Roppongi Hills is another “must see” destination that is worth visiting if you’ve got a luxury shopping bug. This affluent part of Tokyo was recently built to cater to the main demographic group that live there, foreign expats. This area which consists of the large Roppongi Hills mall is supposed to simulate Los Angeles’ Beverly Hills but with a more modern approach in terms of architecture and shopping selection. My travel counterpart and I didn’t spend much time here as the shopping didn’t really appeal to our tastes. The stores were mainly boutiques of Japanese luxury designers that were geared more to the older 40ish crowd. There was also a contemporary art museum there that housed Japanese modern art worthy of Kanye’s pad. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the chance to go there since they closed at 5pm.

An ultra touristy thing that we did get to do was lunch at the Gonpachi restaurant made famous by the film, Kill Bill. This was the restaurant that inspired the set design of the restaurant fight scene in the first installment. Upon arriving at its location in Roppongi (it was definitely a sight for sore eyes), I felt like we were warped to an ancient Japan where geishas and ninjas roamed the land. Inside the monstrous restaurant, it was absolutely breathtaking because it looked so old and very realistic. The ceilings were high and open giving it an illusion that we were outdoors. We were greeted with a loud “welcome” by all the staff there as soon as we walked in which created a very friendly atmosphere. Anyways, I can go on and on about the visual appeal and unique ambiance of the restaurant but unfortunately, we cant say that we were anywhere close to being impressed by the actual food. We ordered a set lunch meal that cost $30USD but definitely didn’t have the quality that we were expecting. The food was mediocre and mostly bland in taste. I had to send my chicken skewers back because they were undercooked and when I got them back, they were burnt. But in the end, we were glad we had the experience.

Cold natural tofu with salad

Ebi shinjyo-fried shrimp dumpling with sweet chili sauce

Tempura - Roquefort cheese, baby tomato, and avocado

Charcoal grilled chicken

Negima skewers

Miso glazed salmon

Cold soba

The best part of the meal

Gonpachi had previously served the likes of Lady Gaga, Johnny Depp, Stevie Wonder, and Sylvester Stallone

We later ventured off to another shopping complex found in Roppongi called Tokyo Midtown. The selection of stores here weren’t much different than Roppongi Hills but there were a handful more familiar stores such as Marni, Burberry, Harry Winston, and Hugo Boss. The design of this place was beautiful and it even had a Ritz-Carlton!

After a long day of walking around, we ended the day with a very delicious bowl of ramen at Ichiran. We wished we had known of this place sooner as it was located just 5 minutes away from our hotel in Shibuya and the price was just right (we actually ate here again two days after). I strongly recommend anyone visiting Tokyo to come here for a meal as it is truly tastebuds satisfying and the experience shouldn’t be missed either. First, you pay and order the ingredients that you want from a vending machine (must get the egg, best hardboiled egg ever) and then it prints out these tickets for you. Then you fill out a sheet indicating how you want everything done including the spicy and fatness content of the soup and the firmness of the noodles. Then you sit and wait while watching a light up map of the restaurant that shows the length of time until your table is ready. When spots open up, you take a seat in a little cubicle and a set of hands place your food in front of you. I guess you can call this “solo dining” as you sit by yourself and enjoy your food in solitude. It makes sense because they also want to get you out of there as quick as possible for the next customer. It was quite neat and we left with full tummies.

In front of the infamous Shibuya 109 tower.