Given that I got about 1 1/2 hours before I could sit down at Benitsuru later in the morning, and since a bunch of the places I wanted to hit up in Asakusa aren’t open yet anyway, I decided to walk to Sensō-ji temple while hitting up Nakamise-dori Street (aka Nakamise Shopping Street) on the way!
As you can see here, there were some shops that were opened, and some weren’t (since a lot of the shops and stalls here in Nakamise-dori opened at 10am, so no worries there). It was dope just getting a feel of old-school Tokyo at one of the oldest shopping streets in all of Japan (90 shops/stalls too!) – I can see how festive this area can get during the day, and it was pleasant just even walking here. As a quintessential Japanese shopping arcade, this was a nice lead into my next destination for today – Sensō-ji temple!
~ Side Note #5: Nakamise-dori Street, Sensō-ji temple, Benitsuru, and the other stops in Asakusa that I’m hitting up that I’ll show y’all (with the exception of one, which I’ll get into later) were all recommended by Paolo FromTokyo) as part of his Tokyo Street Food Asakusa Top 10 Hidden Backstreet Tour | Fluffiest Japanese Pancakes Ever! youtube vid – this is one of my favorite vids that he’s done. If you’re ever in Asakusa, or even in different parts of Tokyo, definitely consider his recommendations. He knows his stuff. ~
Known as both Tokyo’s oldest temple, and for being one of the most visited places in Tokyo by tourists, Sensō-ji had this immediate, spiritual aura that just permeates throughout both the area, and into my soul – Even though there were a lot of people there taking photos and exploring the temple grounds, I felt like I was alone in my own thoughts and just taking it all in, with the presence of spirits all around me subconsciously guiding me to do what I’m about to do next that I wasn’t originally planning on doing: drawing an omikuji (a written, random fortune on paper from Buddhist temples and Shinto Shrines in Japan).
I followed the aforementioned directions above, and I just hope that I can get (not the best fortune available) the right fortune that would fit me best at this time in my life. (…okay jokes, I wanted to have the best written fortune available haha I mean c’mon y’all – this is it! I GOT THIS. LADY LUCK BLESS ME JUST THIS ONE TIME DAMN IT! LET’S GO!!!)
I shaked the box, got stick #65, and I’m like thinking “okay! at least it doesn’t have a 4 in it lol (since in Chinese culture, #4 is considered bad luck since saying 四 (which is 4 in Chinese) is very close to saying 死 (which is dead in Chinese)).” Yeah I know, this is a Japanese fortune not a Chinese one, but I gotta play out this scenario to my favor in any sort of reasoning favorable to my chances ya know what I mean. c’mon now!
The above screenshot shows how I first saw the omikuji…and immediately I thought “dang it…might just have to use the google translate app to translate all of the written Japanese, but then before I did that, I was like “na na na na na na na na na… there’s gotta be some sort of English on this fortune – gotta check the back side!” Sure enough, my initial intuition was right, and this was the result:
*Your request will not be granted. *The patient will get well in a little while. *Lost article will not be found. *The person you wait for arrives late. *Building a new house and removal are both well. *Now is a good time to start a trip. *Both any kind of marriage, and new employment are medium fortune.
After reading this fortune thoroughly a couple times, I didn’t know whether to consider this a good or bad fortune – it seems like it’s both. It was quite a bit to read and think about this because of the initial thoughts I had about each point this fortune made (for all I know, I could just be overthinking it and going off the rails for something that may or may not be accurate to how my life has been, but since I’m in a spiritual place like Sensō-ji, I thought about the following for each point):
- “You will be suffering from disease and get depreciated by other people.” ~> I’ve had plenty of moments where I did feel this way about certain people throughout my life, but I think a lot of it was because (especially during my high school and college years + given that I’m usually more of a giver than a receiver) I had a lot of trouble determining who are my true friends, and who aren’t – I think a lot of us go through this sort of thing during a time when we’re still maturing, figuring out ourselves, and how we fit into this world. I struggled with being accepted for a long time (and I still do even today to some extent), and it affected the confidence that I had in making friends and maintaining certain friendships that I valued a lot. I don’t know the name of this disease, but it certainly affected my mental health tremendously until I realized that I only have so much energy and time to give to others, and I have to be more decisive on who I spent that time with, especially for those who really do care about my well being and the friendships we have together. It’s easy to feel like you’re being taken for granted, and especially since the beginning of this year – I just try to do what I can to strike a good balance between what I give, and who I give it to.
