Have you ever traveled and found a shop or restaurant so delicious that you go many times? Perhaps there is concern that the next place you go just won’t be as tasty. Or, perhaps it is just the innate need to find some sense of routine in the crazy world of everyday travel. Or, perhaps you have simply found the gem in the city where the fresh and tasty food and the amazing selection just draws you (and the neighborhood folks) in.
Well, we found just the place.
The apartment we are staying this week is in Saitama Prefecture. It is on the outskirts of the city in a quiet neighborhood about 30 minutes from Ikebukuro Station. Convenient yet quiet. Simple yet sufficient. A delightful first stop at the beginning of our adventure.
While the apartment is clean and roomy, the best part for us has decidedly been the small Rice Ball shop just a few blocks from our place. Freshly made daily, they have a rice ball for all tastes and then some! We thought we would cook a few American style breakfasts for the boys a few days but both times we did, they both asked “We can get eggs and toast anytime. Can we stop for a Rice Ball now?”
Our local Rice Ball shop
They offered rice balls with tempura shrimp, rice balls with fish, rice balls with veggies, rice balls with eggs , rice balls with chicken, rice balls with sweet bean paste, and many more. In addition, they had pounded rice treats as well as rice balls with pounded rice inside. The choices were amazing.
How would YOU decide?
For sweets, they had little pastries filled with sweet bean paste. The cutest ones were the little rabbit shaped ones.
Rabbit treat filled with sweet bean paste
The hardest part was deciding which ones to eat each day.
Deciding
We have promised the boys we will stop on the way to the station tomorrow morning, but then we head out of town. That wont be hard to convince any of us. We will miss our little neighborhood shop!
Happy.