!

See you on my next trip!!

Not so soon though.

Gotta breathe...

(and save money.)