- “You are always attacked by danger, so you can’t get through everything.” ~> I’m not sure what the ‘danger’ part is exactly referring to, but I took it as the adversity that I face over the years, and how it’s okay to ask for help and get support from others. There’s a saying that goes “No man is an island.” meaning that “no one is truly self-sufficient, everyone must rely on the company and comfort of others in order to thrive.” (reference: https://grammarist.com/phrase/no-man-is-an-island/)
- “When spring comes, you may meet a happiness. You should make a perfect and good plan and wait for a good chance, with patience.” ~> I hope that happens come this spring 2020 – I don’t really know what kind of ‘perfect and good plan’ I can make to set me up for that other than staying course with the process of always improving (on that daily grind) myself, whether it’s physical progress, my career, or with bolstering my already close friendships with people that are part of my tight-knit circle of friends.
- “Your request will not be granted. The patient will get well in a little while.” ~> Well…that’s a downer lol, and what does this mean? Who’s the patient, or is it referring to people who are patient? I think it’s the latter.
- “Lost article will not be found.” ~> Damn…I hope this doesn’t mean the awesome “Mountain Hardwear” (Dark Zinc Color, aka somewhat of a dark purple) down jacket that I have on today. No way am I losing this.
- “The person you wait for arrives late” ~> How late are we talking about?
- “Building a new house and removal are both well” ~> Not sure how to decipher this to be honest.
- “Now is a good time to start a trip.” ~> Like this second trip (first time solo) to Japan? CHYEAH YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS. I’m way ahead of the game on this one.
- “Both any kind of marriage, and new employment are medium fortune.” ~> I don’t think too much about marriage (especially since I’m still trying to find the one for me). As for employment, the current gig that I’m on is more than just medium fortune – I’m really blessed to be a part of a team (since the beginning of this year) that not only works well together, but also looks after my well being and makes sure that I’m not burning out (given that I have a tendency to put in extra hours week after week because (1) I don’t want anyone to doubt that I’m not working hard enough, (2) I have this tremendous pride to be one of the best contributors for our team for both success and growth, and (3) I just want to win, man…I want to win as a team, I want to win at life, I just… want to win).
From the “How to draw OMIKUJI” instructions, it mentioned that “When you draw a bad fortune, please do not worry. Tie it on a hanger and drop bad fortune off here.” Since I was uncertain whether this fortune was good or bad, I just ended up keeping it since I already had my thoughts about it, and would like to look back at it later on to see if any of the predictions that it made actually came true.
Shortly after the fortune thing, I went over to the nearby kiosk/stall area thing where I paid either ¥100 or ¥200 to get one of these sticks – They were a bit thicker than the sticks that I’m used to using as incense sticks. To be honest, I don’t quite remember exactly what the purpose of this was, but I just remembered that I wrote my Chinese name on it, and gave it to the lady (as we both bowed to each other). I assumed that it was probably a spiritual donation to the temple.
There were a few areas throughout the temple where you can burn incense sticks (where they’re like these big pots containing sand and have smoke come out of each of them due to the burning incense sticks) – I went to one of them to burn an incense stick (while bowing three times). The purpose of this was praying to ancestors + relatives that have since passed + meditating at the same time. Also, there were a couple places where you would throw a coin into the fountain or some other spiritual container – this serves as a way for you to meditate + make some wishes that you want to come true. I won’t say which wishes I made, but they were definitely related to my aforementioned fortune.
Before I left Sensō-ji, I thought that it would be really nice to get one of these bracelets (the timing was perfect since I’ve been wanting to find a reliable bracelet that I can wear on the daily). Deciding on which one was difficult, but I ended up getting B-3 “虎目石” (which translates to Tiger’s Eye).
