We’ve first been to Zen when we had an Airbnb in the area and didn’t want to hunt around for a lunch place. We’ve always had a soft spot for udon noodles: Compared to the better known, all-popular ramen they are thicker, more substantial and more “native Japanese”. They come in as many variations as ramen, though.
We tried this shop when we were coming home after a long day out, and were hungry. We found one of our favourite places.
Do you want to be a tourist? Probably not. Tourist are loud. Disrespectful. Obnoxious. They invade the best places, and ruin them. They live in a fake world of pre-packaged experiences. They are scammed, overcharged and taken advantage of. And you are one of them.
We are silently getting this site off the ground while the summer travel season is in high gear. We’ve already included stories from our favourite places in Berlin and Paris; and some background about why you should (or should not) want to use Airbnb.
Patisserie Tomo is another “french-japanese” pastry shop, specializing in freshly made dorayaki – these are japanese pancake-like sweets, traditionally filled with adzuki red bean paste. They are also, apparently, Doraemon’s favorite treat.
I got the recommendation for Lon Men’s Noodle House from a colleague, and I half expected another hip asian place, with a brutalist concrete interior and incandescent lighting. It was not.