Two Top Luxury Tokyo Food and Drink Recommendations

While I’m still yearning to return to Japan, I’m writing again for the luxury magazine, Escape, produced in Tokyo. These short pieces are some of my recent published works.

Japan’s most prestigious traditional sweets shop: Toraya

The architecture and atmosphere alone is enough reason to visit the flagship store of Toraya, a traditional sweets empire with over 500 years of history. Toraya is an official purveyor to Japan’s Imperial Palace.

If you’re new to Japanese wagashi, you can purchase single portions to sample or connoisseurs seeking the ultimate, full-blown royal treatment can commission their own personalised designs. The current 17th-generation company head was even gifted golf-themed sweets from his wife for his birthday.

In the store’s museum, marvel at wagashi designed and packaged for Japanese astronauts on space missions. A taste of luxury far from home!

traditional Japanese sweets wagashi from Toraya store featuring seasonal themes — Toraya sweets change with the seasons. These summer-themed miniature artworks are designed to cool the senses while indulging.

Toraya`s main flagship store in Tokyo has a large storeroom and beautiful main counter — The main showroom of Toraya’s flagship store in Tokyo

A new frontier of tea-infused cocktails: Mixology Salon

I love Tokyo’s tiny, intimate bars. At Mixology Salon, I savoured a perfectly balanced pineapple, black bean and brown rice tea vodka cocktail. The smart-dressed bartenders speak English, but kindly indulged my poor Japanese. They were so charming while I slaughtered their native language and I still remember the way the two tuxedo-jacketed staff came outside to wave me goodbye. A very cute moment.