The bracelet was within my budget, and after doing a google search on the significance behind the Tiger’s eye, I read this:
“Tigers Eye Stone is a crystal with lovely bands of yellow-golden color through it. This is a powerful stone that helps you to release fear and anxiety and aids harmony and balance. It stimulates taking action, and helps you to make decisions with discernment and understanding, and unclouded by your emotions.” (reference: https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/tigers-eye-stone.html)
The depiction of the Tiger’s eye really spoke to me – if there are ever times when I would feel indecisive, unbalanced, stressed out, or any other emotion that would have me flustered or off guarded in anyway, I would like to think that in a spiritual sense, having this bracelet would aid me in those sort of situations.
After a nice visit to this temple, it was time to head back to the one, the only…B-B-B-B-B-B-BENITSURU! OH YEAH YOU KNOW MY RESERVATION IS STILL GOOD FOR THE DAY. CHYEAH my body, my soul, my heart, and most importantly, my stomach ARE ALL AT THE READY. y’all know what it is! HERE WE GO.
It was a quick 5 minute walk from Sensō-ji back to Benitsuru. I got there about 9:50am ish, and even though they technically open at 10am, they were already starting to have people sit down and start ordering – I gave one of the employees there my reservation, and immediately after, I saw both Paolo and Celine already sat down and ready to order.
~ Side Note #6: Now here was something that I thought was a bit strange – After I was greeted by the Benitsuru crew and saw both Paolo and Celine sitting down at the counter, there was a spot next to them where I could sit; naturally, I decided to sit next to them since we’ve met earlier and it would be great to continue conversing together like we did while we were waiting in line earlier in the morning. All of a sudden, one of the Benitsuru crew motioned me (a couple times) to sit in the seat one space away from them to the left. I was thinking… “Why?” Clearly I recognize these folks and it was very conspicuous that we knew each other a little bit and it would be fitting for us to sit next to each other. Both Paolo and Celine thought it was strange too, and we didn’t know how to ask if we could sit next to each other. Oh well, whatever I guess – even though I sat a seat away from them, we still were able to converse a bit (just a bit awkward since there’s an empty seat between us where I could’ve sat in…) ~
Looking at the menu (and considering the specials of the day), I already decided on what I wanted to get – the Bacon and Eggs! HELL YEAH. PAOLO’S (from Paolo FromTokyo) RECOMMENDATION, AND THAT’S THE PLAYER’S CHOICE ya know what I’m sayin’? (coincidentally, both Paolo and Celine ordered the same thing! they know what’s up!)
While we were waiting for our pancakes, Paolo, Celine, and I were just watching the chefs make the pancakes – we were just filled with suspense and anticipating how delicious the pancakes will be.
Oh my goodness, these look soul good (and the Benitsuru crew weren’t done with finishing the orders).
There we go. Both Paolo and Celine were pretty excited about these too. They were taking pictures, especially for the gram (referring to instagram). Both really liked it, and they were just oozing about how unreal and delicious these pancakes were. I got even more excited and hyped just hearing them talk about it and gush over them! MAN…I CAN’T WAIT BRUH. DAMN IT I AM READY FOR THIS. LET’S GO!
Several minutes later, my order was ready… BOOM there it is – holy shit. This is way too pretty to eat.
Each order of these “Bacon and Eggs” pancakes contains 2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, and 3 LOVELY, FLUFFY pancakes stacked between the eggs + pieces of bacon. Right off the bat, A+ on the presentation. If you were curious (which I was too), the yellow sauce that they put on top of this masterpiece is called Custard Sauce (or their version of hollandaise).
Straight up – these are the best pancakes I’ve ever had. The presentation, the taste, the contrasting sweet and savory notes back and forth with each bite you take. As a fast eater, I definitely tried my best to slow down and savor the flavor in every single bite I took. I honestly felt a bit giddy and just chuckling at how good this really was. Both Paolo and Celine were looking at my reactions and could totally relate, and even a couple of the Benitsuru crew were smiling and laughing with me at my reactions to these pancakes. What a gem. How is this real?!
I’ve never had pancakes this good before. Also, I don’t usually have hollandaise sauce that often, but MAN WAS THIS A NICE TOUCH. The whole thing just came together as one, and even the seemingly darker orange egg yolks were just right. This is truly top tier and one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my life.
~ Side Note #7: Usually with pancakes, I would do the following (given that it’s a three stack with a bit of butter in the middle):
I would cut multiple, little holes starting in the middle of the pancakes (where I would cut through all layers – kind of like crevices that you see on mountains and in other hiking areas) and subsequently throughout the pancakes’ areas (while never cutting through to the edges of the pancakes); then, I would proceed to pour the maple syrup into those holes so that the maple syrup can sift into both the middle and bottom layers of the pancakes. This is a great way to make sure that you get a good maple syrup to pancakes ratio so that you’ll get a nice bit of syrup in every bite; otherwise, the syrup would just pour from the top of the top pancake stack, and onto the edges. You’re not going to get an evenly distributed ratio of maple syrup to pancakes per bite that way.
I learned this neat trick from an old man when I was about 6 years old at an inn that served continental breakfast during a trip where my parents took me to San Luis Obispo and other parts of California that I’ve never been to before at the time. During that morning long ago, while my parents and I were eating breakfast together, the old man sitting at the table next to ours saw that I was proceeding to do the whole “pouring maple syrup on the top stack and just having the syrup glide to the edges of the pancake stack” strategy, and he decided to talk to both my parents and me about his strategy on eating pancakes (which is what I just described above). The way he did it was like he’s been doing it for years, and he explicitly said that this is the way to eat pancakes. Brilliant – I’ve never eaten pancakes any other way ever since. ~
Now, you’re probably wondering – “Well Kevin, you didn’t follow your usual strategy this time! YOU CUT THROUGH TO THE EDGES OF THE PANCAKES. You’re supposed to cut multiple little holes that cut through all layers of the pancakes and pour maple syrup into each of them to get that perfect maple syrup to pancakes ratio per bite! C’mon Kev!”
😅 I know! I hear ya! but sighhhhhhh… I couldn’t help it this time since I wanted to take this sort of picture of these aesthetically pleasing, GORGEOUS lookin’, packing heat type of pancakes in such this way. I’m making an exception this time, so you know, all good! Note: I did pour a bit of maple syrup that Benitsuru provided, and man…just love to my soul right now. I love these pancakes.
When I finished and asked for the check, I got the bill and saw that it was only ¥700 (the Bacon and Eggs pancakes is ¥1700)! SAY WHAT?! YOOOO I GET THESE SCRUMPTIOUS PANCAKES AND A DISCOUNT. How can this be?! UN-FREAKING-REAL. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to leave with just paying ¥700 though. I wanted to make sure that this was the right amount that Benitsuru charged, cuz you know, I don’t want any of that bad karma. No way dude.
A minute later (as I contemplated on how I was going to ask the Benitsuru crew about this), I realized that OHHHHHHH…. it’s because it’s taking into consideration the ¥1000 deposit that I put in to make that same-day reservation earlier just to eat at this lovely place. Makes sense haha! 😅
After finishing the meal (and both Paolo and Celine finished theirs around the same time that I did), we decided to exchange instagram handles with each other and hopefully keep in touch. That was really nice, and this was the first time I exchanged instagram handles with people I met overseas. I hope this sort of social interaction can become a regular thing for me (especially when traveling solo like I am now). We walked out of the restaurant together before bowing and saying good bye to the Benitsuru crew (and to the people from Philly who were in the middle of enjoying their pancakes too!)
Before we parted ways, I said good-bye, take care, and wished both of them a fantastic time for the rest of their trip in Japan. They did the same, and I’m now off to doing the following that I’ll be talking about in the next travel journal post:
- Asakusa street food
- Shopping and other things in Akihabara
- Dinner and more shopping in Shibuya
Cheers / wave
Listen to what you see. 